Distribution of fallout radionuclides through soil surface layer

The distribution of¹³⁷Cs through soil layers has been investigated by field sampling. The investigation deals with¹³⁷Cs concentration found after the Chernobyl accident. The relationship between important soil characteristics, total precipitation and cesium distribution are analyzed. Cesium is strongly sorbed in the top soil layer and its migration downward is limited. Measurements performed over a 3-year period revealed that approximately 20–38 per cent of total¹³⁷Cs is located in the upper soil layer.     

Metal—metal bonding in dinuclear complexes of platinum(I). The crystal and molecular structure of carbonyl(chloro)-bis-μ-[bis(diphenylphosphino)methane]diplatinum hexafluorophosphate

The structure of [Pt₂Cl(CO) (μ-Ph₂PCH₂PPh₂)₂] [PF₆] was determined by $\text{X}$-ray methods and refined to $\text{R}$ = 0.082, using diffractometric intensities of 5646 independent reflections. The crystals are monoclinic, space group $\text{P}$2₁/$\text{n}$, $\text{a}$ = 12.919(3), $\text{b}$ = 15.576(6), $\text{c}$ = 25.151(5)Å, β = 94.82(3)°, $\text{Z}$ = 4. They are built of octahedral hexafluorophosphate anions and dinuclear platinum(I) cations. The latter contain PtCl and PtCO fragments linked to one another by a PtPt σ-bond and by two bridging bis(diphenylphosphino)methane ligands. The platinum atoms are in square planar environments and the dihedral angle between the two coordination planes is 40.1°. Selected bond lengths are: PtPt 2.620(1), PtCl 2.384(5), PtC 1.89(3) and PtP 2.291(5) – 2.308(5)Å.     

Radical polymerization of n-substituted methacrylamides

The relationship between the structure of monomer and kinetics of the radical polymerization of N-ethylmethacrylamide, N-butylmethacrylamide and N-phenylmethacrylamide in methanol and in dimethylsulphoxide was investigated. The reaction order with respect to initiator is 0·5 in all cases; the order with respect to monomer is independent of the type of substituent but depends on the solvent and on the viscosity of the reaction mixture. The polymerization rate, the value of $\text{κ}{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{/κ}{}_{\mathrm{t}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$, and the initiator efficiency decrease in the series N-phenylmethacrylamide, N-ethylmethacrylamide and N-butylmethacrylamide. The overall activation energy of polymerization for the monomers lies between 16 and 20 kcal/mol.     

Improved flask-combustion method for phosphorus in petroleum products

Summary An electrical assembly for the oxygen-flask combustion of lubricants and similar petroleum products is described. The pyrolysis is performed in two consecutive steps. After the ignition and burning of the sample (sorbed on sodium carbonate) the combustion is completed by further heating. The sample weight should not exceed 140 mg. In this way the sensitivity of phosphorus determination of the tentative IP standard procedure is enhanced from 0.01 to 0.001% phosphorus if the volume of solution for the final spectrophotometric measurement is reduced.

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Zusammenfassung Ein elektrisches Gerät für die Verbrennung von Schmierölen und ähnlichen Erdölprodukten im Schöniger-Kolben wurde beschrieben. Die Pyrolyse erfolgt in zwei aufeinander folgenden Schritten. Nach der Entflammung der an Natriumcarbonat adsorbierten Probe und nach Erlöschen der Flamme erfolgt die vollständige Verbrennung von Einwaagen, die 140 mg nicht überschreiten. So konnte die Empfindlichkeit der Phosphorbestimmung nach der tentativen IP-Standardmethode von 0,01% auf 0,001% Phosphor gesteigert werden, wenn man die spektrophotometrische Messung mit vermindertem Lösungsvolumen durchführt.

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Herrn Professor Dr. H. Lieb zum 90. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Isolation and cleanup of organophosphorus insecticides and their oxones from animal tissues

The influence has been investigated of the electrode filling of carbon paste electrodes on voltammetric measurements (peak current, peak potential, current voltage curve). Greater effects have been observed with the reduction of [Fe(CN)₆]^3? and with systems with adsorptive enrichment.     

Classification of wheat varieties: use of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis for varieties that can not be classified by matrix assisted laser desorpiton/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry and an artificial neural network

Analyzing a gliadin extract by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) combined with an artificial neural network (ANN) is a suitable method for identification of wheat varieties. However, the ANN can not distinguish between all different wheat varieties. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) was applied to three pairs of wheat varieties, which can not be classified correctly by ANN. By 2-D PAGE the varieties in the three pairs can be discriminated and these six wheat varieties can be separated from each other, which could not be separated by MALDI-TOF-MS and NN.     

Optimization of artificial neural networks used for retention modelling in ion chromatography

The aim of this work is the development of an artificial neural network model, which can be generalized and used in a variety of applications for retention modelling in ion chromatography. Influences of eluent flow-rate and concentration of eluent anion (OH-) on separation of seven inorganic anions (fluoride, chloride, nitrite, sulfate, bromide, nitrate, and phosphate) were investigated. Parallel prediction of retention times of seven inorganic anions by using one artificial neural network was applied. MATLAB Neural Networks ToolBox was not adequate for application to retention modelling in this particular case. Therefore the authors adopted it for retention modelling by programming in MATLAB metalanguage. The following routines were written; the division of experimental data set on training and test set; selection of data for training and test set; Dixon's outlier test; retraining procedure routine; calculations of relative error. A three-layer feed forward neural network trained with a Levenberg-Marquardt batch error back propagation algorithm has been used to model ion chromatographic retention mechanisms. The advantage of applied batch training methodology is the significant increase in speed of calculation of algorithms in comparison with delta rule training methodology. The technique of experimental data selection for training set was used allowing improvement of artificial neural network prediction power. Experimental design space was divided into 8-32 subspaces depending on number of experimental data points used for training set. The number of hidden layer nodes, the number of iteration steps and the number of experimental data points used for training set were optimized. This study presents the very fast (300 iteration steps) and very accurate (relative error of 0.88%) retention model, obtained by using a small amount of experimental data (16 experimental data points in training set). This indicates that the method of choice for retention modelling in ion chromatography is the artificial neural network.     

Application of thermal analysis for quantitative nitrogen determination in fertilizers

DSC and DTA techniques have been used to determine nitrogen present in the form of ammonium nitrate in fertilizers. The optimum conditions for the investigations were determined for both techniques. By determining peak area, i.e. the enthalpy of the ammonium nitrate crystal transformation II I, it was possible to determine the nitrogen content in ammonium nitrate and in lime ammonium nitrate by DSC with average deviations of 0.44 and 0.91%,respectively. Using DTA and the enthalpy of the ammonium nitrate crystal transformation IV III, the average deviation of nitrogen determination in lime/ammonium nitrate was 1.09%.

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Zusammenfassung DSC und DTA wurden zur Bestimmung des in Düngemitteln in Form von Ammoniumnitrat vorliegenden Stickstoffs benutzt. Für beide Techniken wurden die optimalen Untersuchungsbedingungen ermittelt. Durch Bestimmung der Peakfläche, d. h. der Enthalpie der Kristalltransformation II I des Ammoniumnitrats konnte der Stickstoffgehalt in Ammoniumnitrat und in Kalk/Ammoniumnitrat mittels DSC mit mittleren Abweichungen von 0.44 bzw. 0.91% bestimmt werden. Aus der Kristalltransformation IV III des Ammoniumnitrats ergibt sich bei Benutzung der DTA-Methode eine mittlere Abweichung von 1.09% für die Stickstoffbestimmung in Kalk/Ammoniumnitrat.

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, . . , , (III) , — . , , 0,44 0,91%. IVIII , - 1,09%.

     

Vibrational spectra of the adduct of 1,8-bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene with dichloromaleic acid (DMAN x DCM)

The infra-red (IR), Raman (R) and inelastic incoherent neutron scattering (IINS) spectra, particularly in low frequency region, of the title ionic adduct were studied. It is shown that all low frequency vibrations (below 200 cm(-1)) of (CH3)2N groups of protonated 1,8-bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene (DMAN)--clearly observed in IINS spectra--are sensitive to the environment, i.e. to the type of counterion forming short contacts with C-H bonds of methyl groups. The internal frequencies were also calculated by ab initio method. The results are consistent with numerous observations of the counteranion effect on the geometry of the protonated DMAN. The conclusions are compared with structural and NMR studies reported recently for the 1,8-bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene with dichloromaleic acid (DMAN x DCM) adduct. The single crystal R polarized spectra taken over the frequency range 20-3200 cm(-1) were analyzed in detail. We have shown that a substantial difference in the IR spectrum of the dichloromaleic acid (DCM) anion in the DMAN adduct and in the potassium salt results from different geometries of OHO hydrogen bonds. In the case of potassium salt the chains of longer intermolecular hydrogen bonds are formed described by means of a double minimum potential.     

Neue Synthesen von 4,4′-Äthinylendiphenol (4,4′-Dihydroxytolan)

Zusammenfassung Es werden zwei neue Wege zur herstellung des 4,4-Äthinylendiphenols beschrieben. Der erste beruht auf der Entmethylierung des Bis-(4-methoxyphenyl)acetylens, der zweite auf der Oxydation des 4,4-Dihydroxybenzildihydrazons nach derCurtiusschen Methode.

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Two new syntheses of 4.4-ethynylene diphenol

Two new syntheses of 4.4-ethynylene diphenol are described: demethylation of bis-(4-methoxyphenyl)-acetylene, and oxidation of 4.4-dihydroxybenzildihydrazone according toCurtius.