Plutonium Activity Ratios in Plankton: New Evidence of Hold-Up Time in Irish Sea Sediments

The determination of activity ratios for radioisotopes of different half-lives can be used to estimate transit times from a point source to locations further away. For conservative elements, this time is approximately equivalent to the net hydrological transport. However, for non-conservative elements such as plutonium, the additional influence of biogeochemical processes decreases the net transport time. In this study, ²⁴¹Pu and ^239,240Pu concentrations in Irish Sea plankton samples, collected in May 1994, were determined and the ²⁴¹Pu/^239,240Pu ratios calculated. Plutonium-239,240 was measured using a standard method by ion exchange chromatography and alpha counting, and ²⁴¹Pu was determined by liquid scintillation counting using the disk-supported technique. The latter showed some methodological problems, which are briefly discussed. The ²⁴¹Pu/^239,240Pu ratios gave an estimate of the "transit time" from Sellafield to the different sampling points. In fact, this time represents the age of plutonium in plankton, i.e., the time lag between release from Sellafield and detection at the different sampling stations. The mean plutonium age was 17±2 years (n = 10) and 18.6±0.8 years (n = 13) in phytoplankton and zooplankton, respectively. The spatial distribution was reasonably homogeneous over the Irish Sea. The assimilation-elimination processes of plutonium in plankton are rather rapid. Therefore, it may be assumed that, in this time scale, the plutonium concentrations were in equilibrium with surrounding waters. Thus, it is concluded that plutonium was rather old because resuspension-sedimentation processes had occurred that delayed its transport within the Irish Sea. Therefore, the age of plutonium in plankton represented the hold-up time of plutonium in the sediments from the Irish Sea.     

Mild and tunable benzoic acid catalysts for rearrangement reactions of allylic alcohols

An efficient and simple catalytic method for the isomerization of readily prepared allylic alcohols is described. We focus particularly on cyclic examples and the synthesis of unusual enyne and dienols. The benzoic acid catalysts employed are commercially available and very inexpensive and can be tuned for reactivity and substrate sensitivity.     

Resonance fluorescence spectrum of nitrogen dioxide

We report an investigation of the resonance fluorescence spectrum of NO₂ excited by several laser lines. Sixty transitions, mostly in ν₂ progressions of the ground state, have been assigned. Analysis of the spectra extend the knowledge of the ground state constants, especially of the anharmonic coefficients. It is possible to establish that transitions are occurring to a ²B₁ state and to a ²B₂ state in the same energy region.     

Palladium-catalyzed direct heck arylation of dual pi-deficient/pi-excessive heteroaromatics. Synthesis of C-5 arylated imidazo[1,5-a]pyrazines

A general and efficient synthesis of 5-aryl imidazo[1,5- a]pyrazines by palladium-catalyzed coupling of the corresponding 8-substituted derivatives with aryl halides is described. The scope of this new reaction for the imidazo[1,5- a]pyrazine ring system was explored using three readily available 8-substituted precursors, X = NH2, NMe2, and OMe, as well as 8-aryl derivatives, X = Ar'. On the basis of these results as well as studies using a deuterated derivative, a Heck-like mechanism is proposed for this transformation.     

A Surprising Substituent Effect Provides a Superior Boronic Acid Catalyst for Mild and Metal‐Free Direct Friedel–Crafts Alkylations and Prenylations of Neutral Arenes

The development of more general and efficient catalytic processes for Friedel–Crafts alkylations is an important objective of interest toward the production of pharmaceuticals and commodity chemicals. Herein, 2,3,4,5‐tetrafluorophenylboronic acid was identified as a potent air‐ and moisture‐tolerant metal‐free catalyst that significantly improves the scope of direct Friedel–Crafts alkylations of a variety of slightly activated and neutral arenes, including polyarenes, with allylic and benzylic alcohols. This method also provides a simple alternative for the direct installation of prenyl units commonly found in naturally occurring arenes. Alkylations with benzylic alcohols occur under exceptionally mild conditions.     

A preliminary study to assess the effect of some seawater components on the speciation of plutonium

Since Pu(IV) and Pu(V) exhibit very different sediment sorption behaviour, the transport of Pu in the aquatic environment is dependant upon oxidation state and the rate of interconversion between the species. A number of laboratory experiments have been carried out to determine possible parameters which influence the rate of Pu redox reactions and the extent of sorption by suspended particulate in the marine environment. Results suggest that, although the initial sorption of Pu(IV) did not appear to be dependant upon the major cations present in seawater, the sorption of Pu(V) was decreased in the presence of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ ions. Both the rates of oxidation of dissolved Pu(IV) and reduction of dissolved Pu(V) increased with increasing suspended particulate concentration.     

Ferroelectric liquid crystals with fluoro- and aza-fluorenone cores: the effect of stereo-polar coupling

The chiral fluorenone mesogens (R)-1-fluoro-2-(2-octyloxy)-7-(4-undecyloxybenzoyloxy)fluoren-9-one (2) and (R)-2-(2-octyloxy)-7-(4-undecyloxybenzoyloxy)-3-azafluoren-9-one (3) were synthesized using a combined ortho-directed and remote metalation strategy, which also incorporates a Suzuki-Miyaura crosscoupling step. These compounds form chiral SmC* liquid crystal phases with reduced polarizations (P _o) of +475 and +332 nC cm^-2 at 10 K below the Curie point, respectively. These values are considerably larger than that previously reported for the unsubstituted fluorenone (R)-2-(2-octyloxy)-7-(4-undecyloxybenzoyloxy)fluoren-9-one (1), which is +111 nC cm^-2 at 10 K below the Curie point. Molecular modelling based on the Boulder model suggests that the larger polarizations result from a conformational bias of the fluorenone core dipole moment along the polar axis of the SmC* phase caused by stereo-polar coupling with the chiral 2-octyloxy side chain.     

Infrared emission spectrum and potential constants of HCl

The emission spectrum from a low-pressure hydrogen chloride flame has been recorded in the 3.1–5.3 μm region at high resolution using a 4.5-m grating spectrometer coupled to a PDP-15 computer. The data obtained for the v → v - 1 band sequence, with v = 1 to 6 for H³⁵Cl and v = 1 to 5 for H³⁷Cl, were combined with other accurate data and analyzed to obtain the vibrational and rotational constants and Dunham coefficients for the H³⁵Cl and H³⁷Cl molecules. Using this information, eighth-order nonlinear least-squares estimates of the Dunham, Simons-Parr-Finlan, Ogilvie, and Sandeman potential constants were computed. While the values of all four sets of constants display a lack of convergence, the constants of Sandeman's expansion exhibit better statistical behavior than the other three. This suggests that a Sandeman-like inversion of the Simons-Parr-Finlan and Ogilvie potential constants would be worthwhile.     

The ν6 parallel band of cyclopropane at 3100 cm−1

The ν₆ fundamental of cyclopropane has been recorded on a 4.5-m vacuum spectrometer. Deconvolution of the spectrum has revealed considerably more detail than found in previous investigations. New information of a qualitative nature has been learned about the highly perturbed upper state and improved values of the band center and the upper-state rotational constant have been obtained. A lower-state combination-difference analysis using J values up to J = 23 has resulted in values of B″ and D″_J which are in excellent agreement with recent investigations. The following values of molecular constants, in wavenumber units (cm^?1), have been determined: B″ = 0.67023, D″_J = 0.93 × 10^?6, ν₀ = 3101.529, and B′ ? B″ = ?0.0019. The present data have been used with data from recent Raman and infrared spectra of C₃H₆ in a combined least-squares fit to the ground-state constants.