Geochemical investigation of alluvial sediments: validation of ICP-OES determination of heavy metals. A case study from the Utrata River Valley (central Poland)

The development and validation of a reliable analytical procedure for the determination of selected metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn and Mn) in sediments accumulated in the Utrata River (Poland) is described. The aqua regia extraction followed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used for this purpose. The optimized analytical procedure was validated, and adequate quality control actions were implemented in order to provide reliable data. The precision under’ within-laboratory’ reproducibility conditions was estimated from duplicate analysis. Certified reference material (CRM) was used in order to evaluate the accuracy of the results regarding the sewage sludge amended soil CRM 143R. The detection limits for all elements of interest were well-below their content in the investigated sediment samples. The obtained reliable data could be used for assessment of the relationship between human economic activity in the past and the geochemical features of the sediments.     

NEW SYNTHETIC ROUTE TO DIALKYLPHOSPHINIC ACIDS

Abstract

The dialkylphosphinic acids, 5a-5e, can be obtained by reacting bis(trimethylsiloxy)phosphine with the highly reactive alkyl halides, 2a-2e, in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane and triethylamine, followed by ethanolysis of the resulting trimethylsilyl dialkylphosphinates, 4a-4e.     

Gravitational states of antihydrogen near material surface

We present a theoretical study of the motion of antihydrogen atoms in the Earth??s gravitational field near a material surface. We predict the existence of long-living quasistationary states of antihydrogen in a superposition of the gravitational and Casimir-van der Waals potentials of the surface. We suggest an interferometric method of measuring the energy difference between such gravitational states, hence the gravitational mass of antihydrogen.     

Unravelling Structural Mysteries of Simple Organozinc Alkoxides

Simple RZnOR’ alkoxides are among the first known organozinc compounds, and widespread interest in their multifaced chemistry has been driven by their fundamental significance and potential applications including various catalytic reactions. Nevertheless, their chemistry in solution and in the solid state remains both relatively poorly understood and a subject of constant debate. Herein, the synthesis and structural characterization of long-sought structural forms, a roof-like trimer [(tBuZn)₃(μ-OC(H)Ph₂)₂(μ₃-OC(H)Ph₂)] and a ladder-type tetramer [(PhZn)₄(μ-OC(H)Ph₂)₂(μ₃-OC(H)Ph₂)₂], incorporating diphenylmethanolate as a model alkoxide ligand, are reported. Both novel aggregates are robust in the solid state and resistant towards mechanical force. By using ¹H NMR and diffusion-order spectroscopy, it is demonstrated that new RZnOR’ alkoxides are kinetically labile in solution and readily undergo ligand scrambling, such as in the case of Schlenk equilibrium. The elucidated key structural issues, which have remained undiscovered for decades, significantly advance the chemistry of RZnOR’ alkoxides and should support the rational design of zinc alkoxide-based applications.     

On subgame perfect equilibria in quantum Stackelberg duopoly with incomplete information

The Li–Du–Massar quantum duopoly model is one of the generally accepted quantum game schemes. It has applications in a wide range of duopoly problems. Our purpose is to study Stackelberg's duopoly with incomplete information in the quantum domain. The result of Lo and Kiang has shown that the correlation of players' quantities caused by the quantum entanglement enhances the first-mover advantage in the game. Our work demonstrates that there is no first-mover advantage if the players' actions are maximally correlated. Furthermore, we proved that the second mover gains a higher equilibrium payoff than the first one.     

Combined prostate diffusion tensor imaging and dynamic contrast enhanced MRI at 3T — quantitative correlation with biopsy

The purpose of this work was to compare diagnostic accuracy of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE MRI) and their combination in diagnosing prostate cancer. Twenty-five patients with clinical suspicion of prostate cancer underwent MRI, prior to transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsies. MRI data were correlated to biopsy results. Logistic regression models were constructed for the DTI parameters, DCE MRI parameters, and their combination. The areas under the receiver operator characteristic curves (AUC) were compared between the models. The nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for statistical analysis. The sensitivity and specificity values were respectively 81% (74–87%) and 85% (79–90%) for DTI and 63% (55–70%) and 90% (85–94%) for DCE. The combination “DTI or DCE MRI” had 100% (97–100%) sensitivity and 77% (69–83%) specificity, while “DTI and DCE MRI” had 44% (37–52%) sensitivity and 98% (94–100%) specificity. The AUC for DTI+DCE parameters was significantly higher than that for either DTI (0.96 vs. 0.92, P=.0143) or DCE MRI parameters (0.96 vs. 0.87, P=.00187) alone. In conclusion, the combination of DTI and DCE MRI has significantly better accuracy in prostate cancer diagnosis than either technique alone.     

On the Dimension of Posets with Cover Graphs of Treewidth 2

In 1977, Trotter and Moore proved that a poset has dimension at most 3 whenever its cover graph is a forest, or equivalently, has treewidth at most 1. On the other hand, a well-known construction of Kelly shows that there are posets of arbitrarily large dimension whose cover graphs have treewidth 3. In this paper we focus on the boundary case of treewidth 2. It was recently shown that the dimension is bounded if the cover graph is outerplanar (Felsner, Trotter, and Wiechert) or if it has pathwidth 2 (Biró, Keller, and Young). This can be interpreted as evidence that the dimension should be bounded more generally when the cover graph has treewidth 2. We show that it is indeed the case: Every such poset has dimension at most 1276.     

Evolution of synthetic routes towards homochiral Tapentadol

Analysis of the literature shows that the development of synthetic approaches to Tapentadol, an agonist of the μ-opioid receptor and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, has followed four, partially overlapping, phases. The most advanced approaches, based on stereoselective syntheses, appeared only after 2010. The majority of the chemistry examples presented in this review come from patent applications and as such have not been subjected to rigorous peer review, but may serve well as an inspiration to organic chemists for solving analogous synthetic problems.     

Free Radicals, Salicylic Acid and Mycotoxins in Asparagus After Inoculation with Fusarium proliferatum and F. oxysporum

Electron paramagnetic resonance was used to monitor free radicals and paramagnetic species like Fe, Mn, Cu generation, stability and status in Asparagus officinalis infected by common pathogens Fusarium proliferatum and F. oxysporum. Occurrence of F. proliferatum and F. oxysporum, level of free radicals and other paramagnetic species, as well as salicylic acid and mycotoxins content in roots and stems of seedlings were estimated on the second and fourth week after inoculation. In the first term free and total salicylic acid contents were related to free radicals level in stem (P?=?0.010 and P?=?0.033, respectively). Concentration of Fe(3+) ions in porphyrin complexes (g?=?2.3, g?=?2.9) was related to the species of pathogen. There was no significant difference between Mn(2+) concentrations in stem samples; however, the level of free radicals in samples inoculated with F. proliferatum was significantly higher when compared to F. oxysporum.