Solvent extraction of mercury using Alamine 304

Summary A study has been undertaken to develop a solvent extraction system for mercury using Alamine 304 in aqueous chloride medium. The parameters investigated included reagent concentration, acid concentration, pH, aqueous to organic phase ratio, and rate of extraction and stripping. The study shows that mercury can be extracted rapidly and efficiently from aqueous chloride solutions. A number of aqueous stripping reagents removed more than 90% of the mercury from the organic phase with only one equilibrium. These include HNO₃, NaOH and EDTA.

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Extraktion von Quecksilber mit Alamin 304

Zusammenfassung Die Extraktion von Quecksilber aus der wäßrigen Lösung des Chlorids mit Alamin 304 wurde untersucht. Die Konzentration des Reagens, der Säure, das pH, das Verhältnis der wäßrigen zur organischen Phase sowie das Extraktionsverhältnis wurden geprüft. Die Extraktion verläuft rasch und wirkungsvoll. Eine Reihe wäßriger Reagenzien entzieht mehr als 90% des Quecksilbers aus der organischen Phase. Dazu gehören Salpetersäure, Natronlauge und EDTA.

     

Zein film as a novel natural biopolymer membrane in electrochemical detections

Permselective modifier films are very important in preparing highly sensitive electrochemical sensors. In this work, for the first time, the behavior of gold and glassy carbon electrodes coated with biocompatible zein film as a permselective membrane for the electrochemical detection of various compounds has been investigated. For this purpose, several electroactive cationic (methylene blue, brilliant green, and thionine) and anionic (potassium ferricyanide, alizarin red S, and riboflavin-5’-phosphate) compounds have been used as model. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that zein membranes prepared from casting solution containing 1% zein in ethanol/water have porous structures with high nanometric roughness. The capacitance values of electrical double layers of electrodes modified with zein film were very high for hydrophilic ions in comparison with hydrophobic ions. Point of zero charge pH (pH_pzc) of zein membrane was 4.8. The results of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as well as pH_pzc study indicated that zein permselective membrane acts as ion exchanger film for selected cationic compounds with fast electrochemical kinetics responses in aqueous solution (pH=7). This behavior was confirmed by circulating solutions containing model compounds from homemade continuous cell equipped with polyamide membranes modified with zein film.

Graphical Abstract

     

The role of charge distribution on the antimalarial activity of artemisinin analogues

In this work the calculated nuclear quadrupole coupling constants (NQCC; chi) of 17O in artemisinin and some of its derivatives and the effects of charge density due to the nature of ligands on NQCC of 17O were investigated. All calculations were performed at the HF/3-21G level using the Gaussian 98 program. The results show that the O-O linkage has a characteristic role in the antimalarial activity of artemisinin. In addition, various substitutions on C4 change the charge density on these oxygens and consequently change the pharmaceutical effect of artemisinin. Our results suggest that due to a larger charge density on O1, the heme iron approaches the endoperoxide moiety at the O1 position with preference to the O2 position.     

Quaternized amino functionalized cross-linked polyacrylamide as a new solid-liquid phase transfer catalyst in reduction of carbonyl compounds with NaBH4

Poly[N-(2-aminoethyl)acrylamido]trimethyl ammonium chloride resin was developed as a new polymeric phase transfer catalyst. This quaternized polyacrylamide catalyzed the chemoselective reduction of aldehydes and ketones by NaBH₄ to give corresponding alcohols in high yields under mild conditions.     

In Silico Analysis of PORD Mutations on the 3D Structure of P450 Oxidoreductase

Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) is a membrane-bound flavoprotein that helps in transferring electrons from its NADPH domain to all cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes. Mutations in the POR gene could severely affect the metabolism of steroid hormones and the development of skeletal muscles, a condition known as Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase deficiency (PORD). PORD is associated with clinical presentations of disorders of sex development, Antley and Bixler’s syndrome (ABS), as well as an abnormal steroid hormone profile. We have performed an in silico analysis of POR 3D X-ray protein crystal structure to study the effects of reported mutations on the POR enzyme structure. A total of 32 missense mutations were identified, from 170 PORD patients, and mapped on the 3D crystal structure of the POR enzyme. In addition, five of the missense mutations (R457H, A287P, D210G, Y181D and Y607C) were further selected for an in-depth in silico analysis to correlate the observed changes in POR protein structure with the clinical phenotypes observed in PORD patients. Overall, missense mutations found in the binding sites of POR cofactors could lead to a severe form of PORD, emphasizing the importance of POR cofactor binding domains in transferring electrons to the CYP450 enzyme family.     

The effect of porosity on the laser induced damage threshold of TiO2 and ZrO2 single layer films

Monolayer ZrO₂ and TiO₂ films were prepared on BK7 glass by physical vapor deposition (PVD) and were subsequently annealed for 1 h at 300 °C. By using the transmission spectra of two samples and the envelope method, the refractive index dispersion and extinction coefficients have been calculated. Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) measurement shows that despite slight differences between the extinction coefficients of the two samples, the LIDT parameter of the ZrO₂ film is greater than that of the TiO₂ film. This fact leads us to consider thermal conductivity as an important parameter for interpreting the LIDT difference. According to our theoretical analysis, as a consequence of increase in the number of thermal barriers along poorer film, its thermal conductivity, and hence LIDT, decreased, which is in agreement with our experimental results. The measured porosity of the two samples shows higher porosity for TiO₂ single layer, which is in agreement with atomic force (AFM) images. The gradual and smooth damage morphology of ZrO₂ observed in optical images implies higher thermal conductivity than TiO₂.     

Polyelectrolyte Nanocomposite Membranes Using Imidazole-Functionalized Nanosilica for Fuel Cell Applications

The preparation and characterization of a new type of nanocomposite polyelectrolyte membrane, based on DuPont Nafion/imidazole-modified nanosilica (Im-Si), for direct methanol fuel cell applications is described. Related to the interactions between the protonated imidazole groups, grafted on the surface of nanosilica, and negatively charged sulfonic acid groups of Nafion, new electrostatic interactions can be formed in the interface of Nafion and Im-Si which result in both lower methanol permeability and also higher proton conductivity. Physical characteristics of these manufactured nanocomposite membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, water uptake, methanol permeability, and ion-exchange capacity, as well as proton conductivity. The Nafion/Im-Si membranes showed higher proton conductivity, lower methanol permeability and, as a consequence, higher selectivity parameter in comparison to the neat Nafion or Nafion/silica membranes. The obtained results indicated that the Nafion/Im-Si membranes could be utilized as promising polyelectrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cell applications.     

An improved ensemble learning machine for biological activity prediction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Boosting is one of the most important strategies in ensemble learning because of its ability to improve the stability and performance of weak learners. It is nonparametric, multivariate, fast and interpretable but is not robust against outliers. To enhance its prediction accuracy as well as immunize it against outliers, a modified version of a boosting algorithm (AdaBoost R2) was developed and called AdaBoost R3. In the sampling step, extremum samples were added to the boosting set. In the robustness step, a modified Huber loss function was applied to overcome the outlier problem. In the output step, a deterministic threshold was used to guarantee that bad predictions do not participate in the final output. The performance of the modified algorithm was investigated with two anticancer data sets of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and the mechanism of inhibition was studied using the relative weighted variable importance procedure. Investigating the effect of base learner's strength reveals that boosting is only successful using the classification and regression tree method (a weak to moderate learner) and does not have a significant effect using the radial basis functions partial least square method (a strong base learners). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FACILE REDUCTION OF AROMATIC NITRO COMPOUNDS WITH HYDROIODIC ACID UNDER MICROWAVE IRRADIATION ON SOLID SUPPORT

Reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to amine with hydroiodic acid was revisited. Under microwave irradiation on solid support the reduction proceeded efficiently and rapidly.     

SELECTIVE OXIDATION OF BENZYLIC ALCOHOLS USING CAN SUPPORTED ONTO SILICA GEL UNDER MICROWAVE IRRADIATION

Cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN) adsorbed on HNO ₃ /silica gel is a mild reagent for selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes under microwave irradiation in solventless system.