Effect of grinding on thermal reactivity of ceramic clay minerals

The effect of grinding on thermal behavior of pyrophyllite and talc as commonly used ceramic clay minerals was investigated by DTA, TG, emanation thermal analysis (ETA), B.E.T. surface area (s.a.) measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A vibratory mill was used in this study, grinding time was 5 min. It was found that the grinding caused an increase in surface area and a grain size reduction of the samples. From TG and DTA results it followed that grinding caused a decrease of the temperature at which the structure bound OH groups released. The formation of high temperature phases was enhanced with the ground samples. For the ground talc sample the crystallization of non-crystalline phase into orthorhombic enstatite was observed in the range of 800°C. For ground pyrophyllite a certain agglomeration of grains was observed in the range above 950°C. Moreover, for both clays the ETA characterized a closing up of subsurface irregularities caused by grinding as a decrease of the emanation rate in the range 250–400°C. The comparison of thermal analysis results with the results of other methods made it possible to better understand the effect of grinding on the ceramic clays.     

Synthesis and characterisation of some new cyanonitrosyl chromium(l) complexes with phenetidines and anisidines

Summary A new series of cyano-substituted nitrosylchromium(I) complexes having octahedral stereochemistry around the metal ion, and of general formula, [CrNO(CN)₂(L)₂(H₂O)] (L =o-,m- andp-phenetidines oro-,m-, andp-anisidines) have been isolated in the solid state by interaction of potassium pentacy-anonitrosylchromate(I) monohydrate with the appropriately substituted aniline. The complexes, which have been characterised by elemental analysis, conductance, molecular weight determination, magnetic measurements, e.s.r. and i.r. spectral studies, contain chromium(I) in a low-spin d⁵-configuration.     

Spectrophotometric study of the system Hg(II)-thymol blue-H2O and its evidence through electrochemical means

The detailed analysis of the experimental spectrophotometric data obtained from solutions containing the acid-base indicator thymol blue (TB) and mercury(II) (Hg(II)) coupled with data processing by means of the SQUAD program, a chemical model was determined that includes the formation of complexes indicator-metal ion (HgTB and HgOTB), dimer species (H3TB2 and H4TB2) and monomer species (HTB and TB). The values of the overall formation constants (log beta) were calculated for the chemical equilibria involved: TB+Hg<-->HgTB log beta=16.047 +/- 0.043, TB+Hg+H2O<-->HgOHTB+H log beta=7.659 +/- 0.049, 2TB+4H<-->H4TB2 log beta=31.398 +/- 0.083, 2TB+3H<-->H3TB2 log beta=29.953 +/- 0.084 and H+TB<-->HTB-log beta=8.900. To compliment the present research, the values of the absorptivity coefficients are included for all the species involved, within a wide range of wavelengths (250-700 nm). The latter were used subsequently to carry simulations of the absorption spectra at various pH values, thus corroborating that the chemical model proposed is fully capable to describe the experimental information. Voltammetric study performed evidenced the formation of a complex with a 1:1 stoichiometry Hg(II):TB.     

Mixed valency in the high-temperature phases of transition metal molybdates, A MoO4 ( A =Fe, Co, Ni)

Transition metal molybdates of the formulaAMoO₄ whereA=Fe, Co or Ni exhibit a first-order phase transition between 670K–970K. An investigation of the lowtemperature (lt) and high-temperature (ht) phases by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility and other physical methods shows that the phase transition is associated with a valence change of the typeA ²⁺+Mo⁶⁺αA ³⁺+Mo⁵⁺ in the cases of iron and cobalt molybdates. Contribution No. 311 from the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit.     

Salt Stress Proteins Identified by a Functional Approach in Yeast

We have performed functional genomics of salt stress by overexpression of gene libraries in yeast and selection for salt tolerance. Thirty halotolerance genes were isolated from yeast, Arabidopsis, and sugar beet. The results indicate that Na⁺ transport (uptake, efflux, and compartmentation), sulfate activation, RNA processing, and protein synthesis are crucial for salt tolerance.     

Effect of environmental factors and carbohydrate on gellan gum production

Submerged culture fermentation studies were carried out in batch mode for optimizing the environmental parameters and carbon source requirement by Pseudomonas elodea for the production of gellan gum. The maximum production of gellan gum was obtained with 16-h-old culture and 8% inoculum at 30°C and pH 7.0 after 52 h of incubation (6.0 g/L). Of the various carbon sources tested, 2% sucrose, glucose, and soluble starch yielded considerably high amounts of gellan. Studies on the concentration of various carbohydrates on gellan gum production indicated that the optimum concentration of glucose and starch was 3%, whereas for sucrose it was 4%. The addition of glucose in the medium above 3% had a detrimental effect on gellan yield. The investigation of intermediate two-step addition of glucose under identical conditions of fermentation showed an enhanced production of gellan (8.12 g/L) as compared with the control (6.0 g/L). To optimize the recovery of gellan from fermented broth, different solvents were tested for precipitation of gellan gum. Among the various solvents tested, tetrahydrofuran gave better recovery of gellan (82%) as compared with the conventional solvent isopropanol (49%).     

Group 6 heteroatom- and non-heteroatom-stabilized carbene complexes. beta,beta'- and alpha,beta,beta'-annulation reactions of cyclic enamines

Cyclization reactions of group 6 Fischer carbene complexes with cyclopentanone and cyclohexanone enamines are described. Enamine 3a undergoes thermal alpha,beta,beta'-annulation with alkenylcarbene complexes 1 and 2 (THF, 60 degrees C), affording semibullvalenes 5. The metalate intermediates 6, resulting from beta,beta'-annulation of the enamines 3a and 4a, were quantitatively formed by running the reaction in hexane at room temperature. Acid-promoted demetalation of 6 afforded endo-2-bicyclo[3.2.1]octen-8-ones 7 and endo/exo-2-bicyclo[3.3.1]nonen-9-ones 8 (endo/exo = 5:1). Using (S)-methoxymethylpyrrolidine-derived enamines 3b and 4b,c allowed highly enantioenriched cycloadducts endo-(+)-7 as well as endo-(-)-8 and exo-(-)-8 to be accessed. The non-heteroatom-stabilized carbene complex 10 was formed from complex 6 by Me(3)SiOTf-promoted elimination of the methoxy group, characterized by (13)C NMR, and transformed into the organic compounds 7, 7-d, and 11 as well as into bicyclo[3.2.1]octan-2,8-diones 14 and cycloheptanones 15. On the basis of this sequence, enantioenriched cycloheptanones (+)-15 were efficiently prepared in one pot from carbene complexes 2 and enamine 3b (51-55% yield, 91-96% ee). Extension of this work to simple Fischer carbene complexes 16 allowed an appropriate way to generate the nonstabilized pentacarbonyl[(phenyl(alkyl)carbene]tungsten complex 17 to be designed, for which the thermal and chemical behavior leading to compounds 18-21 is described.     

Role of Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham orbitals in the basis set superposition error for systems linked by hydrogen bonds

In this work the effect of the basis set superposition error (BSSE) is explored with the counterpoise method on the occupied and unoccupied Hartree-Fock (HF) and Kohn-Sham (KS) orbitals. Three different systems linked by hydrogen bonds, H(2)O...FH, H(2)O...H(2)O, and H(2)O...CFH(3), were studied by using the basis set families cc-pVXZ and aug-cc-pVXZ (X = D, T, Q). The basis sets were tested with the HF method and two approximations for the exchange-correlation functional of KS: a generalized gradient approximation and a hybrid approach. In addition to these methods, the second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory, MP2, was considered. It was found that the presence of the "ghost" basis set affects the orbitals in two ways: (1) The occupied KS orbitals are more sensitive to the presence of this "ghost" basis set than the occupied HF orbitals. For this reason the BSSE observed in HF is less than that obtained with KS. (2) The unoccupied HF orbitals are more sensitive to the presence of the "ghost" basis set than their corresponding occupied orbitals. Because the MP2 method uses both, occupied and unoccupied HF orbitals, to compute the total energy, the contribution of the BSSE is bigger than that obtained with HF or KS methodologies.     

A new selective cleavage of n,n-dicarbamoyl-protected amines using lithium bromide

A mild and new procedure for the selective cleavage of an alkoxycarbonyl group (Boc, CBz) in N,N-dicarbamoyl-protected amino compounds is described. The method is based on the use of lithium bromide in acetonitrile and is compatible with a large range of other functionalities present in the substrates. Compared with other reported methodologies, the procedure is particularly useful for the Cbz-selective cleavage in N,N-Ts,Cbz-diprotected amines. A rationalization of the selectivity supported by ab initio calculations is also presented.     

Separation of molybdenum from interfering elements by extraction as phosphomolybdenum blue

A simple method is described for the separation of molybdenum from titanium, zirconium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, uranium and aluminium in a wide variety of samples in <30 min. Phosphomolybdenum blue is produced by boiling for 2 min a molybdate solution containing phosphate to give Mo/P = 20-37 (w/w) with hydrazine sulphate in 0.1N sulphuric acid. The volume and acidity are adjusted to give a molybdenum concentration of 0.6-5 my/ml in 0.4-0.5N sulphuric acid. The phosphomolybdenum blue is 99.5% extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone in a single extraction. The residual molybdenum and hydrazine in the aqueous phase are oxidized with a few drops of liquid bromine and the molybdenum is quantitatively extracted with the same solvent from 1N sulphuric acid as its reddish brown thiosulphato complex. The molybdenum is stripped by ammonia-hydrogen peroxide solution. The back-extract is heated to boiling and filtered to remove the insoluble hydroxides of traces of accompanying elements. The thiosulphate in the filtrate is destroyed by boiling for 4-5 min with excess of hydrogen peroxide in slightly ammoniacal medium. The molybdenum is determined finally by cerimetry or other standard methods.