Polysaccharide resins which are obtained from natural sources are abundant, cheap & hydrophilic. It was therefore thought worthwhile to prepare chelating resins from naturally occurring polysaccharides like TKP (Tamarind Kernel Powder). Secondary amine derivative of TKP acts as flocculent cum metal ion exchanger & can be used as scavengers for toxic heavy metal ions from effluent.

Carboxy isobutyl amine group was anchored on the TKP backbone in dioxane medium. The ion selective resin has been used in removal of toxic metal ions from effluent of mineral & metallurgical industries.        

The inhibitory effect of lemon grass oil on the growth of mould Aspergillus niger and bacteria such as Basillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was evaluated. Preservative action of lemon grass oil was also evaluated for several food grains viz.wheat, millet, barley and green gram. Within a storage period of fifteen days, samples of wheat, millet and barley treated with lemon grass oil showed no physical deterioration. Off colour,off odour and mouldiness however characterized treated green gram and untreated (control) samples of wheat, millet and barley.         

This paper deals with the weight loss corrosion characterization of red mud particulate reinforced Al-6061 alloy metal matrix composites (MMCs). Presently, very little research is done to study the environmental behaviour of these alloys. Al-6061 alloys have a relative high strength compared with zinc or aluminium alloys with a moderate melting point. Hence it was used as the matrix alloy in the present research. Red mud being a waste obtained after the extraction of aluminium from its ore it remains inert and is hardly affected by the acidic medium. Red mud particles of size 50-80 microns are used as reinforcement. Experiments were conducted to determine the corrosion rate of the samples in acid. MMC's are prepared according to ASTM standards by liquid melt metallurgy technique using vortex method. Composites containing 2, 4, 6% by weight of red mud and unreinforced matrix were tested using 1 N hydrochloric acid and at room temperature. Specimens are taken in the form of 20mm x 20mm cylinders. The composite was found to be more corrosive resistant than matrix alloy. In each test the corrosion resistance of both alloy composites was found to decrease with the exposure time. The decrease in the corrosion rates of composites when compared to that of matrix alloy is due to the physical barrier created by red mud particles.          

Some new azomethines were synthesized from sulphonamide and raceacetophenone. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, NMR and mass spectral data. The TGA-DTA and DSC analysis were done to determine thermal stability and some kinetic parameters such as order of the reaction (n), energy of activation (E), frequency factor (A), entropy of activation (S) etc.         

Key words : Azomethines, thermal analysis (TGA, DTA, DSC).

Some air stable mixed ligand complexes with Ag(I), Hg(I) and Hg(II) ions are synthesized with physiologically active sulphaguanidine as primary and thio urea & phenyl thio urea as secondary ligand. These were characterized by various physico-chemical methods. All Ag(I) complexes show linear and all Hg(I) and Hg(II) complexes are tetrahedral in nature.

Equilibrium constants (log K (log Kof the ligand complexes of the type MAL, where M = Cu(II) and Co(II) A = IMDA, NTA, EDTA or CDTA and L = α-alanine (α-ala) or ß-alanine (ß-­ala), have been determined potentiometrically by Irving-Rossotti approach at 25°C and at an ionic strength, 1=0.2 (mol dm^-3 KNO₃). The observed trends in equilibrium constants are; (i) Cu(II) > Co(II) (ii) α-ala >ß-ala (iii) IMDA>NTA>EDTA>CDTA with respect to metal ions, secondary ligand (L) and primary ligand (A) respectively. The log K₁ values are negative. The equilibrium constants log  and log have also been determined and compared with the log  values.