Steam-Solid Chromatography Assay of Phthalates in Water Using Detection of Their Hydrolytic Products

A method for the chromatographic analysis of small amounts of phthalates in water was developed. The reaction conditions for the quantitative alkaline hydrolysis of phthalates in water samples to corresponding alcohols are described. The procedure enables us to determine water samples in concentrations of 0.045 … 45 mg/l of di-i-octyl phthalate. The final determination is carried out by the direct injection of otherwise unprepared hydrolytic products into the column of a steam-solid chromatograph. The individual alcohols have been separated according to their boiling points (alcohols C₄? C₉ are eluated under the five-min retention time). The quantitative hydrolysis course was verified on the natural samples of ground water contaminated by ca. 10 thousand kg of di-i-octyl phthalate by a standard addition method. The accuracy of this determination was 97.5% (variation coefficient ? c_x = 1.5%). The stability of di-i-octyl phthalate in water at 20°C and various pH values were also tested.     

Implications of the colour distribution in the galaxy M82

Photographic measurements of the colour distribution in the irregular galaxy M82 are presented and interpreted in terms of a model of that galaxy. Two alternative models are discussed. In the first the galaxy consists of a disc of highly reddened OB-stars, whose scattered light is also seen in the halo, and a bulge of less reddened A—F stars. The direction of the inclination of the system, as inferred from this model, is opposite to that of LYNDS and SANDAGE (1963). The alternative inclination (second model) may possibly be preserved if one assumes a central dust ellipsoid reemitting scattered light from a central source of OB stars. If the velocities of the line emitting material refer to scattering particles, an inward motion of them is more probable than an outward one, irrespectively of the model, and the (dust) halo of the galaxy is probably contracting.     

Minimum on the light curve of the classical symbiotic star AS 338 in 1999

We present our UBVRI photometry and spectroscopy of AS 338 performed in 1999–2000. Another eclipse of the hot component in this symbiotic binary system, the deepest one ever observed, occurred in September 1999. The U brightness declined by ～2^m, the Hβflux decreased by a factor of ～2.3, and the [O III]γ5007 flux did not change. The hot component is eclipsed at orbital phases ?≈0.045–0.057. The U-B color index begins to appreciably fluctuate during an eclipse of the hot component and its circumstellar envelope. About 100 days after a strong outburst of 1995, the mean UBV brightness of AS 338 declined linearly in the ensuing five years at the same rate in all bands (ΔU/Δt≈10^?3 mag/day). The brightness of the outer, uneclipsed parts of the circumstellar envelope also decreased, which is attributable to a reduction in the luminosity of the hot component against the rise in its temperature. The appearance of He II lines has not yet been recorded, though the optical brightness of AS 338 has already dropped by ～2^m after the outburst.     

Deterministic approach to the problem of reliability in interpretation results of gravimetric data

A method for comparative estimation of reliability in detection of gravity anomaly sources in indicated fragments of studied geological space is given. The possibility of creation of this estimation is connected with disparate ideas on different peculiarities of the structure of studied geological space and noise characteristics in observed fields. The model example and results of practical problem solution are viewed.