The Nickel Directive

Nickel release may be analysed by a quantitative but complicated method (Menne and Solgaard 1979 Morgan and Flint 1989 European Committee for Standardization (CEN) 1998b Flint 1998). Items are stored in artificial sweat at 30 °C for 1 week. Analysis of nickel in the solution at the end of the period may be carried out with atomic absorption spectrometry or with inductively coupled plasma detection (ICP). Nickel release of 0.5 pg/cm per week is the limit of the Nickel Directive (Table 5). The majority of nickel-sensitive persons do not react during patch testing to materials with nickel release below this limit (Liden et al. 1996). 

The test is based on dimethylglyoxime (0.8-1% in alcohol) and ammonia (10%). A cotton-wool-tipped stick with 1-2 drops of each solution is rubbed for up to 30 s against the surface to be tested. A pink-red colour indicates presence of nickel ions. A modified dimethylglyoxime test with increased sensitivity has been developed to correspond to the limit of the Nickel Directive (see below and Table 5) (European Committee for Standardization (CEN) i998d). The modification includes pre-treatment of the surface with... 

The life of nickel coatings may be further increased by a thin overlay of microcracked chromium because corrosion would not penetrate the nickel directly but spread laterally. 

The matte can be treated in different ways, depending on the copper content and on the desired product. In some cases, the copper content of the Bessemer matte is low enough to allow the material to be cast directly into sulfide anodes for electrolytic refining. Usually it is necessary first to separate the nickel and copper sulfides. The copper—nickel matte is cooled slowly for ca 4 d to faciUtate grain growth of mineral crystals of copper sulfide, nickel—sulfide, and a nickel—copper alloy. This matte is pulverized, the nickel and copper sulfides isolated by flotation, and the alloy extracted magnetically and refined electrolyticaHy. The nickel sulfide is cast into anodes for electrolysis or, more commonly, is roasted to nickel oxide and further reduced to metal for refining by electrolysis or by the carbonyl method. Alternatively, the nickel sulfide may be roasted to provide a nickel oxide sinter that is suitable for direct use by the steel industry. 

Ma.nufa.cture. Nickel carbonyl can be prepared by the direct combination of carbon monoxide and metallic nickel (77). The presence of sulfur, the surface area, and the surface activity of the nickel affect the formation of nickel carbonyl (78). The thermodynamics of formation and reaction are documented (79). Two commercial processes are used for large-scale production (80). An atmospheric method, whereby carbon monoxide is passed over nickel sulfide and freshly reduced nickel metal, is used in the United Kingdom to produce pure nickel carbonyl (81). The second method, used in Canada, involves high pressure CO in the formation of iron and nickel carbonyls the two are separated by distillation (81). Very high pressure CO is required for the formation of cobalt carbonyl and a method has been described where the mixed carbonyls are scmbbed with ammonia or an amine and the cobalt is extracted as the ammine carbonyl (82). A discontinued commercial process in the United States involved the reaction of carbon monoxide with nickel sulfate solution. 

The principal direct raw materials used to make sulfuric acid are elemental sulfur, spent (contaminated and diluted) sulfuric acid, and hydrogen sulfide. Elemental sulfur is by far the most widely used. In the past, iron pyrites or related compounds were often used but as of the mid-1990s this type of raw material is not common except in southern Africa, China, Ka2akhstan, Spain, Russia, and Ukraine (96). A large amount of sulfuric acid is also produced as a by-product of nonferrous metal smelting, ie, roasting sulfide ores of copper, lead, molybdenum, nickel, 2inc, or others. 

In the presence of 6-iodo-l-phenyl-l-hexyne, the current increases in the cathodic (negative potential going) direction because the hexyne catalyticaHy regenerates the nickel(II) complex. The absence of the nickel(I) complex precludes an anodic wave upon reversal of the sweep direction there is nothing to reduce. If the catalytic process were slow enough it would be possible to recover the anodic wave by increasing the sweep rate to a value so fast that the reduced species (the nickel(I) complex) would be reoxidized before it could react with the hexyne. A quantitative treatment of the data, collected at several sweep rates, could then be used to calculate the rate constant for the catalytic reaction at the electrode surface. Such rate constants may be substantially different from those measured in the bulk of the solution. The chemical and electrochemical reactions involved are... 

The direct combination of selenium and acetylene provides the most convenient source of selenophene (76JHC1319). Lesser amounts of many other compounds are formed concurrently and include 2- and 3-alkylselenophenes, benzo[6]selenophene and isomeric selenoloselenophenes (76CS(10)159). The commercial availability of thiophene makes comparable reactions of little interest for the obtention of the parent heterocycle in the laboratory. However, the reaction of substituted acetylenes with morpholinyl disulfide is of some synthetic value. The process, which appears to entail the initial formation of thionitroxyl radicals, converts phenylacetylene into a 3 1 mixture of 2,4- and 2,5-diphenylthiophene, methyl propiolate into dimethyl thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylate, and ethyl phenylpropiolate into diethyl 3,4-diphenylthiophene-2,5-dicarboxylate (Scheme 83a) (77TL3413). Dimethyl thiophene-2,4-dicarboxylate is obtained from methyl propiolate by treatment with dimethyl sulfoxide and thionyl chloride (Scheme 83b) (66CB1558). The rhodium carbonyl catalyzed carbonylation of alkynes in alcohols provides 5-alkoxy-2(5//)-furanones (Scheme 83c) (81CL993). The inclusion of ethylene provides 5-ethyl-2(5//)-furanones instead (82NKK242). The nickel acetate catalyzed addition of r-butyl isocyanide to alkynes provides access to 2-aminopyrroles (Scheme 83d) (70S593). 

The sequence has been applied to the synthesis of 1,4-cyclohexanedione from hydroquinone 10), using W-7 Raney nickel as prepared by Billica and Adkins 6), except that the catalyst was stored under water. The use of water as solvent permitted, after hltration of the catalyst, direct oxidation of the reaction mixture with ruthenium trichloride and sodium hypochlorite via ruthenium tetroxide 78). Hydroquinone can be reduced to the diol over /o Rh-on-C at ambient conditions quantitatively (20). 

Wearmouth has described the production of nickel-cobalt, nickel-manganese, and nickel-chromium alloy coatings for non-decorative uses. The nickel-cobalt and nickel-manganese are electrodeposited direct from sulphamate-based solutions, the nickel-cobalt alloys offering higher hardness than the nickel-manganese alloys, which are restricted to a relatively... 

By the values of E°, we conclude that the Zn-Zn+2 half-reaction has the greater tendency to release electrons. Hence it will tend to transfer electrons to nickel, forcing half-reaction (48) in the reverse direction. Our net reaction will be obtained by subtracting half-reaction (48) from (47) ... 

These tests demonstrated that the Lurgi Rectisol process provides an extremely pure synthesis gas which can be charged directly to the metha-nation plant without problems of sulfur poisoning of the nickel catalyst. However, in order to cope with a sudden sulfur breakthrough from Rectisol as a result of maloperation, a commercial methanation plant should be operated with a ZnO emergency catchpot on line. 

The attention of the authors was particularly directed toward the increased activity of the nickel catalyst film when copper was added. This increase is revealed in a change of the initial reaction rate of copper itself and of all the alloys (except those containing 25-35% nickel) they are more active than nickel itself. A respectively similar difference was observed for the activation energy and the preexponential factor. 

AuSn has the nickel arsenide structure, B8, with abnormally small axial ratio (c/a = 1.278, instead of the normal value 1.633). Each tin atom is surrounded by six gold atoms, at the corners of a trigonal prism, with Au-Sn = 2.847 A. and each gold atom is surrounded by six tin atoms, at the corners of a flattened octahedron, and two gold atoms, at 2.756 A., in the opposed directions through the centers of the two large faces of the octahedron. 

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