Ionic liquids as reagents and solvents in conjunction with microwave heating: rapid synthesis of alkyl halides from alcohols and nitriles from aryl halides

We show that using ionic liquids as reagents in conjunction with microwave heating it is possible to prepare primary alkyl halides from the corresponding alcohols rapidly. Using ionic liquids as solvents in conjunction with microwave heating it is possible to prepare aryl nitriles from the corresponding aryl bromides or iodides. The scope and limitations of using microwave-promotion as a tool in these reactions is discussed.     

Visualisation and proof: a brief survey of philosophical perspectives

The contribution of visualisation to mathematics and to mathematics education raises a number of questions of an epistemological nature. This paper is a brief survey of the ways in which visualisation is discussed in the literature on the philosophy of mathematics. The survey is not exhaustive, but pays special attention to the ways in which visualisation is thought to be useful to some aspects of mathematical proof, in particular the ones connected with explanation and justification.     

Trace Equivalence in SU(2, 1)

In this paper it is shown that one can choose an arbitrarily large number of inconjugate elements of the group Z/2Z*Z/2Z*Z/2Z which have the property that, under all representations of the group in SU(2,1) as a discrete complex hyperbolic ideal triangle group, the elements are hyperbolic and correspond to closed geodesics of equal length on the associated complex hyperbolic surface. This is an analogue of the geometric fact that the multiplicity of the length spectrum of a Riemann surface is never bounded or the equivalent algebraic phenomenon that an arbitrarily large number of conjugacy classes in a free group can have the same trace under all representations in SL(2,R ).     

Corrigendum to “EuBaFe2O5+w: Valence mixing and charge ordering are two separate cooperative phenomena” [J. Solid State Chem. 180 (2007) 148-157]

An error in the expression for the Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺ valence-mixing probability in RBaFe₂O_5+w is acknowledged and correct formula is derived. The new formula slightly improves the least-squares fit to the experimental concentrations of the Mössbauer component Fe^2.5+ as a function of the oxygen-nonstoichiometry parameter w for R=Eu.     

Separation of europium and thulium from mixed KI−H2SO4 solutions

The extraction of Tm with HDEHP from H₂SO₄, HCl and HBr is inversely proportional to the third power of the hydrogen ion concentration while the extraction is small with HDEHP, LA-2 and TBP from binary mixtures of acids. The extraction of both Eu and Tm with HDEHP from KI solutions decreases in the presence of small concentrations of H₂SO₄. The decrease is sharper in case of Eu leading to high separation factors between Eu and Tm from KI?H₂SO₄ mixtures.     

Spectrophotometry Determination of Copper and Palladium Using Some 1,3,5-Triphenylformazans

A new rapid and accurate method for the spectrophotometric microdetermination of Cu(II) and Pd(II) using some 1,3,5-triphenylformazans (I) is given. The optimum conditions for the formation of the complexes are extensively investigated. The ligands form 1:1 and 1:2 (M:L) complexes with Cu and Pd ions, Beer's law is obeyed up to 3.8 and 6.5 ppm Cu and Pd respectively. The influence of foreign ions is investigated. The ligands were used successfully as indicators in spectrophotometric titration of Cu and Pd ions with EDTA and CDTA.     

Detection of the pesticide compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) using fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance (19F NMR) spectroscopic measurements were used to determine the chemical nature and amounts of organofluorine in dosed meat baits. Earlier work implied that sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080) in meat baits was broken down into other organofluorine compounds such as fluorocitrate. No chemical evidence was found for such compounds. Only monofluoroacetate was detected in the prepared 1080 bait samples. Once the baits have aged, aqueous extraction fails to recover all the added 1080. Analysis using 19F NMR confirmed that the 1080 present in the aqueous extracts of the bait is recovered by Kramer's liquid chromatography method. It was shown here that the aqueous extracts do not recover all the 1080 in the meat bait.