Studies of solvation of ketocyanine dyes in homogeneous and heterogeneous media by UV/Vis spectroscopic method

Solvation characteristics of ketocyanine dyes (I-VI) have been investigated in pure solvents and heterogeneous media by absorption and fluorescence studies. The dyes are good reporters of solvent polarity. In protic solvents they exist as equilibrium mixtures of bare and hydrogen-bonded form in the ground state (S0), the latter being the emitting species. In aprotic solvents of low polarity association of the S1 state of the dye takes place. In aqueous micellar media the dye resides at the micelle water interface. The binding constant for dye-micelle interaction has been determined. Fluorescence data in beta-cyclodextrine solution resemble that for that neutral micellar solution indicating that the interaction between the -OH group of the heterogeneous part (micelle/cyclodextrine cavity) and the carbonyl oxygen of the dye is important in both the cases.     

On the use of a dead-time meter for pile-up corrections

Correction for pile-up losses in the amplifier is possible by the dead-time fraction indicator of the ADC in case of long-lived radionuclides. If the dead-time meter has been calibrated, an accuracy of 1.5% is feasible up to a dead-time fraction of 25%. The precision decreases from 1.5% at 10% dead-time fraction to 3% at a deadtime fraction of 30%.     

A novel method for the determination of synthetic colors in ice cream samples

A simple method has been developed for the extraction, separation, and determination of synthetic colors in ice cream samples. The process involves the breakdown of emulsion by neutral detergents (Triton X-100 and Tween 20) followed by extraction with petroleum ether for removal of fat. The aqueous colored solution obtained is treated with 5% acetic acid, and the uptake of color is carried out by a wool-dyeing technique. The color is eluted from the wool with 5% ammonia solution, the solution is evaporated to dryness, and the residue is dissolved in 60% ethanol for paper chromatography using trisodium citrate-ammonia-water (2 + 5 + 95, w/v/v) as the mobile phase. The colored spots from the paper chromatogram are cut and eluted with 60% ethanol, and the absorbance is measured at the respective lambda maximum corresponding to the Rf value of the appropriate standard. The recoveries of 6 colors, including sunset yellow FCF (SSYFCF), tartrazine, carmoisine, ponceau 4R, brilliant blue FCF (BBFCF), and fast green FCF from spiked samples with either detergent were found to be >90%. However, recoveries of erythrosine were 21 and 65% with Triton X-100 and Tween 20, respectively. Indigo carmine could not be recovered at all because of its fugitive property in 5% ammonia solution, which is used to strip the color from the wool. The sensitivity of the method with the use of Tween 20 is 1 ppm (1 microg/g) for the colors in spiked ice cream samples. With this method, we analyzed samples of 20 branded colored ice cream. The results showed the presence of tartrazine (8.4-43.3 ppm), SSYFCF (23.5-117.6 ppm), carmoisine (traces-53.2 ppm), erythrosine (3.5 ppm), and BBFCF (4.1 ppm) in the ice cream samples. Apart from 2 samples of tuttifruity, all of the ice cream samples showed the presence of permitted synthetic colors below the permissible level of 100 ppm established by the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of India.     

Performance of immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the removal of long lived radionuclides from aqueous nitrate solutions

The efficiency of tailor made immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae(biomatrix) for the sorption of radionuclides ²³³U, ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴¹Am, ¹³⁷Ce, ¹⁴⁴Cs, ^103,106Ru and ⁹⁰Sr from aqueous nitrate solutions at different pH was studied. Effect of ionic strength, anionic components, initial metal concentration and particle size of the biomatrix on the sorption of metal ions were investigated. At pH in the range of 1 to 2 more than 95% sorption of U, Pu, Am and Ce could be accomplished, while that of Ru was 65%. Sorption of Cs and Sr were negligible under similar conditions. The metal ion-biomatrix system for Pu, Am and Ce reached equilibrium within 60 minutes. In the case of U, equilibrium attained in 100 minutes. The presence of anionic components, Cl^-, C₂O₄ ^2-, CH₃COO^-, NO₃ ^- and SO₄ ^2- (up to 0.5 mol^.dm^-3 of their individual concentration) in the aqueous solutions has no effect on the sorption of Pu by the biomatrix. Sorption of U, Pu, Am were observed in the presence of several cationic impurities such as Al, Be, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ce, Dy, Eu, Gd and Sm. Metal sorbed on the biomatrix could be leached out using 5 mol^.dm^-3 nitric acid. The I.R spectra of U bearing biomatrix suggest chemical interaction of uranyl ion with the biomatrix.     

ICP-MS multielement determination in fly ash after microwave-assisted digestion of samples

A microwave assisted digestion procedure has been developed for dissolution of fly ash samples prior to the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric determination of their elemental composition. The developed methodology was validated by carrying out the analysis of two high-silicate containing reference materials (CRM 134R sewage amended soil and NIES JR 1 rock) and by means of the comparison between results found by microwave-assisted digestion and ICP-MS of fly ash samples with those found by neutron activation analysis (NAA) for Sb, Cs, Cr, Co, Fe, U and Zn determination. The method developed can be recommended for routine multielement analysis of fly ash.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of thiosulphate by hexachloroplatinate(IV)

Summary Rate constants for the oxidation of thiosulphate by hexachloroplatinate(IV) have been measured. The kinetics of the oxidation of thiosulphate follow a second-order rate law, first order with respect to thiosulphate and first order with respect to platinum(IV). The influence of pH is small. The rates are found to depend on the nature and concentration of the cations and follow the order: Cs⁺>Rb⁺>K⁺>Na⁺>Li⁺. The activation parameters calculated from the temperature studies are: H=42.9 k J mol^–1 and S=–102 JK^–1 mol^–1. A mechanism of the reaction in terms of intermediate formation of free radicals followed by the formation of tetrathionate is postulated to explain the kinetic behaviour.     

Spectrophotometric determination of vanadium with n-benzoyl-o-tolylhydroxylamine

N-Benzoyl-o-tolylhydroxylamine is shown to provide a virtually specific reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of vanadium. The reddish-violet complex formed with the reagent in 4–8 N hydrochloric acid after extraction with chloroform shows absorption maxima at 510 mm, and obeyes Beer's law from 0.5 to 10 μg with an optimum range of 2–10 μg; the percent relative error is 2.7. The sensitivity is 0.0108 μg V/cm². The complex contains the metal and the reagent in a ratio of 1:2 and the dissociation constant is of the order of 10^-9.