Indicadores naturais de pH: usar papel ou solução?

In this work, the fruit extracts of Morus nigra - mulberry, Syzygium cuminii - jambolão, Vitis vinifera ¾ grape, Myrciaria cauliflora - jabuticaba are suggested as pH indicators in the form of either solutions or paper. The pH indicator solutions were prepared by soaking the fruits or their peels in ethanol 1:3 (m/V) for 24 h, followed by simple filtration. The pH indicator papers were prepared by imersion of the qualitative filter paper strips in the pH indicator solutions. The different pH leads to color changes in the indicator solutions or papers and it can be used for teaching elementary chemistry concepts.

Determinação da 2,5-hexanodiona em amostras de urina submetidas à hidrólise ácida: importância da coluna cromatográfica e do pH do meio

Acidic hydrolysis of samples is frequent in urinary 2,5-hexanodione determination. This hydrolysis should be performed under proper conditions, in order to avoid interference, such as the presence of 2,5-dimethylfurane and 2-acetylfurane. The results of the present work, as well as data from the literature, show that the use of non-polar or slightly polar chromatographic columns of 30 m length is an essential condition for 2,5-HD determination in an acid hydrolysed urine sample. In the same way the pH should be kept between 0.3 and 0.5. The mean concentrations of 2,5-HD in samples submitted to hydrolysis (0.50 ± 0.28 mg/g of creatinine) was about 3 times higher than those found in the samples without acid hydrolysis (0.19 ± 0.3 mg/g of creatinine).

Caracterização de amostras comerciais de vermicomposto de esterco bovino e avaliação da influência do pH e do tempo na adsorção de Co(II), Zn(II) and Cu(II)

Some commercial samples of vermicompost from bovine manure (humus) were characterized by thermogravimetry with respect to humidity, organic matter and ash contents, the percentages of which range from 6.55 to 5.35%, 53.01 to 69.96% and 46.44 to 66,14%, respectively. The capacity of adsorption of Cu2+, Zn2+ and Co2+ ions by these samples has been evaluated as a function of pH and time. The contents of several metal ions in the original vermicompost samples have been determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after digestion in a microwave oven. The high nitrogen content suggests that the earthworms used in the maturation procedure lead to an efficient degradation of organic matter. The metal retention was affected by both pH and adsorption time. The results also show that adsorption follows the order Cu2+ > Zn2+ > Co2+.

Aplicação da equação de Poisson-Boltzmann ao cálculo de propriedades dependentes do pH em proteínas

The ability of biomolecules to catalyze chemical reactions is due chiefly to their sensitivity to variations of the pH in the surrounding environment. The reason for this is that they are made up of chemical groups whose ionization states are modulated by pH changes that are of the order of 0.4 units. The determination of the protonation states of such chemical groups as a function of conformation of the biomolecule and the pH of the environment can be useful in the elucidation of important biological processes from enzymatic catalysis to protein folding and molecular recognition. In the past 15 years, the theory of Poisson-Boltzmann has been successfully used to estimate the pKa of ionizable sites in proteins yielding results, which may differ by 0.1 unit from the experimental values. In this study, we review the theory of Poisson-Boltzmann under the perspective of its application to the calculation of pKa in proteins.

Remoção de metais pesados de efluentes aquosos pela zeólita natural escolecita - influência da temperatura e do pH na adsorção em sistemas monoelementares

Cation exchange capabilities of a Brazilian natural zeolite, identified as scolecite, were evaluated for application in wastewater control. We investigated the process of sorption of chromium(III), nickel(II), cadmium(II) and manganese(II) in synthetic aqueous effluents, including adsorption isotherms of single-metal solutions. The natural zeolite showed the ability to take up the tested heavy metals in the order Cr(III) > Cd(II) > Ni(II) > Mn(II), and this could be related to the valence and the hydration radius of the metal cations. The influence of temperature (25, 40 and 60 ºC) and initial pH value (from 4 to 6) was also evaluated. It was found that the adsorption increased substantially when the temperature was raised to 60 ºC and that maximum adsorption capacity was observed at pH 6. These results demonstrate that scolecite can be used for removal of heavy metals from aqueous effluents, under optimized conditions.

Uso de membranas de Nafion para a construção de sensores ópticos para medidas de pH

The behaviour of Nafion® polymeric membranes containing acid-base dyes, bromothymol blue (BB) and methyl violet (MV), were studied aiming at constructing an optical sensor for pH measurement. BB revealed to be inadequate for developing sensing phases due to the electrostatic repulsion between negative groups of their molecules and the negative charge of the sulfonate group of the Nafion®, which causes leaching of the dye from the membrane. On the other hand, MV showed to be suitable due to the presence of positive groups in its structure. The membrane prepared from a methanolic solution whose Nafion®/dye molar ratio was 20 presented the best analytical properties, changing its color from green to violet in the pH range from 0.6 to 3.0. The membrane can be prepared with good reproducibility, presenting durability of ca. 6 months and response time of 22 s, making possible its use for pH determination in flow analysis systems.

Influência do pH sobre a estabilidade de suspensões de alumina estabilizadas eletroestericamente

In this work, aqueous suspensions of aluminas with different particle sizes were evaluated. The effect of pH on the electrosteric stabilization using PMAA-NH4 (ammonium polymethacrylate) as deflocculant was studied. The amount of deflocculant was optimized and rheologic properties were determined at four different pH values. Sedimentation was also evaluated. For suspensions with pH 4, an electrostatic mechanism of stabilization was observed, probably due to a flat adsorption of PMMA- on the alumina surface, leading to a small efficiency in relation to steric stabilization. For a suspension with pH 12, the steric mechanism of stabilization prevails. Suspensions with pH 7 and 9 present a higher flocculation degree. In relation to particle size, A-1000 samples present a smaller particle size, leading to a smaller interparticle distance (IPS), making stabilization more difficult.

Quimissorção de cátions divalentes em sílica gel modificada com ácido tioglicólico: a influência do pH e força iônica

A novel type of heavy metal adsorbent was prepared by the covalent grafting of thioglycolic acid molecules on a silica gel surface previsiouly modified with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane. The amount of thioglycolic acid immobilized was 1.03 mmol per gram of silica. This material displayed a chelating moiety containing nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen basic centers which are potentially capable of extracting from aqueous solutions cations such as Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), influenced by pH and ionic strength. This process of extraction was carried out by the batch method when similar chemisorption isotherms were observed for all cations. A modified Langmuir equation describes the experimental data.

Extraction, purification and biochemical characterization of a peroxidase from Copaifera langsdorffii leaves

The aim of this work is to obtain, purify and characterize biochemically a peroxidase from Copaifera langsdorffii leaves (COP). COP was obtained by acetone precipitation followed by ion-exchange chromatography. Purification yielded 3.5% of peroxidase with the purification factor of 46.86. The COP optimum pH is 6.0 and the temperature is 35 ºC. COP was stable in the pH range of 4.5 to 9.3 and at temperatures below 50.0 ºC. The apparent Michaelis-Menten constants (Km) for guaiacol and H2O2 were 0.04 mM and 0.39 mM respectively. Enzyme turnover was 0.075 s-1 for guaiacol and 0.28 s-1 for hydrogen peroxide. Copaifera langsdorffii leaves showed to be a rich source of active peroxidase (COP) during the whole year. COP could replace HRP, the most used peroxidase, in analytical determinations and treatment of industrial effluents at low cost.

Nióbia magnética como adsorvente de contaminantes orgânicos em meio aquoso: efeito da temperatura e do pH

This work describes novel materials based on pure iron oxide and iron oxide/niobia composite to produce a magnetic adsorbent. These materials were prepared with synthetic iron oxide and characterized by powder XRD, SEM, FTIR, TPR and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Results showed that the main iron oxides formed were goethite (aFeOOH) and maghemite (gFe2O3) with small particle size. The iron oxide and iron oxide/niobia composite showed high adsorption ability for organic compounds. The positive enthalpy indicated an endothermic adsorption process suggesting physical adsorption.

Fitodisponibilidad de Cd en suelo de diferente pH tratado con lodo albañal estimada por método isotópico y extracción química

The Cd phytoavailability in sewage sludge-amended soils of different pHs using the 109Cd L-value isotopic method and Cd extracted by DTPA has been determined. Maize plants (Zea mais L.) were grown under greenhouse conditions in a xanthic ferralsol at different pHs amended with five sewage sludge (SS) rates, and labeled with 74 kBq kg-1 of 109Cd. The SS rates altered the properties of the soil chemicals and these influenced the isotopic parameter (L-value) and percent of Cd uptake by plants from soil (%Cdpdfs) and SS (%CdpdfSS). L-values and Cd extracted by DTPA correlate significantly with SS rates and Cd uptake by plants and are efficient for predicting the Cd phytoavailability in the sewage sludge-amended soil.

Microencapsulação do agente quelante sulfoxina em microesferas de quitosana preparadas por spray drying como novo adsorvente para íons metálicos

In this work, a new adsorbent was prepared by microencapsulation of sulfoxine into chitosan microspheres by the spray drying technique. The new adsorbent was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and microanalysis of energy dispersive X-rays. The Cu(II) adsorption was studied as a function of pH, time and concentration. The optimum pH was found to be 6.0. The kinetic and equilibrium data showed that the adsorption process followed the pseudo second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model over the entire concentration range. An increase of 8.0% in the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent (53.8 mg g-1) was observed as compared to chitosan glutaraldehyde cross-linked microspheres.

Extracción y medida de peroxidasa en pulpa de arazá (Eugenia stipitata MC Vaugh)

A technique for both extraction and activity measurement of peroxidase extracted from arazá (Eugenia stipitata Mc Vaugh) is described. Peroxidase from arazá pulp fruit was extracted using a combination of protein precipitation with acetone and extraction with 50 mM sodium buffer phosphate (pH 6.0). Optimum activity using guaiacol as H-donor was obtained at pH from 5.0 to 6.5, temperature from 60 to 75 °C, H2O2 between 10 to 15 mM and guaiacol from 80 to 160 mM. Thermal inactivation showed a first-order inactivation kinetic. Reactivation was observed when extracts were heated at 80 °C and afterwards incubated at 25 °C.

Branqueamento de polpa celulósica kraft de eucalipto com peróxido ácido ativado por molibdênio

Optimum conditions to run the P Mo stage for bleaching eucalyptus kraft pulp were 90 ºC, pH 3.5, 2 h, 0.1 kg/t Mo and 5 kg/t H2O2. The P Mo stage efficiency increased with decreasing pH (1.5-5.5) and increasing temperature (75-90 ºC), time (2-4 h), and hydrogen peroxide (3-10 kg/t) and molybdenum concentration (0.1-0.4 kg/t). The implementation of the P Mo stage, as replacement for the A stage, decreased total active chlorine demand of the OAZDP sequence by 6 kg/t to reach 90% ISO, both in laboratory and mill scale. Such practice resulted in decreased bleaching chemical costs to produce fully bleached pulp of 90% ISO.

Remoção de metais de solução aquosa usando bagaço de caju

The metal ions removal on cashew bagasse, a low-cost material, has been studied by batch adsorption. The parameters chemical treatment, particle size, biosorbent concentration, and initial pH were studied. In this study the maximum ions removal was obtained on the cashew bagasse treated with 0.1 mol/L NaOH/3 h, at optimum particle size (20-59 mesh), biosorbent concentration (50 g/L) and initial solution pH 5. The kinetic study indicated that the adsorption metal follows pseudo-second order model for a multielementary system and equilibrium time was achieved in 60 min for all metal ions.