The oxymercuration—demercuration of alkenylsilanes in aqueous tetrahydrofuran

The oxymercuration—demercuration (OM—DM) of representative trimethylsilylalkenes in aqueous tetrahydrofuran was investigated. Vinyltrimethylsilane gives only the anti-Markovnikov alcohol, 2-trimethylsilylethanol in 90% yield. Allyltrimethylsilane gives mainly allylmercuric acetate which reacts further to give a 1,3-dimercurated-2-propanol. This species reacts slowly with allyltrimethylsilane to give allylmercuric acetate. 3-Buten-1-yltrimethylsilane gives only the Markovnikov product, 1-trimethylsilyl-3-butanol in 99% yield. cis-1-Propenyl-trimethylsilane gives 1-trimethylsilyl-2-propanol in 44% yield along with cleavage products. The formation of one of these products, 2-propanol, was found by PMR to arise from the OM—DM of cis-1-propenylmercuric acetate which gives the 1,1-dimercurated-2-propanol. While the oxymercuration of cis-1-propenyl-mercuric acetate is regiospecific giving exclusive placement of the mercury α to the silicon, it is completely nonstereospecific giving equal amounts of diastereomeric adducts. The OM—DM of 2-propenyl trimethylsilane (XIX) leads only to desilylation and oxidation products. Possible reasons for the diverse behavior of these silylated alkenes are discussed.     

Coal solubilization by enhanced enzyme activity in organic solvents

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Both oxidative and reductive enzymes can be utilized to enhance coal solubilization in aqueous and organic media. Aerobic solubilization was carried out...     

Automated separation and measurement of radioxenon for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

A fully automatic radioxenon sampler/analyzer (ARSA) has been developed and demonstrated for the collection and quantitative measurement of the four xenon radionuclides,^131mXe(11.9 d),^133mXe(2.2 d),¹³³Xe(5.2 d), and¹³⁵Xe(9.1 hr), in the atmosphere. These radionuclides are important signatures in monitoring for compliance to a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Activity ratios of these radionuclides permit source attribution. Xenon, continuously and automatically separated from the atmosphere, is automatically analyzed by electron-photon coincidence spectrometry providing a lower limit of detection of about 100 μBq/m³. The demonstrated detection limit is about 100 times better than achievable with reported laboratory-based procedures for the short-time collection intervals of interest.     

Influence of surface treatments in the initial stages of anodizing Al–Ag alloys in neutral electrolytes

Using voltage-time responses and cyclic voltammetry, the initial stages of anodizing of Al–2.1 at.% Ag and Al–4 at.% Ag alloys are shown to depend upon the heat treatment of the alloys and the pre-treatment of the alloy surfaces. Chemical polishing of solution-treated alloys leads to relatively uniform anodic oxidation on a relatively smooth alloy surface, in the absence of significant effects of coarse, silver-rich intermetallics. In contrast, losses of current to oxygen generation arise for the roughened alloy surface from mechanical polishing. With ageing, secondary reactions at the relatively silver-rich intermetallics are more prevalent, although the effects on the voltage-time response depend upon the balance between processes occurring on the matrix and intermetallic regions, including film growth, oxygen generation within the anodic film, film damage due to release of oxygen, dissolution of silver species and re-growth of damaged film.