Determination of Nb and Ta in Nb/Ta minerals by inductively coupled plasmas optical emission spectrometry using slurry sample introduction

The determination of Nb and Ta in Nb-Ta minerals was accomplished by slurry nebulization inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), using a clog-free V-groove ceramic nebulizer. Samples were first wet-ground to appropriate particle sizes with narrow size distribution and 90% of the particles in the slurry were smaller than 2.32 mu m in diameter. Subsamples were then dispersed in pH 9 aqueous solutions, and agitated in an ultrasonic bath for 15 min prior to analysis. Due to the lack of slurry standards matching well with the samples, calibration was simply carried out using aqueous solution standards. Results were compared with those obtained from a conventional fusion decomposition procedure and acid digestion procedures and a good agreement between the measured and referred values was obtained. The technique provided a good alternative for the rapid determination of Nb and/or Ta in their corresponding minerals.

Gas-phase ion - Molecule reactions of neutral C-60 with the plasmas of alkyl methyl ethers and primary alcohols

The gas-phase ion-molecule reactions of C-60 with the methoxymethyl ion [CH3O=CH2](+) and the 1-hydroxyethyl ion [CH3CH=OH](+) generated under the self-chemical-ionization (self-CI) conditions of alkyl methyl ethers and primary alcohols were studied in the ion source of a mass spectrometer. The adduct ions [C60C2H5O](+) and protonated molecules [C60H](+) were observed as the major products of C-60 with the plasma of alkyl methyl ethers. On the contrary, the reactions of C-60 With the plasmas of primary alcohols produced few corresponding adduct ions. The AM1 semiempirical molecular orbital calculations were carried out on 14 possible structures. The calculated results showed that the most stable structure among the possible isomers of [C60C2H5O](+) is the [3+2] cycloadduct. According to experimental and theoretical results, the pathway for the formation of the adduct was presented.