Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment

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Vol. 14(1) March 2010

Photodegradation of Sulfamethoxazole in Water: Kinetics and Influences Factors

Thu Anh Vu , Zhaohuan Mai, Feng Wu*, Nansheng Deng

In this work, the direct photolysis and indirect photodegradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in water were investigated under UV-C light (l 254 nm) and in the presence of Fe(III)-oxalate complex UV-Vis light (l = 365 nm) respectively. The kinetics of both direct photolysi and indirect photodegradation of SMX at the concentrations in the range of 5.0 ~ 20.0 mg L-1 followed first-order law and the rate constant of direct photolysis was much higher than that of indirect photodegradation under UV-Vis light. The influential factors of pH values, initial concentration of SMX, Fe(III)/oxalate ratio, as well as the chemicals adding sequence on SMX photodegradation were studied in detail. The Fe(III)-oxalate complex system had strong SMX oxidizing ability at pH 3.5 and the concentration ratio of Fe(III)/oxalate 10.0/120.0 mM

Rapid Detection of Powdered Antibiotics by Surface Desorption Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Rong Chen, Shi Lilin, Shui-Ping Yang, Jing-Ling Shen-Tu, Wen-Fang Liang, Huan-Wen Chen*, Li-Li Zhang and Yan-Fu Huan

A homemade surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (SDAPCI) source was coupled to a linear ion trap(LTQ) mass spectrometer for direct detection of various active constituents such as amoxicillin, norfloxacin, cefradine in powdered pharmaceutical preparations. In the SDAPCI source, ambient air (relative humidity 60%) was used as a reagent and a corona discha was employed to generate primary reagent ions (H3O+, for instance), which were then directed to impact the sample surface for desorption and ionization at atmospheric pressure. Under the optimized experime conditions, photolysis products of norfloxacin were rapidly detected and identified. The detection limit of 8-10-13 g/cm2 was achieved in the tesing of antibiotics. Single sample analysis was completed within 1 min. The results show that multiple stage SDAPCI mass spectrometry is a useful tool for fast detection of active ingredients and trace impurities in powdered medicines, especially when the DAPCI technique is coupled with portable mass spectrometers.

Facile Synthesis of Bis(indolyl)methanes Catalyzed by Aluminium nitrate nonahydrate

Shekhar Amiya and Pathak Devendra Deo

Aluminium nitrate has been found to be a cheap, readily available and efficient catalyst for the electrophilic substitution reactions of indole with a variety of aromatic aldehyde in acetonitrile at room temperature to afford the corresponding bis (indolyl) methane in high yields.

Assessment of Age and Morphometric Parameters of Seeds on Azadirachtin Production in Neem Seed Kernels collected from various Ecotypes

Srivastava Priyanka, Hazarika Rashmi Rekha, Singh Mithilesh and Chaturvedi Rakhi*

Azadirachtin is one of the most prominent triterpenoids obtained from neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) seed kernels. Its demand has been on rise in industries due to its immediate application as an ecofriendly, biodegradable biopesticide and various other significant biological activities. Concerted efforts are being made for its extraction in higher quantities in an economically feasible way. However, fulfillment of this objective has been long overdue owing to high heterogeneity in quality and quantity of azadirachtin present in the seed kernels. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the effect of various parameters like age and morphometric parameter of seeds, on azadirachtin production in neem trees growing in fifteen different ecotypes. It has been observed that the middle age trees (20-40 years old) produced maximum amount of azadirachtin (4000 mg/g dry weight of kernels) inspite of that the highest kernel weight was observed in trees of youngest age group.

Incorporating Surface Raw Water Quality into the Cost Chain for Water Services: Vaal Catchment, South Africa

Dzwairo Bloodless*, Otieno Fred A.O. and Ochieng George M.

A mathematical model being used by the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) to analyse various environmental management options emphasises on total dissolved solids (TDS) as a water pollution indicator, to which pollution economic impacts are also related. Since its use, it has become apparent that water quality problems in the Vaal basin are much more complex and need a variety of other management measures. Furthermore, an initial focus on the imbalance between available water, growing demand and increasing river regulation has contributed towards elevated proportions of polluted return-flows to natural runoff. This has led to a decline in quality of water feeding the catchment as well as rising potable water treatment costs. Research being carried out in the Upper (upstream) and Middle (downstream) Vaal Water Management Areas (WMAs) bounded by Vaal dam outlet and Bloemhof dam inlet, aims at developing a multi-year tariff model for surface raw water of variable quality, in order to predict cost of treatment using historical data and compatible toolboxes on a Matlab platform. Two pre-requisites for developing the model are an analysis of the raw water tariff structure at tier1 of the cost chain for water services and pollutant tracer hydrochemistry for major pollutants using conductivity (EC) as a surrogate. For 2003-2008 the total cost of raw water for both upstream and downstream utilities was made up of a Water Resource Management charge (WRMC), the Trans-Caledon -Tunnel-Authority (TCTA) charge and an abstraction tariff. Utilities paid the same TCTA charge per year and a slightly varied figure for the abstraction tariff. However, clustering of the WRMC indicated a dominance of the UVWMA for the lower clusters 0.50-1.00 and 1.00-1.50 while the MVWMA predominantly covered the 1.50-2.00 cluster. Results of pollutant tracer hydrochemistry showed a marked deterioration of water quality towards downstream. It was concluded that a downstream utility paid higher WRMC for more polluted raw water than an upstream utility. It was recommended that surface raw water quality variability be incorporated at tier1 of the cost chain for water services to ensure fairness of service delivery and spread of burden to consumers based on quality requirements.

Microwave Solvent Extraction and Spectrophotometric Determination of Carbamate Pesticides in Biolgical Tissues

Bhatia Jitesh* and Sharma Jaideo

Microwave solvent extraction method was carried out for the extraction of carbamate pesticides namely carbaryl, carbosulfan, methomyl and propoxur from biological tissues. Quantitative determination was done by ultra violet spectrophotometry. The calibration curve which is a plot of absorbance values of each carbamate at their respective absorption maxima (lmax) versus the concentration of these pesticides was found linear in the range of 10mg/ml to 100mg/ml with correlation coefficient of more than 0.99 for each carbamate. Recovery of each carbamate from biological tissues was estimated by these calibration curves and mean percentage recoveries were found in the range of 85.14% to 92.76%. The proposed method is simple, speedy, reliable and can be used for routine toxicological analysis.

Adsorption Analysis of Cr (VI) by Natural Polymer Tamarind Kernel Powder (TKP) in Aqueous Medium

Gupta Vikal* and Sharma Manisha

The adsorption technique using tamarind kernel powder has been applied for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous samples. Natural polymer tamarind kernel powder (TKP) has been used as adsorbent for the removal of Cr(VI) in aqueous medium. Batch experiments have been carried out for adsorption of Cr(VI) on to TKP. The effects of various parameters influencing the Cr(VI) adsorption such as effect of pH, contact time, adsorbent concentration and initial metal ion concentration have been studied. The data obtained from batch processes have used to fit in Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm equations. This method is quite feasible, economic and time saving.

Adsorption of Crude Oil and PAHs by Ordinary and Modified Bentonites

Saeid Gitipour* , Nima Heidarzadeh, Mohammad Ali Hosseinpour and Mostafa Abolfazlzadeh

Hazardous chemicals are the major cause of soil contamination in the environment. In recent years, to prevent the leaching of pollutants in soils, different stabilization and containment techniques as well as geosynthetic clay liners have been developed in recent years. Organophilic bentonites, due to their large surface areas, negatively charged particles and high adsorption characteristics have many applications for remediation of contaminated sites. The characteristics mentioned above of modified bentonites have enabled them to adsorb contaminants from solutions or to stabilize them in soils. This study focuses on interlayer changes of bentonite clays due to the adsorption of hydrocarbons (i.e. Crude Oil and PAHs). Free swell tests and X-ray diffraction analysis were conducted on the clays. The free swell test results showed that modified bentonites effectively intercalated crude oil into their particles and adsorbed them, hence presenting 410 % volume increase when exposed to this compound. Results of X-ray diffraction analysis for modified bentonite samples indicated a 63.15% and 20.22% interlayer increase after their exposure to the crude oil and PAHs respectively while that of ordinary bentonites was relatively insignificant (0.50% and 2.86%). Similar observations were noted for other hydrocarbonic compounds denoting the organophilic properties of modified bentonites.

The Use of Nonionic and Anionic Surfactant in the Treatment of Oily Sludge

Guolin Jing*, Ming Li, Shaopeng Qin, Xing Lijie and Shulin Li

Oily sludge, produced mostly in petroleum refineries and petrochemical industries, is one of the major industrial wastes that require treatment. The objective of this work was to recovery oil by washing of oily sludge with Nonionic and Anionic surfactant. To compare experimental results, three surfactants were used: sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS), alkyl phenol polyoxyethylene ether (OP-10) and ethoxylation alkyl sodium sulfate (Na-AES). The oily sludge is studied in the laboratory and the composition of the oily sludge is analyzed by the weight method, the conditions of crude oil recovered are researched. Washing method can be implemented as a continuous method to reduce the amounts of waste oily sludge while recovering valuable fuel oil.

Relationships and Comparative Studies of Heavy Metals and Organic PAH Compounds in the Soft Tissues Perna viridis

Yap C. K.*, Mashinshian M. A., Ismail A. and Pauzi Zakaria M.

Previous studies documented the background levels of heavy metals in the soft tissues of Perna viridis from the coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia but the relationships and comparative studies of heavy metals and organic PAH compounds in P. viridis have not been documented in the literature. This paper focuses on the differences between the inorganic Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn and organic PAH compounds in the P. viridis collected from the coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia. It was found that the behaviors of binding between the two compounds are different since marked different relationships were found between inorganic-lipid and organic-lipid in which organic-lipid is highly related while there are weak and hardly any relationships found between inorganic-lipid since the heavy metals are known to bind to metallothioneins. Although binding behaviors are not similar, the soft tissues of P. viridis are good biomonitoring agent of PAH and Cd, Cu and Pb since marked elevation of both compounds is found at the polluted sites receiving port, industrial and urban effluents.

Influence of Sodium Sulphate (Na2SO4) on Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) Concrete

Reddy Venkateswara V., Ramana N. V.*, Gnaneswar K. and Reddy Madhusudana B.

This paper presents the effect of sodium sulphate (Na2SO4) on concrete produced with OPC Concrete. Na2SO4 dosage with 1, 2, 4, 10, 15 and 20 g/lit added in water and the same water is used in concrete mix (M20 & M50). In addition to this control specimens were prepared with de-ionised water for comparison. The compressive and tensile strengths were evaluated for 28th and 90th day. The experimental results show that as Na2SO4 dosage increases, the compressive and tensile strengths decreases.A significant decrease in strength with Na2SO4 solution is observed at 15 g/lit in concrete mix. At this concentration, the X-ray diffraction analysis has been carried out.

Spectrophotometric Determination of Mercury (II) by using Bis-[2, 6-(2-hydroxy-4-sulpho 1-naphthylazo)] Pyridine Disodium Salt (HSNP) and indirect Determination of Iodide, Cyanide, Sulphide and Thiourea through Ligand Exchange Reactions

Barman Banjit* and Barua Sudarsan

Bis-[2,6-(2-hydroxy-4-sulpho-1-naphthylazo)] pyridine disodium salt (HSNP), a water soluble heterocyclic azo dye has been used for the trace determination of mercury. HSNP complexes with mercury (II) to form a purple coloured, water soluble 1:1 complex with molar extinction coefficient (e) 3.4 x 104 L mol-1 cm-1 at 565 nm in the pH range 8.6 -9.75. Beers law is obeyed upto 4.15 ppm of Hg (II). The optimum concentration range for determination of Hg(II) is 0.01-0.6 ppm with Sandells sensitivity of 0.0059 mg Hg(II) cm-2. The Hg(II)-HSNP complex is used in the indirect spectrophotometric determination of iodide, cyanide and sulphide ions and thiourea through ligand exchange reactions. Beers law ranges for iodide, cyanide, sulphide and thiourea were 0.0-5.25, 0.0-1.07, 0.0-0.66 and 0.0-1.57 ppm respectively. Using the particular condition adopted for the determination of Hg(II), 0.012-0.759 ppm of iodide, 0.0025-0.155 ppm of cyanide, 0.0015-0.095 ppm of sulphide and 0.0035-0.22 ppm of thiourea could be accurately determined.

Synthesis, Characterrization and Biological Evaluation of 3-chloro-1-[3, 6-diphenyl]-[1, 2, 4] Triazole [3, 4-b] [1, 3, 4] Thiadiazole)]-4-substituted-aryl- Azetidine-2-ones

Parmar Kokila A.*, Solanki Dhaval J. and Patel Rekha M.

4-amino-5-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (1) prepared by treating benzoic acid hydrazide successively with CS2, KOH and NH2 NH2 give the nitrogen bridge head fused heteocycles (3) on reacting with N-acetyl-p-amino benzoic acid followed by hydrolysis. It was facile condensation reaction with various substituted aromatic aldehydes yielding Schiff bases/anils/Azomethines (4a-h). These anils on cyclo-condensation reaction with Chloro acetyl chloride yield 2-Azetidinones (5a-h). These compounds were screened for activities against bacterial and fungal strains

Removal of Amido Black Dye from Aqueous Solution by Uncalcined and Calcined Hydrotalcite

Yasin Yamin*, Malek Abd Hafiz Abd, Sumari Siti Mariam and Ahmad Faujan B. H.

Adsorption of amido black by calcined and uncalcined hydrotalcite was investigated. The influence of contact time, pH of the dye solution and adsorbent dose has been studied. In the light of so called memory effect, the removal of amido black, an anionic dye from aqueous solution by calcined hydrotalcite was also investigated. The results of adsorption experiments indicate that the percentage removal of amido black increased with increase in contact time and adsorbent dose but decreased with the increase in pH of the solution. Calcined hydrotalcite showed better adsorption capacity compared with uncalcined hydrotalcite. The isotherms showed that the adsorption of amido black was well fitted with Langmuir equation. The present study showed that hydrotalcite can be used as an adsorbent for the removal of amido black from aqueous solution. Better percentage removal of amido black performed by calcined hydrotalcite is due to their reconstruction of original layer in aqueous solution with good ion exchangers

Synthesis of N-[5-[(Aminoiminomethyl) amino]pentyl]-N-[3-[(3-methyl-1-oxo-2-butenyl)Amino] Propyl Hexanamide

Walwil Abdalla M.

Scheme 1 is the proposed synthesis of the fatty acyl amide N-[5-[(Aminoiminomethyl)amino]-pentyl]-N-[3-[(3-methyl-1-oxo-2 butenyl)amino]propy lhexan-amide or may be named as N-[5-(guanidino-pentyl)-N-[3-[(3-methyl-1-oxo-2-butenyl)amino] propylhexanamide (1). The starting material 5-amino-pentanol (2) can be converted to 3-(5-Hydroxy-pentylamino) propanenitrile (3) through the conjugate addition of the substrate acrylonitrile. Friedel-Crafts acylation of the secondary amine produces N-(5-Hydroxypentyl)-N-(2-cyanoethyl) hexanamide (4). Reduction of (4) using the lithium aluminum hydride - cobaltous chloride mixture gives N-(5-Hydroxypentyl)-N-(3-aminopropyl) hexanamide (5). Acylation of (5) by 3,3-dimethylacryloyl chloride yields N-(5-Hydroxypentyl)-N-[3-[(3-methyl-1-oxo-2-butenyl)amino]-propylhexanamide (6). Mesylation of the primary alcohol (6) produces N-(5-Mesyloxypentyl)-N-[3-[(3-methyl-1-oxo-2-butenyl)amino] propylhexanamide (7) which can be guanidinylated to produce (1).

Effect of Mixing Time on Filler-matrix Interactions in Polyacrylic Acid-epoxidised Natural Rubber Blend and Carbon Black Composites

Mallick A.

It is known that increase in mixing time helps carbon black disperse better in a polymer matrix. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of mixing time on self-crosslinkable polyacrylic acid (PAA) and epoxidised natural rubber (ENR) blend, filled with HAF carbon black. The constituents were mixed at 180oC in a Brabender Plasticorder. Preliminary investigations show that there exits a critical mixing time, which varies with the filler loading as well as mixer rotor speed. The best dynamic mechanical and physical properties of the composites were obtained at the critical mixing time. These have been explained on the basis of maximum interaction between the filler particles and the rubber matrix at the critical mixing time due to (i) increase in filler surface area of filler with increase in dispersion and (ii) enhancement of carbon black promoted chemical interaction between PAA and ENR. Further mixing beyond the critical mixing time results in poorer properties of the composites possibly because of mechano-chemical degradation of ENR chains.

Review Paper: Low Cost Adsorbents for Heavy Metal Removal from Wastewater: A Review

Daga Kailash, Patel Dharmendra* and Vyas Anil

The adsorption process is being widely used by various researchers for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater. In recent years the use of various natural products has been widely investigated as a replacement for the currently costly methods of treatment of wastewater. Some of the natural products can be effectively used as a low cost adsorbent as well as low-cost sorbent. In this review, an extensive list of recent investigations and literature has been compiled to provide information on a wide range of low cost adsorbents and the treatment of wastewater using them.