Chemical Sciences Journal

Separation and purification of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from their mixture are is not easy, because of their similar physico-chemical properties. Therefore, efforts to separate and purify them by the Emulsion Liquid Membrane (ELM) because of their simplicity, effectivity and efficiency. In this study, the emulsion was made by mixing Span-80 as a surfactant, the Tributylphosphate (TBP) or Di-2-Ethylhexylphosphate (D2EHPA) as extractants in N-Hexane, and Nitric Acid as the internal phase, followed by extraction with a mixture of Gd(III) and Sm(III) in nitric acid as an external phase. The emulsion was made using an experimental design with a two-level factorial design method to select parameters that had a significant influence on the response of swelling ratios and creaming number in the separation of Gd(III) from Sm(III). The results of the study showed that the parameters selected were: Internal acidic concentration (0.5 M), surfactant concentration (2.9%), ligand concentration (0.1%), emulsification stirring speed (10000 rpm), external acid concentration (5.8 M), type of ligand (1= ligand code D2EHPA), extraction stirring speed (500 rpm) Furthermore, the data obtained from the research results show that the swelling ratio value was 0,0007 and the creaming rate was -0.0082. The two response values approached the 0 (zero) value, meaning that the resulting liquid emulsion was stable and good for its use in the separation of Gd(III) from Sm(III) by the emulsion liquid membrane method.

Simple and sensitive method was proposed for enrichment and determination of Oxymetazoline (OMZ) in its pharmaceutical matrix through Cloud Point Extraction (CPE) technique, the method depends on forming misciles by using non-ionic surfactant triton-x114 to enrichment colored azo dye product that results from diazotization-coupling reaction of the OMZ drug with diazotized metoclopramide (also drug) in alkaline medium and subsequently detected spectrophotometrically at 510 nm. The optimal reaction and pre-concentration (such as PH, surfactant concentration, temperature and centrifugations time) conditions optimized, under the optimized conditions, the analytical characteristics were obtained, linearity was obeyed in the range of 0.05-17.0 μg.ml-1 the limit of detection and the limit of quantification calculated to be 0.047 and 0.15 μg.ml^-1, respectively and enrichment factor was 20. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of Oxymetazoline (OMZ) in commercial nasals.

The synthesis of edible film from taro starch has been studied as a strategy for the manufacture of biodegradable food packaging. This study aims to examine the effect of the starch: Chitosan ratio and glycerol concentration on the characteristics of the edible film and to obtain an edible film in accordance with the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). The research included two steps, the first stage of making taro starch (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) and the second stage of making edible films with variations of Chitosan Starch (2: 0, 1,8: 0.2, 1)., 6: 0.4, 1, 4: 0.6, and 1.8: 0.2) and glycerol variations (1; 1.5; 2; 2.5 and 3%). The edible film that fulfills JIS is found in starch concentration: Chitosan 1,2: 0.8 with glycerol concentration 2.5% has a thickness of 0.25 mm, tensile strength 0.454 MPa, elongation 71.70%, young modulus 0.216 MPa, solubility in water 64.104%, and biodegradation 86.83%. The IR Spectrum edible film shows the presence of OH- and Ester (COOH) groups which characterize hydrophilic properties.