CHART: a novel system for detector evaluation against toxic chemical aerosols.

Concern over the possibility of deliberate dispersion of chemical warfare agents and highly toxic pharmaceutical based agents as persistent aerosols has raised the need for experimental assessment of current and future defensive capabilities of armed forces and law enforcement agencies. Therefor we herewith present the design, realization and validation of the Chemical Hot Aerosol Research Tool (CHART) as a validated and safe experimental set-up for performance evaluation of chemical detection and identification equipment against chemical warfare agents and other highly toxic compounds. In the CHART liquid and solid compounds in solution or suspension are being dispersed as aerosols in a nebulization chamber.

Electrocatalytic proton reduction by a model for [NiFeSe] hydrogenases.

Two new heterodinuclear nickel-iron complexes [Ni(pbSmSe)FeCpCO]PF and [Ni(xbSmSe)FeCpCO]PF were synthesized as mimics of the [NiFeSe] hydrogenase active site (HCp = cyclopentadiene; HpbSmSe = 1,9-diselenol-3,7-dithia-2,2,8,8-tetramethylnonane; HxbSmSe = 1,2,-bis(2-thiabutyl-3,3-dimethyl-4-selenol)benzene). The compounds were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetry. X-ray structure determinations showed that in both NiFe complexes the nickel(ii) center is in a square-planar SSe environment; the two selenolate donors are bridging to the iron(ii) center that is further coordinated to an η-cyclopentadienyl group and a carbon monoxide ligand.