DMSO/N2H4.H2O/I2/H2O/CH3CN: a new system for selective oxidation of alcohols in hydrated media

A new alternative system for the oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones with DMSO/N2H4.H2O/I2/H2O/CH3CN in hydrated media has been developed. The system also selectively oxidizes the secondary alcoholic groups to the corresponding ketones in the presence of primary alcoholic groups present within the same molecule in moderate to very good yields at reflux temperature.     

Solution study of a structurally characterized monoalkoxo-bound monooxo-vanadium(V) complex: spontaneous generation of the corresponding oxobridged divanadium(V,V) complex and its electroreduction to a mixed-valence species in solution

An interesting transformation of a structurally characterized monooxoalkoxovanadium(V) complex [VO(OEt)L] (LH 2 = a dibasic tridentate ONO donor ligand) in solution leading to the formation of the corresponding monooxobridged divanadium(V,V) complex (VOL) 2O is reported. This binuclear species in solution is adequately characterized by elemental analysis, measurement of conductance (in solution), various spectroscopic (UV-vis, IR, NMR, and mass spectrometry) techiniques and by cyclic voltammetry. The corresponding mixed-valence vanadium(IV,V) species has been generated in CH 3CN solution by controlled potential electrolysis of (VOL) 2O. This mixed-valence species is identified and studied by EPR technique (at room temperature and at liquid nitrogen temperature) and also by UV-vis spectroscopy. This study may be regarded as a general method of obtaining monooxo-bridged binuclear vanadium(V,V) species from the corresponding mononuclear monooxoalkoxovanadium(V) complexes of some selected dibasic tridentate ONO chelating ligands, which can be utilized as the precursor of monooxobridged divanadium(IV,V) mixed-valence species in solution obtainable by controlled potential electrolysis.     

Phase-conjugation in two-level atoms: comparison of quantum interference theory to exact results

The analytically derived predictions of a recently developed theory on phase conjugate four wave mixing (FWM) in two-level atoms [Phys. Rev. A 60, 1672 (1999)], which interprets many of the signal features as a consequence of quantum interference between the probability amplitudes for photon emission from relevant dressed states, is compared to the results that one obtains from a non-perturbative, numerical calculation of the density matrix equations. The results delineate the regimes and assumptions under which the perturbative results are valid, and it is shown that despite the simplifying assumptions that are invoked for the dressed state theory, many of its predictions are in qualitative agreement with the exact, numerical results.     

Analytical application of DHOA for the determination of trace metallic constituents in U based fuel materials by ICP-AES

DHOA (Di-n-hexyl-octanamide) is one of the alternative extractants to TBP (tri-n-butyl phosphate) known for the extraction of uranium from moderate nitric acid medium without significant extraction of the fission products. Analytical application of DHOA was explored to develop a methodology for determination of trace metallic constituents in uranium based nuclear materials. This involved the separation of uranium matrix by 1.1 M DHOA-dodecane followed by the analysis of the raffinate for trace constituents by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). A systematic study showed that four contacts of 1.1 M DHOA-dodecane were required for quantitative extraction of U from 4 M HNO₃ feed for the sample size of 1 g in 10 mL. The feasibility of using DHOA for extraction of U from trace metallic constituents in U based fuel materials without losing trace quantities of analytes of interest was studied by using synthetic samples after appropriate spiking of common impurities and critical elements at their required specification limits (common elements—5 ppm, critical elements—1 ppm). A systematic study was carried out to compare the analytical performance of DHOA with TBP, which revealed that DHOA could successfully be employed for the determination of 19 trace constituents with lower estimation limits of 5 ppm for common impurities and 1 ppm for critical elements.     

Measurement of soil/dust arsenic by gas phase chemiluminescence

A gas phase chemiluminescence (GPCL)-based method for trace measurement of arsenic has been recently described for the measurement of arsenic in water. The principle is based on the reduction of inorganic As to AsH₃ at a controlled pH (the choice of pH governs whether only As(III) or all inorganic As is converted) and the reaction of AsH₃ with O₃ to produce chemiluminescence (Idowu et al., Anal. Chem. 78 (2006) 7088-7097). The same general principle has also been used in postcolumn reaction detection of As, where As species are separated chromatographically, then converted into inorganic As by passing through a UV photochemical reactor followed by AsH₃ generation and CL reaction with ozone (Idowu and Dasgupta, Anal. Chem. 79 (2007) 9197-9204). In the present paper we describe the measurement of As in different soil and dust samples by serial extraction with water, citric acid, sulfuric acid and nitric acid. We also compare parallel measurements for total As by induction coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). As(V) was the only species found in our samples. Because of chloride interference of isobaric ArCl⁺ ICP-MS analyses could only be carried out by standard addition; these results were highly correlated with direct GPCL and LC-GPCL results (r² = 0.9935 and 1.0000, respectively). The limit of detection (LOD) in the extracts was 0.36 μg/L by direct GPCL compared to 0.1 μg/L by ICP-MS. In sulfuric acid-based extracts, the LC-GPCL method provided LODs inferior to those previously observed for water-based standards and were 2.6, 1.3, 6.7, and 6.4 μg/L for As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), respectively.     

Methods and concerns in disposal of nuclear waste from storage vials post recovery

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The speciation of iodine in environment must be known in order to properly assess its geological fate and to study potential remediation materials...     

How does the urea dynamics differ from water dynamics inside the reverse micelle?

In this study, the urea dynamics inside AOT reverse micelle (RM) has been monitored without intervention of water using time-resolved fluorescence techniques from the picosecond to nanosecond time regime. It has been observed that urea dynamics inside the reverse micelle is severely retarded compared to water RM due to the formation of highly networked urea cluster inside the RM. Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy study also confirms the existence of a confined environment around the dye at higher concentrations of urea inside the reverse micelle. The dynamics of urea-water mixtures inside AOT reverse micelle has also been monitored with increasing urea concentration to get insight about the effect of urea on the overall solvation dynamics feature. It has been observed that with the increase in urea concentration, the overall dynamics becomes slower, and it infers the presence of few water or urea molecules, those strongly associated with surrounding urea and (or) water by hydrogen bonds.     

Stereoselective synthesis of (+)-(1R,2S,5S,7R)-2-hydroxy-exo-brevicomin

A stereoselective approach for the synthesis of (+)-(1R,2S,5S,7R)-2-hydroxy-exo-brevicomin from l-ascorbic acid has been described. The key steps are highly stereoselective nucleophilic addition reaction on aldehyde 8 and also a single pot transformation of 15 to (+)-(1R,2S,5S,7R)-2-hydroxy-exo-brevicomin. The later tandem reaction which involves the hydrogenation of double bond, debenzylation, MOM deprotection and bicyclic ketal formation was carried under Pd/C, H₂ followed by acid treatment.     

Stereoselective synthesis of methyl branched chiral deoxypropionate units: a new route for synthesis of insect pheromone (−)-lardolure and (2R,4R,6R,8R) 2,4,6,8-tetramethylundecanoic acid

(−)-Lardolure and (2R,4R,6R,8R)-2,4,6,8-tetramethylundecanoic acid have been synthesized via lipase catalyzed desymmetrization strategy to create two methyl chiral centers. Other key steps involved in the synthesis are Wittig reaction, Evan’s asymmetric alkylation, Grignard reaction, Pd-catalyzed isomerization of primary allylic alcohol to corresponding saturated aldehyde, and PhNO/proline catalyzed MacMillan α-hydroxylation.     

Rotational dynamics of propylene inside Na-Y zeolite cages

We report here the quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) studies on the dynamics of propylene inside Na-Y zeolite using triple axis spectrometer (TAS) at Dhruva reactor, Trombay. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations performed on the system had shown that the rotational motion involves energy larger than that involved in the translational motion. Therefore, rotational motion was not observed in our earlier QENS studies on propylene adsorbed Na-Y zeolite using a higher resolution spectrometer at Dhruva. Analysis of the TAS spectra revealed that the quasielastic broadening observed in propylene-loaded zeolite spectra is due to the rotational motion of the propylene molecules. This is consistent with our simulation result. Further, the rotational motion is found to be isotropic. The rotational diffusion coefficient has been obtained.