Inorganic reaction mechanisms in solution

这项建议有两个总体目标。一个是回答申请人在过去50年里对溶液中无机化学反应机制的研究中产生的几个科学问题。这项工作的一个特点是使用非常高的压力来提供机械信息，最近是关于电化学过程的。高压对化学过程的影响具有内在的科学意义，并与遇到高压的若干技术和学科相关（例如，海洋学、电能产生和储存、地质学、材料科学）。然而，我们强调，这项工作的动机主要是获得基本的科学知识。我们还建议继续在环境压力下对硅和铝的水化学进行研究，这强调了它们的反应速率，并与几种技术相关，包括催化剂（沸石）的制造、铝的精炼和从油砂中提取石油。第二个总体目标是为卡尔加里，比利时和美国的同事提供涉及申请人专业领域的主题的协作支持。这些主题包括通过表面电化学测量来感知地下污染物羽流；这种“自我电位”技术似乎相当有效，但其机制，以及可能提取的信息的程度，需要从电化学的角度来研究。其他正在考虑的地质主题是岩石和矿物沉积的水生风化机制。金属（主要是铜、锌和铝）在阿尔茨海默病中的可疑作用将通过一个模型化学系统进行实验检验，该模型化学系统与阿尔茨海默病中涉及的蛋白质片段（β淀粉样蛋白）具有相同的基本化学结构，但足够小，可以由同事进行有效的计算机建模。我们继续研究硅酸盐植入物对骨再生有益的化学作用，也可能对阿尔茨海默病的预防或治疗有影响，因为我们已经证明水硅可以清除铝和锌。

This proposal has two overall objectives. One is to provide answers to several scientific questions generated by the applicant's research over the last 5 decades into the mechanisms of inorganic chemical reactions in solution. A special feature of this work has been the use of very high pressures to provide mechanistic information, most recently on electrochemical processes. The effects of high pressures on chemical processes are of intrinsic scientific interest and have relevance to several technologies and disciplines in which high pressures are encountered (e.g., oceanography, electrical energy generation and storage, geology, materials science). We stress, however, that the motivation of this work is primarily the acquisition of basic scientific knowledge. We also propose to continue our work at ambient pressure on the aqueous chemistry of silicon and aluminum, which emphasizes the rates of their reactions and which has relevance to several technologies including the manufacture of catalysts (zeolites), aluminum refining, and petroleum extraction from oil sands.The second overall objective is to provide collaborative support to colleagues in Calgary, Belgium, and the USA on topics that touch upon the applicant's areas of expertise. These topics include the sensing of underground pollutant plumes by surface electrochemical measurements; this "self potential" technique appears to work quite well, but its mechanism, and the extent of the information that might be extracted, need to be examined from the electrochemical standpoint. Other geo-topics under consideration are the mechanisms of aquatic weathering of rocks and mineral deposition. The suspected role of metals (primarily copper, zinc and aluminum) in Alzheimer's disease is to be examined experimentally using a model chemical system that shares essential chemical structures with the protein fragment (beta amyloid) involved in Alzheimer's disease but is small enough for effective computer modelling by colleagues. Our continuing research on the chemistry of the beneficial effect of silicate implants on bone regeneration may also have implications for prevention or treatment of Alzheimer's disease, since we have shown that aqueous silicon scavenges aluminum and zinc.