Free energies of transfer of alkali halides from water to urea-water mixtures at 25°C from EMF measurements

The standard potentials_s E ^o of M/M⁺ (M=Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs) electrodes in aqueous urea solutions containing 12, 20, 30 and 37% by weight of urea have been determined at 25°C from emf measurements on the cell M(Hg)/MCl (m), solvent/AgCl–Ag, from the activities of metals in amalgams by use of a similar type of cell in water, and from the values of_s E ^o of the Ag/AgCl electrode determined earlier. The standard free energies of transfer of MCl, G _t ^o (MCl), from water to the mixed solvents, computed by use of these values and those for the Ag–AgCl electrode, rise sharply from Li⁺ to Na⁺ but fall from Na⁺ to K⁺ and rather sharply from K⁺ to Cs⁺ with a maximum at Na⁺ in all the solvent compositions. This has been attributed to the superimposition of soft-soft interactions on the electrostatic interactions between the ions and the negative charge centers of the possible hydrogen-bonded solvent complexes in the mixed solvents. Comparison of G _t ^o (i) values for individual ions, obtained by a simultaneous extrapolation procedure, with those in aqueous mixtures of methanol,t-butanol, and dimethyl sulfoxide leads to the conclusion that the solvation of these ions in all these solvents is chiefly dictated by the acid-base type of ion-solvent interactions.     

Mixed strategy solutions forN-person quadratic games

Mixed strategy -equilibrium points are given forN-person games with cost functions consisting of quadratic, bilinear, and linear terms and strategy spaces consisting of closed balls in Hilbert spaces. The results are applied to linear-quadratic differential games with no information and quadratic integral constraints on the control functions.This work was supported by a Commonwealth of Australia, Postgraduate Research Award.     

Transformed steroids

A preparative method for 9a-hydroxylation of ⁵-3-hydroxysteroids using the fungi ofCircinella sp. 10Kh-1220 not capable of modifying theA ring has been developed. It is established that the yields of the main and the side products greatly depend on the transformation conditions, mycelium age, and the structure of the steroid substrate. Under the optimal transformation conditions novel 9-hydroxysubstituted derivatives of androstenolone, pregnenolone, 16-dehydro-16,17-epoxy-, and-16-methoxypregnenolone have been obtained in 36–80 % yields.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 737–743, April, 1994.     

The optimization of silica gel synthesis from chemical bottle waste using response surface methodology

To reduce the amount of hazardous chemical bottle waste in the environment, we report the optimization research of silica extraction in chemical bottle waste into silica gel. Alkali fusion and sol–gel process were utilised to prepare silica gel effectively. The alkali fusion process was carried out by adding sodium hydroxide to produce sodium silicate. Afterwards, silica gel was prepared by the sol–gel method using hydrochloric acid. Box-Behnken Design (BBD) was applied to Optimisation factors the poptimiseactors affecting the silica recovery. The factors that optimised mass ratio, particle size, and temperature. The optimum recovery of silica gel was obtained by SiO₂: NaOH mass ratio of 1:3, the particle size of 63–74 µm, and a temperature of 800 °C. The purity of silica gel optimum is 63.74% characterised using X-ray fluorescence. The structure of silica gel is the appearance of amorphous peaks at 2θ 20-30° characterised using an x-ray diffractogram. The silica gel surface was characterises using scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive x-ray. It showed an irregular surface and characteristic showed that silica gel had a radius of 15.74 nm and a specific surface area of 297.08 m².     

On the affinity of cytosine towards electrophiles

Ab initio SCF computations on the intrinsic preferences of the H⁺, CH ₃ ⁺ and C₂H ₅ ⁺ cations towards the two principal sites of protonation or alkylation on cytosine, N₃ or O₂, show that this preference undergoes a continuous modification with the increase in size and complexity of the cation. N₃ is the preferred site of fixation of H⁺, O₂ the preferred site of C₂H ₅ ⁺ , while CH ₃ ⁺ has no marked preference. The exchange repulsion term of the binding energy appears responsible for the preference of C₂H ₅ ⁺ for O₂.This work was supported by the Ligue Francaise contre le Cancer and the National Foundation for Cancer Research (USA)     

Immobilization of α-amylase in vinyl-polymer-based interpenetrating polymer networks

Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of poly(ethylene glycol), poly(vinyl alcohol) and polyacrylamide were prepared as a support for enzyme immobilization and kinetic studies were performed for the immobilization of -amylase. The effect of IPN composition on the extent of immobilization was investigated and the percentage of relative activity of the immobilized enzyme was evaluated as a function of the chemical architecture of the IPNs, pH and temperature, taking starch as a substrate. The kinetic constants and the maximum reaction velocity were also evaluated. The IPNs were characterized by IR spectral analysis.     

Modular design of icosahedral metal clusters

The concept of crystalline module, that is, an unambiguously isolated, repeated quasi-molecular element, is introduced. This concept is more general than the concept of crystal lattice. The generalized modular approach allows extension of the methods and principles of crystallography to quasi-crystals, clusters, amorphous solids, and periodic biological structures. Principles of construction of aperiodic, nonequilibrium regular modular structures are formulated. Limitations on the size of icosahedral clusters are due to the presence of spherical shells with non-Euclidean tetrahedral tiling in their structure. A parametric relationship between the structures of icosahedral fullerenes and metal clusters of the Chini series was found.     

The electronic structure of molecules by a many-body approach

The vertical valence ionization potentials of cyclopropane, ethylene oxide and ethylene imine are calculated by a many-body Green's function method. For C₃H₆ the ordering of the ionization potentials is 2e(), 1e(), 2a₁(), 1a₂(), 1e(). The assignment of the 2a₁ and the 1a₂ ionization potentials which has been controversial is thus clarified. The ordering is in agreement with the result obtained via Koopmans' theorem. For ethylene oxide and ethylene imine Koopmans' theorem fails in predicting the correct order of ionic states. For C₂H₄O the ordering of the ionization potentials is 2b ₁(), 4a ₁, 1a ₂(), 2b ₂,3a ₁, 1b ₁(), 1b ₂, 2a ₁ and for C₂H₅N 6a, 5a, 3a, 2a, 4a, 3a, 1a, 2a. The agreement of the computed ionization potentials with the experimental values is very satisfactory.     

In-capillary micro solid-phase extraction and capillary electrophoresis separation of heterocyclic aromatic amines with nanospray mass spectrometric detection

A miniaturised technique to analyse and detect heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAs) using micro solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled on-line (in-capillary) to capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation with nanospray (nESI) mass spectrometry (MS) detection has been developed. HAs are mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds formed at low levels in protein-rich food during cooking. Due to the low concentrations of HAs and the high complexity of the matrix in which they exist, sensitive and selective analytical methods are required for quantification. SPE was performed on a packed bed of C₁₈ particles inside the CE capillary, which minimised the dead volume. The on-line coupling of SPE, CE and nESI-MS reduced the time for extraction and identification to less than half an hour, which will allow for screening of several samples per day. The new technique provides short analysis time, low sample and solvent consumption, and HAs in standard solutions were easily detected at 12–17 fmol injections, and in spiked urine samples at 750–810 fmol injections.