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Italian medieval and Renaissance manuscript cuttings and miniatures from the Victoria and Albert Museum were analyzed by Raman microscopy to compile a database of pigments used in different periods and different Italian regions. The palette identified in most manuscripts and cuttings was found to include lead white, gypsum, azurite, lazurite, indigo, malachite, vermilion, red lead, lead tin yellow (I), goethite, carbon, and iron gall ink. A few of the miniatures, such as the historiated capital 'M' painted by Gerolamo da Cremona and the Petrarca manuscript by Bartolomeo Sanvito, are of exceptional quality and were analyzed extensively; some contained unusual materials. The widespread usage of iron oxides such as goethite and hematite as minor components of mixtures with azurite is particularly notable. The use of a needle-shaped form of iron gall ink as a pigment rather than a writing material was established by both Raman microscopy and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for the Madonna and Child by Franco de' Russi. iron gall ink | Italian miniatures | azurite | hematite | goethite mixtures, Victoria and Albert Museum doi/10.1073/pnas.0914797107

Seventeen samples from paintings by the distinguished 19th century Portuguese painter, Henrique Pousao, were characterized by micro-X-ray diffractometry and infrared and Raman microspectroscopy. The main advantages and limitations of each technique for pigment identification are outlined, revealing the need for the use of complementary techniques. Pousao's palette is discussed.

The King George III copy of the Gutenberg Bible, held at the British Library, has been analyzed using Raman spectroscopy to determine the palette of pigments used in the illuminations on this work. The palette is found to comprise cinnabar/vermilion, lead tin yellow (type 1), carbon-based black, azurite, malachite, an organo-copper complex (a 'verdigris'), calcium carbonate (chalk), gypsum, gold leaf, and basic lead carbonate ('lead white'). This is in agreement with contemporary descriptions of the pigments used for the illuminations. One pigment could not be identified, specifically the organic dark red/ purple color used for the foliage. The palette of this copy of the Gutenberg Bible has been compared with those used for six other copies, held at Eton College and Lambeth Palace, England, the Bibliotheque Mazarine and the Bibliotheque nationale de France, and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Niedersachsische Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek (SUB) Gottingen, Germany. The palettes are shown to be similar to one another, even though the styles of the primary illuminations differ. The two Gutenberg Bibles held in Germany, printed on vellum, have the more expensive palettes, which include lazurite. The SUB Gottingen copy has the most extensive palette with 16 pigment-related materials having been identified.

Technical examination of the painting Young Woman Seated at a Virginal by cross section and polarized light microscopy, chemical tests, surface microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and Raman microscopy has led to the identification of the pigments lead tin yellow (type I), lazurite, vermilion, calcite, lead white, red and yellow iron oxides, umber, lamp black, and green earth on the canvas. These pigments are entirely typical of Vermeer's palette and are consistent with a large body of other technical and art historical findings on paintings by Vermeer and other Dutch 17th century artists. While not authenticating the painting as being by Vermeer, the results provide further critical material that is consistent with this attribution. This case study also provides an opportunity to outline the role of analytical and forensic sciences in the examination and attribution of art objects.

The synthesis of a series of compounds are made where M-Mo or W, L = a thienyl, or terthienyl carboxylate, and L are corresponding thienyl dicarboxylate. The electronic absorption spectra are reported and show intense metal-to-ligand charge transfer bands.

Raman spectra of cleaved, millimeter-sized single crystals of mineral galena (PbS) is measured between 100 and 1200cm(super -1) over the temperature range 80 to 373 K. Changes in the peak wave numbers and in the relative intensities of these bands in response to changes in temperature do not conform with previous assignments for the observed bands.

Studies by Raman microprobe spectroscopy have shown that the black ink defining each feature on the controversial Vinland Map consists of carbon that overlays a yellow line containing anatase. This material was not detected elsewhere on the map. Since anatase has not been found on medieval artifacts, and such yellow lines are only naturally produced by iron gallotannate inks, a modern (post 1923) origin for the Vinland Map is strongly indicated. The ink of the Tartar Relation is different and probably consists of an iron gallotannate mixed with a small proportion of carbon. The rubrication is established to be vermilion.

Ozone was co-deposited with ICN and, separately, with BrCN in argon matrix at ca. 14 K, and the FTIR spectra were measured after each photolysis. No evidence was obtained for the formation of the halogen nitrile oxides ICNO and BrCNO in argon matrixes.

Raman microscopy shows promise as an analytical technique for historical artifacts, as evidenced by its use for the archaeometric analysis of pigments of a rare illuminated manuscript dating back to the 13th century. The technique can identify light-sensitive pigments or pigments susceptible to other types of deterioration, allowing conservators to establish the nature of the problem and determine its extent. In the case of a rare Byzantine/Syriac Gospel lectionary, Raman microscopy was able to provide data crucial for reversing the degradation of the pigments.

The redox reactivity of edge-shared bioctahedral (ESBO) (Re2 mu-NCS 2 NCS 8)3- is determined by electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical studies. The dirhenium complex undergoes reversible oxidation and one-electron reduction to yield stable species (Re2 mu-NCS 2 NCS 8)2- and (Re2 mu-NCS 2 NCS 8)4- of similar structure. Further redox reactions result to more reactive species, while two-electron reduction of (Re2 NCS 10)4- yields a new structural conformation in the direct metal-metal-bonded complex (Re2 NCS 8 NCS 2)6- which re-oxidizes back to (Re2 NCS 10)4-.

A spectroscopic study of the tetramethylammonium pentaselenide and hexaselenide complexes reveals the five prominent selenium sites in (NMe4)2Se5 and the three crystallographically different selenium sites in (NMe4)2Se6. The anionic conformation of (NMe4)2Se5 is identical in solid and solution state. The shielding anisotropies for the alpha and beta selenium sites are larger than for the gamma site.

The computer simulation to study mate choice reveals that there is scanty proof for Rushton's statement that in the absence of adaptive mechanisms, the chance configuration will crumble down in later generations. Though the simulation is a too simplified model of human behaviour, it indicates the feasibility of an alternative biological theory for assortative mating on a range of partially inherited characteristics for which there are partly fluctuating preferences.

In order to investigate the relationship between male hair loss and psychological distress, 182 men were recruited who had a wide range of ages and hair loss varying from none to severe. Care was taken to ensure that hair loss and age were uncorrelated in the sample. Multiple regression was used to predict possible consequences of baldness, controlling for age, and examining the interaction between baldness and age to see if consequences were especially severe in cases of premature baldness. Increasing degrees of hair loss were associated with loss of self-esteem, depression, introversion, neuroticism and feeling unattractive. These effects were more marked for young men in the case of self-esteem, introversion and feeling unattractive., There is relatively little literature available on the psychological effects of hair loss in males. Such information as there is comes mainly from studies on impression formation, in which bald [...]

The influence of personality on quality of marriage was examined using causal modelling on a sample of 94 couples who had completed a quality of marriage scale and the revised short form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Irrespective of gender, quality of marriage was found to be influenced negatively by spouse's neuroticism, but the strongest influence on the quality of marriage of each spouse was the quality of marriage of the other. Altogether, the model accounted for over 60 per cent of the variance in quality of marriage, and provided an extremely close fit to the data. Finally, it was argued that valid conclusions about marital quality can only be derived from couples rather than from married individuals., A substantial volume of research has been carried out in the hope of elucidating factors that influence marital quality. Yet investigators have paid scant attention to the possibility that quality [...]

Se solid-state NMR spectra with cross-polarization and magic-angle spinning on (M(Se4)(sub 2))(super 2-) complexes with (Me(sub 4)N)+ and (Et(sub 4)N)+ facilitate the calculation of main constituents of Se77 shielding tensor from spinning sideband intensities. Structural changes in the (M(Se4)(sub 2))(super 2) geometry with cations between (Et4N)+ and (Me4N)+ complexes manifest in Se(77) isotropic chemical shifts.

This article reviews the origin, use and history of indigo, woad and Tyrian Purple, which are among the most ancient of dyes. The emphasis is on the chemistry of the production and syntheses of the dyes, together with some reference to the use of their spectroscopic properties as an aid to their identification in artefacts.

15N solid-state NMR measurements are undertaken on complexes of platinum(II) and platinum(IV) with two different amine ligands, including 15N-enriched 1,2-diaminoethane and the quadridentate ligand 3,7-diazanonane-1,9-diamine. Results indicate that the effective oxidation state of the metal atom influences the 15N chemical shift and J coupling to 195Pt. Moreover, in Pt(II), Pt(IV) and mixed-valence complexes, the Pt atom environemt becomes more alike as the specie changes from chloro to bromo to iodo.

When integrated with a microscope, Raman spectroscopy provides a uniquely specific and sensitive means of identifying pigment grains of sub-micrometre dimensions in a broad range of artefacts. This article reviews the methodology of Raman microscopy and its application to the study of mediaeval manuscripts.

The electronic and resonance Raman spectra of dirhodium tetrathiocarboxylate complexes are compared with those of their tetracetate analogues. A red (bathochromic) shift in the blue region and a lower wavenumber for the rhodium-rhodium stretching fundamental indicate longer and weaker Rh-Rh bonds for the tetrathiocarboxylate than for the tetraacetate complex. These results are consistent with earlier evidence from X-ray crystallographic studies.

Mo2L6 compounds where L = NMe2 and O(super t)Bu, react with (S,S,S)-triisopropanolamine (2 equiv) in benzene to yield Mo(sub 2)[(OC-)S)-HMeCH(sub 2)(sub 3)N](sub 2) as a blue crystalline solid. The calculated singlet-singlet transition energies are compared with those implicit in the observed electronic spectrum.