Pit your wits against young minds!

This column is a place for those bits of contagious mathematics that travel from person to person in the community, because they are so elegant, suprising, or appealing that one has an urge to pass them on. Contributions are most welcome.     

反气相色谱法研究聚丙烯结晶动力学及对熔点和结晶度的测定

<正> 研究聚合物的结晶动力学,过去大多采用膨胀计法和解偏振光法。曾有文献报道采用反气相色谱法测得聚乙烯等温结晶线。通过实验可知,测定聚丙烯结晶度时,试样热历史和测定前陈化温度的选择均影响测定结果。此外在测定聚丙烯试样的熔点时,保留图中出现了两个转折,经反复实验证实:此两转折对应于聚丙烯中不同晶形(α-、β-形)的熔点。     

Template synthesis in the nickel(II)–thiocarbohydrazide–propanone triple system

The complexing process proceeding in the Ni^II–thiocarbohydrazide (H₂N–H–NC(=S)–NH–NH₂)–propanone triple system in EtOH solution and nickel(II)hexacyanoferrate(II) gelatin-immobilized matrix has been studied. It has been found that in the first case, template synthesis leading, as a minimum, to formation of three coordination compounds of Ni^II with (N,N,S,S)-donor tetradentate ligands having NiL¹, NiL² and NiL³compositions where L¹ is 4,6,6-trimethyl-2,3,7,8-tetraazanonen-3-di(thiohydrazide)-1,9, L² is 4,6,6,12-tetrametyl-1,9-dithio-2,3,7,8,10,11-hexaazatridekadien-3,11-hydrazide-1 and L³ is 2,8,10,10,16-pentamethyl-5,13-dithio-3,4,6,7,11,12,14,15-octaazaheptadekatrien-2,7,15 is observed, whereas in the gelatin-immobilized matrix, a complexing process in the system considered does not occur.     

Determination of lead by selective chelatometric titration with HEDTA after separation as its sulphate by an improved method of precipitation

A selective titrimetric determination of Pb after separation by a modified method of precipitation as its sulphate is proposed. Pb(II), present as the perchlorate, is precipitated by gentle boiling in 3.6M H(2)SO(4) presaturated with PbSO(4) and free from any extraneous anions. The customary time-consuming evaporation to fumes of sulphuric acid is dispensed with. The precipitate is collected, and dissolved in excess of HEDTA, the surplus of which is back-titrated with Zn(II) at pH 5.0-5.5. Use of Catechol Violet and Xylenol Orange as a mixed indicator gives a sharper end-point. The standard deviation of the proposed method for 60 mg of lead is 0.35 mg. The method has been successfully used to determine Pb in non-ferrous alloys.     

Chemische Vitamin D<Subscript>3</Subscript>-Bestimmung in Lebertran

The different aspects of Vitamin D₃ determination and the data reported in the literature are discussed. The spectrophotometric determination of Vitamin D₃ in cod-liver oil is carried out after the alkaline saponification, extraction of unsaponified parts, precipitation of accompanying sterols and the column- and thin-layer chromatographic purification and separation of vitamin D₃ on 40 cm plates from other vitamins. The dyestuff α-naphtholbenzein is suited well as standard substance for the better location and identification of vitamin D₃ zone on the thin-layer plate. The results obtained from the chemical method were checked through the simultaneous biological determination.     

Self-assembly of highly oriented one-dimensional h-WO3 nanostructures

A new self-assembled and highly oriented one-dimensional single-crystal nanostructure of WO3 with hexagonal form was successfully prepared by a mild, solution-based colloidal approach.     

Unlabeled Fluoroimmunoassay with a Europium Chelate

Unlabeled fluoroimmunoassay with a europium chelate is described. The recommended method is simple because the complicated labeling process is omitted. The recovery of some samples ranges from 91 to 111%. The relative standard deviation of the method is less than 10%. The detection limit is about 10⁻¹⁰mol liter⁻¹antigen.