Selective extraction of U(VI) over Th(IV) from acidic streams using di-bis(2-ethylhexyl) malonamide anchored chloromethylated polymeric matrix

A new chelating polymeric sorbent has been developed using Merrifield chloromethylated resin anchored with di-bis (2-ethylhexyl) malonamide (DB2EHM). The modified resin was characterized by CPMAS NMR spectroscopy, FT-NIR-FIR spectroscopy, CHN elemental analysis and also by thermo gravimetric analysis. The fabricated sorbent showed superior binding affinity for U(VI) over Th(IV) and other diverse ions, even under high acidities. Various physio-chemical parameters, like solution acidity, phase exchange kinetics, metal sorption capacity, electrolyte tolerance studies, etc., influencing the resin’s metal extractive behavior were studied by both static and dynamic method. Batch extraction studies performed over a wide range of solution acidity (0.01-10 M) revealed that selective extraction of U(VI) could be achieved even up to 4 M acidity with distribution ratios (D) in the order of ∼10³. The phase exchange kinetics studies performed for U(VI) and Th(IV) revealed that time duration of <15 min was sufficient for >99.5% extraction. But similar studies when preformed for trivalent lanthanides gave very low D values (<50), with the extraction time extending up to 60 min. The metal sorption studies performed for U(VI) and Th(IV) at 5 M HNO₃ was found to be 62.5 and 38.2 mg g⁻¹,respectively. Extraction efficiency in the presence of inferring electrolyte species and inorganic cations were also examined. Metal ion desorption was effective using 10-15 mL of 1 M (NH₄)₂CO₃ or 0.5 M α-hydroxy isobutyric acid (HIBA). Extraction studies performed on a chromatographic column at 5 M acidity were found to give enrichment factor values of 310 and 250 for U(VI) and Th(IV), respectively. The practical utility of the fabricated chelating sorbent and its efficiency to extract actinides from acidic waste streams was tested using a synthetic nuclear spent fuel solution. The R.S.D. values obtained on triplicate measurements (n = 3) were within 5.2%.     

DAPPA grafted polymer: an efficient solid phase extractant for U(VI), Th(IV) and La(III) from acidic waste streams and environmental samples

A new class of polymeric resin has been synthesized by grafting Merrifield chloromethylated resin with (dimethyl amino-phosphono-methyl)-phosphonic acid (MCM-DAPPA), for the preconcentration of U(VI), Th(IV) and La(III) from both acidic wastes and environmental samples. The various chemical modification steps involved during grafting process are characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, ³¹P and ¹³C-CPMAS (cross-polarized magic angle spin) NMR spectroscopy and CHNS/O elemental analysis. The water regain capacity data for the grafted polymer are obtained from thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis. The influence of various physico-chemical parameters during the quantitative extraction of metal ions by the resin phase are studied and optimized by both static and dynamic methods. The significant feature of this grafted polymer is its ability to extract both actinides and lanthanides from high-level acidities as well as from near neutral conditions. The resin shows very high sorption capacity values of 2.02, 0.89 and 0.54 mmol g⁻¹ for U(VI), 1.98, 0.63 and 0.42 mmol g⁻¹ for Th(IV) and 1.22, 0.39 and 0.39 mmol g⁻¹ for La(III) under optimum pH, HNO₃ and HCl concentration, respectively. The grafted polymer shows faster phase exchange kinetics (<5 min is sufficient for 50% extraction) and greater preconcentration ability, with reusability exceeding 20 cycles. During desorption process, all the analyte ions are quantitatively eluted from the resin phase with >99.5% recovery using 1 M (NH₄)₂CO₃, as eluent. The developed grafted resin has been successfully applied in extracting Th(IV) from high matrix monazite sand, U(VI) from sea water and also U(VI) and Th(IV) from simulated nuclear spent fuel mixtures. The analytical data obtained from triplicate measurements are within 3.9% R.S.D. reflecting the reproducibility and reliability of the developed method.     

Natural radioactivity distribution in geological matrices around Kaiga environment

Summary The activity and absorbed dose rate of the naturally occurring radionuclides, viz. ²³⁸U, ²³² Th and ⁴⁰K were determined in soil and rock samples collected around Kaiga site. The mean activity levels (Kaiga soil) of naturally occurring ²³² Th are comparable with that in worldwide soil, while concentrations of ²³⁸U and ⁴⁰K are lower than those in worldwide soil. The absorbed dose rate in outdoor air ranged 20-58 nGy ^. h^-1 with a mean of 33.3 nGy ^. h^-1, which is below the world average of 60 nGy ^. h^-1. The total effective dose rate in outdoor air for soils ranged 25.6-74.4 mSv ^. y^-1 with a mean of 43.0 mSv ^. y^-1. The estimated dose rate at Kaiga is comparable with that estimated at Kakrapar and Rawatbhata and much less than that estimated at coastal sites of India.     

Construction of 4D-QSAR Models for Use in the Design of Novel p38-MAPK Inhibitors

The p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK) plays a key role in lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) release during the inflammatory process, emerging as an attractive target for new anti-inflammatory agents. Four-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (4D-QSAR) analysis [Hopfinger et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 119 (1997) 10509] was applied to a series of 33 (a training set of 28 and a test set of 5) pyridinyl-imidazole and pyrimidinyl-imidazole inhibitors of p38-MAPK, with IC50 ranging from 0.11 to 2100 nM [Liverton et al., J. Med. Chem., 42 (1999) 2180]. Five thousand conformations of each analogue were sampled from a molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) during 50 ps at a constant temperature of 303 K. Each conformation was placed in a 2 angstroms grid cell lattice for each of three trial alignments. 4D-QSAR models were constructed by genetic algorithm (GA) optimization and partial least squares (PLS) fitting, and evaluated by leave-one-out cross-validation technique. In the best models, with three to six terms, the adjusted cross-validated squared correlation coefficients, Q2adj, ranged from 0.67 to 0.85. Model D (Q2adj = 0.84) was identified as the most robust model from alignment 1, and it is representative of the other best models. This model encompasses new molecular regions as containing pharmacophore sites, such as the amino-benzyl moiety of pyrimidine analogs and the N1-substituent in the imidazole ring. These regions of the ligands should be further explored to identify better anti-inflammatory inhibitors of p38-MAPK.     

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclo-1,3-diene-tethered nitrile oxides

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclo-1,3-diene- and -1,3,5-triene-tethered nitrile oxides gave tricyclic isoxazolines as a single stereoisomer in most cases. The relative stereochemistry of tricycle-fused isoxazolines resulting from 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclo-1,3-diene-tethered nitrile oxides is cis-cis, whereas from cyclohepta-1,3,5-triene-tethered nitrile oxides the cis-trans isomer predominates.     

Kinetics of substitution of aquo ligands fromcis-diaquo-bis-(biguanide) cobalt(III) and chromium(III) ions by aspartic acid in ethanol—water mixtures

The kinetics of substitution of aqua ligands fromcis-diaqua-bis(biguanide)cobalt(III) and chromium(III) ions by aspartic acid in EtOH–H₂O media have been studied spectrophotometrically in the 30 to 45°C range. We propose the following rate law for the anation

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.     

Methyl rotational tunneling dynamics of p-xylene confined in a crystalline zeolite host

The methyl rotational tunneling spectrum of p-xylene confined in nanoporous zeolite crystals has been measured by inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and analyzed to extract the rotational potential energy surfaces characteristic of the methyl groups in the host-guest complex. The number and relative intensities of the tunneling peaks observed by INS indicate the presence of methyl-methyl coupling interactions in addition to the methyl-zeolite interactions. The INS tunneling spectra from the crystals (space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with four crystallographically inequivalent methyl rotors) are quantitatively interpreted as a combination of transitions involving two coupled methyl rotors as well as a transition involving single-particle tunneling of a third inequivalent rotor, in a manner consistent with the observed tunneling energies and relative intensities. Together, the crystal structure and the absence of additional peaks in the INS spectra suggest that the tunneling of the fourth inequivalent rotor is strongly hindered and inaccessible to INS measurements. This is verified by proton NMR measurements of the spin-lattice relaxation time which reveal the tunneling characteristics of the fourth inequivalent rotor.     

In vitro and in vivo investigations on the photodynamic activity of core-modified expanded porphyrin--ammonium salt of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(meso-p-sulfonato phenyl)-25,27,29-trithia sapphyrin

The core modification of expanded porphyrins has been proved to have better photochemical properties, which are favorable for photodynamic therapy (PDT) applications. In this context, this study was aimed to investigate the in vitro and in vivo photodynamic activity of one such core-modified expanded porphyrin, namely, ammonium salt of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(meso-p-sulfonato phenyl)-25,27,29-trithia sapphyrin. For the in vitro studies, human erythrocytes were used as a membrane semimodel system to investigate the partitioning ability and drug-uptake characteristics. The partition studies on the membrane semimodel system revealed that maximum partitioning occurs at 12 microgm/mL concentration, and from the drug-uptake studies it is observed that maximum amount of the sensitizer is bound to the erythrocyte membranes during a 45 min incubation period. Photohemolysis studies at different concentrations of the sensitizer and exposure time showed maximum damage at 5 microgm/mL and 30 min exposure time. In vivo studies were performed on 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)nthracene-induced superficial squamous cell carcinoma on mouse skin. The sensitizer at a concentration of 2.5% in 2.0% dimethyl sulfoxide was applied topically on the tumor spot. After 1 h incubation the tumor spot was exposed to laser irradiation from Nd-YAG laser at its second harmonic wavelength of 532 nm. The photodynamic efficacy was estimated by tumor volume measurements at regular intervals after the treatment. One month after PDT exposure a 3.9-fold decrease in the tumor volume was observed with respect to the tumor volume before treatment. The treatment efficacy was further confirmed by histological and fluorescence spectroscopic evaluations of the tissue biopsy sample from the treated area. The results of our study suggest that the ammonium salt of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(meso-p-sulfonato phenyl)-25,27,29-trithia sapphyrin may find possible applications in the new modality of cancer treatment.