A Study of Amorphous Precursors for PbZrO3-PbTiO3 Based Ceramic Materials

Amorphous precursors for PbZrO₃ and PbTiO₃ ceramics were prepared from lead acetate and the transition metaln-propoxide inn-propanol orn-butoxide inn-butanol and hydrolysed with an excess of water. According to GLC and TGA/EGA analyses, the type of alkoxide group influences distinctly the structure of heterometallic precursors, i.e., oxo or acetate bridging, and the amounts of hydroxyl and organic groups bound to the metal network. The local environments of metal atoms in the amorphous precursors were also studied by EXAFS. The analysis reveals that in Pb−Zr precursors alkoxide groups modify the coordination spheres of the zirconium atoms. Conversely, local environments of both lead and titanium atoms within the analysed range of 3.4 A depend weakly on the type of alkoxide used.     

Poly(methyl methacrylate)/silica/titania ternary nanocomposites with greatly improved thermal and ultraviolet-shielding properties

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/silica/titania ternary nanocomposites with covalent bonding interaction between polymer and inorganic phases have been prepared using a novel non-hydrolytic sol-gel method. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) image of silica/titania binary inorganic component indicates a core-shell-like structure. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images suggest that the well dispersed silica/titania particles in the hybrid are on the nanometer-scale. The transparencies of nanocomposites are maintained in visible region while the absorption band in ultraviolet (UV) region is red shifted with increasing inorganic content. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results show that the thermal stability of PMMA copolymer increases dramatically with the addition of silica/titania moieties both in nitrogen and in air.     

Determination of degree of conversion as a function of depth of a photo-initiated dental restoration composite—III application to commercial Prodigy Condensable™

In this third work, we evaluated the degree of conversion (DC) versus depth of dental filling composite named Prodigy Condensable™ using infrared spectroscopy. Confirming previous results, there was a gradual reduction of DC with increasing depth but the composite exhibited extreme values of DC, an upper value (45.9%) on the surface and a lower one (6.1%) at a depth of 5 mm. The composite presented the worst performance among materials studied. The composite formulation was 80% of inorganic fillers and BisfenolA/dimethacrylate (BisGMA) (18%)/triethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (TEGDMA) (2.0%) as monomers. As stated before, type/ratio/viscosity of monomers and type, amount, size and size distribution of fillers all together had an important role in the cure reaction contributing to the final performance of the composite.     

Reaction des lithiens avec les organophosphores. Reaction d'addition du t-butyllithium sur le noyau benzenique des sels de phenylphosphoniums

A new reaction of organolithium compounds with phosphonium salts is described; reaction of t-butyllithium with dibenzylaminophosphonium or tetraphenylphosphonium bromides takes place through addition of the t-butyl group on a benzene ring at the position para to the phosphorus atom, the ylid formed reacts in a characteristic Wittig reaction with p-tolylaldehyde.     

Development of new solid-phase microextraction fibers by sol-gel technology for the determination of organophosphorus pesticide multiresidues in food

Allyloxy bisbenzo 16-crown-5 trimethoxysilane was first used as precursor to prepare the sol-gel-derived bisbenzo crown ether/hydroxyl-terminated silicone oil (OH-TSO) SPME coating. The coating procedure involving sol solution composition and conditioning process was presented. Compared with commercial SPME stationary phases, the new coatings showed higher extraction efficiency and therefore could provide higher sensitivity for organphosphorous pesticides (OPs). Limits of detection (LODs) were in the range of 0.003-1.0 ng/g for these OPs in food samples (honey, juice, orange and pakchoi). The optimal extraction conditions of the new coatings to OPs in these samples were investigated by adjusting extraction time, salt addition, extraction temperature, and dilution ratios of samples with distilled water by using SPME coupled with gas chromatography (GC)-flame photometric detection (FPD). The method was applied to determine the concentrations of OPs in real samples.     

Two-dimensional catena–polymer [[[bis (µ-aqua)(bis (µ-cpiap-K2O1:O2)sodium(I))] (µ-chlorido) bis(µ-cpiap-K5N1:O1:O2:O3,O3′)dicopper(II)]bis(µ-aqua)(aqua)bis(cpiap-K2O1,O2)copper(II)] hexa hydrate

The new title two-dimensional hetero-tetra nuclear Cu₃–Na coordination polymer {[NaCu₃Cl(cpiap)₂(H₂O)₃]_n·6nH₂O} (1) consists of crystallographically two-independent copper(II) centers, each bridged by a sodium cation through carboxylate-oxygen of the deprotonated H₃cpiap ligand (H₃cpiap = 2-(carboxyphenyl)iminoaceticpropanoic acid) to Cu^II (2) and Cu^II (2⁻) cations, and through water molecules to Cu^II (1) cation. Cu^II (2) and Cu^II (1) cations are bridged by carboxylate-oxygen atoms of the ligand in a syn-anti mode which, alternate regularly within the chain being bridged by a tetra coordinated sodium cation. Each Cu^II (2) and Cu^II (2⁻) cation in (1) is in an octahedral environment formed by four carboxylate-oxygens from two cpiap³⁻ ligands, one nitrogen atom and a bridging chloride atom. Cu^II (1) cation is in a square pyramidal environment formed by three water molecules and two carboxylate-oxygens from two cpiap³⁻ ligands. The ligand acts simultaneously as monodentate and tridentate toward Cu^II (1) and Cu^II (2) cations respectively. The lattice water molecules involved in OH···O hydrogen bonding are situated in the void spaces between layers. The zigzag chains, which run along the b-axes further construct three-dimensional metal-organic framework via hydrogen bonding and weak face-to-face π-π interactions. Weak CH···O interactions are also present.     

Thermogravimetric analysis of the co-combustion of the blends with high ash coal and waste tyres

Incineration methods are becoming increasingly important from the view point of the need to minimize the environmental impact of waste tyre disposal. Combustion of waste tyre, one high ash coal and tyre-coal blends with 10, 30 and 50% waste tyre were investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) carried out at 20 K min⁻¹ in the temperature range from ambient temperature to 1273 K. And effects of the mixed proportion between coal and waste tyre on the combustion process, ignition and burnout characteristics were also studied. The results indicate that the combustion of waste tyre is controlled by the emission of volatile matter, the regions are more complex for waste tyre (three or more peaks) than for coal (one peak). Also as compared with the case of burning only high ash coal, the incorporation of waste tyre can improve the combustion characteristics of high ash coal, especially the ignition performance and the peak weight loss compared with the separate burning of waste tyre and coal. Moreover, comparisons of the TG-DTG profiles between experimental and calculational results, it is indicate that there is a comparatively important difference, the co-combustion characteristics is the coupling effect between waste tyre and coal. The data resulting also showed that the co-combustion of waste tyre and low quanlitied coal as fuel is feasible.     

Profiling fatty acids in vegetable oils by reactive pyrolysis-gas chromatography with dimethyl carbonate and titanium silicate

A novel methodology in on-line pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC) for the fast analysis of fatty acids in vegetable oils with minimal sample treatment and the use of non-toxic reagents is described. Pyrolysis at 500 degrees C for 10 s of sub-microgram quantity of vegetable oil dissolved in dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and in the presence of nanopowder titanium silicon oxide resulted in the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) as unique products. Pyrolysis performed by means of a resistively heated filament pyrolyser interfaced to a GC-MS apparatus enabled the direct analysis of evolved FAMEs. The DMC/Py-GC-MS analysis was tested on soybean, coconut, linseed, walnut and olive oil and the results compared to the classical BF(3)-methanol as reference methodology. The DMC method exhibited a lower precision and was biased towards lower levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in comparison to the BF(3)-methanol method, but was more advantageous in terms of reduced sample treatment, waste generation and risk factors of employed chemicals.