Mechanisms of nozzle type reactor operation with gas removal

A nozzle type reactor with provision for gas removal has been studied for the neutralisation of dodecylbenzene sulphonic acid with sodium carbonate solution. Gas was removed via a central air core so that the product was essentially foam-free. The rate of mixing and the chemical reaction between dodecylbenzene sulphonic acid and sodium carbonate solution, were observed to be much faster than the liquid residence time so complete conversion into the product was achieved within seconds. Some gas bubbles were entrained in the product: however these were negligible compared with the bulk of the gas bubbles expelled at the top of the reactor. The criteria for gas removal was that the time for bubbles to travel to the air core under the prevailing centripetal force was less than the liquid phase residence time in the reactor. Mathematical models were therefore proposed to predict the equilibrium bubble diameter and the time for bubble travel to the core. Predicted times were found to be very much less than the average residence time.     

Development and evaluation of analytical methodology for the determination of aflatoxins in palm kernels.

A rapid, simple and reproducible method for the simultaneous estimation of aflatoxins AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 in palm kernel samples has been developed by optimizing the sample preparation, solvent extraction, sample clean-up and quantification procedures. The aflatoxins are extracted from a slurried palm kernel sample with an acetone-water (80 + 20, v/v) mixture and the crude extract is cleaned up by solid-phase extraction using a phenyl bonded phase cartridge. The extract is passed through the cartridge with a water-methanol (93 + 7) mixture. Subsequent elution of the aflatoxins retained on the cartridge is achieved with a 3 ml aliquot of chloroform. The aflatoxin content of the eluate is quantified using a bi-directional high-performance thin-layer chromatography procedure. A critical evaluation of the proposed method was carried out by statistical comparison with the British Standard Method. The proposed procedure was shown to be more efficient and precise. Consistent recoveries of over 90% were achieved from spiked palm kernel extracts and detection limits were found to be 3.7, 2.5, 3.0 and 1.3 micrograms kg-1 for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 aflatoxins, respectively.     

Structural and spectroscopic studies of nickel(II) complexes with a library of Bis(oxime)amine-containing ligands

A library of tripodal amine ligands with two oxime donor arms and a variable coordinating or noncoordinating third arm has been synthesized, including two chiral ligands based on l-phenylalanine. Their Ni(II) complexes have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography, UV-vis absorption, circular dichroism, and FTIR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and room-temperature magnetic susceptibility. At least one crystal structure is reported for all but one Ni/ligand combination. All show a six-coordinate pseudo-octahedral coordination geometry around the nickel center, with the bis(oxime)amine unit coordinating in a facial mode. Three distinct structure types are observed: (1) for tetradentate ligands, six-coordinate monomers are formed, with anions and/or solvent filling out the coordination sphere; (2) for tridentate ligands, six-coordinate monomers are formed with Ni(II)(NO(3))(2), with one monodentate and one bidentate nitrate filling the remaining coordination positions; (3) for tridentate ligands, six-coordinate, bis(mu-Cl) dimers are formed with Ni(II)Cl(2), with one terminal and two bridging chlorides filling the coordination sphere. The UV-vis absorption spectra of the complexes show that the value of 10 Dq varies according to the nature of the third arm of the ligand. The trend based on the third arm follows the order alkyl/aryl < amide < carboxylate < alcohol < pyridyl < oxime.     

Analytical methodology for the determination of aflatoxins in peanut butter: comparison of high-performance thin-layer chromatographic, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and high-performance liquid chromatographic methods

High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) was applied to the separation and quantification of aflatoxin in 300 jars of "crunchy" peanut butter. A critical evaluation of the proposed HPTLC method has been carried out by statistical comparisons with a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit and a high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method. The statistical tests indicated that whilst the distributions of the data sets obtained with each method were similar, the HPLC method was found to be biased. Over-all results indicated that the HPTLC method gave more consistent data, relatively lower standard deviations and lower coefficients of variation. The ELISA kit was found to be less precise than the HPTLC and HPLC methods and prone to some loss of sensitivity caused by matrix interference.     

A normal phase HPTLC method for the quantitative determination of fumonisin B1 in rice

Summary A normal phase HPTLC method has been validated by spiking, in quadruplet, uncontaminated extract of rice with fumonisin B₁ over the range 0 to 16g/g. The method utilises solid phase extraction using strong anionic exchange (SAX) cartridges, uni-directional normal phase high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC), novel visualisation by dipping into a 0.16% acidic solution ofp-anisaldehyde and quantification by scanning fluoro-densitometry. Response was linear only over the range 0 to 5 g/g (0 to 125 ng/spot) where recoveries averaged 81% for rice. Weighted linear regression yielded a limit of detection of 0.25 g/g for rice. Coefficients of variance were 15.4, 5.3, 2.8, 3.5, and 0.9% at fumonisin B₁ levels of 0.20, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5 g/g respectively, demonstrating good precision. This method claims to be the first fully quantitative HPTLC method for determining fumonisin B₁ in rice.     

Digital-to-analog image conversion with an optically addressed spatial light modulator

The possibility of using ferroelectric liquid-crystal optically addressed spatial light modulators to transfer images from silicon backplane devices is investigated. We propose a drive scheme for optically addressed spatial light modulators to perform digital-to-analog image conversion based on the speed performances of current and future silicon backplane devices and on temporal averaging. The validity of the drive scheme is experimentally demonstrated with a LED used to encode the gray levels, and we discuss the performance of the display system.     

LAND-map, a linearized approach to nonadiabatic dynamics using the mapping formalism

We present a new approach for calculating quantum time correlation functions for systems whose dynamics exhibits relevant nonadiabatic effects. The method involves partial linearization of the full quantum path-integral expression for the time correlation function written in the nonadiabatic mapping Hamiltonian formalism. Our analysis gives an algorithm which is both numerically efficient and accurate as we demonstrate in test calculations on the spin-boson model where we find results in good agreement with exact calculations. The accuracy of our new approach is comparable to that of calculations performed using other approximate methods over a relatively broad range of model parameters. However, our method converges relatively quickly when compared with most alternative schemes. These findings are very encouraging in view of the application of the new method for studying realistic nonadiabatic model problems in the condensed phase.     

Real meromorphic functions and linear differential polynomials

We determine all real meromorphic functions f in the plane such that f has finitely many zeros, the poles of f have bounded multiplicities, and f and F have finitely many non-real zeros, where F is a linear differential polynomial given by F = f (k) +Σk-1j=0ajf(j) , in which k≥2 and the coefficients aj are real numbers with a0≠0.