International Union Of Pure & Applied Chemistry Research Articles

A Review on the Synergetic Effect of Plant Extracts on Nanomaterials for the Removal of Metals in Industrial Effluents

Aim: The review paper aims to explore the effect of plant extracts on nanomaterial adsorbent for the removal of toxic metals present in industrial effluents. Background: Water plays a major role in the sustainability of human life and its existence. Rapid industrialization and urbanization lead to an increase in the pollution and accumulation of hazardous substances which causes the degradation of the aquatic ecosystem. Heavy metals are considered to be a major threat to the environment. Among various metals, the International Union of Pure applied chemistry (IUPAC) has characterized heavy metals based on their intensity of toxicity and hazardous effects. Nanoparticles, due to their unique properties of particle size, exist in the range between 1- 100nm, which represents the possibility to introduce modified chemical groups on their surface functioning as capping agents. Nanoparticles with the increased surface area have specified functional groups which induce the capability of the catalytic reduction reaction and their optical characteristics impact the industrial, agricultural and environmental sectors. Objective: Magnetic nanoparticles incorporated with the enzymes and metallic sites have been widely used in both the synthesis of bio valuable products as well as in the degradation of many hazardous substances like dyes, phenolic compounds, etc. Also, they are used in the removal of metal ions present in wastewater. Methods: Superparamagnetic support nanomaterials (SPIONs) are prepared using the compounds of Fe, Cu, Ni, Mn and Mg for the distinct and unique characteristics of reusability. These metallic nanomaterials are coated with distinct materials like mesoporous and amorphous silica, polyvinyl alcohol and pyrrolidine, polyethylene glycol, polystyrene, chitosan, dextran, starch, gelatin, polystyrene, polyacrylic acid, and polymethyl methacrylate to enhance the stability of the nanomaterials. Results: In comparison to the different nanomaterials, metal oxide NPs possess increased stability, magnetic inertness, optical and electrical properties. Nanomaterials that are used in the medical applications are also used as the adsorbents to remove heavy metals from the industrial wastewater. The presence of polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids makes the plant extracts effective antimicrobial agents that impact pathogens. Moreover, these plant extracts, coupled with other nanomaterials, play a significant role in the removal of toxic pollutants from the environment. Conclusion: Polyphenolic compounds present in plant extract function as natural reducing agents; hence, integrating plant extract with metal/metal oxide nanoparticles proves to be efficient in comparison with the catalysts synthesized by using other chemical methods. These surface modified nanocatalysts tend to possess enhanced stability and specific reactivity in the system and are used in the elimination of organic and inorganic pollutants in the industrial wastewater.

Future Directions for Systems Thinking in Chemistry Education: Putting the Pieces Together

The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) launched a global project in 2017 to infuse systems thinking into chemistry education, motivated in part by the desire to help equip chem...

Viewpoint: Metalloids-An Electronic Band Structure Perspective.

Segment of a periodic table depicting the elements that are molecular/atomic (blue) and that have extended network structures (gray) at STP.

The United Nations of chemistry

Chemists have been trying to work across international borders for more than 150 years. In 1860, the first international chemistry meeting was organized by German organic chemist F. August Kekule. Other international gatherings followed and led to the Geneva Congress on Organic Nomenclature in 1892, the first attempt to standardize the naming of molecules. As the field of chemistry continued to grow, so did the need for international consensus and standardization in nomenclature, terminology, metrology, and measurement standards. To meet that demand, in 1919 chemists formed the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Nearly a century later, IUPAC continues to be a worldwide resource for chemistry. Although IUPAC’s work in areas such as nomenclature remains critical—especially to ensure computers across the globe can analyze ever-larger data sets—its efforts have expanded to address matters such as an ethical code for chemists, safety training, standard file formats for spectra, various

Names proposed for new elements

Nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson are the recommended names for elements 113, 115, 117, and 118, respectively, the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced on June 8. IUPAC officially added the elements to the periodic table at the end of 2015. Those credited with discovering the elements get the rights to propose permanent names and symbols. The names will be finalized after public review and formal approval by the IUPAC Council. According to recommendations published by IUPAC in April, elements can be named after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property, or a scientist (Pure Appl. Chem. 2016, DOI: 10.1515/pac-2015-0802). Element names should also “have an ending that reflects and maintains historical and chemical consistency,” the recommendations say. Japan’s RIKEN research institution was credited with discovering element 113. Nihonium (Nh) comes from Nihon, which is one of two ways to say “Japan” in

Predicting elements’ names

On Jan. 11, I dedicated part of my editorial to highlighting the official announcement that the seventh row of the periodic table had finally been completed as IUPAC (the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry) confirmed the validity of the experiments that produced elements 113, 115, 117, and 118. It’s difficult to guess how the task of naming the elements is being handled, but what we know is that the clock is ticking. It takes between four and six months from the announcement for the institutions that made the discoveries to propose appropriate names. These are then subject to IUPAC’s approval because, contrary to popular belief, those institutions do not have an automatic right to choose a name. The proposed names and symbols are checked by IUPAC’s Inorganic Chemistry Division, presented for public review for a period of five months, and finally approved by the IUPAC Council. While we

Periodic Table Updated

With the addition of four new elements, the seventh row of the periodic table is officially full, the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced on Dec. 30. A joint committee made up of IUPAC and the International Union of Pure & Applied Physics gave its stamp of approval, and IUPAC temporarily gave element 113 the name ununtrium (Uut), 115 the name ununpentium (Uup), 117 the name ununseptium (Uus), and 118 the name ununoctium (Uuo). The people credited for first discovering an element get the right to propose a permanent name and symbol. For element 113, that honor goes to scientists at Japan’s RIKEN research institution. It will be the first time that Asian researchers name an element. For the other three elements, credit and naming rights go to European-American collaborations involving Russia’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the U.S. Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge national laboratories.

Periodic Table Ytterbium Loses Weight

Ytterbium is a bit lighter than previously thought: Its standard atomic weight is now 173.045, down from 173.054, as approved by the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in August. The IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances & Atomic Weights evaluates atomic weights every two years. Which elements it tackles depends on what new data are available. This year, only ytterbium made the docket, based on mass spectrometric analysis carried out by China’s National Institute of Metrology (J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 2015, DOI: 10.1039/c5ja00054h). On average, the atomic weights of individual elements get updated about every 14 years, says the commission’s chair, Juris Meija of the National Research Council of Canada. Some last longer than others—lead’s was last set in 1969, for example—not necessarily because the numbers are solid but because the experiments require expensive, isotopically enriched samples, Meija says. In ytterbium’s case, its standard atomic weight is calculated ...

Halogen Bonding Defined

Halogen bonding, akin to hydrogen bonding, is a noncovalent interaction between a positive region on a halogen atom and a negative site, such as a lone pair on a nitrogen or oxygen. Following on the heels of a new definition for hydrogen bonding, an International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) committee has now proposed a definition for halogen bonding. The definition will promote recognition of halogen bonding as a key structural element in materials science and biology, scientists working in the field say. The proposed definition says that a halogen bond is a net attractive interaction between an electrophilic region of a halogen atom on a molecule or molecular fragment and a nucleophilic region of another molecule or molecular fragment. The electrophilic region arises on the halogen because when a halogen makes a covalent bond in a molecule, the electron distribution around the atom shifts a bit toward ...

IYC 2011 LAUNCHES

SOME 1,000 DELEGATES from more than 60 countries convened in Paris on Jan. 27 to launch the 2011 International Year of Chemistry (IYC), which was decreed by the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The yearlong celebration of molecular science coincides with the 100th anniversary of Marie Sklodowska-Curie’s receipt of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry as well as the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). “Our goal for this year is not just to say good things about chemistry,” said Irina Bokova, UNESCO director general, at last week’s opening ceremony. “We want to say the truth about chemistry—its advantages and disadvantages, its opportunities, but also its risks.” Nicole J. Moreau, president of IUPAC, pointed out that chemistry will play an important role in solving some of the world’s major challenges, including human health, food security, energy, and sustainable development. Moreau ...

Welcome To IYC 2011

I’M A LITTLE LATE in welcoming C&EN readers to the International Year of Chemistry, which is being celebrated in 2011 (IYC 2011). American Chemical Society President Nancy B. Jackson titled her president’s message in the Jan. 3 issue “Welcome to the International Year of Chemistry!” (page 2). She called IYC 2011 “our opportunity to help the rest of the world understand the crucial role chemistry plays” in meeting critical economic, energy, and sustainability challenges. In the same issue (page 27), Associate Editor Linda Wang provides a concise outline of the many resources ACS is offering to help its members get involved in IYC 2011 activities. The United Nations General Assembly designated 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry. The UN’s Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is collaborating with the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to coordinate IYC 2011 activities around the world. ACS is taking the lead in the U.S. IYC ...

IUPAC IN OTTAWA

MORE THAN 2,650 DELEGATES from 59 countries journeyed to Ottawa, Ontario, last month for the 39th Congress and 42nd General Assembly of the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). ...

UNIQUE LABELS FOR COMPOUNDS

THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is engaged in a project to develop a set of mathematical rules for converting graphical representations of the structures of compounds to...

IUPAC SAILS INTO UNCHARTED WATERS

AT THE END OF THIS YEAR, THE International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will scrap all its current commissions, the permanent bodies that have traditionally carried out the bulk of the work on the union's scientific projects. will then pass responsibility for these projects to short-term task groups. IUPAC is sailing into new waters, remarks Vice President Pieter S. Steyn in a critical assessment report of the union. We are changing from a familiar, commission-based organization to one driven primarily by the inception of individual projects, while retaining our absolute commitment to effectively serving the worldwide scientific community Steyn, who is a research director at the University of Stellenbosch, in South Africa, presented the report to the Council at the 41st General Assembly held at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, last month. The council meeting took place in Brisbane's historic Customs House, ...

New compromise offered on heavy-element names

You win some, you lose some. Seaborgium is now in, but hahnium is out. That's the latest, but not the last, word from the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), which last week released a revised list of proposed names for some of the heaviest known elements. The organization is still trying to work out a compromise between its original slate of proposed names and one put forth by the American Chemical Society. In 1995, IUPAC, faced with these two competing slates plus a compromise slate, invited suggestions and comments from the chemistry community worldwide (C&EN, Aug. 21, 1995, page 4). After considering those suggestions, IUPAC's Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (CMC) has put together a revised slate that differs considerably from the controversial one it initially proposed in August 1994. CNIC's revised list bows to the ACS slate by labeling element 104 rutherfordium, 106 seaborgium, and 108 hassium. But 105, for ...

ACS adopts 'seaborgium,' other element names

Now that the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has recommended postponing until 1997 a decision on the controversial issue of naming elements 104 to 109, the American Chemical...

Shuffling Of Heavy-Element Names by IUPAC Panel Provokes Outcries

The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has a hot potato on its hands. On Aug. 31, an IUPAC-sponsored panel of chemists who work outside the esoteric field of heavy-element chemistry recommended element names that researchers within that field should use. With the names they chose, and the proposed names they rejected, these outsiders alienated, disappointed, and even angered many nuclear scientists, particularly those in the U.S. and Germany who have been closely involved in the creation and study of elements 104 to 109. Those scientists have rebelled against IUPACs recommendations, leading to an uncomfortable international standoff. The problem with the IUPAC panel, according to scientists in the heavy-element community, is that its 20 members are unqualified to make such decisions. They lack an intimate knowledge and understanding of the fractious issues at the heart of the decades-old controversy over the discovery and naming of elements beyond fermium (element 100). However, the...

HEAVY-ELEMENT NOMENCLATURE ACS panel rejects names chosen by IUPAC

An American Chemical Society committee has thrown down the gauntlet, rejecting the names for elements 104 to 108 reccommended by the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The ACS Committee on Nomenclature, meeting last week in Columbus, Ohio, voted unanimously to rally around the name seaborgium for element 106. It also voted unanimously to reaffirm its earlier support for the following names: rutherfordium (104), hahnium (105), nielsbohrium (107), hassium (108), and meitnerium (109). Those six names were proposed by U.S. or German groups who claim discovery of the elements. The ACS committee's action, which carries no official international weight, puts it at loggerheads with IUPAC, which has attempted—sometimes unsuccessfully—to be the final arbiter of element names and symbols. IUPACs 20-member Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (CNIC) voted on Aug. 31 to recommend a different slate of names, angering members of the U.S. and German heavy-element communities (C&EN, Se...

HEAVIEST ELEMENTS NAMED

In a surprise move, the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has revealed much sooner than expected its recommendations for naming elements 101 to 109. And some of its choices are rekindling the long-running controversy surrounding discovery and naming of these elements. Most contentious are the names chosen for elements 104, 105, and 106. Groups at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California and at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, near Moscow, have competing claims for discovering 104 and 105. An international committee set up to resolve such disputes decided in 1992 that the groups should share credit. But IUPAC chose two Russian-proposed names-dubnium and joliotium-for 104 and 105, respectively. The U.S. team that discovered element 106 proposed that it be named seaborgium after Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg, a team member (C&EN, March 21, page 5). The team has been credited with the discovery, but IUPAC rejected seaborgium because it's ...

Chemistry to Play Greater Role in Activities of Global Environment Group

Chemistry is set to play an expanded role in the global environmental group Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), whose reports for years have been at the cutting edge of environmental science. Not only did the group elect a well-known chemist to one of its top positions at its recently concluded general assembly in Seville, Spain, but it also discussed closer coordination with other international groups to provide additional chemical input for current and planned projects. Valentin A. Koptyug, who served as president of the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from 1987 to 1989 (C&EN, Sept. 4,1989, page 18), was elected to a three-year term as vice president of SCOPE'S executive committee. President of the Siberian division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, previously the Soviet academy, Koptyug still has close ties with IUPAC and currently heads its coordinating committee on chemistry and environment program. With his associate Oleg M. ...