Emulsion liquid membrane extraction of fission products promoted by polyvalent and organic acids

Emulsion liquid membranes (ELM) with di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid in n-alkane, and dipicrylamine and cobalt(III) dicarbollide in nitrobenzene stabilized in double emulsions by SPAN 80/85 surfactant were used for preconcentration of radioactive fission products (¹³⁷Cs,⁹⁰Sr,¹³⁹Ce, and¹⁵²Eu) from slightly acidic nitrate solutions. The efficiency of sulfuric, phosphotungstic and silicotungstic acids as stripping agents, and picric acid as the bulky anion additive was investigated. A group separation of the fission products is possible by the ELM technique and can be considered for their removal from waste water solutions.     

Über siliciumaromatische Verbindungen. III. Trimethylsilyl- und Triphenylsilyl-substituierte Farbstoffe der Anthrachinonreihe

The influence of the presence of trimethylsilyl and triphenylsilyl groups in substituents of anthraquinone on the properties of anthraquinone vat, acid, and dispersion dyes was investigated.     

Thermodynamique des melanges binaires LiPO3-Pb(PO3)2: Diagramme de phases et étude thermodynamique du liquide

Study of solid-liquid phase diagram of LiPO₃-Pb(PO₃)₂ binary system, in certain calcination conditions, shows the existence of several metastable phasis. When heated at a temperature of 723 K the binary mixtures lead uncompletely to a defined compound Pb₂Li(PO₃). On heating these ternary solid mixtures, three eutectic reactions have been observed: LiPO₃+Pb(PO₃)₂→Liquid at a temperature of 793 K(1) LiPO₃+Pb₂Li(PO₃)₅→Liquid at a temperature of 843 K (2) Pb₂Li(PO₃)₅+Pb(PO₃)₂→Liquid at a temperature of 891 K (3) The metastable liquid phase appears in the system at temperature of 793 K. DTA experiments performed on the binary LiPO₃-Pb(PO₃)₂ mixtures, show a superposition of two diagrams. The first one is metastable and the second represents the stable equilibrium phase diagram. Measurements of liquid enthalpy of binary LiPO₃-Pb(PO₃)₂ system at temperature of 979.65 K were reported. The corresponding values were very small and so the binary system can be considered as athermal. Assuming an ideal behaviour, the liquidus curves in the metastable diagram were calculated and the eutectic reaction (LiPO₃-Pb(PO₃)₂→Liquid) was confirmed at 793 K. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Screening an In-House Isoquinoline Alkaloids Library for New Blockers of Voltage-Gated Na+ Channels Using Voltage Sensor Fluorescent Probes: Hits and Biases

Voltage-gated Na⁺ (Na_V) channels are significant therapeutic targets for the treatment of cardiac and neurological disorders, thus promoting the search for novel Na_V channel ligands. With the objective of discovering new blockers of Na_V channel ligands, we screened an In-House vegetal alkaloid library using fluorescence cell-based assays. We screened 62 isoquinoline alkaloids (IA) for their ability to decrease the FRET signal of voltage sensor probes (VSP), which were induced by the activation of Na_V channels with batrachotoxin (BTX) in GH3b6 cells. This led to the selection of five IA: liriodenine, oxostephanine, thalmiculine, protopine, and bebeerine, inhibiting the BTX-induced VSP signal with micromolar IC₅₀. These five alkaloids were then assayed using the Na⁺ fluorescent probe ANG-2 and the patch-clamp technique. Only oxostephanine and liriodenine were able to inhibit the BTX-induced ANG-2 signal in HEK293-hNa_V1.3 cells. Indeed, liriodenine and oxostephanine decreased the effects of BTX on Na⁺ currents elicited by the hNa_V1.3 channel, suggesting that conformation change induced by BTX binding could induce a bias in fluorescent assays. However, among the five IA selected in the VSP assay, only bebeerine exhibited strong inhibitory effects against Na⁺ currents elicited by the hNav1.2 and hNav1.6 channels, with IC₅₀ values below 10 µM. So far, bebeerine is the first BBIQ to have been reported to block Na_V channels, with promising therapeutical applications.     

FTIR and thermal studies of modified natural rubber based polymer electrolytes

Chemical modification of natural rubber (NR) has frequently been attempted to improve the performance in specific application. 30% poly (methyl metacrylate) grafted NR (MG 30) has been explored as a potential candidate for polymer electrolytes. The complexation effect of LiCF₃SO₃, ethylene carbonate (EC) and Al₂SiO₅ in polymer host electrolytes has been investigated using FTIR ICP-OES spectrometry. Thermal studies of the systems have displayed a stable trend of glass temperature transition at elevated salt concentration whereas incorporation of EC and filler into the system results in the same pattern in their T_g values. Paper presented at the International Conference on Functional Materials and Devices 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 6 – 8, 2005.     

Influence of substrate temperature and Cobalt concentration on structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by Ultrasonic spray technique

Pure and Cobalt doped zinc oxide were deposited on glass substrate by Ultrasonic spray method. Zinc acetate dehydrate, Cobalt chloride, 4-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine were used as a starting materials, dopant source, solvent and stabilizer, respectively. The ZnO samples and ZnO:Co with Cobalt concentration of 2 wt.% were deposited at 300, 350 and 400 °C. The effects of substrate temperature and presence of Co as doping element on the structural, electrical and optical properties were examined. Both pure and Co doped ZnO samples are (0 0 2) preferentially oriented. The X-ray diffraction results indicate that the samples have polycrystalline nature and hexagonal wurtzite structure with the maximum average crystallite size of ZnO and ZnO:Co were 33.28 and 55.46 nm. An increase in the substrate temperature and presence doping the crystallinity of the thin films increased. The optical transmittance spectra showed transmittance higher than 80% within the visible wavelength region. The band gap energy of the thin films increased after doping from 3.25 to 3.36 eV at 350 °C.     

The role of F A1:Ag+ defects in laser light generation and coadsorption of CO and halogen atoms at the KCl and KBr surface sites. First principles calculations

F _A1:Ag⁺ color center at the low coordination (100) and (110) surface sites of KCl and KBr thin films play an important role in providing tunable laser oscillation and adsorbatesubstrate interactions. Double-well potentials at this site are investigated using ab initio molecular electronic structure calculations. The calculated Stokes shifted (optical transition bands), opticaloptical conversion efficiencies, the probability of orientational destruction, exciton (energy) transfer and Glasner-Tompkins empirical rule suggest that laser light generation is sensitive to (i) the lattice anion, (ii) the coordination number of surface ions, and (iii) the choice of the basis set centered on the anion vacancy. The adsorbate-substrate interactions were found to be dependent on the electronegativity of the adatom and on the lattice anion. Optimised geometries and the coadsorption of CO and (F, Cl, Br, I) on KCl and KBr (100) crystals are presented. Calculated chemisorption energies for CO on the (halogen atom/defect free sites of KCl and KBr (100) crystals) showed that the coadsorption of halogen atom tends to block other adsorbate-substrate interactions at the nearest neighbour sites. Thus if halogen atom coverage increases, the CO prefers to be adsorbed on the K⁺ site of the KCl and KBr (100) surfaces and on KBr relative to KCl.      

On nonoscillatory solutions of differential inclusions

This paper introduces a nonoscillatory theory for differential inclusions based on fixed point theory for multivalued maps.

     

A Study of the Thermal Hysteresis in AgNO3

The reversible phase transformation of AgNO₃ is studied. Dielectric constant, d.c. resistivity, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and dilatometric measurements show the occurrence of a reversible phase transition II→I at 160°C with heat of transformation H = 0.78 kcal/mol. The thermal hysteresis in this reversible transformation is examined, the magnitude of the temperature hysteresis does not exceed 12°C. An acceptable agreement is observed between the measured values of the transition temperature obtained by three different experimental techniques. The dilatometric analysis shows that this transition is accompanied by thermal shrinkage with relative shrinkage coefficient 8 × 10^?4. Thermal analysis are also used to get thermodynamic and kinetic data of this phase transition. The temperature dependence of the dielectric constant and d.c. resistivity for single crystals as well as polycrystalline samples of AgNO₃ have clearly located and confirm the phase transitions II→I→II with a strong support to its thermal hysteresis character. The conduction mechanism is found to be activated by energy 0.12 eV for phase I and 0.36 eV for phase II. The observed thermal behaviour of the various measured parameters is attributed to orientational disorder of the nitrate group leading to an order-disorder phase transition which is reported here for first time in AgNO₃.     

Extended phonon collapse and the origin of the charge-density wave in 2H-NbSe2

We report inelastic x-ray scattering measurements of the temperature dependence of phonon dispersion in the prototypical charge-density-wave (CDW) compound 2H-NbSe2. Surprisingly, acoustic phonons soften to zero frequency and become overdamped over an extended region around the CDW wave vector. This extended phonon collapse is dramatically different from the sharp cusp in the phonon dispersion expected from Fermi surface nesting. Instead, our experiments, combined with ab initio calculations, show that it is the wave vector dependence of the electron-phonon coupling that drives the CDW formation in 2H-NbSe2 and determines its periodicity. This mechanism explains the so far enigmatic behavior of CDW in 2H-NbSe2 and may provide a new approach to other strongly correlated systems where electron-phonon coupling is important.