The structure of magnesium alanate

Mg(AlH(4))(2) was produced as a nanocrystalline powder by metathesis of NaAlH(4) and MgCl(2). Starting with a structure estimation which was developed from an evaluation of FTIR data and comparison of structural properties of two solvent adducts, quantum chemical calculations were performed on the density functional theory (DFT) level. The calculated atomic positions were used to simulate an X-ray powder diffraction pattern, based on a trigonal unit cell. The simulated pattern was congruent to experimental data. Thus, magnesium alanate exhibits a CdI(2) layer structure, the layers being formed by Mg atoms occupying the Cd sites and AlH(4) tedrahedra occupying the sites of the iodine atoms in CdI(2).     

On the behaviour of styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers in solution—VI. Presentation of light-scattering results according to excluded-volume theory

A new procedure for the evaluation of the excluded-volume parameter and the unperturbed dimensions from light-scattering data is described. The treatment is based upon a test recommended by Yamakawa. The principal feature is the fitting of an appropriate theoretical master-curve to the experimental points by shifting along the logarithmic x axis. The advantages are the graphical representation, the possibility of checking the chosen co-ordination of experimental and theoretical data by means of the known relation between expansion factor and molar mass, and the relatively small amount of protracted computation needed. The method is applied to azeotropic styrene/acrylonitrile copolymers and to azeotropic α-methylstyrene/acrylonitrile copolymers.     

The infrared spectrum of Au-.CO2

The Au-.CO2 ion-molecule complex has been studied by gas phase infrared photodissociation spectroscopy. Several sharp transitions can be identified as combination bands involving the asymmetric stretch vibrational mode of the CO2 ligand. Their frequencies are redshifted by several hundred cm(-1) from the frequencies of free CO2. We discuss our findings in the framework of ab initio and density-functional theory calculations, using anharmonic corrections to predict vibrational transition energies. The infrared spectrum is consistent with the formation of an aurylcarboxylate anion with a strongly bent CO2 subunit.     

Determination of hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, and 1,2-dimethylhydrazine by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection

The present study is concerned with the application of nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) with electrochemical detection (ED) to the separation and quantitative determination of hydrazine (Hy) and its methyl derivatives. The best performance of NACE-ED was found when using 4 mM sodium acetate/10 mM acetic acid/methanol: acetonitrile = 1:2 as the running buffer, with a bare platinum working electrode set at +1.0 V in an end-column amperometric detection cell. The choice and ratio of suitable solvents for the separation and injection media played an essential role for the performance characteristics of the method. The limits of detection for Hy, methylhydrazine, symmetrical dimethylhydrazine, and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine were 5, 2, 12, and 1 ng/mL, respectively. This is between one and two orders of magnitude lower than that achieved by previously reported CE-ED methods in aqueous buffer systems in conjunction with various types of chemically modified electrodes. The practical utility of the new NACE-ED methodology is demonstrated in terms of the determination of traces of Hys in spiked environmental samples containing a wide range of explosives and related compounds.     

Investigation of ion/molecule reactions as a quantification method for phosphorylated positional isomers. an FT-ICR approach

A rapid and accurate method of quantifying positional isomeric mixtures of phosphorylated hexose and N-acetylhexosamine monosacchrides by using gas-phase ion/molecule reactions coupled with FT-ICR mass spectrometry is described. Trimethyl borate, the reagent gas, reacts readily with the singly charged negative ions of phosphorylated monosaccharides to form two stable product ions corresponding to the loss of one or two neutral molecules of methanol from the original adduct. Product distribution in the ion/molecule reaction spectra differs significantly for isomers phosphorylated in either the 1- or the 6-position. As a result, the percents of total ion current of these product ions for a mixture of the two isomers vary with its composition. In order to determine the percentage of each isomer in an unknown mixture, a multicomponent quantification method is utilized in which the percents of total ion current of the two product ions for each pure monosaccharide phosphate and the mixture are used in a two-equation, two-unknown system. The applicability of this method is demonstrated by successfully quantifying mock mixtures of four different isomeric pairs: Glucose-1-phosphate and glucose-6-phosphate; mannose-1-phosphate and mannose-6-phosphate; galactose-1-phosphate and galactose-6-phosphate; N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate and N-acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate. The effects of mixture concentrations and ion/molecule reaction conditions on the quantification are also discussed. Our results demonstrate that this assay is a fast, sensitive, and robust method to quantify isomeric mixtures of phosphorylated monosaccharides.     

Nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis with indirect electrochemical detection

Nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) which makes use of organic solvents in place of conventional aqueous electrophoresis buffers is gaining increasing importance among modern separation techniques. Recently, it has been shown that amperometric detection in conjunction with acetonitrile-based NACE offers an extended accessible potential range and an enhanced long-term stability of the amperometric responses generated at solid electrodes. The present contribution takes advantage of the latter aspect to develop reliable systems for NACE with indirect electrochemical detection (IED). In this context, several compounds such as (ferrocenylmethyl)trimethylammonium perchlorate, tris(1,10-phenanthroline)cobalt(III) perchlorate and bis(1,4,7-triazacyclononane)nickel(II) perchlorate were studied regarding their suitability to act as electroactive buffer additives for IED in NACE. The performance characteristics for the respective buffer systems were evaluated. Tetraalkylammonium perchlorates served as model compounds for the optimization of the NACE-IED system. Target analytes choline and acetylcholine could easily be separated and determined by means of NACE-IED. In the case of a buffer system containing 10(-4) M tris(1,10-phenanthroline)cobalt(III) perchlorate the limits of detection were 2.5 x 10(-7) M and 4.6 x 10(-7) M for choline and acetylcholine, respectively. With the elaborated analytical procedure choline could be determined in pharmaceutical preparations.     

Parton distributions for high energy collisions

Recent data from deep inelastic scattering experiments atx10^–2 are used to fix the parton distributions down tox10^–4 andQ ²0.3 GeV². The predicted extrapolations are uniquely determined by the requirement of avalence-like structure ofall parton distributions at some low resolution scale and are furthermore shown to be insensitive in the small-x region, 10^–4x10^–2, to the detailed experimental input at the presently accessiblex>10^–2. Simple parameterizations of the resulting parton distributions are presented in the range 10^–5x<1 and=">Q ²10⁸ GeV² as obtained from the leading- and higher-order evolution equations.     

Hyperpolarization of Amino Acids in Water Utilizing Parahydrogen on a Rhodium Nanocatalyst

NMR offers many possibilities in chemical analysis, structural investigations, and medical diagnostics. Although it is broadly used, one of NMR spectroscopies main drawbacks is low sensitivity. Hyperpolarization techniques enhance NMR signals by more than four orders of magnitude allowing the design of new contrast agents. Parahydrogen induced polarization that utilizes the para-hydrogen's singlet state to create enhanced signals is of particular interest since it allows to produce molecular imaging agents within seconds. Herein, we present a strategy for signal enhancement of the carbonyl ¹³C in amino acids by using parahydrogen, as demonstrated for glycine and alanine. Importantly, the hyperpolarization step is carried out in water and chemically unmodified canonical amino acids are obtained. Our approach thus offers a high degree of biocompatibility, which is crucial for further application. The rapid sample hyperpolarization (within seconds) may enable the continuous production of biologically useful probes, such as metabolic contrast agents or probes for structural biology.