Head-space flow injection for the on-line determination of iodide in urine samples with chemiluminescence detection

A simple head-space (HS) flow injection (FI) system with chemiluminescence (CL) detection for the determination of iodide as iodine in urine is presented. The iodide is converted to iodine by potassium dichromate under stirring in the closed HS vial, and the iodine is released from urine by thermostatting and is carried in a nitrogen flow through an iodide trapping solution. The concomitant introduction of aliquots of iodine, luminol and cobalt(II) solutions by means of a time-based injector into an FI system allowed its mixing in a flow-through cell in front of the detector. The emission intensity at 425 nm was recorded as a function of time. The salting-out of the standard solutions affected the gas-liquid distribution coefficient of iodine in the HS vial. The typical analytical working graphs obtained under the optimized experimental conditions were rectilinear from 0 to 5 mg l(-1) iodine, achieving a precision of 2.3 and a relative standard deviation of 1.8 for ten replicate analyses of 50 and 200 microg l(-1) iodine. However, a second-order process becomes significant at higher iodine concentrations (from 10 to 40 mg l(-1)). The detection limit of the method is 10 microg l(-1) (80 ng) iodine when 8 ml samples are taken. Data for the iodide content of 10 urine samples were in good agreement with those obtained by a conventional catalytic method, and recoveries varied between 101 and 103% for urine samples spiked with different amounts of iodide. The analysis of one sample takes less than 20 min. In the present study the iodide levels found for 100 subjects were 86.8 +/- 19.0 (61-125) microg l(-1), which is lower than the WHO's optimal level (150-300 microg per day).     

Effect of electron-withdrawing substituents on the electrophilicity of carbonyl carbons

The substituent effects on the carbonyl carbon atom for a series of twelve substituted phenyl acetates have been rationalized using a global electrophilicity index. This index is linearly correlated with the experimental reaction rate coefficients. We found that, in contrast to the proposed interpretation based on experimental ¹³C NMR chemical shifts and ground state destabilization calculations, the electrophilicity of carbonyl compounds increases due to the effect promoted by electron-withdrawing groups in these systems.     

Aqueous biphasic olefin hydroformylation catalyzed by water-soluble rhodium complexes

Catalysis with water-soluble rhodium complexes, RhCl(CO)(TPPMS)₂, [TPPMS = P(C₆H₅)₂(C₆H₄SO₃)] (1), RhCl(CO)(TPPDS)₂, [TPPDS = P(C₆H₅)(C₆H₄SO₃)₂] (2) and RhCl(CO)(TPPTS)₂, [TPPTS = P(C₆H₄SO₃)₃] (3) in hydroformylation of 1-hexene, 2-pentene, 2,3-dimethyl-1-butene, cyclohexene and several mixtures of these olefins have been studied, under moderate reaction conditions (T: 50–150 °C; pCO/pH₂ = 1; total p: 14–68 bar; Substrate/Catalyst: 600/1) in biphasic toluene/water media. The catalytic system shows high activity but low selectivity. The linear and branched oxygenated products obtained are equally useful in naphtha upgrading, as observed in the real El Palito naphtha tried. The catalysts can be recycled several times without significant activity loss.     

Approche cinetique du mecanisme d'isomerisation de spirophosphoranes optiquement actifs

The polyrimetric kinetic study, of the epimerisation of optically pure spirophosphoranes derived from α-aminoalcohols or α-aminoacids, leads to mechanistic conclusions. Evidence from isotopic, solvent and concentration effects and values of the activation parameters are consistent with a regular epimerisation mechanism in these spirophosphoranes involving the intramolecular stereolability of these molecules.     

Quantum mechanical and molecular dynamic approaches to describe solvation effects by neoteric solvents

1. Download : Download high-res image (342KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Desolvation effects on the dissociation energy of diatomic molecules:Ab initio study of the dissociation of Li-F in polar media

Summary The potential curve of the ground state dissociation of Li-F in water has been studied by a combination of a standardab initio Hartree-Fock procedure and a perturbative reaction field approach. The electrostatic solute-solvent interaction is accounted for by the generalized Born formalism introduced through a perturbation approach. The calculations were carried out at a 6–311+G* basis set level. Diffuse functions ofs symmetry were included to model a desolvation potential. A double well potential curve was obtained for the dissociation of this molecule in the presence of a highly polarizable medium. The first minimum, corresponding to an ion pair, electrostatically bound, is found at aR(Li-F)<6.0 Å distance. As the two ions come together, a desolvation barrier of about 30 kcal/mol is to be overcome before the formation of the neutral Li-F at 1.56 Å. The barrier to ionization towards the ion pair is calculated to be about 14 kcal/mol. The dissociation of the ion pair towards the free ions is discussed in terms of the electrostatic solvation entropy changes.Contribution No 6 from Centro de Mecánica Cuantica Aplicada (CMCA)     

Air quality monitoring network design to control nitrogen dioxide and ozone, applied in Malaga, Spain

Air monitoring networks are necessary to assess air quality in order to reduce pollution to levels which minimize harmful effects on human health and the environment. This paper describes a method to design or optimize air quality monitoring networks for nitrogen dioxide and ozone and its application in Malaga, a medium large city located in Andalusia, southern Spain, with traffic being the main source of air pollution. The completion of this method revealed that the old assessment network in Malaga was badly designed and made it possible to determine that one traffic-orientated and one background control station were necessary for NO₂ assessment in Malaga, as well as two control stations for O₃. First the number of stations necessary is obtained from historical data. Sampling campaigns with passive diffusion samplers at 74 sites were then carried out to obtain information on the pollution distribution in Malaga. The average concentrations found for NO₂ and O₃ were 22.8 μg/m³ and 64.3 μg/m³ respectively. Maximum values of up to 42.2 μg/m³ NO₂ were found in Malaga city centre and O₃ reached 91.5 μg/m³ downwind from the emission source. After spatial interpolation of the obtained values with Geographical Information Systems, a selection of the best locations for the monitoring stations was made, in line with the macro- and microscale siting requirements of the European Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.