Speciation in the aqueous H+/H2VO4-/H2O2/picolinate system relevant to diabetes research

A detailed study of the quaternary aqueous H+/H2VO4-/H2O2/picolinate (Pi-) system has been performed at 25 degrees C in 0.150 M Na(Cl) medium using quantitative 51 V NMR (500 MHz) and potentiometric data (glass electrode). In the ternary H+/H2VO4-/Pi- system, six complexes have been found in the pH region 1-10. In the quaternary H+/H2VO4-/H2O2/Pi- system, eight additional complexes have been found. Generally, equilibria are fast in both systems. The rate of peroxide decomposition depends on the species in solution. Chemical shifts, compositions and formation constants for the species are given. Equilibrium conditions and the fit of the model to the experimental data are illustrated in distribution diagrams. Possible formation of mixed ligand species with imidazole, lactic acid and citric acid have been investigated and ruled out under the same experimental conditions. Structural proposals are given, based on 1)C NMR data and available crystal structures.     

Multicomponent polyanions. 57. Large-angle X-ray scattering study of aqueous molybdophenylphosphonate solutions

The radial distribution functions are calculated from large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS) measurements for one concentrated aqueous molybdate/heptamolybdate solution and five aqueous molybdophenylphosphonate solutions (lithium chloride medium). Besides water and hydrated lithium, chloride, and molybdate ions, five species in all, having different nuclearities, are postulated to exist in the solutions, according to equilibrium studies using potentiometry and 31P NMR spectroscopy. The structures of the three polymolybdate species Mo7O24(6-), Mo8O26(4-), and (C6H5P)2Mo5O21(4-), for which the structures are determined crystallographically, are confirmed to exist also in aqueous solution. The principal structures of the remaining two complexes, (C6H5P)Mo6O21(OH2)5(2-) and (C6H5P)Mo7O25(OH2)4-, are elucidated with the use of structures of related species. Both anions have one group of four edge-sharing MoO6 octahedra and another group of two MoO6 octahedra connected by sharing corners, forming a bent unsymmetric six-membered ring, with the C6H5PO3 group placed on the crowded side of the ring. In the former, the group of two MoO6 octahedra is edge-shared, while in the latter, the group is face-shared, resulting in a ring small enough to tetrahedrally coordinate to the seventh molybdenum opposite the phenyl group.     

The rate of reduction of selenium(VI) to selenium(IV) in hydrochloric acid

The reduction of selenium(VI) to selenium(IV) in 4, 5 and 6M hydrochloric acid was studied at temperatures between 50 and 95 degrees . The reaction rate was determined by measurement of the selenium(IV) formed, by continuous-flow hydride-generation atomic-absorption spectrometry. The most notable feature of the reaction is the strong increase in rate with increasing hydrogen-ion concentration and temperature. The rate increases initially with chloride concentration at constant acidity (mixtures of hydrochloric and perchloric acid) but levels off to an almost constant value at high chloride concentrations.     

Dissociative recombination of the weakly bound NO-dimer cation: cross sections and three-body dynamics

Dissociative recombination (DR) of the dimer ion (NO)(2) (+) has been studied at the heavy-ion storage ring CRYRING at the Manne Siegbahn Laboratory, Stockholm. The experiments were aimed at determining details on the strongly enhanced thermal rate coefficient for the dimer, interpreting the dissociation dynamics of the dimer ion, and studying the degree of similarity to the behavior in the monomer. The DR rate reveals that the very large efficiency of the dimer rate with respect to the monomer is limited to electron energies below 0.2 eV. The fragmentation products reveal that the breakup into the three-body channel NO+O+N dominates with a probability of 0.69+/-0.02. The second most important channel yields NO+NO fragments with a probability of 0.23+/-0.03. Furthermore, the dominant three-body breakup yields electronic and vibrational ground-state products, NO(upsilon=0)+N((4)S)+O((3)P), in about 45% of the cases. The internal product-state distribution of the NO fragment shows a similarity with the product-state distribution as predicted by the Franck-Condon overlap between a NO moiety of the dimer ion and a free NO. The dissociation dynamics seem to be independent of the NO internal energy. Finally, the dissociation dynamics reveal a correlation between the kinetic energy of the NO fragment and the degree of conservation of linear momentum between the O and N product atoms. The observations support a mechanism in which the recoil takes place along one of the NO bonds in the dimer.     

Intermolecular complexes of HXeOH with water: stabilization and destabilization effects

Theoretical and matrix-isolation studies of intermolecular complexes of HXeOH with water molecules are presented. The structures and possible decomposition routes of the HXeOH-(H(2)O)(n)(n = 0, 1, 2, 3) complexes are analyzed theoretically. It is concluded that the decay of these metastable species may proceed through the bent transition states (TSs), leading to the global minima on the respective potential energy surfaces, Xe + (H(2)O)(n+1). The respective barrier heights are 39.6, 26.6, 11.2, and 0.4 kcal/mol for n = 0, 1, 2, and 3. HXeOH in larger water clusters is computationally unstable with respect to the bending coordinate, representing the destabilization effect. Another decomposition channel of HXeOH-(H(2)O)(n), via a linear TS, leads to a direct break of the H-Xe bond of HXeOH. In this case, the attached water molecules stabilize HXeOH by strengthening the H-Xe bond. Due to the stabilization, a large blue shift of the H-Xe stretching mode upon complexation of HXeOH with water molecules is featured in calculations. On the basis of this computational result, the IR absorption bands at 1681 and 1742 cm(-1) observed after UV photolysis and annealing of multimeric H(2)O/Xe matrixes are assigned to the HXeOH-H(2)O and HXeOH-(H(2)O)(2) complexes. These bands are blue-shifted by 103 and 164 cm(-1) from the known monomeric HXeOH absorption.     

Liquid chromatographic determination of the enantiomers of ibuprofen in plasma using a chiral AGP column

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of the R- and S-enantiomers of ibuprofen. The enantiomers and the internal standard 4-pentylphenylacetic acid are extracted from plasma, separated and quantified on a Chiral-AGP column using ultraviolet detection. The simplicity, sensitivity and precision of the method makes it convenient for use in pharmacokinetic studies.     

Quantitative accuracy in the gas chromatographic analysis of solvent mixtures

Quantitative accuracy is of great importance in the analysis of bulk mixtures of solvents, particularly when the analysis is related to quality control of very large product volumes like in solvent recovery plants. Serious errors can be made if the effects of density differences between the pure solvents and volume contractions are not properly addressed. In earlier work, the use of an iterative process for correcting such errors has been suggested. However, in the case of volume contractions and mixtures of several solvents, this procedure is difficult to apply. In the present paper, we describe a simple procedure where calibration curves based on mass concentration are utilized. The densities of calibration mixtures of known compositions are determined with a density meter, in order to provide for correction factors caused by volume contractions. Model experiments with mixtures of water, ethanol, acetone and methanol showed a significant improvement in quantitative accuracy. when the suggested calibration strategy was applied.     

Electrochemical solid-phase microextraction of anions and cations using polypyrrole coatings and an integrated three-electrode device

A method for the extraction, transfer and desorption of anions and cations under controlled potential conditions employing a new integrated three-electrode device is described. The device, containing working, reference and counter electrodes, was prepared from tubes that could be moved vertically with respect to each other. In this way, a small amount of solvent, held by capillary force, remained between the electrodes when the device was lifted out of a solution after an extraction. This design allowed the potential control to be maintained at all times. With the new integrated device, it was possible to perform potential controlled desorption into vials containing as little as 200 microl of solution. The required ion exchange capacity was obtained by electrodeposition of a polypyrrole coating on the surface of the glassy carbon working electrode. Solid-phase microextractions of several cations or anions were performed simultaneously under potentiostatic control by doping the polypyrrole coating with different anions such as perchlorate and p-toluenesulfonate. The efficiency of the extractions, which could be altered by varying the potential of the working electrode, could be increased by 150 to 200% compared to extractions using normal solid-phase microextraction conditions under open circuit conditions. A constant potential of +1.0 V and -0.5 V with respect to the silver pseudo reference electrode, was found to be well-suited for the extraction of samples containing ppm concentrations of anions (chloride, nitrite, bromide, nitrate, sulfate and phosphate) and cations (cadmium, cobalt and zinc), respectively.     

Measurement of the flexibility of wet cellulose fibres using atomic force microscopy

Flexibility and modulus of elasticity data for two types of wet cellulose fibres using a direct force–displacement method by means of AFM are reported for never dried wet fibres immersed in water. The flexibilities for the bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSW) fibres are in the range of 4–38 × 10¹² N^?1 m^?2 while the flexibilities for the thermomechanical pulp (TMP) fibres are about one order of magnitude lower. For BSW the modulus of elasticity ranges from 1 to 12 MPa and for TMP between 15–190 MPa. These data are lower than most other available pulp fibre data and comparable to a soft rubber band. Reasons for the difference can be that our measurements with a direct method were performed using never dried fibres immersed in water while other groups have employed indirect methods using pulp with different treatments.