The effects of vacuum annealing on the structure and surface chemistry of iron:nickel alloy nanoparticles

In order to increase the longevity of contaminant retention on the particle surface, a method is sought to improve the corrosion resistance of bimetallic iron nickel nanoparticles (INNP) used for the remediation of contaminated water, and thereby extend their industrial lifetime. A multi-disciplinary approach was used to investigate changes induced by vacuum annealing (<5 × 10^?8 mbar) at 500 °C on the bulk and surface chemistry of INNP. The particle size was determined to increase significantly as a result of annealing and the thickness of the surface oxide increased by 50%. BET analysis recorded a decrease in INP surface area from 44.88 to 8.08 m² g^?1, consistent with observations from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) which indicated the diffusion bonding of previously discrete particles at points of contact. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that recrystallisation of the metallic cores had occurred, converting a significant fraction of initially amorphous iron nickel alloy into crystalline FeNi alloy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated a reduction in the proportion of surface iron oxide and a change in its stoichiometry related to annealing-induced disproportionation. This was also evidenced by an increased proportion of Fe(0) and Ni(0) to Fe- and Ni-oxides, respectively. The data also indicated the concurrent development of boron oxide at the metal surfaces, which accounts for the overall increase measured in surface oxide thickness. The improved core crystallinity and the presence of passivating impurity phases at the INNP surfaces may act to improve the corrosion resistance and reactive lifespan of the vacuum annealed INNP for environmental applications.     

NMR characterization of 1,1′‐binaphthyl‐2,2′‐diyl hydrogen phosphate binding to chiral molecular micelles

NMR spectroscopy was used to characterize the binding of the chiral compound 1,1′‐binaphthyl‐2,2′‐diyl hydrogen phosphate (BNP) to five molecular micelles with chiral dipeptide headgroups. Molecular micelles have covalent linkages between the surfactant monomers and are used as chiral mobile phase modifiers in electrokinetic chromatography. Nuclear overhauser enhancement spectroscopy (NOESY) analyses of (S)‐BNP:molecular micelle mixtures showed that in each solution the (S)‐BNP interacted predominately with the N‐terminal amino acid of the molecular micelle's dipeptide headgroup. NOESY spectra were also used to generate group binding maps for (S)‐BNP:molecular micelle mixtures. In these maps, percentages are assigned to the (S)‐BNP protons to represent the relative strengths of their interactions with a specified molecular micelle proton. All maps showed that (S)‐BNP inserted into a previously reported chiral groove formed between the molecular micelle's dipeptide headgroup and hydrocarbon chain. In the resulting intermolecular complexes, the (S)‐BNP protons nearest to the analyte phosphate group were found to point toward the N‐terminal Hα proton of the molecular micelle headgroup. Finally, pulsed field gradient NMR diffusion experiments were used to measure association constants for (R) and (S)‐BNP binding to each molecular micelle. These K values were then used to calculate the differences in the enantiomers' free energies of binding, Δ(ΔG). The NMR‐derived Δ(ΔG) values were found to scale linearly with electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) chiral selectivities from the literature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transition metal ion-substituted polyoxometalates entrapped in polypyrrole as an electrochemical sensor for hydrogen peroxide

A conducting polymer was used for the immobilization of various transition metal ion-substituted Dawson-type polyoxometalates (POMs) onto glassy carbon electrodes. Voltammetric responses of films of different thicknesses were stable within the pH domain 2-7 and reveal redox processes associated with the conducting polymer, the entrapped POMs and incorporated metal ions. The resulting POM doped polypyrrole films were found to be extremely stable towards redox switching between the various redox states associated with the incorporated POM. An amperometric sensor for hydrogen peroxide detection based upon the POM doped polymer films was investigated. The detection limits were 0.3 and 0.6 μM, for the Cu(2+)- and Fe(3+)-substituted POM-doped polypyrrole films respectively, with a linear region from 0.1 up to 2 mM H(2)O(2). Surface characterization of the polymer films was carried out using atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of leukotriene A4 and other chemically reactive metabolites of arachidonic acid

The biosynthesis of prostaglandins and leukotrienes proceeds through the formation of chemically reactive intermediates leukotriene A4 (LTA4) and prostaglandin H2 (PGH2) which in aqueous solutions have chemical half-lives of 3 s and 3 min, respectively. Prostacyclin (PGI2) is another chemically reactive prostanoid that has a chemical half-life of 3-4 min. The recent development of reversed phase HPLC stationary phases that are stable to elevated pH (pH 10-12) without significant column damage has permitted direct analysis of these acid-sensitive eicosanoids. Using electrospray ionization, molecular anions [M - H]- of these compounds were observed at m/z 317 for LTA4 and m/z 351 for both PGH2 and PGI2. The mechanism of formation of ions derived from collisional activation of LTA4 was studied using stable isotope labeled and chemical analogs of LTA4 and found to involve formation of highly conjugated anions at m/z 261 and 163. The collisional activation of the molecular anion of PGH2 yielded a product ion spectrum identical to that observed for the isomeric prostaglandins PGE2 and PGD2. However, it was possible to baseline separate PGE2, PDG2, and PGH2 by reversed phase HPLC using basic HPLC mobile phases. The collisional activation of PGI2 led to a family of abundant ions including highly conjugated carbon-centered and oxygen-centered radical species (m/z 245 and 205) likely derived from the attack of the carboxylate anion on the cyclic enolether of PGI2 as well as the most abundant product ion (m/z 215) which formed following loss of neutral hexanal and water. The structures of these product ions were consistent with high resolution measurements measured in a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer.     

The geometry of compact homogeneous spaces with two isotropy summands

We give a complete list of all homogeneous spaces M = G/H where G is a simple compact Lie group, H a connected, closed subgroup, and G/H is simply connected, for which the isotropy representation of H on T _p M decomposes into exactly two irreducible summands. For each homogeneous space, we determine whether it admits a G-invariant Einstein metric. When there is an intermediate subgroup H <  K <  G, we classify all the G-invariant Einstein metrics. This is an extension of the classification of isotropy irreducible spaces, given independently by Manturov (Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 141, (1961), 792–795 1034–1037, Tr. Semin. Vector Tensor Anal. 13, (1966), 68–145) and J Wolf (Acta Math. 120, (1968), 59–148 152, (1984) 141–142).      

Sets of exact ‘logarithmic’ order in the theory of Diophantine approximation

For each real number , let denote the set of real numbers with exact order . A theorem of Güting states that for the Hausdorff dimension of is equal to . In this note we introduce the notion of exact t–logarithmic order which refines the usual definition of exact order. Our main result for the associated refined sets generalizes Güting's result to linear forms and moreover determines the Hausdorff measure at the critical exponent. In fact, the sets are shown to satisfy delicate zero-infinity laws with respect to Lebesgue and Hausdorff measures. These laws are reminiscent of those satisfied by the classical set of well approximable real numbers, for example as demonstrated by Khintchine's theorem. Received: 12 December 2000 / Published online: 25 June 2001