Determination of some aliphatic carboxylic acids in anaerobic digestion process waters by ion-exclusion chromatography with conductimetric detection on a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin column

The determination of seven aliphatic carboxylic acids, formic, acetic, propionic, isobutyric, n-butyric, isovaleric and n-valeric acids in anaerobic digestion process waters was examined using ion-exclusion chromatography with conductimetric detection. The analysis of these biologically important carboxylic acids is necessary as a measure for evaluating and controlling the process. The ion-exclusion chromatography system employed consisted of polymethacrylate-based weakly acidic cation-exchange resin columns (TSKgel OApak-A or TSKgel Super IC-A/C). weakly acidic eluent (benzoic acid), and conductimetric detection. Particle size and cation-exchange capacity were 5 microm and 0.1 meq./ml for TSKgel OApak-A and 3 microm and 0.2 meq./ml for TSKgel Super IC-A/C, respectively. A dilute eluent (1.0-2.0 mM) of benzoic acid was effective for the high resolution and highly conductimetric detection of the carboxylic acids. The good separation of isobutyric and n-butyric acids was performed using the TSKgel Super IC-A/C column (150 mm x 6.0 mm i.d. x 2). The simple and good chromatograms were obtained by the optimized ion-exclusion chromatography conditions for real samples from mesophilic anaerobic digestors, thus the aliphatic carboxylic acids were successfully determined without any interferences.     

Separation of traces of silver in nitric acid solutions using mercury as collector

Summary Microgram quantities of silver are quantitatively deposited into mercury globules from nitric acid solutions (ca. 1N acidity), leaving large amounts of base metals (e. g., copper, lead, and bismuth) in solution. This separation method has been applied to the atomic absorption spectrometric determination of a few ppm of silver in copper or lead.

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Zusammenfassung Mikrogrammengen Silber werden aus salpetersaurer Lösung (ca. 1-n) quantitativ auf Quecksilbertröpfchen niedergeschlagen, wobei große Mengen unedle Metalle (z. B. Cu, Pb und Bi) in Lösung bleiben. Diese Trennmethode wurde bei der Bestimmung weniger ppm Silber in Kupfer oder Blei durch Atomarabsorption angewendet.

     

Reduction of aldehydes and ketones by sodium dithionite using viologens as electron transfer catalyst

It was found that aromatic aldehydes and ketones could be reduced smoothly at room temperature by sodium dithionite using viologen derivatives as an electron transfer catalyst to obtain the corresponding alcohols in good yields. Viologens (methyl viologen and polymer) acted catalytically and active species in the reduction were quinoid forms which were obtained by two-electron reduction of viologens.     

The electronic structure of the heptafulvalene trianion radical—The doublet instability of the Hartree-Fock solution and related phenomena

The restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) solution for the trianion radical of heptafulvalene, obtained using the open-shell SCF formalism of the Pariser-Parr-Pople method, is found to be doublet unstable at the conventionalD _2h nuclear arrangement. We calculate the broken-symmetry charge-density wave (CDW) solution and examine its properties. It is shown that the proton hyperfine splittings for the trianion radical calculated from the CDW solution are in good agreement with the experimental values. Further, we briefly refer to the possibility of the lattice instability of the trianion radical from the fully-symmetricalD _2h to theC _2v nuclear arrangement.     

Synthesis of (10Z)- and (10E)-19-fluoro-1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3: compounds to probe vitamin D conformation in receptor complex by 19F-NMR

To study the interaction of vitamin D with its receptor by 19F-NMR, (5Z,10Z)- and (5Z,10E)-19-fluoro-1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 were synthesized starting from vitamin D2 via electrophilic fluorination of vitamin D-SO2 adducts as the key step. Regio- and stereoselective electrophilic fluorination at C(19) of vitamin D-SO2 adducts was achieved under the conditions using (PhSO2)2NF and bulky bases. The stereochemistry of the addition and elimination of SO2 of various vitamin D derivatives was studied in detail. SO2 causes Z-E isomerization of the 5,6-double bond of vitamin D and adds to the resulting (5E)-isomer from the sterically less hindered side opposite to the substituent at C(1). Elimination of SO2 from 19-substituted vitamin D-SO2 adducts proceeded exclusively in a suprafacial manner with respect to the diene part under either thermal or reductive conditions. Dye-sensitized photochemical isomerization of 19-fluorovitamin D derivatives was studied in detail. The rapid isomerization at the 5,6-double bond was followed by the slow isomerization at the 10,19-double bond to yield the (5E,10Z)-isomer (by nomenclature of the 1-OH derivatives) as the major product. (10Z)- and (10E)-19-Fluorovitamin Ds were also interconverted thermally probably via the corresponding previtamin D by 1,7-sigmatropic isomerization.     

Asymmetric allylsilane-mediated carbocyclization: A highly enantiospecific synthesis of (1S, 2S)-(+)-2-methyl-3-cyclopenten-1-ol

An enantiospecific synthesis of the title compound is described which involves the TiCl₄-promoted cyclization of the chiral allylic silane having formyl group, which was obtained via the Claisen rearrangement of ($\text{R}$, $\text{E}$)-1-trimethylsilyl-1-buten-3-ol.     

Further studies on aplyronine A, an antitumor substance isolated from the sea hare Aplysia kurodai

By a series of reactions aplyronine A (1) an antitumor substance of marine origin was transformed into six fragments, and their structures were characterized by spectroscopic methods. Relative stereochemistry of four contiguous chiral centers (C29–C32) in 1 was established and that of three contiguous chiral centers (C23–C25) in 1 was deduced on the basis of the ¹H NMR spectral analysis of the fragment 8 and the derived acetonide 9, respectively.     

Global investigation on the potential energy surface of CH3CN: application of the scaled hypersphere search method

An extensive quantum chemical study of the potential energy surface (PES) for all possible isomerization and dissociation reactions of CH3CN is reported at the DFT (B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)) and CCSD(T)/ cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) levels of theory. The pathways around the equilibrium structures can be discovered by the scaled hypersphere search (SHS) method, which enables us to make a global analysis of the potential energy surface for a given chemical composition in combination with a downhill-walk algorithm. Seventeen equilibrium structures and 59 interconversion transition states have been found on the singlet PES. The four lowest lying isomers with thermodynamic stability are also kinetically stable with the lowest conversion barriers of 49.69-101.53 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level, whereas three-membered-ring isomers c-CH2NCH, c-CH2CNH, and c-CHNHCH can be considered as metastable intermediates which can further convert into the low-lying chain-like isomers and higher lying acyclic isomers with the lowest conversion energies of 21.70-59.99 kcal/mol. Thirteen available dissociation channels depending on the different initial isomers have been identified. A prediction can be made for the possible mechanism explaining the migration of a hydrogen atom in competition with the CC bond dissociation. Several new energetically accessible pathways are found to be responsible for the migration of the hydrogen atom. The present results demonstrate that the SHS method is an efficient and powerful technique for global mapping of reaction pathways on PESs.     

Effects of carboxyl groups on the adsorption behavior of low-molecular-weight substances on a stainless steel surface

The adsorption isotherms of various carboxylic acids and several amines on a stainless steel surface were taken as a function of pH and the ionic strength of the solution at 30 degrees C. In particular, the effect of the number of carboxyl groups on the adsorption behavior was investigated. Monocarboxylic acids such as benzoic acid and n-butyric acid were reversibly adsorbed on the stainless steel particles and showed a Langmuir-type adsorption isotherm, i.e., Q=KqmC/(1+KC), where Q and C are, respectively, the amount of adsorbate adsorbed and the equilibrium concentration in the bulk solution, qm, the maximum adsorbed amount, and K is the adsorption equilibrium constant. Carboxylic acids having plural carboxyl groups had much higher affinity to the surface and were adsorbed in both reversible and irreversible modes. The adsorption isotherms for the carboxylic acids having plural carboxyl groups could be expressed by a modified Langmuir-type adsorption isotherm, i.e., Q=q(irrev)+Kq(rev)C/(1+KC), where q(irrev) and q(rev) are, respectively, the maximum amounts adsorbed irreversibly and reversibly. The K and q(irrev) values increased with an increase in the number of carboxyl groups except for isophthalic acid and terephthalic acid. On the basis of the pH dependencies of K, qm, q(irrev), and q(rev) as well as the surface properties of the stainless steel, both reversible and irreversible adsorptions were considered to occur through the electrostatic interaction between negatively charged carboxyl groups and the positively charged sites on the surface. The dependency of the q(irrev) value on ionic strength was discussed on the basis of the differences in their adsorbed state with the interaction forces to the surface and repulsive forces among the adsorbed molecules. The adsorption of amine components was quite weak. The RA-IR and molecular dynamics calculation were done to investigate the adsorption states of phthalic acid, trimellitic acid, and mellitic acid.     

Renal function study with 111In-DTPA--in comparison with 99mTc-DTPA

Technetium-99m-diethylene-triamine-penta-acetic acid (DTPA) and 111In-DTPA were injected simultaneously into 21 patients with various levels of renal function. Scintiphoto, camera data renograms and clearance values (plasma sampling) were obtained for each patient. The mixed isotope scintiphoto images were of intermediate quality and the images with 111In-DTPA were apparently inferior to those with 99mTc-DTPA. These equations were obtained: (1) y = 0.30 + 0.91 x (coefficient of correlation r = 0.98) where x is the value at T peak (time of maximum count on renogram) obtained with 99mTc-DTPA and where y is the value at T peak with 111In-DTPA. (2) y = -0.09 + 1.006 x (r = 0.99) where x is the value at T3/4 (time interval between the time of maximum count to the time of 3/4 of maximum count on renogram) and where y is the value at T3/4 obtained with 111In-DTPA. (3) y = -0.01 + 1.007 x (r = 0.98) where the x and y values were for the excretion ratios (counts at 20 min/maximum counts on renogram). (4) y = 0.81 + 0.98 x (r = 0.99) where x and y are the clearance values.