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SYNOPSISNucleating agents increase the impact strength, tensile strength, and tensile elasticity modulus of semicrystalline polymers. Nucleating agents also decrease product cycle times, resulting in a cost savings per product unit. We have synthesized and tested 15 compounds as nucleators for polypropylene. Of these, trinaphthylidene sorbitol, tri (4-methyl-1-naphthylidene) sorbitol, tri-(4-methoxy-1-naphthylidene) sorbitol, and dibenzylidene xylitol are efficient nucleators of polypropylene. Trinaphthylidene sorbitol ( t n s ) has two major diastereomers: The "S" diastereomer yields a faster crystallization rate for polypropylene than does the commercial nucleator dibenzylidene sorbitol ( Millad 3905 ) . Crystallization rates are 208 and 88, respectively ( t & min-' X 1000). The " R " diastereomer, however, is a poor nucleator and interferes with the nucleating activity of the "S" diastereomer. A 52/48 mixture of diastereomers does not nucleate polypropylene, even at twice the concentration. This is the first time that the importance of stereochemistry has been demonstrated in the nucleating action.

Iodine is an essential micronutrient especially important in the neurodevelopment of infants. Spot samples of urinary iodine (UI) are used as an epidemiologic index of adult iodine nutrition. Individual infant iodine nutrition is of vital importance, but infant urine is difficult to collect, much less a 24 h sample. Monitoring the intake provides a pragmatic solution for determining infant iodine nutrition. Because of the high solids content of milk and the possible existence of iodine in an organically bound form, sample digestion is obligatory. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for example, uses wet ashing by HClO(4); special precautions and fume hoods are required. We present a method of Fenton digestion of human and bovine milk samples and infant formula. No specialized equipment or hazardous reagents are used; measurement is made by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In Fenton digestion, Fe(II) and H(2)O(2) oxidizes the sample. In an interlaboratory study, excellent agreement (r(2) = 0.9934) was observed with results obtained by HClO(4) digestion and Sandel-Kolthoff kinetic colorimetry. Average recoveries of iodide, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine ranged between 100% and 101%. Following digestion, iodine was found to exist entirely as iodide. Control of pH is imperative if loss cannot be corrected for by isotope dilution. Loss was below 20% for all samples when the pH was between 2.25 and 2.5.

Humic acids (HAs) form coatings on clays and minerals that can play an important role in nutrient and contaminant migration in soil and water. Humic acid-clay mineral interactions are known to be affected by pH and ionic strength, but little attention has been paid to the effects of temperature. In this paper we report the stoichiometry and thermodynamics of interactions of aqueous HAs (isolated from two peats, two soils and a marine alga with a method that removes lipids) with kaolinite clay, Al2Si2O5(OH)4, at seven temperatures from 5.0 to 35.0 degrees C in 0.05 M NaCl at pH 3.5. All the sorption isotherms exhibit consecutive steps ascribed to HA monolayer and bilayer formation, respectively. Site capacity comparisons suggest different HA molecular conformations on kaolinite. Linearly correlated enthalpy and entropy changes for HA sorption point to the importance of hydration and dehydration in the sorption mechanism.

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