Synthetic organic matter

Oil Shale. Oil shale (qv) is a sedimentary rock that contains organic matter, referred to as kerogen, and another natural resource of some consequence that could be exploited as a source of synthetic natural gas (67—69). However, as of this writing, oil shale has found Htde use as a source of substitute natural gas. 

Many derivatives of phenol are now made by a synthetic process. Homologous series of substituted derivatives have been prepared and tested for antimicrobial activity. A combination of alkyl substitution and halogenation has produced useful derivatives including clorinated phenols which are constituents of a number of proprietary disinfectants. Two ofthe most widely used derivatives are/ -chloro-m-cresol (4-chloro-3-methylphenol, chlorocresol, Fig. 10.7C) which is mostly employed as a preservative at a concentration of 0.1%, and / -chloro-m-xylenol (4-chloro-3,5-dimethylphenol, chloroxylenol. Fig. 10.7C) which is used for skin disinfection, although less than formerly. Chloroxylenol is sparingly soluble in water and must be solubihzed, for example in a suitable soap solution in conjunction with terpineol or pine oil. Its antimicrobial capacity is weak and is reduced by the presence of organic matter. 

Hydrogen sulphide occurs naturally, e.g. in natural gas and petroleum, volcanic gases, and from decaying organic matter. It may be present near oil wells and where petroleum is processed. Commercially it is obtained as a by-product from many chemical reactions including off-gas in the production of some synthetic polymers (e.g. rayon, nylon) from petroleum products, and by the action of dilute mineral acids on metal sulphides. Physical properties are summarized in Table 9.14 and effects of temperature on vapour pressure are shown in Figure 9.5. 

Conformations and aggregate structures of sorbed natural organic matter on muscovite and hematite. Geochim. Cosmo-chim. Ada 65 1047-1057 Nanzyo, M. Watanabe,Y. (1981) Material balance associated with phosphate sorption by amorphous clays, silica-alumina gel and synthetic goethite. Soil Sd. Plant Nutr. 27 329-337... 

The spectral-kinetic parameters of the narrow band at 375 nm enable its confident identification as Eu + luminescence, which is confirmed by emission of synthetic BaS04 artificially activated by Eu (Fig. 5.15a). Such emission was also detected and interpreted by steady-state spectroscopy (Tarashchan 1978). It is interesting to note that very often such a band is absent in natural barite and appears only after heating in air at 600-700 °C (Fig. 4.31b). Such a transformation is reversible, at least partly. Under X-ray excitation the intensity of the UV band diminishes, and a new blue-green emission appears (Fig. 5.16). This shows some kind of transformation, which takes place in the barite lattice under these conditions. Several possibihties exist. It is possible that in barite the luminescence is quenched by the components with high-energy phonons. The water and organic matter may represent the latter. They are removed after... 

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