Carboxylate formation, factor

Aluminium toxicity is a major stress factor in many acidic soils. At soil pH levels below 5.0, intense solubilization of mononuclear A1 species strongly limits root growth by multiple cytotoxic effects mainly on root meristems (240,241). There is increasing evidence that A1 complexation with carboxylates released in apical root zones in response to elevated external Al concentration is a widespread mechanism for Al exclusion in many plant species (Fig. 10). Formation of stable Al complexes occurs with citrate, oxalate, tartarate, and—to a lesser extent— also with malate (86,242,243). The Al carboxylate complexes are less toxic than free ionic Al species (244) and are not taken up by plant roots (240). This explains the well-documented alleviatory effects on root growth in many plant species by carboxylate applications (citric, oxalic, and tartaric acids) to the culture media in presence of toxic Al concentrations (8,244,245) Citrate, malate and oxalate are the carboxylate anions reported so far to be released from Al-stressed plant roots (Fig. 10), and Al resistance of species and cultivars seems to be related to the amount of exuded carboxylates (246,247) but also to the ability to maintain the release of carboxylates over extended periods (248). In contrast to P deficiency-induced carboxylate exudation, which usually increases after several days or weeks of the stress treatment (72,113), exudation of carboxylates in response to Al toxicity is a fast reaction occurring within minutes to several hours... 

Table 2-1 lists some examples of carboxylic acid imidazolides of various structures prepared by the use of A -carbonyldiimidazole (CDI), A -thiocarbonyldiimidazole (Im-CS-Im), and A -sulfinyldiimidazole (Im-SO-Im). Independent of the specific method applied, the data in Table 2-1 show that reasonable yields of imidazolides and diimidazolides are quite general, irrespective of various substituents and of steric factors. The rather mild reaction conditions also permit the formation of imidazolides of highly unsaturated systems. As a further advantage, it should be mentioned that almost all imidazolides are crystalline compounds, which can be conveniently handled. Melting points are therefore included for the imidazolides listed in Table 2—1. 

DS Tarbell, EJ Longosz. Thermal decomposition of mixed carboxylic-carbonic anhydrides. Factors affecting ester formation. J Org Chem 24, 774, 1959. 

For simple acidic extractants, such as carboxylic or sulfonic acids, the similarity in formation constants does not produce cobalt-nickel separation factors (Sn° 2) sufficiently large for commercial operation (Fig. 11.4). Data for pH versus extraction for some chelating acid extractants does seem to offer the possibility of separation [e.g., for the hydroxyoxime Acorga P50, the pHso for nickel(II) is 3.5 and for cobalt(II) 5.0]. Normally, this pH difference would be suitable for a separation process, but this particular system has hidden complications. The rate of nickel extraction is very slow compared with cobalt and, in addition, although cobalt is initially extracted... 

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