The use of emission spatial profiles for the establishment of an internal reference point in ICP-AES

ICP torches are essentially unique devices. They are by necessity hand-made items. Therefore each has small variations in shape which cause individual differences in plasma configuration. As a consequence, utilization of an external reference point such as the “top of the load coil” is not adequate. It is well documented that ICP sources are complex and that different excitation mechanisms come into play in different parts of the source. This is demonstrated by the fact that generally atomic transitions have their peak intensities lower in the plasma, whereas ionic transitions peak higher in the plasma. The height-intensity relationship of both atomic and ionic species has been investigated. The use of the intersection of normalized atomic and ionic emission intensity profiles as a function of observation height has been evaluated as a possible internal reference point. This point is shown to be reproducible and easy to measure.     

Embeddings of bipartite graphs

If G is a bipartite graph with bipartition A, B then let G_m,n(A, B) be obtained from G by replacing each vertex a of A by an independent set a₁, …, a_m, each vertex b of B by an independent set b₁,…, b_n, and each edge ab of G by the complete bipartite graph with edges a_ib_j (1 ≤ i ≤ m and 1 ≤ j ≤ n). Whenever G has certain types of spanning forests, then cellular embeddings of G in surfaces S may be lifted to embeddings of G_m,n(A, B) having faces of the same sizes as those of G in S. These results are proved by the technique of “excess-current graphs.” They include new genus embeddings for a large class of bipartite graphs.     

Kinetics of substitution at ternary titanium(IV)–cyclopentadienyl,pyronato or pyridinato–halide or alkoxide complexes

Rate laws and kinetic parameters are reported for substitution at titanium(IV) complexes Ti(LL)₂X₂, where LLH=cyclopentadiene, the 4-pyrone ethylmaltol, several 4-pyridinones, and related ligands, and X=halide or alkoxide, in acetonitrile solution at 298.2 K. Reactivities are discussed in terms of the nature of the leaving group, the entering group and the non-leaving ligand LL^?. Activation volumes of ?15 and ?12 cm³ mol^?1 have been determined for thiocyanate attack at Ti(cp)₂Cl₂ and Ti(etmalt)₂Cl₂ respectively. Substitution mechanisms are discussed in the light of the kinetic parameters obtained.     

The oxidation of formic acid at noble metal electrodes Part 4. Platinum + palladium alloys

Formic acid oxidation has been studied on Pt + Pd alloys of known surface composition using cyclic voltammetry. The results are interpreted in terms of a strongly bound (poisoning) intermediate which adsorbs only on the Pt atoms and a direct oxidation path which involves an intermediate occupying a single site and a second intermediate occupying two sites. Steady state oxidation currents on the alloys at potentials in the range of about 0.4 to 0.9 V are larger than expected from a linear combination of the currents on the pure metals. This effect may be due to the modification of metal properties at the junction between two types of metallic atoms.     

Sulphuric—perchloric acid digestion of plant material for the determination of nitrogen,phosphorus, potassium,calcium and magnesium

Modifications of an earlier procedure to improve reliability in routine use are described. Contamination from glass beads and new digestion flasks may be significant. Other possible sources of error are discussed.