Production of metakaolin from industrial cellulose waste

Research focused on the transformation and utilization of industrial wastes into products of commercial interest plays an increasingly important role. Residual pulp can become useful in the manufacture of different materials, providing high value to this waste and reducing its environmental impact when disposed of improperly in the environment. The main constituents of this waste are kaolin and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃). Starting from kaolin, metakaolin can be produced by calcination of the residue at 630?°C for 2?h in a rotary reactor with air flow, followed by solubilization with hydrochloric acid to remove the CaCO₃. The development of technological alternatives aimed at the reuse of certain wastes can result in applications of real economic interest to the chemical industry and ceramics and glass, which is the case in this study. The raw material and metakaolin obtained were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis and derivative thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy with promising results. This is because metakaolin was obtained free of contamination by other materials.     

Detoxification of Chemical Warfare Agents Using a Zr6‐Based Metal–Organic Framework/Polymer Mixture

Owing to their high surface area, periodic distribution of metal sites, and water stability, zirconium‐based metal–organic frameworks (Zr₆‐MOFs) have shown promising activity for the hydrolysis of nerve agents GD and VX, as well as the simulant, dimethyl 4‐nitrophenylphosphate (DMNP), in buffered solutions. A hurdle to using MOFs for this application is the current need for a buffer solution. Here the destruction of the simulant DMNP, as well as the chemical warfare agents (GD and VX) through hydrolysis using a MOF catalyst mixed with a non‐volatile, water‐insoluble, heterogeneous buffer is reported. The hydrolysis of the simulant and nerve agents in the presence of the heterogeneous buffer was fast and effective.     

Small molecules,big impact: a history of chemical inhibitors and the cytoskeleton

Chemical inhibitors, whether natural products or synthetic, have had an enormous impact on the study of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton. Here we review the history of some of the most widely used cytoskeletal poisons and their influence on our understanding of cytoskeletal functions. We then highlight several new inhibitors and the targeted screens used to identify them and discuss why this approach has been successful.     

Improved measurement of Vub with inclusive semileptonic B decays

We report a new measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa parameter Vub made with a sample of 9.7 x 10(6) BB- events collected with the CLEO II detector. Using heavy quark theory, we combine the observed yield of leptons from semileptonic B decay in the end-point momentum interval 2.2-2.6 GeV/c with recent CLEO II data on B-->X(s)gamma to find Vub = (4.08+/-0.34+/-0.44+/-0.16+/-0.24)x10(-3), where the first two uncertainties are experimental and the last two are from theory.     

Alkali metal promoted transfer of dimethylsilylene from dodecamethylcyclohexasilane to silanes and dienes

Addition of sodium/potassium alloy to THF solutions containing dodecamethylcyclohexasilane and a diene or a silane, affords silacyclopentenes and disilanes, respectively.     

Energy transfer in rare earth-doped CaWO4 after red edge excitation

Host sensitized energy transfer in CaWO₄ doped with Eu³⁺ and Sm³⁺ is investigated using pulsed laser time-resolved spectroscopy techniques. The excitation is into the long wavelength tail of the absorption edge and the results indicate that this selectively excites tungstate ions which are located next to activator impurity ions. The subsequent energy transfer is found to be consistent with a single step, nearest neighbor process. Both electric dipole-dipole and exchange interactions can predict strong enough transfer to account for the observed rates. These results are compared to those obtained previously for broad band excitation into the highest energy absorption bands of CaWO₄ crystals.     

Isotopic ion exchange separation of radioisotopes using an acetone-water-hydrochloric acid system

Isotopic ion exchange for the rapid separation of radioactive mixtures has been further extended through the use of an acetone-water-hydrochloric acid system. Distribution data were obtained for 27 elements in the range of 15–90% acetone, 0.3N HCl indicating a number of new separations. The approach was used for the separation of several radioisotopes from short half-life magnesium matrix for activation analysis. The separations were completed in less than 5 minutes. Research supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency.