Determination of heavy metal concentration in feed and permeate streams of polymer enhanced ultrafiltration process

Polymer enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF) is a newly developed method for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. This method was applied for the removal of mercury and cadmium with the presence of polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a water soluble polymer. After ultrafiltration experiments for metal–polymer mixtures, two separate streams, namely, retentate and permeate, former of which contains mainly metal–polymer complex and free polymer molecules while latter of which mainly contains free metal ions, were obtained. At the end of PEUF experiments, performance of operation was determined by concentration analyses which was achieved by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) applied in a different way for permeate and retentate streams considering the effect of presence of polymer. For mercury analysis, cold vapor AAS was applied. It was observed that the presence of PEI did not affect the atomic absorption signal when 10% HCl was added to the sample solutions. For calcium and cadmium, flame AAS was used. It was observed that change in PEI concentration results in change in measured concentration of calcium and cadmium. Therefore, two new approaches were developed for accurate measurement of concentrations of calcium and cadmium. It was also observed that presence of other metals did not affect the accuracy of the measurement of a particular metal in the concentration range studied.     

Measurement of L&agr; and Lß X-ray fluorescence cross sections in Er, Ta, W and Au by 16.896–59.543 keV photons

La and Lb X-ray fluorescence cross sections in Er, Ta, W and Au at excitation energies of 16.896, 22.581, 25.770, 32.890, 38.184, 43.949, 50.214 and 59.5 keV were investigated. Measurements were made using a low energy Si(Li) detector coupled to a model 4096 computerized multi-channel analyser. The experimental results were compared with the theoretically calculated values of L X-rays fluorescence cross sections and other experimental results. Good agreement was observed between experimental and theoretical values.     

Selective Voltammetric Detection of Epinephrine in the Presence of Ascorbic Acid at Poly(4-Methoxyphenol)-Modified Electrode1

A gold electrode was modified with electropolymerized films of 4-methoxyphenol by its oxidative polymerization from an alkaline solution by cyclic voltammetry. The modified electrode was then used to determine epinephrine (EP) in the presence of a high concentration of ascorbic acid (AA) by differential pulse voltammetry. The peak positions as well as relative sensitivity EP/AA were affected by the potential window used for the polymerization. For polymerization between 0 and 1.3 V, the peak potentials recorded in a phosphate buffer solution (pH = 7.2) were 516 and 312 mV vs. Ag/AgCl for EP and AA, respectively. In addition the effects of pH and the type of electrolyte on the linearity range and detection limit are investigated. The detection limit for 3s-test is 0.1 M. The high selectivity and sensitivity for epinephrine was found to be due to charge discrimination/analyte accumulation.     

Sm~(3 )在硼酸盐玻璃中的发光及Bi~(3 )对Sm~(3 )的敏化作用

早在六十年代,人们为了寻找较好的激光玻璃,曾对Sm~(3 )离子掺杂的玻璃中的光谱进行过研究。为了探寻新型的激光,发光玻璃,又进一步研究了Sm~(3 )在玻璃中的发光和敏化。我们以寻找一种高亮度,低成本的发光玻璃为目的,研究了基质玻璃组成,敏化离子及其浓度对Sm~(3 )发光性质的影响。 选择B_2O_3-BaO-M_mO_n(M_mO_n=Li_2O,Na_2O,K_2O,MgO,CaO,SrO)玻璃体系,所用原料的纯度皆为分析纯以上,用陶瓷坩埚在1250℃掺杂氧化钐(纯度均大于99％),玻璃的荧光谱和激发光谱,用MPF-4型荧光分光光度计测定。     

Determination of adsorptive properties of clay/water system: methylene blue sorption

In this study, adsorption of methylene blue onto clay was investigated. The effect of adsorption time and temperature on the adsorption process was studied. To reveal the adsorptive characteristics of the clay studied, porosity and BET surface area measurements were made. It was observed that the adsorption capacity decreases with increasing temperature, and adsorption equilibrium was attained within 1 h. It was found that the data fit well to Langmuir, Halsey, Henderson, and Harkins-Jura models but experimental data deviate significantly from BET and Freundlich models at especially high concentrations. Furthermore, isosteric adsorption enthalpy and entropy are calculated as -7.99 kJ mol(-1) and 25.41 JK(-1)mol(-1), respectively.     

Adsorption of N-Nitrosodiethylamine and N-Nitrosodimethylamine on Activated Carbon: A Pre-Concentration Procedure for Gas Chromatographic Analysis

In this study, a rapid pre-concentration procedure, which employs powdered activated carbon as a clean-up and pre-concentration material, is described for the gas chromatographic analysis of N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in aqueous solutions. It was found that powdered activated carbon is suitable for the adsorption of volatile N-nitrosamine compounds from aqueous solutions. Adsorption efficiency with spiked beer samples (alcohol content 5% v/v) was found to be 80.5% (NDMA) and 89.4% (NDEA) and recovery of extraction from activated carbon was calculated as 82.1% (NDMA) and 89.7% (NDEA), respectively. The effect of 100µgmL^–1 of tannic acid on the adsorption was also studied, and no significant effect on the adsorption and extraction of volatile N-nitrosamine compounds was found.     

Thermosensitive mucoadhesive gel formulation loaded with 5-Fu: cyclodextrin complex for HPV-induced cervical cancer

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infections are the major cause of cervical cancers. To achieve a better therapeutic efficacy and patient compliance in the treatment for HPV-induced cervical cancers, anticancer agent 5-fluorouracil has been formulated in a vaginal gel using the thermosensitive polymer Pluronic^® F127 together with alternative mucoadhesive polymers e.g., hyaluronic acid, Carbopol 934 and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose. To increase its aqueous solubility and to achieve the complete release of 5-FU from the gel, the drug was incorporated as its inclusion complex with 1:1 molar ratio with either β-cyclodextrin or hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin. Following the characterization of drug:CD complexes, thermosensitive gel formulations containing different mucoadhesive polymers and the drug in free or complexed form were characterized in vitro by determining the gelation temperature and the rheological behavior of different formulations along with the in vitro release profiles of these formulations in pH 5.5 citrate buffer. It was observed that complexation with cyclodextrin accelerated the release of 5-FU with the exception of formulation containing Carbopol 934 as mucoadhesive polymer. As far as rheological properties are concerned, favorable thermosensitive in situ gelling properties were obtained with formulations containing HPMC as mucoadhesive polymer. Complete release of 5-FU from gels were obtained with both complexes of β-CD and HP-β-CD and cytotoxicity studies against HeLa human cervical carcinoma cells demonstrated that 1% 5-FU:CD complexes were equally effective as 1% free 5-FU indicating better therapeutic efficacy with lower dose.     

Metallophthalocyanines with rod-shaped substituents

4-(4′-Dioctylaminocarbonylbiphenyloxy) phthalonitrile was synthesized from 4-(4′-carboxybiphenyloxy)phthalonitrile and dioctylamine in the presence of Et₃N. Metallophthalocyanines (Zn, Co and Cu) substituted with four dioctylaminocarbonyl biphenyloxy groups on the peripheral positions were prepared from 4-(4′-dioctylaminocarbonylbiphenyloxy)phthalonitrile and the corresponding divalent metal salts (Zn(CH₃COO)₂, CoCl₂ and CuCl₂). The new phthalocyanines are soluble in common organic solvents. These compounds were characterised by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis and mass spectroscopies.     

Are oxygen rings (On) and their negative ions (O) unstable?

Oxygen clusters of the equilateral ring types O_n and their negative ions O are studied by the recently developed pictorial-topological quantum chemistry method, VIF (valency interaction formulas), of this author. The species are found to be of high energy relative to separated oxygen atoms, the cause being evident from the VIF pictures. The odd n rings should be at local minima but are not likely to have observable negative ions. The even n rings have distortional instabilities, yet their negative ions are more likely to be observed as transients in beam experiments.