New cesium ion-selective electrodes based on anilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile derivatives

Cesium ion-selective PVC membrane electrodes based on anilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile derivatives as a novel class of neutral ionophores were examined. The ionophores were p-methoxyanilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile, p-methylanilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile and p-N,N-dimethylanilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile. The anilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile proved to work well with cesium, the corresponding electrodes display a response to this ion. The most favourable ionophore was p-methoxyanilino-(1,3-dioxo-2-indanylidene) acetonitrile, especially when the secondary ion exchanger potassium tetrakis (4-chlorophenyl) borate was incorporated in 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether for ion-selective electrode membrane construction. The response function was linear within the concentration range 10(-1)-2.5x10(-5) mol l(-1) and the slope was 52 mV decade(-1). The detection limit remained at 6.3x10(-6) mol(-1). The selectivity and response time of the electrode was studied and it was found that the electrode exhibited good selectivity for cesium over alkali, alkaline earth and some transition metal ions. The electrode response was stable over a wide pH range. The lifetime of the electrode was about 1 month.     

Control elements in the intramolecular diels-alder reaction: synthesis of α-eudesmol

Triene $\text{1}$ undergoes cyclization with substantial 1,3 and 1,4 chiral induction to give largely trans, equatorial α-eudesmol $\text{3}$.     

DDB liver drug as a novel ionophore for potentiometric barium (II) membrane sensor

Dimethyl-4,4-dimethoxy-5,6,5′,6′-dimethylene dioxy biphenyl-2,2-dicarboxylate (DDB) liver drug is used as a novel ionophore in plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) matrix membrane sensors for barium ions. Optimum performance characteristics are displayed by membrane sensor incorporating DDB ionophore, potassium tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)borate as lipophilic salt, and o-nitrophenyloctyl ether as plasticizer. The sensor exhibits a linear response over the concentration range 10⁻¹-10⁻⁵ mol l⁻¹ BaCl₂ with a Nernstian slope of 30 mV per decade and high selectivity towards Ba²⁺ with respect to Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Rb⁺, NH₄⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Sr²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cd²⁺, Al³⁺, La³⁺, and Ce³⁺ ions. The sensor response is stable over a wide pH range (4-9) and the lifetime is about 2 months. The proposed sensor is successfully applied to the determination of Ba²⁺contents of some rocks.     

New solid phase extractors for selective separation and preconcentration of mercury (II) based on silica gel immobilized aliphatic amines 2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde Schiff’s bases

2-Thiophenecarboxaldhyde is chemically bonded to silica gel surface immobilized monoamine, ethylenediamine and diethylenetriamine by a simple Schiff’s base reaction to produce three new SP-extractors, phases (I-III). The selectivity properties of these phases toward Hg(II) uptake as well as eight other metal ions: Ca(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) were extensively studied and evaluated as a function of pH of metal ion solution and equilibrium shaking time by the batch equilibrium technique. The data obtained clearly indicate that the new SP-extractors have the highest affinity for retention of Hg(II) ion. Their Hg(II) uptake in mmol g⁻¹ and distribution coefficient as log K_d values are always higher than the uptake of any other metal ion along the range of pH used (pH 1.0-10.0). The uptake of Hg(II) using phase I was 2.0 mmol g⁻¹ (log K_d 6.6) at pH 1.0 and 2.0. 1.8 mmol g⁻¹ (log K_d 4.25), 1.6 mmol g⁻¹ (log K_d 3.90) and 1.08 mmol g⁻¹ (log K_d 3.37) at pH 3.0, 5.0 and 8.0, respectively. Selective separation of Hg(II) from the other eight coexisting metal ions under investigation was achieved successfully using phase I at pH 2.0 either under static or dynamic conditions. Hg(II) was completely retained while Ca(II), Co(II) and Cd(II) ions were not retained. Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Pb(II) and Fe(III) showed very low percentage retention values to be 0.74, 0.97, 3.5 and 6.3%, respectively. Moreover, the high recovery values (95.5 ± 0.5, 95.8 ± 0.5 and 99.0% ± 1.0) of percolating two liters of doubly distilled water, drinking tap water and Nile river water spiked with 5 ng/l of Hg(II) over 100 mg of phase I packed in a minicolumn and used as a thin layer enrichment bed demonstrate the accuracy and validity of the new SP-extractors for preconcentration of the ultratrace amount of spiked Hg(II) prior to the determination by borohydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) with no matrix interference. The detection limit (3σ) for Hg(II) based on enrichment factor 1000 was 4.75 pg/ml. The precision (R.S.D.) obtained for different amounts of mercury was in the range 0.52-1.01% (N = 3) at the 25-100 ng/l level.     

A Cmos Interface for Thermocouples with Reference-Junction Compensation

This paper presents a CMOS interface for a thermocouple, includingreference-junction compensation. The interface contains a first-orderoscillator whose period is modulated by the signal from the thermocouple(V_X) and two other signals generated internally. One is abase-emitter voltage (V_BE) and the other is a PTAT voltage(V_PTAT). Linear combinations of the periods corresponding tothese two voltages are made by a µC, to obtain a reference signal anda temperature-dependent signal. The internal signals are required to provideauto-calibration for offset and gain and to measure the interface internaltemperature. Dynamic Element Matching is applied to generate an accurate andreliable PTAT voltage. The inaccuracy in the base-emitter voltage iscalibrated using a vertical PNP substrate transistor with multi-emitterareas. The applied modulator used in the circuit has a second-orderfiltering which suppresses low-frequency (1/f) noise. This filteringproperty enables the use of a low-cost CMOS process for the implementationof the circuit. The interface is able to measure a voltage(V_X) in the range of –27 mV to 100 mV, the measuredaccuracy of the system over a temperature range of –25°C to75°C is 550 ppm of V_X ± 2µV. The inaccuracyin determining the reference-junction temperature is 0.6 K. The measuringtime is 50 ms.     

Optimal LMI‐based state feedback stabilizer for uncertain nonlinear systems with time‐Varying uncertainties and disturbances

This article presents a nonlinear state feedback stabilizer using linear matrix inequalities for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with Lipschitz nonlinearities. The proposed controller improves the transient performance and steady state accuracy simultaneously. To improve the stabilization performance, a nonlinear function is included in the control law and is optimally tuned using a modified random search algorithm. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the offered method. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 356–362, 2016     

Simulations of stretching a flexible polyelectrolyte with varying charge separation

We calculated the force-extension curves for a flexible polyelectrolyte chain with varying charge separations by performing Monte Carlo simulations of a 5000 bead chain using a screened Coulomb interaction. At all charge separations, the force-extension curves exhibit a Pincus-like scaling regime at intermediate forces and a logarithmic regime at large forces. As the charge separation increases, the Pincus regime shifts to a larger range of forces and the logarithmic regime starts are larger forces. We also found that force-extension curve for the corresponding neutral chain has a logarithmic regime. Decreasing the diameter of bead in the neutral chain simulations removed the logarithmic regime, and the force-extension curve tends to the freely jointed chain limit. This result shows that only excluded volume is required for the high force logarithmic regime to occur.     

Investigation of structural and textural properties of Ge<Subscript> <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis> </Subscript>MoO<Subscript>3</Subscript> system,promising catalyst for photocatalytic applications

The main objective of this work is to control the structural, textural and electrical properties of the system prepared by mixing molybdenum oxide with different amounts of germanium. The system is expected to be suitable as a catalyst for the photodegradation of methyl red (one of the dyes group) and the results of this study can throw some light on the relationship between the properties of this system and the extent of the dye degradation as indicated by the measurements of the photocatalytic activity. The composite materials (Ge_xMoO₃) were prepared by solid-state reaction between germanium and molybdenum oxide. The mixtures were made in Ge/MoO₃ molar ratios of 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0. The reaction was conducted in air at 700°C. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption measurements, diffuse reflectance spectrometry and UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry. The addition of germanium has affected the photocatalytic activity of MoO₃ as evidenced by an increase in the degradation extent of methyl red from about 14% (for pure oxide) to about 97% for Ge_xMoO₃ (x = 1). An enhancement in the photocatalytic activity was attributed to the change in the band gap and modification of the textural properties associated with the formation of Ge_xMoO₃ composites.     

Thermal behavior of gamma-irradiated low-density polyethylene/paraffin wax blend

The thermal properties of low-density polyethylene (LDPE)/paraffin wax blends were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and melt flow index (MFI). Blends of LDPE/wax in ratios of 100/0, 98/2, 96/4, 94/6, 92/8, 90/10 and 85/15 (w/w) were prepared by melt-mixing at the temperature of 150°C. It was found that increasing the wax content more than 15% leads to phase separation. DSC results showed that for all blends both the melting temperature (T_m) and the melting enthalpy (ΔH_m) decrease linearly with an increase in wax content. TGA analysis showed that the thermal stability of all blends decreases linearly with increasing wax content. No clear correlation was observed between the melting point and thermal stability. Horowitz and Metzger method was used to determine the thermal activation energy (E_a). MFI increased exponentially by increasing the wax content. The effect of gamma irradiation on the thermal behavior of the blends was also investigated at different gamma irradiation doses. Significant correlations were found between the thermal parameters (T_m, ΔH_m, T₅%, E_a and MFI) and the amount of wax content and gamma irradiation.     

Sensitive Spectrofluorimetric Study of the Interaction between Europium(III) and 1,2-Phenylenebis(azan-1-yl-1-ylidene) bis(methan-1-yl-1-ylidene)diphenol Schiff Base

A sensitive and selective spectrofluorimetric method has been developed for the rapid determination of europium(III). This method is based on the formation of nonluminous complex between Eu(III) and a Schiff base reagent N, N′-bis (salicylidene)-1,2-phenylenediamine (PABD) and measuring the fluorescence quenching of Eu(III)-PABD complex at λ_ex/em = 390/577 nm. The fluorescence intensity complex decreased linearly by increasing the Eu(III) concentration in the range of 1.0–13.0 μM. The optimum conditions for the complex formation were determined such as a pH .0 of borate buffer. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of Eu(III) were determined and found to be 0.217 and 0.653 μM, respectively. The maximum relative standard deviation of the method for an europium(III) standard of 6.0 μM was 2.07 % (n = 6). The proposed procedures could be applied successfully for the determination of the investigated metal ion in some spiked water samples with a good precision and accuracy compared to official and reported methods as revealed by t- and F-tests.