Highly selective transport of silver ion through a supported liquid membrane using calix[4]pyrroles as suitable ion carriers

Facilitated transport of silver ion across a supported liquid membrane (SLM) by calix[4]pyrroles, as selective ion carriers, dissolved in kerosene has been investigated. The influences of fundamental parameters affecting the transport of silver ion including ion carrier concentration in the membrane phase, thiosulfate concentration in strip phase, picric acid concentration in the feed phase, stirring speed of aqueous phases, type of membrane solvent and time of transport have been studied. In the presence of thiosulfate as a suitable metal ion acceptor in the strip phase and picrate ion as ion pairing agent in the source phase, transport of silver occurs almost quantitatively after 75 min. The selectivity and efficiency of silver transport from aqueous solution containing Cu²⁺, Mg²⁺, Ni²⁺, Ca²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺, Co²⁺, Al³⁺, Hg²⁺, Cd²⁺, Fe³⁺, Fe²⁺ and Cr³⁺ were investigated.     

Structural,theoretical and multinuclear NMR study of mercury(II) complexes of phosphorus ylides: Mono and binuclear complexes

Reaction of phosphorus ylide Ph₃PCHC(O)C₆H₄Cl (Y₁) with HgX₂ (X = Cl, Br and I) and ylide (p-tolyl)₃PCHC(O)CH₃ (Y₂) with HgI₂ in equimolar ratios using methanol as solvent leads to binuclear products. The bridge-splitting reaction of binuclear complex [(Y₁) · HgCl₂]₂ by DMSO yields a mononuclear complex containing DMSO as ligand. O-coordination of DMSO is revealed by single crystal X-ray analysis in mononuclear complex of [(Y₁) · HgCl₂ · DMSO]. C-coordination of ylides is confirmed by X-ray structure of binuclear complex [(Y₂) · HgI₂]₂. Characterization of the obtained compounds was also performed by elemental analysis, IR, ¹H, ³¹P, and ¹³C NMR. Theoretical studies on mercury(II) complexes of Y₁ show that formation of mononuclear complexes in DMSO solution in which DMSO acts as a ligand, energetically is more favorable than that of binuclear complexes.     

Amino acid dependent formation of phosphate anhydrides in water mediated by carbonyl sulfide

Carbonyl sulfide (COS), a component of volcanic gas emissions and interstellar gas clouds, is shown to be an efficient condensing agent in the context of phosphate chemistry in aqueous solutions. We report that high-energy aminoacyl-phosphate anhydrides and aminoacyl adenylates are generated in solutions containing amino acids, COS, and the corresponding phosphate molecule. We further show that the mixed anhydrides of amino acids and inorganic phosphate are phosphorylating agents, producing pyrophosphate in better than 30% yield in the presence of Ca2+ precipitates. The amino acid dependent activations of phosphate reported here, which occur in parallel with the production of peptides, suggest that these two reactions may have shared a common intermediate on the prebiotic Earth.     

Experimental and quantum chemical study on the IR, UV and electrode potential of 6-(2,3-dihydro-1,3-dioxo-2-phenyl-1H-inden-2-yl)-2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde

Electrode potential of 6-(2,3-dihydro-1,3-dioxo-2-phenyl-1H-inden-2-yl)-2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde (DPDB) in methanol have been calculated theoretically. For the achievement of this task, the density functional theory (B3LYP/6-31G(d)) was employed with the inclusion of the entropic and thermochemical corrections to yield the free energies of the redox reactions. The electrode potential was also obtained experimentally by means of an electrochemical technique (cyclic voltammetry). The geometric parameters, the vibrational frequency values and the UV spectrum of DPDB and 2-(2,3-dihydro-1,3-dioxo-2-phenyl-1H-inden-2-yl)-5,6-dioxocyclohexa-1,3-dienecarbaldehyde (DPDD is the oxidized form of DPDB), were computed using the same methods. The calculated IR spectrum of DPDB, used for the assignment of the IR frequencies, was observed in the experimental FT-IR spectrum. The correlation between the theoretical and experimental DPDB vibrational frequencies was 0.996. This agreement mutually verified the accuracy of the experimental method and the validity of the applied mathematical model.     

Oxidative properties of a nonheme Ni(II)(O2) complex: Reactivity patterns for C-H activation, aromatic hydroxylation and heteroatom oxidation

Density functional theory calculations on the reactivity of a Ni(II)-superoxo complex in C-H bond activation, aromatic hydroxylation and heteroatom oxidation reactions have been explored; the Ni(II)-superoxo complex is able to react with substrates with weak C-H bonds and PPh(3).     

A heterocyclic peptide nanotube

An open-ended hollow tubular structure is designed based on hydrogen-bond-directed self-assembly of a chimeric cyclic peptide subunit comprised of alternating alpha- and epsilon-amino acids. The design features a novel 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole epsilon-amino acid and its utility as a peptide backbone substitute. The N-Fmoc-protected epsilon-amino acid was synthesized in high yield and optical purity in three steps from readily available starting materials and was employed in solid-phase peptide synthesis to afford the desired cyclic peptide structure. The cyclic peptide self-assembly has been studied in solution by (1)H NMR and mass spectrometry and the resulting tubular ensemble characterized in the solid state by X-ray crystallography.     

Monitoring of the insecticide trichlorfon by phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (31P NMR) spectroscopy

Trichlorfon is an organophosphorus insecticide, which is extensively being used for protection of fruit crops. Trichlorfon is a thermal labile compound, which cannot be easily determined by gas chromatography (GC) and has no suitable group for sensitive detection by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this study, a ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (³¹P NMR) has been described for monitoring of trichlorfon without any separation step. The quantitative works of ³¹P NMR spectroscopy has been performed in the presence of an internal standard (hexamethylphosphoramide). Limit of detection (LOD) for this method has been found to be 55 mg L⁻¹, without any sample preparation, and the linear working range was 150-5500 mg L⁻¹. Relative standard deviation (R.S.D.%) of the method for three replicates within and between days was obtained ≤9%. The average recovery efficiency was approximately 99-112%. This method was applied for monitoring trichlorfon in a commercial insecticide sample and tomato sample.     

Decay rate of an excited atom in a moving medium

The effect of a uniformly moving medium on the decay rate of an excited atom is calculated. When the local field effects are neglected, the free space decay rate is modified by a factor which is a complicated function of refractive index, permeability, and velocity of the medium. It is shown that the decay rate vanishes if the velocity of the medium exceeds the phase velocity of light in the stationary medium.     

Random bearings and their stability

Self-similar space-filling bearings have been proposed some time ago as models for the motion of tectonic plates and appearance of seismic gaps. These models have two features which, however, seem unrealistic, namely, high symmetry in the arrangement of the particles, and lack of a lower cutoff in the size of the particles. In this work, an algorithm for generating random bearings in both two and three dimensions is presented. Introducing a lower cutoff for the sizes of the particles, the instabilities of the bearing under an external force such as gravity, are studied.