Thermal and spectroscopic investigation of europium and samarium sulphates hydrates by TG-FTIR and ICP-MS techniques

The investigation of europium(III) sulphate hydrate and samarium(III) sulphate hydrate was performed by thermal analysis (TG-DTG) and simultaneous infrared evolved gas analysis-Fourier transformed infrared (EGA-FTIR) spectroscopy. The TG, DTG and DTA curves were recorded at the 25–1400 °C in the dynamic air atmosphere by TG/DTA analyser. The infrared evolved gas analysis was obtained on the FTIR spectrometer. Eu₂(SO₄)₃·nH₂O (n = 3.97) and Sm₂(SO₄)₃·nH₂O (n = 8.11) were analysed, the dehydration and decomposition steps were investigated and the water content was calculated. The formation of different oxysulphates was studied.

The trace rare earth elements in Eu and Sm sulphates were determined by ICP-MS. The concentration of trace Eu, Sm, La, Gd, Y and Ce ranged from 3.9 × 10⁻⁶ to 1.5 × 10⁻⁴% (m/m).     

Comparative studies of static dipole polarizabilities of ionic crystals on the basis of different self-consistent potentials

The static dipole polarizabilities, ^D , have been studied for the ions O^2–, F^–, Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^–, K⁺ and Ca²⁺ in the crystals NaF, KF, NaCl, KC1, MgO and CaO. The starting zero-order wave functions have been generated using various exchange- and exchange-correlation potentials in order to study the effect of these potentials on ^D . The direct contribution to the dipole polarizability, _o ^D , has been determined by the uncoupled Hartree-Fock method. Self-consistency effects have been included by the geometric approximation. The crystal potential is incorporated using the Watson sphere model. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental results are found for those self-consistent potentials which exclude self-interaction.     

Highly efficient redox isomerization of allylic alcohols at ambient temperature catalyzed by novel ruthenium-cyclopentadienyl complexes--new insight into the mechanism

A range of ruthenium cyclopentadienyl (Cp) complexes have been prepared and used for isomerization of allylic alcohols to the corresponding saturated carbonyl compounds. Complexes bearing CO ligands show higher activity than those with PPh3 ligands. The isomerization rate is highly affected by the substituents on the Cp ring. Tetra(phenyl)methyl-substituted catalysts rapidly isomerize allylic alcohols under very mild reaction conditions (ambient temperature) with short reaction times. Substituted allylic alcohols have been isomerized by employing Ru-Cp complexes. A study of the isomerization catalyzed by [Ru(Ph5Cp)(CO)2H] (14) indicates that the isomerization catalyzed by ruthenium hydrides partly follows a different mechanism than that of ruthenium halides activated by KOtBu. Furthermore, the lack of ketone exchange when the isomerization was performed in the presence of an unsaturated ketone (1 equiv), different from that obtained by dehydrogenation of the starting allylic alcohol, supports a mechanism in which the isomerization takes place within the coordination sphere of the ruthenium catalyst.     

A 50% n-octylmethyl, 50% diphenyl-polysiloxane as stationary phase with unique selectivity for gas chromatography

An n-octylmethyl, diphenyl-polysiloxane called SOP-50-Octyl was prepared by a condensation reaction of bis(dimethylamino) n-octylmethylsilane with diphenylsilanediol. The resulting copolymer was a gum with high molecular weight and was obtained with a yield of 80%. 1H and 29Si NMR spectroscopy revealed that the copolymer was a 52% octylmethyl, 48% diphenyl-polysiloxane with random microstructure. Small cyclic impurities could be almost quantitatively removed via a purification step. SOP-50-Octyl was used as stationary phase for the preparation of wall coated open tubular fused silica capillary columns for gas-liquid chromatography. The capillary columns exhibited high separation efficiency and high inertness. The stationary phase offered a unique selectivity due to its unique composition. The Rohrschneider-McReynolds constants indicated a low overall polarity in spite of the high phenyl content, as the polarity was distinctly decreased by the octyl substituent. Furthermore, the octyl substituent was responsible for a high column bleed, reducing the maximum allowable operating temperature to 280 degrees C. The elution temperatures of apolar compounds were increased due to increased interaction of the octyl substituent with the analytes. Some applications with volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds illustrate that SOP-50-Octyl is an excellent choice for confirmational analyses.     

Energy-adjustedab initio pseudopotentials for the second and third row transition elements

Summary Nonrelativistic and quasirelativisticab initio pseudopotentials substituting the M^(Z–28)+-core orbitals of the second row transition elements and the M^(Z–60)+-core orbitals of the third row transition elements, respectively, and optimized (8s7p6d)/[6s5p3d]-GTO valence basis sets for use in molecular calculations have been generated. Additionally, corresponding spin-orbit operators have also been derived. Atomic excitation and ionization energies from numerical HF as well as from SCF pseudopotential calculations using the derived basis sets differ in most cases by less than 0.1 eV from corresponding numerical all-electron results. Spin-orbit splittings for lowlying states are in reasonable agreement with corresponding all-electron Dirac-Fock (DF) results.     

Progress in multi-ion counting spark-source mass spectrometry (MIC-SSMS) for the analysis of geological samples

Spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS) has experienced important and significant improvements in nearly all analytical features by the use of a multiple ion counting (MIC) system. Two procedures have recently been developed to further increase the analytical capabilities of MIC-SSMS in geochemistry. These are a mathematical correction of interferences, which is often necessary for the ultra trace element analysis of Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf and Y, and the development of an autospark system to hold the total ion beam constant. New analytical data for geological samples, especially international reference materials, are presented using the improved MIC-SSMS technique. The data set consists of high precision and low abundance data for Zr, Nb and Y in depleted reference materials. The MIC-SSMS results are compared with those of conventional SSMS using photoplates for ion detection. The precision of the MIC-SSMS isotope ratio measurements (about 1%) is more than a factor of 3 better than that of conventional SSMS, as demonstrated by analyses of Hawaiian samples. Total uncertainties of MIC-SSMS concentration data including all sources of error are generally between 2 and 5% for concentrations higher than about 0.3 microg/g and about 10% for trace element abundances in the ng/g range.     

Use of solid-phase microextraction-capillary-gas chromatography (SPME-CGC) for the varietal characterization of wines by means of chemometrical methods

The extraction of wine aroma compounds was studied by direct-SPME (DI/SPME), headspace-SPME (HS/SPME) and multiple-headspace-extraction-SPME (MHE/SPME). The aromagrams obtained by HS/SPME-CGC were evaluated with chemometrical methods for the varietal classification of wines. Received: 25 July 1997 / Revised: 24 September 1997 / Accepted: 7 October 1997     

Structural dependence of non-linear optical properties of 4-Dimethylamino-3-cyanobiphenyl

 4-Dimethylamino-3-cyanobiphenyl (4-DMA-3-CB) was characterized with respect to linear and nonlinear optical properties in a crystal as well as in solution. The crystal structure was studied dependent on the crystallization conditions. It is shown that the crystal structure exhibiting NLO-activity can completely be solved by a combination of electron diffraction and computer modeling. There are four molecules per unit cell in the space group Pna2₁ with dimensions a=10.28 Å, b=22.64 Å, c=5.27 Å. From this model structure the values and orientation of the dipole μ and static second order polarizability β can be calculated. Their relevance to the values obtained by a combination of polarization dependent measurements of Electric Field Induced Second Harmonic Generation (EFISH) and Hyper-Rayleigh-Scattering (HRS) in solution are discussed. The molecular second order polarizability tensor was found to be dominated by one single component. The orientations of the dipole and the vectorial parts of the second order polarizability delivered by the semiempirical calculations are in good agreement with the results of the EFISH and HRS-measurements and allow a deeper insight into the nonlinear optical properties of the crystal. Received: 15 April 1996 Accepted: 21 June 1996     

Time-resolved thermodynamic changes photoinduced in 5,12-trans-locked bacteriorhodopsin. Evidence that retinal isomerization is required for protein activation

Structural volume changes upon excitation of isomerization-blocked 5,12-trans-locked bacteriorhodopsin (bR) (bacterio-opsin + 5-12-trans-locked retinal) were studied using photothermal methods. The very small prompt expansion detected using laser-induced optoacoustics (0.3 mL/mol of absorbed photons) is assigned to a charge reorganization in the chromophore protein pocket concomitant with the formation of the intermediate T5.12. The subsequent contraction associated with a 300 ns lifetime is assigned to protein movements required to reach the entire chromoprotein free energy minimum, after the 17 ps optical decay of T5.12. The volume changes comprise the entropy of medium rearrangement during T5.12 formation and decay. The slow changes detected in previous studies by atomic force microscopy might be explained by the slowing down of movements in films containing 5,12-trans-locked bR. Photothermal beam deflection data with the 5,12-trans-locked bR suspensions indicate no further changes in microseconds to hundreds of milliseconds. Thus, all the absorbed energy is either released to the solution as heat or used for entropy changes within the first 300 ns after the pulse, supporting the paradigm that isomerization is required for signal transduction in retinal proteins. Bacterio-opsin assembled with all-trans-retinal afforded (similar to data reported with wild-type bR) an expansion of 2.6 mL/mol (assigned to the production of KE) followed by a further expansion of 0.8 mL/mol (KE-->KL; KE, KL, early and late K's) involving no heat loss. For KL decay to L, a contraction of 6 mL/mol of phototransformed reconstituted all-trans bR was determined.     

Mass spectrometry of steroid glucuronide conjugates. II-Electron impact fragmentation of 3-keto-4-en- and 3-keto-5alpha-steroid-17-O-beta glucuronides and 5alpha-steroid-3alpha,17beta-diol 3- and 17-glucuronides

The steroid glucuronide conjugates of 16,16,17-d(3)-testosterone, epitestosterone, nandrolone (19-nortestosterone), 16,16,17-d(3)-nortestosterone, methyltestosterone, metenolone, mesterolone, 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol, 2,2,3,4,4-d(5)-5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol, 19-nor-5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol, 2,2,4,4-d(4)-19-nor-5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol and 1alpha-methyl-5alpha-androstane-3alpha/beta,17beta-diol were synthesized by means of the Koenigs-Knorr reaction. Selective 3- or 17-O-conjugation of bis-hydroxylated steroids was performed either by glucuronidation of the corresponding steroid ketole and subsequent reduction of the keto group or via a four-step synthesis starting from a mono-hydroxylated steroid including (a) protection of the hydroxy group, (b) reduction of the keto group, (c) conjugation reaction and (d) removal of protecting groups. The mass spectra and fragmentation patterns of all glucuronide conjugates were compared with those of the commercially available testosterone glucuronide and their characterization was performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. For mass spectrometry the substances were derivatized to methyl esters followed by trimethylsilylation of hydroxy groups and to pertrimethylsilylated products using labelled and unlabelled trimethylsilylating agents. The resulting electron ionization mass spectra obtained by GC/MS quadrupole and ion trap instruments, full scan and selected reaction monitoring experiments are discussed, common and individual fragment ions are described and their origins are proposed.