Understanding Periodic and Non-periodic Chemistry in Periodic Tables

The chemical elements are the “conserved principles” or “kernels” of chemistry that are retained when substances are altered. Comprehensive overviews of the chemistry of the elements and their compounds are needed in chemical science. To this end, a graphical display of the chemical properties of the elements, in the form of a Periodic Table, is the helpful tool. Such tables have been designed with the aim of either classifying real chemical substances or emphasizing formal and aesthetic concepts. Simplified, artistic, or economic tables are relevant to educational and cultural fields, while practicing chemists profit more from “chemical tables of chemical elements.” Such tables should incorporate four aspects: (i) typical valence electron configurations of bonded atoms in chemical compounds (instead of the common but chemically atypical ground states of free atoms in physical vacuum); (ii) at least three basic chemical properties (valence number, size, and energy of the valence shells), their joint variation across the elements showing principal and secondary periodicity; (iii) elements in which the (sp)8, (d)10, and (f)14valence shells become closed and inert under ambient chemical conditions, thereby determining the “fix-points” of chemical periodicity; (iv)peculiar elements at the top and at the bottom of the Periodic Table. While it is essential that Periodic Tables display important trends in element chemistry we need to keep our eyes open for unexpected chemical behavior in ambient, near ambient, or unusual conditions. The combination of experimental data and theoretical insight supports a more nuanced understanding of complex periodic trends and non-periodic phenomena.

An essay on periodic tables

After a compact history of the PT, from Döbereiner’s triads to the theoretical predictions up to element 172, a number of particular issues is discussed: Why may Z = 172 be a limit for stable electron shells? What are the expected stability limits of the nuclear isotopes? When are formally empty atomic orbitals used in molecular electronic structures? What is ‘Secondary Periodicity’? When do the elements (Ir, Pt, Au), at the end of a bond, simulate (N, O, I), respectively? Some new suggestions for alternative PTs are commented upon. As a local connection, Johan Gadolin’s 1794 analysis of the Ytterby mineral is mentioned.

Organization of the Pellicle and the Muciferous Glands in Euglena Gracilis

The pellicular structure of Euglena gracilis consists of a series of relatively rigid strips (Fig. 1) composed of ridges and grooves which are helically oriented along the cell and which fuse together into a common junction at either end of the cell. The strips are predominantly protein and consist in part of a series of fibers about 50 Å in diameter spaced about 85 Å apart and with a secondary periodicity of about 450 Å. Microtubules are also present below each strip (Fig. 1) and are often considered as part of the pellicular complex. In addition, there may be another fibrous component near the base of the pellicle which has not yet been very well defined.The pellicular complex lies underneath the plasma membrane and entirely within the cell (Fig. 1). Each strip of the complex forms an overlapping junction with the adjacent strip along one side of each groove (Fig. 1), in such a way that a certain amount of sideways movement is possible between one strip and the next.