Separation of Cd(II) and Ni(II) ions by supported liquid membrane using D2EHPA/M2EHPA as mobile carrier

The separation of Cd(II) and Ni(II) ions was studied in an aqueous sulphate medium using supported liquid membrane (SLM). D2EHPA/M2EHPA was used as a mobile carrier, microporous hydrophobic PTFE film was used as a solid support for the liquid membrane, and the strip phase was sulphuric acid. The effects of different parameters such as feed concentration, carrier concentration, feed phase pH, and strip phase pH on the separation factor and flux of Cd(II) and Ni(II) ions were studied. The optimum values obtained to achieve the maximum flux were 5.0 for feed pH, 40 vol. % for D2EHPA/M2EHPA concentration in the membrane phase, 0.5 for strip pH, and 0.012 mass % for feed concentration. Under these optimum conditions, the flux values of Cd(II) and Ni(II) were 15.7 × 10^?7 kg m^?2 s^?1 and 2.6 × 10^?7 kg m^?2 s^?1, respectively. The separation factors of Cd(II) over Ni(II) were studied under different experimental conditions. At a carrier concentration of 10 vol. % and feed concentration of 0.012 mass %, the maximum value of 185.1 was obtained for the separation factor of Cd(II) over Ni(II). After 24 h, the percentages of the extracted Cd(II) and Ni(II) were 83.3 % and 0.45 %, respectively.     

Synthesis, spectroscopy, electrochemistry and thermal study of vanadyl tridentate Schiff base complexes: theoretical study of the structures of compounds by ab initio calculations

The VO(IV) complexes of tridentate ONN Schiff ligands were synthesized and characterized by IR, UV–Vis and elemental analysis. The electrochemical properties of the vanadyl complexes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. A good correlation was observed between the oxidation potentials and the electron-withdrawing character of the substituents on the Schiff base ligands, showing the following trend: MeO < H < Br < NO₂. The thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermoanalysis (DTA) of the VO(IV) complexes were carried out in the range of 20–700 °C. The VOL¹(OH₂) and VOL²(OH₂) decomposed in three steps, whereas the VOL³(OH₂) and VOL⁴(OH₂) complexes decomposed in two steps. The thermal decomposition of these complexes is closely related to the nature of the Schiff base ligands and proceeds via first-order kinetics. The structures of compounds were determined by ab initio calculations. The optimized molecular geometry and atomic charges were calculated using MP2 method with 6-31G(d) basis. The results suggested that, in the complexes, V(IV) ion is in square-pyramid N₂O₃ coordination geometry. Also the bond lengths and angles were studied and compared.     

A mild and green chemistry approach for the synthesis of symmetrical spirooxindole derivatives

A simple and eco-friendly synthesis of the biologically important spirooxindole scaffold was done by the reaction of isatin with activated pyrazolones in the presence of a catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid in water at room temperature. A variety of symmetrical spirooxindole derivatives were obtained with excellent yields within short reaction time. This method is of great value because of its environmentally benign character, high yield, and easy handling.     

Nanoporous carbons as promising novel methane adsorbents for natural gas technology

Nanoporous carbons were synthesized using furfuryl alcohol and sucrose as precursors and MCM-41 and mordenite as nanoporous templates.The produced nanoporous carbons were used as adsorbent for methane storage.The average pore diameter of the samples varied from 3.9 nm to 5.9 nm and the BET surface area varied from 320m2/g to 824m2/g.The volumetric adsorption experiments revealed that MCM-41 and sucrose had better performance compared with mordenite and furfuryl alcohol,correspondingly.Also,the effect of precursor to template ratio on the structure of nanoporous carbons and their adsorption capacities was investigated.The nanoporous carbon produced from MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieve partially filled by sucrose shows the best methane adsorption capacity among the tested samples.     

Oxidation of secondary amines to nitrones using magnetically separable tungstophosphoric acid supported on silica-encapsulated γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles

Superparamagnetic tungstophosphoric acid supported on silica-encapsulated γ-Fe₂O₃ was used as an efficient catalyst for the direct oxidation of secondary amines to nitrones with hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. The catalyst could be recycled up to four times without significant loss of activity.     

A new expertness index for assessment of secondary structure prediction engines

Improvement of prediction accuracy of the protein secondary structure is essential for further developments of the whole field of protein research. In this paper, the expertness of protein secondary structure prediction engines has been studied in three levels and a new criterion has been introduced in the third level. This criterion could be considered as an extension of the previous ones based on amino acid index. Using this new criterion, the expertness of some high score secondary structure prediction engines has been reanalyzed and some hidden facts have been discovered. The results of this new assessment demonstrated that a noticeable harmony has been existed among each amino acid prediction behavior in all engines. This harmony has also been seen between single global propensity and prediction accuracy of amino acid types in each secondary structure class. Moreover, it is shown that Proline and Glycine amino acids have been predicted with less accuracy in alpha helices and beta strands. In addition, regardless of different approaches used in prediction engines, beta strands have been predicted with less accuracy.     

Synthesis of N-formylated β-lactams using nano-sulfated TiO2 as catalyst under solvent-free conditions

An easily accessible catalyst, nano-sulfated titania, efficiently catalyzes the N-formylation of β-lactams and all types of amines (primary, secondary, aromatic, and aliphatic) in solvent-free conditions at room temperature.     

Metal‐free aerobic oxidative esterification of aromatic aldehydes promoted by potassium fluoride (KF)

We investigated the oxidative esterification of aldehydes with alcohols/phenols to produce a range of esters. In this approach, we conducted the reaction under metal‐free conditions at room temperature. The reactions were promoted by potassium fluoride (KF) as the additive, resulting in the desired product in good to high yields. This procedure was found to be effective for the production of aryl esters, which are challenging in most of the available reports. It is vital for this procedure not to exclude air as the source of oxygen.     

Crater geometry characterization of Al targets irradiated by single pulse and pulse trains of Nd:YAG laser in ambient air and water

High intensities laser pulses are capable to generate a crater when irradiating metal targets. In such condition, after each irradiation significant ablation occurs on the target surface and as a result a crater is formed. The crater characterization is very important specifically for some applications such as micromachining. In this paper, the crater formation in metal targets was studied experimentally. The planar aluminum 5052 targets were irradiated by frequency doubled (532 nm), Q-switched Nd:YAG (∼6 ns) laser beam in ambient air and distilled water. A crater was produced after each irradiation and it was characterized by an optical microscope. Different laser intensities as well as pulse trains were applied for crater formation. The effects of laser characteristics in crater geometry were examined. The depth of the craters was measured by optical microscope and the diameter (width) was characterized by processing of the crater image. The results were explained in terms of ablation threshold and plasma shielding. The results show that the crater geometry extremely depends on the laser pulse intensity, the number of laser pulses, and ambient.