Comparison of novel pyridine-functionalized mesoporous silicas for Au(III) extraction from natural samples

A technique for solid-phase extraction utilizing pyridine-functionalized nanoporous silica (MCM-41, MCM-48 and SBA-15) was developed for the determination of gold in different samples using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The effects of concentration and volume of eluent, pH of the solution, flow rate of extraction, sample volume and of potentially interfering ions on the efficiency of preconcentration and recovery was investigated. The limit of detection is lower than 45 pg mL^?1. Under optimal conditions, the accuracy and precision (RSD%) of the method were calculated to be >99.5% and <0.7% for the two MCMs (41 and 48) and >89.5%, and <1.5% for SBA-15, respectively. The SPE technique was used to determine the concentration of gold in natural and industrial wastewater with satisfactory results.

Effects of operating parameters on oxidative coupling of methane over Na-W-Mn/SiO2 catalyst at elevated pressures

The effects of operating parameters on oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) over Na-W-Mn/SiO2 catalyst have been studied at elevated pressures of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 MPa under low gaseous hourly space velocity (GHSV) and low temperature conditions. Experimental results show that when the operating pressure is increased, C2+ yield slightly decreases, while the maximum ratio of ethylene to ethane remains unchanged. Moreover, it has been found empirically that increase of pressure does not affect the catalyst behavior permanently, the catalyst recovers its original low pressure performance without hysteresis behavior by reducing the pressure. Under the investigated conditions, when oxygen is completely consumed, the increase of GHSV leads to improvement in C2 selectivity, while C3+ and COx selectivities decrease slightly. The C2+ selectivity increases by increase of nitrogen diluent in the feed, but the C3+ hydrocarbons selectivities decrease with increase of nitrogen since it is possible that further dilution at high pressure may reduce the probability of collision between CH3 and C2+ hydrocarbons. During the stability test at high pressure, the catalyst performance remains unchanged throughout the 20 h running. The fresh and used catalysts were characterized using XRD, SEM and N2 adsorption-desorption methods. It was found that the phase transformation of the support from α-cristobalite to tridymite and quartz does not have obvious effect on catalyst performance at high pressure.     

Nuclear data for the cyclotron production of 117Sb and 90Nb

This presented study is to make comparison of cross sections to produce 117Sb and 90Nb via different reactions with particle incident energy up to 70 MeV as a part of systematic studies on particle-induced activations on enriched Sn, Y2O3 and ZrO2 targets, theoretical calculation of production yield, calculation of required thickness of target and suggestion of optimum reaction to produce Antimony-117 and Niobium-90.     

First-Order Formalism for the Quintom Model of Dark Energy

The present paper deals to the quintom model of dark energy. We introduce a first-order formalism, which shows how to relate the potential that specifies the scalar field model to Hubble’s parameter. Reviewing briefly the quintom scenario of dark energy, we present a general procedure to solve the equations of motion for quintom model driven by a couple scalar fields with first-order differential equations.     

Not So Innocent After All: Interfacial Chemistry Determines Charge-Transport Efficiency in Single-Molecule Junctions

Most studies in molecular electronics focus on altering the molecular wire backbone to tune the electrical properties of the whole junction. However, it is often overlooked that the chemical structure of the groups anchoring the molecule to the metallic electrodes influences the electronic structure of the whole system and, therefore, its conductance. We synthesised electron-accepting dithienophosphole oxide derivatives and fabricated their single-molecule junctions. We found that the anchor group has a dramatic effect on charge-transport efficiency: in our case, electron-deficient 4-pyridyl contacts suppress conductance, while electron-rich 4-thioanisole termini promote efficient transport. Our calculations show that this is due to minute changes in charge distribution, probed at the electrode interface. Our findings provide a framework for efficient molecular junction design, especially valuable for compounds with strong electron withdrawing/donating backbones.