Fourth-derivative spectrophotometric determination of neodymium in mixed rare earths with methyl thymol blue and cetylpyridinium chloride

A sensitive and selective method is described for the determination of neodymium in mixed rare earths using fourth-derivative spectrophotometry. The method is based on the absorption spectra of 4f electron transitions of the complex of neodymium with methyl thymol blue and cetylpyridinium chloride. The influence of various instrumental parameters and reaction conditions for maximum colour development are investigated. The calibration curve is linear over the range 0–3.5 g ml^–1 neodymium. The relative standard deviation for determination of 1.4 g ml^–1 neodymium (n = 7) is 1.6%. The detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) is 0.2 g ml^–1.     

Electrospun cellulose acetate fibers: effect of solvent system on morphology and fiber diameter

This paper reports an investigation of the effects of solvent system, solution concentration, and applied electrostatic field strength (EFS) on the morphological appearance and/or size of as-spun cellulose acetate (CA) products. The single-solvent systems were acetone, chloroform, N,N -dimethylformamide (DMF), dichloromethane (DCM), methanol (MeOH), formic acid, and pyridine. The mixed-solvent systems were acetone–DMAc, chloroform–MeOH, and DCM–MeOH. Chloroform, DMF, DCM, MeOH, formic acid, and pyridine were able to dissolve CA, forming clear solutions (at 5% w/v), but electrospinning of these solutions produced mainly discrete beads. In contrast, electrospinning of the solution of CA in acetone produced short and beaded fibers. At the same solution concentration of 5% (w/v) electrospinning of the CA solutions was improved by addition of MeOH to either chloroform or DCM. For all the solvent systems investigated smooth fibers were obtained from 16% (w/v) CA solutions in 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1 (v/v) acetone–DMAc, 14–20% (w/v) CA solutions in 2:1 (v/v) acetone–DMAc, and 8–12% (w/v) CA solutions in 4:1 (v/v) DCM–MeOH. For the as-spun fibers from CA solutions in acetone–DMAc the average diameter ranged between 0.14 and 0.37 μm whereas for the fibers from solutions in DCM–MeOH it ranged between 0.48 and 1.58 μm. After submersion in distilled water for 24 h the as-spun CA fibers swelled appreciably (i.e. from 620 to 1110%) but the physical integrity of the fibrous structure remained intact.     

Studies on metal — protein interactions: Inter-comparison among various approaches

Binding ability of mercury, thallium, lead and bismuth with Erythrina variegata seed protein have been investigated using tracer packet technique. Due to the lack of standard methods, inter-comparisons have been made among three different approaches, like trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitation, isoelectric precipitation and dialysis of protein after incubation with the metals. Good agreement was observed for all the cases except that of lead.     

填料对聚合物共混物相分离行为的影响

近年来,由于粒子填充聚合物共混物的广泛运用,复合材料的结构研究具有重要意义.除了研究粒子在聚合物中的分散外,关于粒子对聚合物共混物的相分离影响也做了大量工作.研究结果表明粒子的尺寸,粒子的表面处理以及粒子含量对聚合物共混物相分离热力学以及动力学有重要影响.由于粒子对聚合物组分的选择吸附、聚合物分子对粒子的润湿作用、填料对聚合物相区生长的阻碍导致了聚合物共混物-填料体系相行为的复杂性.本文扼要地综述了聚合物共混物-填料体系相分离的理论基础以及实验结果,介绍了粒子对相分离的影响因素,并展望了该领域的研究趋势和前景.     

手性螺环单磷配体在不对称氢甲酰化反应中的应用

为了进一步拓展具有螺二氢茚骨架的亚磷酸酰胺酯、亚磷酸酯、亚膦酸酯等手性螺环单磷配体在不对称反应中的应用范围, 研究了手性螺环单磷配体在铑催化苯乙烯衍生物的氢甲酰化反应中的选择性.     

A New Diterpene Acid from the Flowers of Heteropappus altaicus

A new compound, named heteraltaic acid was isolated from the flowers of Heteropappus altaicus (willd) Novopokr. The compound was elucidated as (5R, 6S, 8aS) -5-[2-(3-furyl) ethyl-5, 6, 8a-trimethyl-4a, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8a -hexahydro-l-naphthalenecarboxylic acid] by the combination of 1D and 2D NMR techniques (HSQC, HMBC) and X-ray analysis.     

Shear and NMR experiments of materials with flow behaviour depending on the deformation history

Oxide ceramic masses react to simple shearing with hardening (peptisation: increase in the shear stress with the shear deformation). In the present study the correlation between the increase in the shear stress and the porosity, agglomeration processes and the type of flow are analysed. For this purpose oxide ceramic masses are tested in a shear device especially developed for pastes and analysed by rheometric experiments, NMR methods and particle size analysis. The results support the hypothesis that structural changes (hardening, increase in the mean porosity) of the material during the peptisation mainly depend on the magnitude and not on the kind of the energy input and thus of the type of flow. The fraction of bound (more generally, the immobilised) water increases with the shear displacement. Also crushing of primary particles could be observed. Both the crushing of solid particles causing an increased solid surface and the formation of a three-dimensional gel structure are microscopic effects capable of resulting in the binding or retaining water. On a macroscopic scale these phenomena cause hardening. Magnetic resonance imaging visualises flow-induced agglomerates, which form owing to the shear flow and increase the porosity averaged over the whole sample. After the shear experiment rolls of paste can be seen which indicate that the general assumption of a plane shear flow in the shear device is not warrantable. Received: 19 July 2001 Accepted: 25 October 2001     

Resolution method for overlapping peaks based on the fractional-order differential

Equations between the differential order and the maximum of the fractional-order differential for the specified peak signals are developed based on the variation of the maximum of the specified peak signals at different orders. Also, equations between the differential order and the zero-crossing of the fractional-order differential of the specified peak signals are proposed according to the variation of the zero-crossing of the specified peak signals at different orders. Characteristic paramters of the Gaus- sian peak, Lorentzian peak, and Tsallis peak can be estimated using estimator I and estimator II which are obtained by the equations above. As a result, a new method is presented to resolve the overlapped peaks signal. Firstly, a fractional-order differential of the specified peak signals is obtained with the fractional-order differentiation filter. Then, characteristic paramters of the specified peak signals can be extracted using estimator I and estimator II. Finally, the Tsallis peak is used as a model to assign the overlapping peak signals correctly. Experimental results show that the proposed method is efficient and effective for the simulated overlapping peaks and detected overlapping voltammetric peak signals.     

Growth of ramification-like ZnO rods in the presence of polyaniline

To obtain new materials with synergetic or complementary behaviors, polyaniline composite filled with ZnO rods in ramification-like structure was prepared by a hydrothermal approach. Comparative experiments of ZnO preparation in the presence of some metal ions were also carried out. The results indicated that the morphology of ZnO was strongly affected by the preparation condition. The method to grow ZnO rods in the presence of polyaniline offers a simple approach to obtain polyaniline composite filled with linear ZnO structure. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that the strong interaction between ZnO and polyaniline possibly exists to cause the charge transfer.