Glass is one of the most important materials both in ordinary life, in which its presence is felt everywhere, as in the laboratory, be it a chemical or any other laboratory. This article discusses glass in many aspects, including its composition, or compositions, history and applications, both as a component of civilization as a practical and ordinary component in thousands of uses as an indispensable material. Also will be discussed many of its scientific applications, particularly in chemistry. A survey will also be presented of the origins and present state of glass techniques in Brazil. life everywhere laboratory aspects composition compositions applications material chemistry Brazil

The subject of the present article is a Brazilian chemist who lived and worked in the nineteenth century and who is hardly known today. He was the first person in Brazil, still in the first half of the nineteenth century, to write chemical equations in the description of actual reactions, and also the first to use equations in order to perform stoichiometric calculations. Although commonplace and trivial today, these were quite innovative in the 1840’s. He had a diploma from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures of Paris, from which he graduated in 1845 as a “chemical civil engineer”. Back in Brazil he continued his career, pioneering different aspects of chemistry in the country, and publishing continuously for a number of years on several chemical topics, as well as in other technical subjects. After what seemed to be a meteoric career, he became disillusioned with many setbacks, mostly political, and took up a different career, as a mathematician.

Saltpeter demanded for a long-time strategic attention in view of its importance in the form of gunpowder by the governments of many nations. The sources of this mineral in Brazil were almost always associated to the soil in caves, which was extracted because of a limited amount of that precious salt. The first references pointed out that saltpeter was first discovered in the São Francisco basin in regions of the south of the Captaincy of Bahia and in the north of Minas Gerais. Some historical documents show that the Serra do Baldim was the object of intensive mining activities of saltpeter from its caves and the product became the focus of conflicts and left scars on the walls of some limestone caverns.

Much is said and written regarding alchemy all across the world, in what could be called a renaissance of alchemical studies. However, relatively little is done in terms of actual alchemical laboratory work. The aim of the project described herein was to show how crucial the development of technical alchemical practice was along the centuries, in the discovery of an immense number of substances, processes and operations, which were of paramount importance in the establishment of modern chemistry. Alchemy is often derided in many circles. On the contrary, for two thousand years it constituted the basis of humankind’s understanding of the material world and the changes undergone by compounds and materials. Here we present an experimental reconstitution of several alchemical discoveries of great importance, using old descriptions followed by modern characterizations. The results were often startling and demonstrated how ancient wisdom bore fruit in different ways, even in the absence of our present-day means of analysis.

The slow process of the discovery of the elements led to a need to investigate their relations with one another; this was the path, which ultimately produced Mendeleev’s classification, the ancestor of the present Periodic Table. Once established, the Table, in its turn, became a guiding thread leading to the discovery of yet other new elements. This whole process can be likened to a two-way avenue, the first way leading to the establishment of the classification, whereas the latter, once established, inverted the traffic, completing our present 118-element Periodic Table. In this sesquicentennial year of its inception, it is appropriate to survey the fascinating history of the long and arduous path of the creation of what can be rightly called the most concise encyclopedia devised by the human mind.

In the year 2019 the periodic table of the elements will celebrate 150 years. A frequent misunderstanding says that palladium might have been initially discovered in samples from Brazil. Indeed it was found in the country in the early nineteenth century, but this discovery was preceded by other findings elsewhere in South America. This article will report its discovery, both abroad and in Brazil, as well as many other related aspects.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, a frantic search took place in Minas Gerais for minerals that could prove to be of economic value and thus compensate for the decline in the production of gold and diamonds, the mainstay of the economy in the preceding century. This article addresses the search for new mineral wealth, involving the work of many different explorers and their multidisciplinary research, and particularly the unsuccessful efforts directed to finding and obtaining lead and silver in sizable amounts as two such possible replacements.

Nickel-diimine complexes DADNiX2 (DAD= 2,6-iPr2-C6H3-N=C(Me)-C(Me)=N-2,6-iPr2-C6H3) containing the non-chelating pseudo-halide ligands isothyocyanate and isoseleniumcyanate (X= NCS 1 and NCSe 2) were synthesized and used in ethylene polymerization activated by methyaluminoxane (MAO) at temperatures from 0 to 50°C. Polymerizations with these complexes were compared with the analogous Ni-diimines halide (X= Br 3) as non-chelating ligand. All systems were very active in this polymerization. The increase of reaction temperature favored the increase in catalytic activity. The catalyst system 1/MAO was more stable than the others, showing the best catalytic activity at the molar ratio Al/Ni between 200 and 300. System 2/MAO showed to be the less stable and less active, particularly at 50°C. Polyethylenes obtained with systems 1, 2 and 3 show high molecular weights, are branched polymers, and predominately amorphous, but the majority still present DSC endothermal events related to melting of small crystals. When halide (Br) are compared with these pseudo-halides, different activities, polymerization kinetics and characteristics of the final polymer indicated modification in the active species caused by the non-chelating ligand. Polymer molecular weight and branching content was not significantly influenced by the non-chelating ligand, being much more dependent on the MAO/Ni molar ratio and polymerization temperature.

These two men were former natural philosophy students from the University of Coimbra. Barbacena finished in 1775 and obtained a doctorate in 1776, whereas Maciel graduated in 1785 and then did scientific and industrial work in Portugal and England. The Viscount was a founder member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences in 1779, and its secretary for 9 years. Both came to Brazil in 1788, when the Viscount was named Governor of Minas Gerais. Insofar as gold production was falling drastically, the Governor-to-be saw in Maciel the right person to start a comprehensive survey of the mineral potential of his domain. Soon after their arrival their lives parted. Without leaving his scientific pursuits, Maciel became embroiled in the planned uprising known as Inconfidência Mineira and was arrested in late 1789. His promising scientific career was aborted at the age of 29 and he was sentenced to exile in Africa. His despondency contributed to an early death at 43. The Viscount’s fate is also gloomy, for in Brazil he is hardly remembered today for any devotion to science, but mainly as the harsh persecutor of patriots.

The year 2016 marks the centennial of the first approach to describe all types of chemical bonds by means of a unified theory, that of the electron pair, as proposed by the American chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis (1875-1946). Lewis probably became the best known chemist of the twentieth century. Any highschool student anywhere has heard of him and uses concepts such as Lewis acids and bases. His seminal ideas, albeit modified with time, remain a source of inspiration as the basis of much that came later. Lewis established his theory in a series of articles, the most important dating from 1916. His life and achievements are the stuff of much study and debate, as this essay aims to show.

A hundred years ago, a twenty-eight year old Danish scientist published a series of three papers in which electron motion was quantized. The Bohr atomic model is surely known by every chemistry student. Nevertheless in this same 1913 trilogy, Bohr studied atoms with several electrons as well as molecules. Chemistry students, in general, are not aware of the Bohr molecule. The present paper aims at rescuing this important classical model. A review of the Bohr atomic model for both one and several electrons is discussed, together with a theoretical presentation of the Bohr molecule.

The year 2013 marks the centennial of that wondrous year in which Niels Bohr proposed a novel theory about the constitution of atoms and small molecules after which the way we regard atoms and their behaviour began to be drastically altered. Bohr drew on several sources for his original description of the atoms, most importantly on spectroscopy and Balmer's equation thereof, the new quantum hypothesis advanced a few years earlier by Planck, and the planetary atom proposed by Rutherford. Although Bohr's ideas were to be eventually overtaken by the advent of quantum mechanics, his theory was the basis of a new thinking about atoms and molecules which constitutes an invaluable asset in the development of science ever since.

Chemistry gradually became a discipline in a number of institutions in Brazil after the arrival of the Portuguese court in 1808. The first of these was the Royal Military Academy in Rio de Janeiro, founded by the Prince Regent in 1810. Due to lack of local personnel for the post of Professor of Chemistry the British chemist Daniel Gardner was hired. He occupied that chair until his retirement in 1825. In this article we discuss the circumstances involving the creation of that chair, its occupant and the contents of his course.

This article provides a short review of the chemistry of stannylenes and their derivatives, including the preparation, spectroscopic properties, molecular structure and reactivity of the various species. The organometallic chemistry of Sn(II) is far less explored than that of its much more common Sn(IV) counterpart. Organometallics of main group metals have become increasingly important in recent years, which prompted us to present an overview of the situation regarding the case of Sn(II).

Este artigo descreve a síntese e a caracterização espectroscópica e estrutural por difratometria de raios X em monocristal de dois novos complexos contendo o grupamento azo, cis-bis[4-nitro-2-(4-nitrofenilazo)-fenolato-κN1]bis(piridino-κN)cádmio(II), 1, e cis-bis[2-(4-fenilazo-fenilimino)-2H-acenafteno-1-ona]dicloromercúrio(II), 2. Embora os ligantes e os metais sejam diferentes, observa-se para os dois complexos uma coordenação do tipo N,O-bidentada ao átomo central. Em 1, a coordenação é feita por um átomo de N do grupo azo e por um átomo de O do grupo fenolato, enquanto em 2 a coordenação ocorre exclusivamente via átomos de O e N da α-iminocetona. Ambos os complexos exibem interações intramoleculares do tipo π-π, que exercem um importante papel na determinação de suas estruturas moleculares, além de também exibirem arranjos supramoleculares governados por ligações de hidrogênio não-clássicas. Em adição, a estrutura de 2 é a primeira relatada na literatura com um novo tipo de ligante, a azo-iminocetona, e também a primeira contendo mercúrio complexado a uma α-iminocetona.

This article describes the synthesis and the spectroscopic and structural characterization of two novel azo-containing complexes, cis-bis[4-nitro-2-(4-nitrophenylazo)-phenolate-κN1]bis(piridino-κN)cadmium(II), 1, and cis-bis[2-(4-phenylazo-phenylimino)-2H-acenaphthylen-1-one]dichloromercury(II), 2. In spite of the different metal centres, both complexes show an N,O-bidentate complexation to the metal. In 1 the metal coordinates to an azo N and to a phenolate O atom, whereas in 2 the metal binds to an O and an N atom of the α-iminoketone. Both complexes show intramolecular π-π interactions, which play an important role in their molecular structures. In addition they also present non-classical H-bonding, which is crucial to their supramolecular arrangements. Moreover, 2 is the first case in the literature of a complex with a new class of ligand, an azoiminoketone, as well as the first case of an α-iminoketone Hg complex.