Surface complexation of Pb(II) on amorphous iron oxide and manganese oxide: spectroscopic and time studies

Hydrous Fe and Mn oxides (HFO and HMO) are important sinks for heavy metals and Pb(II) is one of the more prevalent metal contaminants in the environment. In this work, Pb(II) sorption to HFO (Fe(2)O(3) x nH(2)O, n=1-3) and HMO (MnO(2)) surfaces has been studied with EXAFS: mononuclear bidentate surface complexes were observed on FeO(6) (MnO(6)) octahedra with PbO distance of 2.25-2.35 Angstrom and PbFe(Mn) distances of 3.29-3.36 (3.65-3.76) Angstrom. These surface complexes were invariant of pH 5 and 6, ionic strength 2.8 x 10(-3) to 1.5 x 10(-2), loading 2.03 x 10(-4) to 9.1 x 10(-3) mol Pb/g, and reaction time up to 21 months. EXAFS data at the Fe K-edge revealed that freshly precipitated HFO exhibits short-range order; the sorbed Pb(II) ions do not substitute for Fe but may inhibit crystallization of HFO. Pb(II) sorbed to HFO through a rapid initial uptake ( approximately 77%) followed by a slow intraparticle diffusion step ( approximately 23%) resulting in a surface diffusivity of 2.5 x 10(-15) cm(2)/s. Results from this study suggest that mechanistic investigations provide a solid basis for successful adsorption modeling and that inclusion of intraparticle surface diffusion may lead to improved geochemical transport depiction.     

The impact of Mn oxide coatings on Zn distribution

Zinc sorption to hydrous manganese oxide (HMO)-coated clay was investigated macroscopically, kinetically, and spectroscopically. Adsorption edges and isotherms revealed that the affinity and capacity of the HMO-coated montmorillonite was greater than that of montmorillonite, and when normalized to the oxide present, the coatings behaved similarly to the discrete Mn oxide. Over two pH conditions, 5 and 6, a linear relationship was observed for the isotherms; further analysis with X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) resulted in one type of sorption configuration as a function of loading and ionic strength at pH 5. However, at a surface loading of 10(-3) mol(Zn) g(HMO-coatedclay)(-1) when the pH increased from 5 to 7, the first shell distance decreased slightly, while the atoms and coordination numbers remained the same; this change may be attributed to an increase in electrostatic interactions. After a contact time of 4 months where an additional 60% of the sites become occupied, the slower sorption process was modeled as intraparticle surface diffusion. Best fit diffusivities ranged from 10(-18) to 10(-17) cm2/s, where a slower process was observed for the coated surface as compared to the discrete oxide. Interestingly, the porosity of the Mn oxide coating appears to be influenced by the substrate during its growth, as its increase and shift to a smaller pore size distribution resulted in a diffusivity between that observed for discrete HMO and montmorillonite.     

Application of copper(i) iodide/diorganoyl dichalcogenides to the synthesis of 4-organochalcogen isoquinolines by regioselective cn and cchalcogen bond formation

A copper-catalyzed cyclization of (ortho-alkynyl)benzaldimines with diorganoyl dichalcogenides allowed the synthesis of 4-organochalcogen isoquinolines, whereas the presence of base in the reaction medium inhibited the product formation producing the undesirable isoquinoline without the organochalcogen atom at the 4-position. The cyclization reaction was carried out by using CuI (20?%) as a catalyst with diorganoyl dichalcogenides (1.5?equiv) in the presence of DMF at 100?°C. Furthermore, the reaction did not require an argon atmosphere and was carried out in an open flask. The cyclization reaction tolerated a variety of functional groups both in ortho-alkynylbenzaldimines and diorganoyl dichalcogenides, such as trifluoromethyl, chloro, fluorine, and methoxyl, to give the six-membered heterocyclic ring exclusively through a 6-endo-dig cyclization process. The organochalcogen group present at the 4-position of the isoquinoline ring was further subjected to a selective chalcogen-lithium exchange reaction followed by the addition of aldehydes to afford the desired secondary alcohols in good yields. The obtained isoquinolines also proved to be suitable substrates for the Suzuki and Sonogashira coupling conditions affording the corresponding products through C?C bond formation.     

The presence of high level soluble herpes virus entry mediator in sera of gastric cancer patients

The development of gastric cancer (GC) is closely related to chronic inflammation caused by Helicobacter pylori infection, and herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM) is a receptor expressed on the surface of leukocytes that mediates potent inflammatory responses in animal models. However, the role of HVEM in human GC has not been studied. Previously, we showed that the interaction of HVEM on human leukocytes with its ligand LIGHT induces intracellular calcium mobilization, which results in inflammatory responses including induction of proinflammatory cytokine production and anti-bacterial activities. In this study, we report that leukocytes from GC patients express lower levels of membrane HVEM (mHVEM) and have lower LIGHT-induced bactericidal activities than those from healthy controls (HC). In contrast, levels of soluble HVEM (sHVEM) in the sera of GC patients were significantly higher than in those of HC. We found that monocyte membrane-bound HVEM is released into the medium when cells are activated by proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-8, which are elevated in the sera of GC patients. mHVEM level dropped in parallel with the release of sHVEM, and release was completely blocked by the metalloprotease inhibitor, GM6001. We also found that the low level of mHVEM on GC patient leukocytes was correlated with low LIGHT-induced bactericidal activities against H. pylori and S. aureus and production of reactive oxygen species. Our results indicate that mHVEM on leukocytes and sHVEM in sera may contribute to the development and/or progression of GC.     

Hybrid modeling and simulation of stochastic effects on progression through the eukaryotic cell cycle

The eukaryotic cell cycle is regulated by a complicated chemical reaction network. Although many deterministic models have been proposed, stochastic models are desired to capture noise in the cell resulting from low numbers of critical species. However, converting a deterministic model into one that accurately captures stochastic effects can result in a complex model that is hard to build and expensive to simulate. In this paper, we first apply a hybrid (mixed deterministic and stochastic) simulation method to such a stochastic model. With proper partitioning of reactions between deterministic and stochastic simulation methods, the hybrid method generates the same primary characteristics and the same level of noise as Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm, but with better efficiency. By studying the results generated by various partitionings of reactions, we developed a new strategy for hybrid stochastic modeling of the cell cycle. The new approach is not limited to using mass-action rate laws. Numerical experiments demonstrate that our approach is consistent with characteristics of noisy cell cycle progression, and yields cell cycle statistics in accord with experimental observations.     

High-spin isomers in W and Os nuclei; Competition betweenK-quantization and triaxiality

Results of a search for high-spin isomers in W and Os nuclei withN=104–107 are presented. Targets of⁴⁸Ca and^{48, 50}Ti are bombarded with a pulsed¹³⁶Xe beam, and delayed gamma-radiation is detected by an array of NaI- and Ge-detectors. Several new isomers, with spin values up to ～22h, are found in^178,180W and^{180, 182, 183}Os. Markedly different decay patterns and hindrance factors are found in the Os isotopes as compared to the expectations based on theK-selection rule valid for axially symmetric nuclei. The findings are ascribed to the onset of triaxial distortions.     

Observation of the hot GDR in neutron-deficient thorium evaporation residues

The giant dipole resonance built on excited states was observed in very fissile nuclei in coincidence with evaporation residues. The reaction ⁴⁸Ca + ¹⁷⁶Yb populated evaporation residues of mass A=213–220 with a cross section of 200 μb at 259 MeV. The extracted giant dipole resonance parameters are in agreement with theoretical predictions for this mass region.     

Flow-injection techniques for the removal of stable-compound interferences in flame atomic absorption spectrometry of calcium

The effects of phosphate and aluminum on calcium in an air/acetylene flame were studied in a flow-injection system. The depressive effect of phosphate was eliminated by operating the nebulizer under starvation conditions with air compensation. Pulse dampers were incorporated into the flow line and the instrument operating conditions were optimized for minimum interference. The depressive effect of aluminum could not be removed in this way. To achieve this, a two-line manifold was used in which the calcium was precipitated as oxalate, retained on a membrane filter and redissolved in hydrochloric acid. Up ot 200 mg l^?1 aluminum could be tolerated with a precision of 2% for 10 mg l^t?1 calcium.