Evaluations of solid electrodes for use in voltammetric monitoring of heavy metals in samples from metallurgical nickel industry

Evaluation of different solid electrode systems for detection of zinc, lead, cobalt, and nickel in process water from metallurgical nickel industry with use of differential pulse stripping voltammetry has been performed. Zinc was detected by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) on a dental amalgam electrode as intermetallic Ni–Zn compound after dilution in ammonium buffer solution. The intermetallic compound was observed at –375 mV, and a linear response was found in the range 0.2–1.2 mg L^–1 (r²=0.98) for 60 s deposition time. Simultaneous detection of nickel and cobalt in the low g L^–1 range was successfully performed by use of adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (AdCSV) of dimethylglyoxime complexes on a silver–bismuth alloy electrode, and a good correlation was found with corresponding AAS results (r²=0.999 for nickel and 0.965 for cobalt). Analyses of lead in the g L^–1 range in nickel-plating solution were performed with good sensitivity and stability by DPASV, using a working electrode of silver together with a glassy carbon counter electrode in samples diluted 1:3 with distilled water and acidified with H₂SO₄ to pH 2. A new commercial automatic at-line system was tested, and the results were found to be in agreement with an older mercury drop system. The stability of the solid electrode systems was found to be from one to several days without any maintenance needed.     

Advances in 14 MeV neutron activation analysis by means of a new intense neutron source

A new intense 14 MeV neutron generator with cylindrical acceleration structure has been put in operation at the GKSS Research Center Geesthacht. The sealed neutron tube is combined with a fast pneumatic rabbit system with particular capabilities for neutron activation analysis involving shortlived reaction products. The sample transfer time is less than 140 ms. The maximum neutron flux available for activation is 5.2·10¹⁰ n/cm²s. Theoretical sensitivity predictions made in a previous study have been verified for some important trace elements. As a first application, samples of freeze-dried suspended matter and fishes of the Elbe river were analyzed.     

Enhanced selectivity in Novozym 435 catalyzed kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols and butanoates caused by the (R)-alcohols

In esterifications of secondary alcohols catalyzed by immobilized lipase B from Candida antarctica (Novozym 435) the E-values decreased during the reaction. Hydrolysis of the corresponding butanoates showed the opposite effect. When an enantiopure (R)-alcohol, related but different, was added to the transesterification reaction, the E-value was significantly enhanced.     

Dissociative recombination of the weakly bound NO-dimer cation: cross sections and three-body dynamics

Dissociative recombination (DR) of the dimer ion (NO)(2) (+) has been studied at the heavy-ion storage ring CRYRING at the Manne Siegbahn Laboratory, Stockholm. The experiments were aimed at determining details on the strongly enhanced thermal rate coefficient for the dimer, interpreting the dissociation dynamics of the dimer ion, and studying the degree of similarity to the behavior in the monomer. The DR rate reveals that the very large efficiency of the dimer rate with respect to the monomer is limited to electron energies below 0.2 eV. The fragmentation products reveal that the breakup into the three-body channel NO+O+N dominates with a probability of 0.69+/-0.02. The second most important channel yields NO+NO fragments with a probability of 0.23+/-0.03. Furthermore, the dominant three-body breakup yields electronic and vibrational ground-state products, NO(upsilon=0)+N((4)S)+O((3)P), in about 45% of the cases. The internal product-state distribution of the NO fragment shows a similarity with the product-state distribution as predicted by the Franck-Condon overlap between a NO moiety of the dimer ion and a free NO. The dissociation dynamics seem to be independent of the NO internal energy. Finally, the dissociation dynamics reveal a correlation between the kinetic energy of the NO fragment and the degree of conservation of linear momentum between the O and N product atoms. The observations support a mechanism in which the recoil takes place along one of the NO bonds in the dimer.     

Development of quantitative vitellogenin-ELISAs for fish test species used in endocrine disruptor screening

The yolk protein precursor vitellogenin (Vtg) in plasma has proved to be a simple and sensitive biomarker for assessing exposure of fish to environmental estrogens. Within international bodies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) work is ongoing to develop screening and testing programmes for endocrine disrupting effects of new chemicals, and in the focus of this development are the fish test species common carp (Cyprinus carpio), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). In this study we have developed quantitative enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for Vtg in common carp/fathead minnow, zebrafish and Japanese medaka. The assays were developed using a combination of monoclonal and polyclonal fish Vtg antibodies in a sandwich format, using stabilized Vtg from the test species as a standard. The carp Vtg ELISA has a working range of 1–63 ng/mL, a minimal detection limit of 0.6 ng/mL, and may also be used for quantification of Vtg in fathead minnow. In fathead minnow whole-body homogenate samples, the practical detection limit is 400 ng/mL due to the matrix effect. The zebrafish Vtg ELISA has a working range of 0.5–63 ng/mL, a minimal detection limit of 0.4 ng/mL, and a practical detection limit of 200 ng/mL in whole-body homogenate samples. The medaka Vtg ELISA has a working range of 0.25–16 ng/mL, a minimal detection limit of 0.1 ng/mL, and a practical detection limit of 125 ng/mL in whole-body homogenate samples. The intra- and inter-assay variations were below 20% for all assays. The assays were evaluated with sets of representative samples spanning the wide dynamic range of Vtg-levels found in fish exposed to environmental estrogens, and all three assays are currently undergoing international inter-laboratory validation.     

On the determination of crystallinity and cellulose content in plant fibres

A comparative study of cellulose crystallinity based on the sample crystallinity and the cellulose content in plant fibres was performed for samples of different origin. Strong acid hydrolysis was found superior to agricultural fibre analysis and comprehensive plant fibre analysis for a consistent determination of the cellulose content. Crystallinity determinations were based on X-ray powder diffraction methods using side-loaded samples in reflection (Bragg-Brentano) mode. Rietveld refinements based on the recently published crystal structure of cellulose Iβ followed by integration of the crystalline and amorphous (background) parts were performed. This was shown to be straightforward to use and in many ways advantageous to traditional crystallinity determinations using the Segal or the Ruland–Vonk methods. The determined cellulose crystallinities were 90–100 g/100 g cellulose in plant-based fibres and 60–70 g/100 g cellulose in wood based fibres. These findings are significant in relation to strong fibre composites and bio-ethanol production.     

Compensation effect in the hydrogenation/dehydrogenation kinetics of metal hydrides

The possible existence of a compensation effect, i.e. concurrent changes in activation energy and prefactor, is investigated for the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation kinetics of metal hydrides, by analyzing a series of reported kinetic studies on Mg and LaNi(5) based hydrides. For these systems, we find a clear linear relation between apparent prefactors and apparent activation energies, as obtained from an Arrhenius analysis, indicating the existence of a compensation effect. Large changes in apparent activation energies in the case of Mg based hydrides are rationalized in terms of a dependency of observed apparent activation energy on the degree of surface oxidation, i.e., a physical effect. On the other hand, we find the large concurrent changes in apparent prefactors to be a direct result of the Arrhenius analysis. Thus, we find the observed compensation effect to be an artifact of the data analysis rather than a physical phenomenon. In the case of LaNi(5) based hydrides, observed scatter in reported apparent activation energies is less pronounced supporting the general experience that LaNi(5) is less sensitive toward surface contamination.     

Stability of rarefaction waves in viscous media

We study the time-asymptotic behavior of weak rarefaction waves of systems of conservation laws describing one-dimensional viscous media, with strictly hyperbolic flux functions. Our main result is to show that solutions of perturbed rarefaction data converge to an approximate, Burgers rarefaction wave, for initial perturbations w ₀ with small mass and localized as w ₀(x)= The proof proceeds by iteration of a pointwise ansatz for the error, using integral representations of its various components, based on Green's functions. We estimate the Green's functions by careful use of the Hopf-Cole transformation, combined with a refined parametrix method. As a consequence of our method, we also obtain rates of decay and detailed pointwise estimates for the error.This pointwise method has been used successfully in studying stability of shock and constant-state solutions. New features in the rarefaction case are time-varying coefficients in the linearized equations and error waves of unbounded mass (log (t)). These diffusion waves have amplitude (t ^-1/2logt) in linear degenerate transversal fields and (t ^-1/2logt) in genuinely nonlinear transversal fields, a distinction which is critical in the stability proof.     

Radiative lifetime determination for the 3s4p-1P1 state of magnesium using pulsed level-crossing spectroscopy

The natural radiative lifetime of the 3s4p ¹ P ₁ level of neutral magnesium was measured by pulsed level-crossing spectroscopy at the short excitation wavelength of 202.6 nm. We obtained =13.4(5) ns for this state, strongly deviating from a previous beam-foil result, but in good agreement with a multi-configuration Hartree-Fock calculation. A discussion of the applicability of the pulsed Hanle effect method is given.     

Determination of stability constants of chelate complexes: Part II. Applications

The proposed simplified method for calculating the stability constants of chelate complexes from pH and pM measurements (Part I) is applied to two systems. On the basis of data reported by Österberg, the stability constants of copper o-phosphorylserylglutamic acid are calculated and good agreement is achieved. In addition, the stability constants of the mononuclear, binuclear and trinuclear silver complexes of TTHA (triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid) were calculated from potentiometric pAg data. These calculations yielded the following values of the cumulative constants: log β_AgL=8.7, log β_AgHL= 17.6, log β_AgH2L= 23.8, log β_Ag2L= 14.0, log β_Ag2HL = 20.5, log β_Ag2H2L = 25.6, log β_Ag2L =17.0.