No description available.

No description available.

Lack of crystalline order and microstructural features such as grain/grain-boundary in metallic glasses results in a suite of remarkable attributes including very high strength, close to theoretical elasticity, high corrosion and wear resistance, and soft magnetic properties. By altering the morphology and tuning of composition, MGs may be transformed into high-performance catalytic materials. In this study, the catalytic properties of metallic glass powders were demonstrated in dissociating toxic organic chemicals such as AZO dye. BMG powders showed superior performance compared to state of the art crystalline iron because of their high catalytic activity, durability, and reusability. To enhance the catalytic properties, high energy mechanical milling was performed to increase the surface area and defect density. Iron-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) of composition Fe48Cr15Mo14Y2C15B6 was used because of its low cost and ability to make large surface area by high energy ball milling. AZO dye was degraded in less than 20 minutes for the 9 hours milled Fe-BMG. However, subsequent increase in ball milling time resulted in devitrification and loss of catalytic activity as measured using UV-Visible spectroscopy. Aluminum-based bulk metallic glass (Al-BMG) powder of composition Al82Fe3Ni8Y7 was synthesized by arc-melting the constituent elements followed by gas-atomization. The particle size and morphology were similar to Fe-BMG with a fully amorphous structure. A small percentage of transition metal constituents (Fe and Ni) in a mostly aluminum alloy showed high catalytic activity, with no toxic by-products and no change in surface characteristics. Al-alloy particles, being light-weight, were easily dispersed in aqueous medium and accelerated the redox reactions. The mechanism of dye dissociation was studied using Raman and Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Breaking of -C-H- and - C-N- bonds of AZO dye was found to be the primary mechanism. Mechanical behavior of individual BMG particles was evaluated by in situ pico-indentation in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to understand the fracture mechanisms. Catastrophic shear banding was found to be the primary fracture mode, which supported the observation of flake formation during high energy ball milling.

Ytterbia (Yb2O3) is an oxide ceramic, whose magnetic properties and crystal structure were studied to some extent in the past. However, the information on Yb2O3's catalytic properties is lacking. Therefore, in this work, the sintering behavior and catalytic properties of Yb2O3 were examined. Yb2O3 ceramic samples were made using pressureless sintering of the commercially available Yb2O3 with 99.99% purity powder. The powder was first uniaxially pressed at 20 MPa in a steel die followed by pressureless sintering at different temperatures of 900 ⁰C to 1600 ⁰C for 4 hours. The densities of these samples were measured, and the sample sintered at 1600 ⁰C had the largest density of 62.88% and 900 ⁰C samples had the lowest of 45%. To improve the density of samples, three samples were uniaxially pressed same as the previous samples; however, they were also cold isostatically pressed at 260 MPa. These samples yielded the highest density of 90% after sintering at 1700 ⁰C for 4 hours. Raman spectra of sintered Yb2O3 were collected, which corresponded very well to those published in the literature. The microstructure of sintered Yb2O3 was studied by scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that Yb2O3 crystallize in an Ia cubic structure. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was performed and it confirmed high counts of Yb and high purity of Yb2O3 powder. The catalytic experiments were performed on highly porous Yb2O3 samples sintered at 900 ⁰C. In the first experiment, Syn gas (H2 + CO) was passed over Yb2O3 at 30 psig at 400 ⁰C with a rate of 3 cc/m. In the second experiment, the temperature was lowered to 250 ⁰C with all other conditions of the experiment maintained the same. As a result of the first reaction, the products included methane, ethane, and ethylene. The products produced in the second trial were ethane, ethylene, propene, butane, butene, cyclobutene, and methyl alcohol.

Title: Synthesis and catalytic properties of phosphinoferrocene guanidine Author: Ondřej Bárta Institution: Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Department of Inorganic Chemistry Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Petr Štěpnička, Ph.D. Polar phosphine ligands proved to be useful in homogeneous and biphasic catalysis. Most of these phosphines bears anionic functional groups. On the other hand, functionalization of phosphines by cationic substituents is still quite uncommon, although these functional groups possess properties that could improve catalytic performance of the catalyst. In this regard, nitrogenous bases are particularly attractive due to their inherent basicity and the ability to enter into hydrogen bonding interactions. This thesis describes the synthesis of a novel ferrocene-based phosphine functionalized with guanidine moiety, viz. N-[1′-(diphenylphosphino)ferrocenylmethyl]guanidine (3). This compound was obtained by direct guanylation of 1′-(diphenylphosphino)- 1-(aminomethyl)ferrocene (2) (see scheme). Compound 3 was further used to prepare palladium complexes including the unusual zwitterionic complex [PdCl3(3H)]. The molecular structures of the prepared complexes were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. Catalytic properties of phosphine 3 and complex [PdCl3(3H)] were...

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Se ha desarrollado un nuevo método de inmovilización de tirosinasa de champiñón, basado en la adsorción de esta enzima a un éster cinámico de un carbohidrato fotoentrecruzado, con muy buenos resultados. Se han obtenido inmovilizados de tirosinasa directamente a partir de extractos de champiñón. Se han estudiado los parámetros que afectan a la inmovilización (pH, tiempo y concentración de enzima), las características de tirosinasa inmovilizada (cantidad de enzima inmovilizada, actividad enzimática, pH y temperatura óptimos de reacción, estabilidad térmica, operacional y al almacenado), las propiedades cinéticas (constante de Michaelis, velocidad máxima y constante catalítica) de tirosinasa inmovilizada sobre distintos soportes al actuar sobre diversos sustratos y la estereoespecificidad de tirosinasa inmovilizada sobre un soporte quiral y otro no quiral respecto a los isómeros L y D y racémicos. Los conocimientos adquiridos se han aplicado con éxito a la producción de diversos o-difenoles como L-dopa, a partir de sus correspondientes monofenoles. / A new mushroom tyrosinase immobilization method consisting of tyrosinase adsorption on a photocrosslinked cinnamic carbohydrate ester has been developed with very good results. Immobilized tyrosinase was obtained directly from a mushroom extract. We studied the parameters affecting the immobilization process (pH, time and enzyme concentration), the properties of immobilized tyrosinase (quantity of immobilized enzyme, enzymatic activity, optimum pH and reaction temperature; thermal, operational and storage stability), kinetic properties (Michaelis constant, maximum steady-state rate and catalytic constant) of tyrosinase immobilized on several supports and acting over several substrates, and tyrosinase stereospecificity immobilized on a chiral and a nonchiral support acting on L and D isomers and racemics. The knowledge acquired was used to successfully produce several o-diphenols, such as L-dopa, from the corresponding monophenols.