A new organic superconductor beta-(meso-DMBEDT-TTF)2PF6

A newly synthesized donor meso-DMBEDT-TTF [DMBEDT-TTF = 2-(5,6-dihydro-1,3-dithiolo[4,5-b][1,4]dithiin-2-ylidene)-5,6-dihydro-5,6-dimethyl-1,3-dithiolo[4,5-b][1,4]dithiin] afforded a superconducting salt beta-(meso-DMBEDT-TTF)2PF6, with a transition temperature at 4.3 K (onset) under a hydrostatic pressure of 4.0 kbar.     

Flow-injection chemiluminescent determination of vanadium(IV) and total vanadium by means of catalysis on the periodate oxidation of purpurogallin

A flow-injection chemiluminescent (CL) method is proposed for the successive determination of nanogram levels of vanadium(IV) and total vanadium. The method is based on the catalytic effect of vanadium(IV) on the oxidation of purpurogallin by periodate to produce light emission at 4 °C. The presence of hydrogen carbonate enhanced the light emission arising from the vanadium(IV)-catalyzed reaction. Since vanadium(V) did not catalyze the CL reaction of purpurogallin, vanadium(V) was determined after being reduced to vanadium(IV) by using an on-line silver-reducing column. Calibration curves for vanadium(IV) and (V) were linear in the range 0.1–10 ng ml⁻¹ with sampling rate of about 50 h⁻¹. The limit of detection for signal-to-noise ratio of 2 was 0.05 ng ml⁻¹ and the relative standard deviations were 1.4 and 1.6% for ten determinations of 2.0 ng ml⁻¹ vanadium(IV) and (V), respectively. Interferences from metal ions could be eliminated by the use of O,O′-bis(2-aminoethyl)ethyleneglycol- N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid and diphosphate as masking agents. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of vanadium(IV) and total vanadium in fresh water samples.     

Development of column-pretreatment chelating resins for matrix elimination/multi-element determination by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Chelating resins, two kinds of iminodiacetate derivatives (IDA) of cross-linked chitosan (CCS) were synthesized and investigated for adsorption capacity, matrix elimination and collection/concentration of analytes by a column pretreatment in a multi-element ICP-MS determination method. The adsorption behavior of 54 elements at the 10 ng ml(-1) level on chitosan derivatives in a packed mini-column was systematically examined. Almost 30 kinds of metal ions were recovered quantitatively at pH 5 with CCS-HP/IDA (cross-linked chitosan possessing N-2-hydroxypropyl iminodiacetic acid groups) column. Compared with available chitosan-iminodiacetate resin, CHITOPEARL CI-03, the recovery of the metal ions such as Cu, Pb and La is satisfactory with CCS-IDA (cross-linked chitosan possessing N,N-iminodiacetic acid groups) and CCS-HP/IDA using 2 M nitric acid as an eluent, which may be attributed to the difference of cross-linking and macroporous structure. Compared with Chelex-100, the adsorption efficiency is in the order: Chelex-100 > CCS-IDA > CCS-HP/IDA, especially in the chelating ability for alkaline earth metals. The resin with a longer spacer (CCS-HP/IDA) showed higher adsorption selectivity between heavy metal ions and alkaline earth metals at pH < 7. The separation efficiency of the major matrix cations in seawater (Na. K, Mg, Ca) has also been investigated, and matrix interference was negligible even in a seawater sample at pH 5 with CCS-HP/IDA. The recoveries of Mn at pH 5 with CCS-HP/IDA or Chelex-100 were almost 100%. However, those of Mg with each resin were 4 or 98%, respectively. The adsorption capacities of synthesized CCS-HP/IDA for Cu(II), Pb(II) and La(III) were 0.90, 0.65 and 0.34 mmol g(-1), respectively. Therefore, the chelating chitosan resins developed are applicable to the pretreatment of trace amounts of elements in various kinds of water samples.     

Separation of proteins by hydrophobic interaction chromatography at low salt concentration

We investigated protein separation by hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) at low salt concentration on the supports of various hydrophobicities. Hydrophobic proteins could be successfully separated with more than 90% recovery by gradient elution of ammonium sulfate from 0.3-0.5 M to 0 in 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) by using supports whose hydrophobicities were properly adjusted individually for each protein. Satisfactory results were also obtained by isocratic elution without ammonium sulfate and gradient elution of ethanol from 0 to 10%. HIC at low salt concentration was compatible with other modes of liquid chromatography like ion-exchange chromatography. On the other hand, it was not successful to separate hydrophilic proteins at low salt concentration. Recoveries of hydrophilic proteins decreased before they were retained enough as support hydrophobicity increased. Therefore, it is inevitable to use a higher concentration of salt, e.g., 1-2 M ammonium sulfate, on hydrophilic or moderately hydrophobic support in order to retain hydrophilic proteins without decrease in recovery.     

The structural investigation of SbBr3· (POBr3)2 BY 81Br and 121SbNQR

⁸¹Br and ¹²¹Sb NQR have been observed for SbBr₃·(POBr₃)₂, and the Zeeman effect on ⁸¹Br NQR lines examined at 77 K. It is considered from these results that this complex consists of a dimer of two SbBr₃·(POBr₃)₂ molecules bridged by two Br atoms.     

Fabrication of Hard Dextran DEAE: Adsorption Equilibria of BSA

A hard dextran-DEAE ion exchanger (Hard Dextran DEAE) was developed. It is hard and keeps good properties of dextran-DEAE for protein separation. It is not compressed in a column and can be used in much wider range of flow rate in the column than the commercial hard gel, DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow made of agarose. The saturation capacity of BSA on Hard Dextran DEAE is about 1.7 times of that on DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow at pH 6.9. Equilibrium isotherm for adsorption of BSA depends on pH considerably. When pH 5.5, the equilibrium isotherm is correlated by the Langmuir equation. When pH 5.05, the isotherm is correlated by the Freundlich equation. The higher the concentration of NaCl is, the smaller the amount of BSA adsorbed. When the concentration of NaCl is higher than 100 mol m–3 at pH 6.9 and 50 mol m–3 at pH 4.8, BSA was not adsorbed on the resin. This may suggest that BSA is adsorbed by electrostatic attraction. About 100 mol m–3 NaCl aqueous solution can be used as an eluant of proteins.     

Site specificity of metal ions in heterodinuclear complexes derived from an "end-off" compartmental ligand

A phenol-based "end-off" compartmental ligand, 2-[N-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]iminomethyl]-6-[N,N-di(2-pyridylmethyl)aminomethyl]-4-methylphenol (HL), having a bidentate arm and a tridentate arm attached to the 2 and 6 positions of the phenolic ring, has afforded the following heterodinuclear M(a)(II)M(b)(II) complexes: [CuM(L)(AcO)(2)]ClO(4) (M = Mn (1), Fe (2), Co (3), Ni (4), Zn (5)), [ZnM(L)(AcO)(2)]ClO(4) (M = Co (6), Ni (7)), and [CuNi(L)(AcO)(NCS)(2)] (8). 1.MeOH (1'), 2.MeOH (2'), 3.MeOH (3'), 4.MeOH (4'), 5.MeOH (5'), and 7.MeOH (7') are isostructural and have a heterodinuclear core bridged by the phenolic oxygen atom of L(-) and two acetate groups. In 1'-5' the Cu(II) is bound to the bidentate arm and has a square-pyramidal geometry with one acetate oxygen at the apical site. The M(II) is bound to the tridentate arm and has a six-coordinate geometry together with two acetate oxygen atoms. In the case of 7' the Zn is bound to the bidentate arm and the Ni is bound to the tridentate arm. 8.2-PrOH (8') has a dinuclear core bridged by the phenolic oxygen atom of L(-) and one acetate group. The Cu bound to the bidentate arm has a square-pyramidal geometry with an isothiocyanate group at the apical site. The Ni bound to the tridentate arm has a six-coordinate geometry with further coordination of an isothiocyanate group. The site specificity of the metal ions is discussed together with the crystal structure of [Cu(4)(L)(2)(AcO)(3)](ClO(4))(3).H(2)O (9) prepared in this work.     

Silicon hydrides and nickel complexes : II. Mechanism of the hydrosilylation catalyzed by nickel-phosphine complexes

Two ethylene-nickel(0) complexes, viz., [1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane]-(ethylene)nickel(0) and bis(triphenylphosphine)(ethylene)nickel(0) have been used in a comparison of their catalytic activities in hydrosilylation reactions with those of the corresponding nickel(II) complexes, viz., dichloro [1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)-ethane]nickel(II) and dichlorobis(triphenylphosphine)nickel(II). The reaction profiles are similar, apart from a significant difference in the induction period; the nickel(II) catalysts requiring a substantially longer time. A mechanism involving a nickel(0) species is proposed for the hydrosilylation.The interchange of hydrogen and chlorine on silicon accompanying the hydrosilylation is related to a high electron density at the nickel atom bearing the phosphine, olefin, and silicon hydride ligands.     

Three-valued Gauss periods,circulant weighing matrices and association schemes

Gauss periods taking exactly two values are closely related to two-weight irreducible cyclic codes and strongly regular Cayley graphs. They have been extensively studied in the work of Schmidt and White and others. In this paper, we consider the question of when Gauss periods take exactly three rational values. We obtain numerical necessary conditions for Gauss periods to take exactly three rational values. We show that in certain cases, the necessary conditions obtained are also sufficient. We give numerous examples where the Gauss periods take exactly three values. Furthermore, we discuss connections between three-valued Gauss periods and combinatorial structures such as circulant weighing matrices and three-class association schemes.     

On quasihomomorphisms with noncommutative targets

We describe structure of quasihomomorphisms from arbitrary groups to discrete groups. We show that all quasihomomorphisms are “constructible”, i.e., are obtained via certain natural operations from homomorphisms to some groups and quasihomomorphisms to abelian groups. We illustrate this theorem by describing quasihomomorphisms to certain classes of groups. For instance, every unbounded quasihomomorphism to a torsion-free hyperbolic group H is either a homomorphism to a subgroup of H or is a quasihomomorphism to an infinite cyclic subgroup of H.