Mohammad Ali Jinnah: His Vision and Legacy

Eighty years ago, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah started his address to the 1938 Session of the All-India Muslim League, he spoke in Urdu: Jab hum Patna ka tariki shahr mein aya. Immediately the public started shouting: “English! English!” and the Quaid-i-Azam resumed his address: “When I came to this historic city of Patna…”. What was the reason behind the public’s odd demand? At that time it was clearly understood that Independence had to be taken from the British. The Muslims knew that they needed a leader who could speak to the colonial masters in their own language. That is why, though only a fraction of the gathering could speak or understand the language, they wished their leader to speak in English

Catalytic Studies of Butadiene/Ethylene Polymerization

In present study, the polymerization of butadiene and ethylene were carried out using heterogeneous monometallic, bi-and tri-metallic catalysts. Five types of catalysts, nickel, cobalt monometallic, Ni-Co bi-metallic, and Ni-Co-Pd, Ni-Co-Pt tri-metallic were synthesized by using sol-gel, impregnation and hydrometallurgical methods. The synthesized nano composites were subjected to calcinations at 200, 400, 600 and 900 oC, to study their effects on catalyst morphology, activity and product selectivity. These were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), helium adsorption Brunaur, Emmett and Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR Spectroscopy, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) and X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) studies. The synthesized catalysts were tested for the polymerization of butadiene and ethylene in ethanol, n-hexane and toluene solvents at various temperature and pressure conditions in Parr reactor. The products obtained were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FT-IR, 1H and 13 C Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), Gel permeation chromatography (GPC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Static laser light scattering (SLLS) and Mass spectrometric analysis (MS). The results showed that in ethanol solvent at 130 °C and 1.0 barr pressure, the product obtained consists of aliphatic and aromatic carbonyl compounds and polybutadiene terminated by -OH group. The selectivity of product was obtained in n-hexane and toluene solvent. In order to synthesize hydroxyl group terminated polybutadiene HTPB, the termination of polybutadiene was carried out by acidic solution of ethanol or hydrogen peroxide, whereas the termination of polyethylene was carried out by the acidic solution of ethanol. The significant product was achieved with the catalyst prepared by hydrometallurgical method as compared to other techniques. The best results were achieved with the Ni-Co- Pt catalyst calcined at 900 oC with molecular weight average of 12414 and a polydispersity Mw/Mn value of 1.404 under controlled conditions of temperature 130 oC and pressure 1.0 barr. The microstructure distribution of polybutadiene was studied by carrying out catalytic activity test at different temperature and pressure conditions. 100% stereoregular product of cis-1,4 polybutadiene have been achieved at low temperature 30 oC and pressure 0.5 barr with the catalyst Ni-Co calcined at 900 oC.