Characterisation of Sugar Cane Combustion Particles in the Araraquara Region, Southeast Brazil

Biomass burning is an important primary and secondary source of aerosol particles. The presence of carbonaceous particles in the respirable size range makes the study of this fraction important in view of possible health and climatic effects. The annual burning of sugar cane plantations causes emission of huge amounts of pyrogenic particles. Aerosol samples were collected in Araraquara city, São Paulo state, Brazil, during the harvest season for fine and coarse particles and bulk; they were analysed by electron-probe microanalysis, including facilities for low-Z element determination (low-Z EPMA) and by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), in order to investigate the elemental composition of individual particles and bulk samples, respectively. Numerical analysis of the EPMA results by hierarchical clustering shows high contributions of carbonaceous particles that can be distinguished mainly in two different types: biogenic and carbon-rich. Additionally, two significant contributions of aluminosilicate particles were identified: as rather pure aluminosilicates or mixed with carbonaceous species. The EDXRF results are compatible with those of aerosol particles in Amazon, which is nowadays one of the main sources of biogenic particles in the world.     

The role of hydrogen bonding in supercooled methanol

The role of hydrogen bonding on the microscopic properties of supercooled methanol has been analyzed by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Thermodynamic, structural, and dynamical properties have been investigated in supercooled methanol. The results have been compared with those of an ideal methanol-like system whose molecules have the same dipole moment as the methanol but lack sites for hydrogen bonding. Upon cooling the methanol samples, translational relaxation times increase more rapidly than reorientational ones. This effect is much more important when hydrogen bonds are suppressed. Suppression of hydrogen bonds also results in lower critical temperatures for diffusion and for several characteristic relaxation time constants. The anisotropy of individual dynamics and the existence of dynamical heterogeneities have also been investigated.     

The Birch reduction-dialkylation reaction. Scope and limitations

The Birch reduction-dialkylation reaction has been studied with different aromatic carboxylic acids and primary and secondary bromides. From these results it can be concluded that it is a reasonably general reaction. However, we found important exceptions with the primary bromides: allyl bromide, β-phenethyl bromide, and 5-bromo-2-methyl-2-pentene. The unusual behavior of allyl bromide is briefly discussed.     

Improved ultrasonic extraction procedure for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments

The aim of this work was to optimize an ultrasonic extraction procedure for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments and to compare it with the reflux procedure using methanolic potassium hydroxide. Sample extracts were purified with a miniaturized silica gel chromatographic column and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Ultrasonication using n-hexane-acetone (1:1, v/v) solvent mixture on dried homogenized marine sediment gave better precision (smaller relative standard deviation (RSD) values) and comparable quantities of individual PAH's compared to the reflux procedure. Ultrasonication with the n-hexane-acetone (1:1, v/v) mixture, utilizing four 15 min extraction cycles, was found to be sufficient for extracting PAHs from wet sediments. The optimized ultrasonic extraction procedure extracted aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons from the National Institute of Standards and Technology SRM 1941a with recoveries greater than 90%. The major advantages of ultrasonication compared to the reflux method are the lower extraction times, simplicity of the apparatus and extraction procedure. The optimized ultrasonication procedure has been used in our laboratory to extract hydrocarbons from naturally wet sediments from rivers, and coastal and marine areas.     

Determination of arsenic in petroleum refinery streams by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after multivariate optimization based on Doehlert design

This paper reports the development of a methodology for the determination of arsenic in petroleum refinery aqueous streams containing large amounts of unknown volatile organic compounds, employing electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with polarized Zeeman-effect background correction. In order to make the procedure applicable, the influence of chemical modification and the drying step was examined. Also, pyrolysis and atomization temperatures and the amount of nitric acid added to the sample were optimized using a multivariate approach based on Doehlert matrix. Obtained results indicate that, in this kind of sample, arsenic must be determined by standard addition procedure with a careful control of the drying step temperature and ramp pattern. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the procedure, a test was performed in six spiked samples of petroleum refinery aqueous streams and the relative errors verified in the analysis of such samples (added As between 12.5 and 190 μg l⁻¹) ranged from −7.2 to +16.7%. The detection limit and the relative standard deviation were also calculated and the values are 68 pg and 7.5% (at 12.5 μg l⁻¹ level), respectively.     

Glueball spectroscopy in strongly coupled lattice gauge theories

We study the mass spectrum up to –7 (1–) log of pure three-dimensional lattice gauge theories with action (g _P) for real irreducible and small . Besides the lowest excitationm ₀–4log, we find two nearly degenerate excited statesm ₁,m ₂ withm _i–6log (i=1, 2) and (m ₁–m ₂) at leastO().Work partially supported by CNPq (Brasil)     

The particle structure ofv-dimensional Ising models at low temperatures

In this work we study thev-dimensional Ising model at low temperatures and establish the existence of an upper gap in the energy-momentum spectrum of the two-point function forv3. Forv=2, it is known that this gap is absent.Supported in part by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (CNPq-Brazil), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil) and the National Science Foundation under Grant PHY76-17191     

Synthesis of some 2-(heteroarylamino)benzimidazoles and their cyclization with phosgene

2-(Benzimidazol-2-ylamino)pyridine (4a) , 2-(benzimidazol-2-ylamino)pyrazine (4b) , and 2-(benzimidazol-2-ylamino)thiazole (4c) underwent a ring-closure reaction on treatment with phosgene affording 6H-pyrimido-[1′,2′:5,4][1,3,5]triazino[1,2-a]benzimidazol-6-one (1a) , 6H-pyrazino[1′,2′:5,4][1,3,5]triazino[1,2-a]benzimidazol-6-one (1b) , and 5H-thiazolo[2′,3′:4,5][1,3,5]triazino[1,2-a]benzimidazol-5-one (1c) respectively. The structure of these hitherto unknown heterocyclic systems was confirmed by their ir and mass spectra.     

Photophysics of aromatic molecules with low-lying pi sigma* states: excitation-energy dependence of fluorescence in jet-cooled aromatic nitriles

Excitation-energy dependence of fluorescence intensity and fluorescence lifetime has been measured for 4-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (DMABN), 4-aminobenzonitrile (ABN), 4-diisopropylaminobenzonitrile (DIABN), and 1-naphthonitrile (NN) in a supersonic free jet. In all cases, the fluorescence yield decreases rather dramatically, whereas the fluorescence lifetime decreases only moderately for S1 (pi pi*, L(b)) excess vibrational energy exceeding about 1000 cm(-1). This is confirmed by comparison of the normalized fluorescence excitation spectrum with the absorption spectrum of the compound in the vapor phase. The result indicates that the strong decrease in the relative fluorescence yield at higher energies is due mostly to a decrease in the radiative decay rate of the emitting state. Comparison of the experimental results with the TDDFT potential energy curves for excited states strongly suggests that the decrease in the radiative decay rate of the aminobenzonitriles at higher energies is due to the crossing of the pi pi* singlet state by the lower-lying pi sigma*(C[triple bond]N) singlet state of very small radiative decay rate. The threshold energy for the fluorescence "break-off" is in good agreement with the computed energy barrier for the pi pi*/pi sigma* crossing. For NN, on the other hand, the observed decrease is in fluorescence yield at higher excitation energies can best be attributed to the crossing of the pi pi* singlet state by the pi sigma* triplet state.