‘One-flask’ transformation of isocyanates and isothiocyanates to guanidines hydrochloride by using sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide

A ‘one-flask’ synthesis of guanidines was developed by reacting isocyanates and isothiocyanates with sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide followed by addition of primary or secondary amines with a catalytic amount of AlCl₃. The desired guanidines were obtained in good yields and the reaction was applicable to aliphatic and aromatic substrates. A plausible mechanism was proposed through the generation of cyanamide anion from isocyanates or isothiocyanates with sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide. Addition of amines and catalytic amount of AlCl₃ smoothly converted the cyanamides to the desired guanidines.     

A scanning tunnelling study of immobilised cytochrome P450cam

A site-specifically engineered surface cysteine residue, located in a region where the haem moiety is closest to the surface, is used to anchor cytochrome P450cam enzyme molecules covalently to a gold electrode. More reproducibly ordered adsorption, at high coverage, occurs with this K344C mutant than with the wild-type enzyme. The subsequently formed close-packed monolayer arrays have been probed by scanning tunnelling microscopy under ambient conditions and under aqueous (buffered) solution at high resolution. Initial indications suggest that the immobilised enzyme is both electrochemically addressable and catalytically active.     

The use of ammonium hydroxide as an additive in supercritical fluid chromatography for achiral and chiral separations and purifications of small, basic medicinal molecules

This study describes using 0.1% of a 28-30% ammonium hydroxide solution as an additive to alcohol modifiers in SFC to improve chromatographic peak shapes for basic molecules. Ammonium hydroxide's high volatility leaves no residual additive in the purified sample unlike classical additives in preparative chromatography such as diethylamine and triethylamine. We demonstrate that the silica support is stable despite having ammonium hydroxide in the modifier by running a durability study for over 350 h (105 L of solvent, 105,000 column volumes) on an analytical Chiralcel OJ column and a second study for 30 h (7.2 L, 14,400 column volumes) on an analytical Lux Cellulose-1 column. The peak shape of small, basic molecules is greatly improved with the use of ammonium hydroxide and this improvement is very similar to those having 0.1% diethylamine as a mobile phase additive. Electrospray ionization is also enhanced with the presence of ammonium hydroxide compared with that of diethylamine. We have found that the age of the 28-30% bottle of ammonium hydroxide solution can have significant effects on the chromatography and we describe how this can be overcome. Finally, we analyzed 23 racemic and basic compounds on six different chiral stationary phases and found there to be very little chiral selectivity difference between ammonium hydroxide and diethylamine, triethylamine, ethanolamine and isopropylamine.     

Enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO(2) nanopowders for H(2) production by using non-noble transition metal co-catalysts

Co and Ni-nanoclusters are attractive alternatives to Pt catalysts for hydrogen generation. These earth abundant elements when loaded onto the TiO(2) nanopowders surface act as efficient co-catalysts. Co, Ni-decorated TiO(2) photocatalysts display only three (3) times lower catalytic activities for H(2) evolution under UV illumination compared with Pt-decorated TiO(2) photocatalysts.     

Fluorescence quantum yields and their relation to lifetimes of rhodamine 6G and fluorescein in nine solvents: improved absolute standards for quantum yields

Absolute fluorescence quantum yields are reported for the rhodamine 6G cation and the fluorescein dianion dyes in nine solvents. This information is combined with previously reported fluorescence lifetimes to deduce radiative and nonradiative decay rates. Along the alcohol series from methanol to octanol, rhodamine 6G displays an increasing radiative rate, in parallel with the square of the refractive index increase, and a slightly decreasing nonradiative rate. Fluorescein is different: the apparent radiative rate actually decreases, suggesting that the emissive species is perturbed in some fashion. For both dyes, fluorescence yields are enhanced in D2O, rising to 0.98, in parallel with a corresponding increase in lifetimes. Protonated solvents invariably give shorter lifetimes and lower quantum yields, contrary to some previous speculation. From this work and an analysis of existing literature values, more precise values have been obtained for two previously proposed absolute quantum yield standards. The yield of fluorescein in 0.1 N NaOH(aq) is 0.925+/-0.015, and for rhodamine 6G in ethanol, it is 0.950+/-0.015. In both cases, the solutions are assumed to be in the limit of low concentration, excited close to their long-wave absorption band and at room temperature but may be either air-saturated or free of oxygen.     

含氮配体Co、Fe配合物的合成、结构及性质

报导了四个单核Co（Ⅱ）和Fe（Ⅱ）的配合物[Co（L1）2]（ClO4)2·（CH3CN）（1）,[Fe（L1）2]（ClO4）2·（H2O）（2）,[Co（L2）]（ClO4）2（3）,以及[Fe（L2）]（ClO4）2·2H2O（4）,（其中L1＝4’-苯基-2,2’：6’,2”-三联吡啶,L2＝N,N,N-三-（2-（2-吡啶甲叉氨基）乙基）胺）的合成和性质,以及配合物1、3的晶体结构．配合物1和3的晶体都属于单斜晶系．它们的晶胞参数分别为：1a＝1．0855（4）nm,b＝1．6201（5）nm,c=2.5236（5）nm,β＝92．63（2）°,V＝4．433（1）nm3;3a=2.8351（8）nm,b＝1．0670（3）nm,c＝1．9255（5）m,β＝101．03（4）°,V＝5717（2）nm3．2和4的氧化还原电位分别为E＝0．78V和0．63V‘它们的d-d跃迁吸收最大值分别位于565和521nm处．     

A pilot study (APMP.QM-P19) for the measurement of melamine in milk powder

A pilot study (APMP.QM-P19) of the Asia Pacific Metrology Program for the determination of melamine at two different levels in milk powder was organized in 2010. It was the first interlaboratory comparison programme in measuring melamine in food matrices for metrology institutes in the region. Melamine was chosen as the target analyte because of the recent crises that happened in 2007 and 2008 had caused substantial concern from consumers, food manufacturers, policy makers on food safety and the food testing communities. The objectives of APMP.QM-P19 were to evaluate the testing capability of participants on the quantification of trace level melamine in milk and milk products and to investigate the degree of equivalence with respect to the assigned values. In total, 19 laboratories (11 metrology institutes and eight food testing institutes) enrolled in the study. Analytical techniques reported by participants included liquid chromatography with ultra-violet and tandem mass spectrometry, gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Dispersion of analytical data in the two test materials was significant, and normal Gaussian distribution of data was not observed. The median was agreed to be used as the assigned values in the programme. Metrology institutes who employed isotope dilution mass spectrometry technique were found to give more consistent results and higher degree of equivalence than others. The performance of most of the food testing institutes was not satisfactory, and they were encouraged to have a thorough review of their validation procedure and estimation of uncertainty.     

Determination of scandium in sea-water by atomic-absorption spectroscopy

A method for the determination of scandium in sea-water at the sub-microgram level has been developed. Scandium is coprecipitated with iron(III) hydroxide at pH 8-9, and then separated from the iron by ion-exchange. The final concentration is achieved by extracting the scandium into a solution of oxine in butanol. A nitrous oxide-acetylene flame is used for the determination by atomic-absorption spectroscopy. Recoveries of 99-100% are obtained. The storage of the solutions before analysis has been investigated by radiometric techniques with (46)Sc. The scandium concentration in surface waters of the South China Sea was found to be 0.01 +/- 0.005 microg/l .     

Monitoring carbon nanotube growth by formation of nanotube stacks and investigation of the diffusion-controlled kinetics

A novel method is presented to monitor carbon nanotube (CNT) growth by formation of CNT stacks. By this process, CNT growth kinetics are investigated for densely packed CNT films in the gas-diffusion-controlled regime. CNT stacks are fabricated by water-assisted selective etching and the cyclic introduction of ethylene into the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. Formation of the CNT stacks allows monitoring of the CNT growth evolution, thereby providing insight into the growth kinetics. A parabolic increase of CNT length versus time is observed, indicating a gas-diffusion-controlled growth mode. The densely packed, well-aligned CNT films act as porous barrier layers to the diffusion of ethylene precursor to the catalyst nanoparticles, since these films form via a base-growth mode under the conditions invoked in our system. By adjustment of CNT growth time and temperature, a quantitative time-evolution analysis is performed to investigate the CNT growth model and extract the gas precursor mass transfer coefficient in the CNT films. The self-diffusion of gases in the densely packed CNT films is found to be Knudsen diffusion with a diffusion coefficient on the order of 10(-4) cm(2)/s.