Limited stability of the pH reference material sodium tetraborate decahydrate (“borax”)

Thermogravimetric and X-ray powder diffraction analyses revealed that the pH reference material sodium tetraborate decahydrate (“borax”) is not a stable substance but, loosing some of its water of crystallization, transforms slowly into the pentahydrate. The connected pH changes of the solutions are opposite to and larger than, those expected according to the dilution value of the decahydrate as shown by differential potentiometric measurements. The transformation rate depends on the storing time in the closed original container, the time of and after the first exposure of the material to the atmosphere, the frequency of and the relative humidity during subsequent exposures, and the temperature. The transformation reaction is not understood in detail. However, the experiments showed that sodium tetraborate decahydrate is a reliable pH reference material, whose pH is constant within ΔpH=±0.005 within at least two years after preparation, even if occasionally exposed to the atmosphere. Further work will show whether this time limit can be somewhat extended.     

Oxidation of polyethylene surfaces by remote plasma discharge: A comparison study with alternative oxidation methods

The reaction rates and products of remote oxygen plasma treatment, corona discharge, and ozone treatment of high and low density polyethylenes have been examined using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The oxygen uptake by remote plasma treatment was faster than that of other surface treatments using excited oxygen species. A steady state concentration of 18 ± 1% oxygen can be attained within 1 s of exposure in the remote plasma.     

Konvexität in halbgeordneten Ebenen

Let (E, (ie63-01),) be a halfordered plane and call convex if M contains for any two points a,bM all pointsx between a and b. It is shown that segments [a,b] are convex if and only if (E, (ie63-02)) is the affine plane of order 3, (E, (ie63-03),) is an ordered plane or is near-trivial.

---

---

Herrn Professor Johannes Böhm zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet     

A public-key cryptosystem utilizing cyclotomic fields

While it is well-known that the RSA public-key cryptosystem can be broken if its modulusN can be factored, it is not known whether there are other ways of breaking RSA. This paper presents a public-key scheme which necessarily requires knowledge of the factorization of its modulus in order to be broken. Rabin introduced the first system whose security is equivalent to the difficulty of factoring the modulus. His scheme is based on squaring (cubing) for encryption and extracting square (cube) roots for decryption. This introduces a 14 (19) ambiguity in the decryption. Various schemes which overcome this problem have been introduced for both the quadratic and cubic case. We generalize the ideas of Williams' cubic system to larger prime exponents. The cases of higher prime order introduce a number of problems not encountered in the quadratic and cubic cases, namely the existence of fundamental units in the underlying cyclotomic field, the evaluation of higher power residue symbols, and the increased difficulty of Euclidean division in the field.     

Eine neue Methode zur Bestimmung des spezifischen Kaliumpermanganatverbrauches von Humins?uren

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine indirekte Methode zur Bestimmung des spezifischen Kaliumpermanganatverbrauches von Huminsäuren beschrieben. Die Huminsäuren werden mit einer 0,01 m Blei(II)-nitratlösung gefällt und der gebildete Pb-Huminsäure-Niederschlag ausgewogen. Aus dem PbGehalt und dem Kaliumpermanganatverbrauch des Pb-HuminsäureKomplexes ergibt sich der Kaliumpermanganatverbrauch pro Milligramm Huminsäure. Im Gegensatz zu Eisen(III)-chlorid verändert Blei(II)nitrat die Oxydierbarkeit der Huminsäuren nicht, so daß indirekt und direkt bestimmter spezifischer Kaliumpermanganatverbrauch übereinstimmen.Es wurden die spezifischen Kaliumpermanganatverbrauchswerte von zwei Huminsäuren bekannter Oxydierbarkeit (Fluka-Humussäure und Moorwasser-Huminsäure) und von Huminsäuren aus 3 natürlichen Wässern bestimmt. Die Fehlerbereiche der Mittelwerte betragen bei den Modellsubstanzen (je 15 Analysenwerte) ±4% (Huminsäure Fluka) bzw. ±3% (Moorwasser-Huminsäure) und bei den praktischen Analysen ±4% ±11% bzw. ±7% des jeweiligen Mittelwertes.

---

Summary An indirect method for the determination of the specific permanganate consumption of humic acids is described. The humic acids are precipitated by 0,01 M lead(II)nitrate and the precipitate of lead-humic acid is weighed. The permanganate consumption per mg humic acid results from the lead-content and the permanganate consumption of the lead-humic acid complex. As opposed to ferric chloride lead(II) nitrate does not change the oxidizability of humic acids; hence, indirectly and directly determined permanganate consumption equal each other. — The values of the specific permanganate consumption of two humic acids of known oxidizability and of three samples of humic acids isolated from natural water-sources are determined. The limit of error of the mean values is between ±3% and ±11%.

---

---

Wir danken Frl. Roswitha Raspe und Frau Helga Boje für fleißige technische Mitarbeit.     

The coordinative properties of the ligands Ph2ECH2EPh2 (E = P,As, Sb) in carbonylvanadium complexes,and the molecular structure of η5-C5H5V(CO)3As2Ph4

Photo-reaction between the ligands Ph₂ECH₂EPh₂ (E = P: dppm, E = As: dpam, E = Sb: dpsm), L, and the vanadium complexes η⁵-C₅H₅V(CO)₄ and [Et₄N][V(CO)₆] yields monosubstituted mononuclear (dpsm) and dinuclear, ligand-bridged complexes (dpam, dpsm). With dppm, the final products are disubstituted chelate complexes, but monosubstituted mono- and dinuclear species are formed as intermediates.The shielding of the ⁵¹V nucleus decreases in the series dpsm > dppm > dpam and {M(CO)_n} > {M(CO)_n?1} L > {M(CO)_n?1}₂μ-L > {M(CO)_n?2}dppm ({M(CO)_n}[V(CO)₆]^?, η⁵-C₅H₅V(CO)₄). The half-widths of the NMR signals are greater for dinuclear than for mononuclear complexes.The crystal and molecular structures of η⁵-C₅H₅V(CO)₃As₂Ph₄ have been determined. The compound crystallizes in the space group P2₁/c with a = 1347.8, b = 1020.0, c = 2085.2 pm and β = 82.3°. Due to steric crowding, the ⁵¹V shielding is low composed to that of {η⁵-C₅H₅V(CO)₃}₂μ-dpam.     

Perchlorate analysis using solid-phase extraction cartridges

Perchlorate is a compound of increasing concern as an environmental contaminant and is being regulated at increasingly stringent levels. Reliable methods are needed to consistently analyze perchlorate at low concentration levels. This research investigates the use of solid-phase extraction cartridges as an alternative to large-volume injection loops to achieve low-level (microg/L level) perchlorate quantitation. The method involves commercially available strong anion exchange (SAX) cartridges. Water samples are filtered (100 to 1000 mL) using the cartridge, which removes the perchlorate from the solution by anion exchange. Then, after the desired volume is filtered, the perchlorate is extracted using 4 mL of 1% NaOH. In addition, a cleanup method is developed to remove competing anions (chloride, sulfate, and carbonate) that are often found in environmental samples. Analyses are performed with an ion chromatograph using a 10-microL injection loop, yielding a perchlorate method detection limit (MDL) of 210 microg/L. One-liter volumes of a 2-microg/L perchlorate spiked deionized water solution are filtered with SAX SPE. Following extraction and analysis, an MDL of 0.82 microg/L is obtained, comparable to that found for 1-mL injection loop systems (reported as low as 0.53 microg/L). MDL studies are then conducted on perchlorate-amended groundwater (solution concentration of 70 microg/L) and surface water (solution concentration of 10 microg/L) using a filtration volume of 200 mL. The MDLs are 6.7 microg/L for the groundwater and 2.4 microg/L for the surface water.