Concentrations of hazardous heavy metals in environmental samples collected in Xiamen, China, as determined by vapor generation non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry.

Non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry (NDAFS) coupled with vapor generation (VG) sample introduction was applied to the determination of the concentrations of hazardous heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, in seawater, soils and total airborne particulate matter (PM) collected around the Xiamen area in China. Almost 100% sample introduction efficiency was achieved by using thiourea and ascorbic acid for the pre-reduction of As(V) to As(III), K3Fe(CN)6 and tartaric acid for pre-oxidation of Pb(II) to Pb(IV), and masking the interferences arising from the co-existing transition metals to As, Cd, Hg and Pb during their vapor generation process. Moreover, a novel sample pretreatment device was developed to avoid the loss of mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic during sample pretreatment. With such methods, the detection limit (DL) of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury was down to 0.08, 0.03, 0.05, 0.01 ng mL(-1) (3sigma), respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD, n = 11) for arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury at 10 ng mL(-1) were 0.9%, 1.6%, 1.3% and 2.0%, respectively. The concentrations of hazardous heavy metals in the environmental samples collected in Xiamen, China are in the range from 0.02 +/- 0.001 ng mL(-1) in seawater to 15.3 +/- 0.2 microg g(-1) in soils. Besides flame/GF-AAS and ICP-AES/MS, VG-NDAFS should be another choice for the determination of hazardous heavy metals in environmental samples.     

The Crystal Structure of N-Benzoyl-N''-(2-hydroxyethyl)-thiourea

Thiourea compounds are excellent agents of bioactive substance. A number of biological activities are associated with substituted thiourea derivatives. A survey of literature reveals that some work has been reported on benzoylthiourea, which has found plenty of applications as a facile and simple ligand in determination of trances of the transition metal and as an available starting material in preparation of a wide variety of metal complexes. In recent years,N-benzoyl-N'-(2-hydroxyethyl)-thiourea has attracted considerable attention as selective reagents for the liquid-liquid extraction and preconcentration of platinum group metals and its antifungle activity.As a part of our works in studying coordination behaviours of N-benzoyl-N'-(2-hydroxyethyl)-thiourea and its bioactivity, in view of these observations and in continuation of our previous works on it, the present work was reported on the crystal structure of N-benzoyl-N'-( 2-hydroxyethyl)-thiourea.The crystals structure in the monoclinic system and space group of P21/c of N-benzoyl-N'-(2-hydroxyethyl)- thiourea (C10H12N2O2S) was determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, a = 17.083 (3) A, b = 4.5490 (10) A, c = 14.279 (3)A, a = 90.00°, a = 102.44(3)°, a = 90.00 °, Ⅴ = 1083.6 (4)A3, Z = 4, Dc = 1.375 Mg/m3, i (Mo Ka)= 0.280 mm-1, F(000) =472. The final R and u R are 0.0399 and 0.0881 for 783 observed reflections [Ⅰ＞26(Ⅰ)].Fig. 1 shows the molecular crystal structure of N-benzoyl-N'-(2-hydroxyethyl)thiourea indicating that the carbonyl and thiocarbonyl moieties are pointing in approximate opposite directions. The six atoms in the ring structure hydrogen bonded are almost in one plane. The N(2)-H proton pendant arm extends to the carbonyl oxygen atom, forms hydrogen bond between them.The existence of hydrogen bond in benzoyl-thiourea molecular six-membered ring structure has significant implications on coordination properties, suggest the possibility of intramolecular hydrogen bond controlled coordination behaviors of these potentially bidentate ligands. In the coordination compound reported by Bourne et al.,cis-bis(N-benzoyl-N'-propylthiourea)dichloroplatinum(Ⅱ), the two ligand molecules bind to Pt(Ⅱ)via the sulfur atoms only, the carbonyl oxygen atom being locked into hydrogen bond similar to that in the free ligands.     

Baker＇s Yeast Mediated Reduction of Optically Active Diketone

Baker‘s yeast mediated reduction of optically active diketone is described. The two keto groups are efficiently differentiated and the ee value of the recovered material is considerably raised. It affords highly optically active key intermediates efficiently for the synthesis of natural polyhydroxylated agarofuran products.     

Crystal Structures of Two Potential Tumor Imaging Agents and Therapeutic Agents Copper（Ⅱ） Ternary Complexes with Salicylidene-tyrosinato Schiff Base and Nitrogen-donor Chelating Lewis Base

The crystal structures of two potential tumor imaging agents and therapeutic agents -copper(Ⅱ) complexes with salicylidene-tyrosinato Schiff base and nitrogen-donor chelating Lewis base, [Cu(sal-tyr)(bipy)] 1 and [Cu(sal-tyr)(phen)]2CH3OH 2 are presented. Our work is helpful to get deep understanding of novel 64Cu tumor imaging agents and therapeutic agents.     

Dynamic boundary stabilization of a Reissner–Mindlin plate with Timoshenko beam

This paper is concerned with well‐posedness results for a mathematical model for the transversal vibrations of a two‐dimensional hybrid elastic structure consisting of a rectangular Reissner–Mindlin plate with a Timoshenko beam attached to its free edge. The model incorporates linear dynamic feedback controls along the interface between the plate and the beam. Classical semigroup methods are employed to show the unique solvability of the coupled initial‐boundary‐value problem. We also show that the energy associated with the system exhibits the property of strong stability. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mean curvature flows and isotopy of maps between spheres

Let f be a smooth map between unit spheres of possibly different dimensions. We prove the global existence and convergence of the mean curvature flow of the graph of f under various conditions. A corollary is that any area‐decreasing map between unit spheres (of possibly different dimensions) is isotopic to a constant map. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Nowhere zero 4‐flow in regular matroids

Jensen and Toft 8 conjectured that every 2‐edge‐connected graph without a K₅‐minor has a nowhere zero 4‐flow. Walton and Welsh 19 proved that if a coloopless regular matroid M does not have a minor in {M(K_3,3), M*(K₅)}, then M admits a nowhere zero 4‐flow. In this note, we prove that if a coloopless regular matroid M does not have a minor in {M(K₅), M*(K₅)}, then M admits a nowhere zero 4‐flow. Our result implies the Jensen and Toft conjecture. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory