Faten A. Nour El-Dien

Radiation-induced grafting of glycidyl methacrylate onto cotton fabric waste and its modification for anchoring hazardous wastes from their solutions.

Ion exchange adsorbents based on cellulosic fabric wastes carrying sulfonic acid and amine functional groups were synthesized by radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) with subsequent chemical modification of the epoxy groups of poly-GMA graft chains with sodium sulfite/H(2)SO(4) and triethylamine, respectively. The conversion of epoxy groups into the functional groups was investigated. Factors affecting on grafting process such as radiation dose, monomer concentration and solvent were studied. The synthesized adsorbent and its applications in the removal of different types of hazardous pollutants e.g. acidic dye, cobalt, dichromate and phenols from aqueous solution were also studied.

Utility of π-acceptor reagents for spectrophotometric determination of sulphonamide drugs via charge-transfer complex formation

A simple, sensitive and accurate spectrophotometric method for the determination of sulphonamides (sulphamethoxazole (SMZ), sulphaguanidine (SGD), sulphaquinoxaline sodium (SQX), sulphametrole (SMR), and sulphadimidine sodium (SDD)) has been developed. The charge-transfer reactions between sulphonamides as n-electron donors and 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), and 2,5-dichloro-3,6-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (chloranilic acid, p-CLA) as π-acceptors resulting in highly coloured complexes were studied. Experimental conditions for these CT reactions were carefully optimised. Beer’s law is valid over the concentration ranges from 4–280 µg mL−1, 4–260 µg mL−1, 4–200 µg mL−1, and 4–200 µg mL−1 of SMZ, SGD, SQX, and SDD using DDQ reagent, respectively. While the calibration curves are linear in the concentration ranges from 4–180 µg mL−1, 4–80 µg mL−1, 4–60 µg mL−1, 4–180 µg mL−1, and 4–60 µg mL−1 of SMZ, SGD, SQX, SMR, and SDD, respectively, using TCNQ reagent and from 4–380 µg mL−1 and 4–300 µg mL−1 of SQX and SDD, respectively, using p-CLA reagent, respectively. Different analytical parameters, namely molar absorptivity (ε), standard deviation, relative standard deviation, correlation coefficient, limit of detection, and limit of quantification, were calculated. The results obtained by the proposed methods are in good agreement with those obtained by the official method as indicated by the percent recovery values.

Coupling reaction and complex formation for the spectrophotometric determination of physiologically active catecholamines in bulk, pharmaceutical preparations and urine samples of schizophrenic patients

A simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of three catecholamines namely dopamine hydrochloride (DO.HCl), dobutamine hydrochloride (DOB.HCl) and vanillymandelic acid (VMA), in both pure form or in their commercially available pharmaceutical formulations or urine samples of schizopherinic patients is described. The method is based on the reaction of diazotized 4-aminoantipyrine (4-AAP) with catecholamines in a basic medium (pH = 10-11) to yield pink-coloured products having absorption maxima at 500, 505 and 480 nm for DO.HCl, VMA and DOB.HCl, respectively. Before carrying out Beers Law, different experimental conditions, such as time, temperature, sequence of addition, and pH are optimized. The coloured species obeyed Beers Law in the range of 47.4-417.2, 59.45-445.9 and 67.57-405.4 mg/L for DO.HCl, VMA and DOB.HCl, respectively. The molar absorptivity values as obtained from Beers Law data were found to be 2.979 x 10(4), 4.39 x 10(4) and 1.036 x 10(4) L mol(-1) cm(-1), while Sandells sensitivity values were observed to be 3 x 10(-3), 4.4 x 10(-3) and 1.3 x 10(-3) microg cm(2-) for DO.HCl, VMA and DOB.HCl, respectively. Common excipients did not interfere with the proposed method. The results of the proposed method compare favourably with those of official methods. The proposed method offers simplicity, reliability, rapidity, and accuracy compared to the existing methods.

Preparation, thermal decomposition, and crystal structure of Zn(II) 2-chlorobenzoate complex with nicotinamide

A new Zn(II) 2-chlorobenzoate complex, [Zn(2-ClC6H4COO)2(nad)2] (nad = nicotinamide), was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis, and X-ray structure determination. The mechanism of thermal decomposition of the complex was studied by TG/DTG, DTA, IR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The thermal decomposition is characterized as a two-step process. Zinc oxide was found as the final product of the thermal decomposition performed up to 900°C. Mass spectrometry was used to determine the volatiles released during thermal decomposition. The IR spectrum indicates that carboxylate is coordinated to zinc in monodentate coordination. [Zn(2-ClC6H4COO)2(nad)2] crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group Pn, a = 10.376(2) Å, b = 10.100(1) Å, c = 12.604(1) Å, β = 100.79(1)°. The zinc is tetrahedrally coordinated by two nitrogens of nicotinamide and two oxygens of 2-chlorobenzoate.

Removal of hazardous pollutants using bifunctional hydrogel obtained from modified starch by grafting copolymerization

The removal of industrial pollutants from wastewater is important to protect human health and the environment. For this reason, bifunctional hydrogel was synthesized by radiation-induced grafting copolymerization of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane-1-sulphonic acid (AMPS) and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) onto starch and subsequent chemical modification of the prepared hydrogel by benzyl chloride. The physical and chemical properties of the hydrogel AMPS co DMAEMA modified with ion-exchange groups were investigated by FT-IR, DSC and SEM techniques. The modified copolymers were examined for the removal of basic dyes, cobalt ions, and phosphate anions from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacities of dye, cobalt and phosphate ions were 600 mg/g, 350 mg/g, and 650 mg/g, respectively at the optimum conditions. The adsorption of dye, Co2+ ions, and phosphate anions onto the hydrogel obeyed both Langmuir and Freundlich models. The adsorption kinetics of dye was found to follow closely the pseudo-first-order kinetic model rather than the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The kinetic study of Co2+ ions adsorption indicates that it obeys pseudo-second-order kinetic model rather than pseudo-first order one.