Stripping study of U(VI) from loaded TBP/n-paraffin using ammonium nitrate bearing waste as strippant

Stripping studies of U(VI) from loaded solvent TBP/n-paraffin was carried out using ammonium nitrate solution as strippant. Effects of various stripping parameters such as concentration of ammonium nitrate solution, U(VI) concentration in organic phase, initial pH of strippant, temperature etc. have been investigated in detail. Kinetics of the stripping process by ammonium nitrate was found to be slower than that of stripping with water. It was observed that with the increase in ammonium nitrate concentration in aqueous solution, stripping of U(VI) decreased. With the increase in U(VI) loading in the organic phase, there was an increase in uranium stripping for ammonium nitrate whereas for distilled water it becomes reverse. With the increase in pH of the aqueous ammonium nitrate solution, stripping increased up to a certain pH of 8.5 and after that precipitation of uranium started. Increase in temperature of the biphasic system shows an enhancing effect of U(VI) stripping. Evaluation of thermodynamic data such as ?H indicated that the process is endothermic. Based on the optimized conditions, McCabe–Thiele diagram was constructed for U(VI) stripping using ammonium nitrate solution at room temperature.     

Porous metal-organic framework with coordinatively unsaturated Mn(II) sites:sorption properties for various gases

A 3D porous metal-organic framework generating 1D channels, [Mn(NDC)(DEF)]n (1), has been prepared from the solvothermal reaction of Mn(II) and 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (H2NDC) in diethylformamide (DEF). When DEF molecules coordinating Mn(II), which occupy the channels, are removed from 1 by heating the crystal of 1 at 250 degrees C under vacuum for 18 h, structural change occurs as evidenced by X-ray powder diffraction patterns. Desolvated solid [Mn(NDC)]n (2), which contains coordinatively unsaturated Mn(II) sites, reveals remarkable sorption capabilities for N2, H2, CO2, and CH4 gases and exhibits type I sorption behavior indicative of permanent microporosity.     

A Legendre‐spectral element method for flow and heat transfer about an accelerating droplet

The problem of flow and heat transfer associated with a spherical droplet accelerated from rest under gravitational force is studied using a Legendre‐spectral element method in conjunction with a mixed time integration procedure to advance the solution in time. An influence matrix technique that exploits the superposition principle is adapted to resolve the lack of vorticity boundary conditions and to decouple the equations from the interfacial couplings. The computed flow and temperature fields, the drag coefficient, the Nusselt number, and the interfacial velocity and vorticity are presented for a drop moving vertically in a quiescent gas of infinite extent to illustrate the evolution of the flow and temperature fields. Comparison of the predicted drag coefficient and the Nusselt number against previous numerical and experimental results indicate good agreement. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transient conjugated heat transfer analysis from a sphere

The phenomena of conjugate unsteady heat transfer from a solid spherical particle in a convective environment is numerically investigated for Reynolds numbers in the range from 0.1 to 100. The flow and energy equations for both dispersed and continuous phases are solved using a Chebyshev-Legendre spectral method. This work is an extension of the previous effort of simulating flow around a sphere using spectral method [2] to include heat transfer. General findings indicate that quasi-steady analysis underestimates the overall heat transfer rate significantly at very early time stages, however the extent of underprediction becomes less as time progresses. The underprediction of the quasi-steady assumption becomes larger as Reynolds number increases for a fixed Prandtl number.Der Modellfall des gekoppelten, nichtstationären Wärmeübergangs von einem festen, kugelförmigen Partikel an ein Konvektionsfeld wird numerisch für Reynoldszahlen von 0,1 bis 100 untersucht. Die Lösung der Impuls- und Energiegleichungen für den dispersen wie den kontinuierlichen Bereich erfolgt unter Verwendung einer Chebyshev-Legendre Spektralmethode. Diese Arbeit setzt frühere Untersuchungen fort, wobei jetzt unter Verwendung derselben Methode auch der Wärmeübergang Berücksichtigung findet. Es zeigte sich, daß die quasistationäre Behandlung den Gesamtwärmeübergang im frühen Anlaufstadium erheblich unterbewertet. Dieser Effekt verringert sich im weiteren Verlauf des Austauschvorganges; er wächst (bei festgehaltener Prandtlzahl) mit der Reynoldszahl.The authors would like to thank Dr. R. W. Douglass for his valuable comments and Dr. M. J. Oliver and Mr. V. A. Mousseau for their assistance in running the computer program. This work is performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, contract number DE-AC07-765-ID01570, and was supported in part by the INEL Long-Term Research Inditiatives Program.     

Metabolomic analysis of amino acids and organic acids in aging mouse eyes using gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

This is a metabolomics study for monitoring altered amino acid (AA) and organic acid (OA) metabolism of in eyes from aging an mouse model at 8 and 18 weeks and 18 months. Simultaneous metabolic profiling analysis of OAs and AAs was performed as ethoxycarbonyl/methoxime/tert-butyldimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 42 metabolites—24 AAs and 18 OAs—were determined and their composition values were normalized to the corresponding mean values of 8-week-old mice as the control group. Then their normalized values were plotted as star graphs, which were distorted and readily distinguishable for each age-related group. Among the 42 metabolites, 18 AAs and 11 OAs were age dependent and significantly different (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis showed unclear separation between 8- and 18-week-old mice but clear separation between these and 18-month-old mice. In particular, the variable importance in projection scores of 4-hydroxyproline, cis-aconitic acid, glycine, isocitric acid, leucine, pipecolic acid and lysine from partial least-squares–discriminant analysis were higher than 1.3. A heatmap for the classification and visualization of 42 metabolites showed differences in metabolite changes with aging. Altered AA and OA profiles were monitored, which may explain the metabolic disturbance of AA and OA. These findings are related to mitochondrial dysfunctions related to energy metabolism and the impaired antioxidant system in the aging eye. Therefore, the present metabolomics results of the association between physiological states and altered metabolism of AA and OA will be useful for understanding the aging eye and related diseases.     

Inactivation of the carbamoyltransferase gene refines post-polyketide synthase modification steps in the biosynthesis of the antitumor agent geldanamycin

The post-polyketide synthase modification of geldanamycin (1) biosynthesis is of interest as a means of introducing structural diversity into the compound. From the inactivation of a gene encoding carbamoyltransferase, we demonstrated that the C-17 hydroxylation and the C-21 oxidation precede O-carbamoylation and that the hypothetical progeldanamycin does not possess a double bond at C-4 and C-5. More importantly, our result revealed new intermediates 4,5-dihydro-7-O-descarbamoyl-7-hydroxygeldanamycin (3) and 4,5-dihydrogeldanamycin (5), indicating that O-carbamoylation occurs prior to the C-4,5 cis double bond formation in geldanamycin biosynthesis.     

Acidic metabolite profiling analysis of catecholamine and serotonin as O‐ethoxycarbonyl/tert‐butyldimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

A novel derivatization method was developed for the simultaneous determination of six acidic metabolites of catecholamine and serotonin by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). The metabolites were converted to O‐ethoxycarbonyl/tert‐butyldimethylsilyl (EOC/TBDMS) derivatives for the direct GC‐MS analysis in selected ion monitoring mode. Their mass spectral pattern as EOC/TBDMS derivatives showed characteristic fragment ions of [M – 15]⁺ and [M – 57]⁺, which permitted rapid and accurate structural confirmation of acidic metabolites. The present method was linear (r ≥ 0.998), reproducible (percentage relative standard deviation = 1.0–10.0) and accurate (% relative error = ?9.7–9.8) with detection limits of 0.001–4.7 ng/mL. When applied to human urine samples, the method allowed simultaneous determination of six acidic metabolites of catecholamine and serotonin. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A metal-organic bilayer open framework with a dynamic component: single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations

A metal-organic bilayered open framework, [Ni2(C26H52N10)]3[BTC]4.6C5H5N.36H2O (BOF-1, 1), has been prepared by the self-assembly of a new bismacrocyclic nickel(II) complex [Ni2(C26H52N10)(Cl)4].H2O (A) and sodium 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (Na3BTC) in the mixture of water/DMSO/pyridine. The X-ray crystal structure of 1 shows that 2D layers with the cavities of brick-wall motifs (22.6 x 14.3 A2) are formed by the coordination of the nickel(II) complex with BTC3- ions and that the two 2D layers are linked with the p-xylyl bridging groups of the bismacrocycles as pillars to generate 3D channels in the bilayered framework. The voids of the channels occupy 61% of the total volume, which are filled with pyridine and water guest molecules. When 1 was dried at 75 degrees C for 1.5 h, [Ni2(C26H52N10)]3[BTC]4.4H2O (2) resulted by maintaining the single-crystallinity, which exhibited a dramatic decrease in the interlayer spacing as well as changes in the cell parameters. Solid 2 differentiates various alcohols such as MeOH, EtOH, isopropyl alcohol, and benzyl alcohol in toluene. When 1 was immersed in insoluble solvents such as pyridine and benzene, some guest molecules were exchanged with the aromatic molecules to give [Ni2(C26H52N10)]3[BTC]4.20pyridine.6H2O (3) and [Ni2(C26H52N10)]3[BTC]4.14benzene.19H2O (4), respectively. The guest-exchange processes also involve single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation.     

Well‐Arranged and Confined Incorporation of PdCo Nanoparticles within a Hollow and Porous Metal–Organic Framework for Superior Catalytic Activity

A convenient method for the confined incorporation of highly active bimetallic PdCo nanocatalysts within a hollow and porous metal–organic framework (MOF) support is presented. Several chemical conversions occur simultaneously during the one‐step low temperature pyrolysis of well‐designed polystyrene@ZIF‐67/Pd²⁺ core–shell microspheres, where ZIF (zeolitic imidazolate framework) is a subclass of MOF: the polystyrene core is removed, resulting in a beneficial hollow and porous ZIF support; the ZIF‐67 shell acts as a well‐defined porous support and as a felicitous Co²⁺ supplier for metal nanoparticle formation; and Pd²⁺ and Co²⁺ are reduced to form catalytically active bimetallic PdCo nanoparticles in the well‐defined micropores, inducing the confined growth of PdCo nanoparticles with excellent dispersity.