Theoretical electronic-structure calculations have been carried out to examine the site occupancy of $3d$ transition-metal impurities in ${\mathrm{Fe}}_3\mathrm{Al}.$ Our studies based on the first-principles gradient-corrected density-functional formalism and carried over representative clusters show that the site occupancy is related to the strength and the nature of magnetic interactions. Impurities to the left of Fe couple antiferromagnetically to Fe and prefer ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{\mathrm{I}}$ sites while the impurities to the right (Co and Ni) couple ferromagnetically and prefer ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{\mathrm{II}}$ sites. The nature of coupling between impurities, Fe and Al sites is examined and its implications on controlling the magnetic behavior is highlighted.

Microscopic and spectroscopic analyses were conducted on steel/bentonite interface samples removed from four in situ experiments that were carried out in three underground research laboratories at different temperatures and under different hydraulic and geochemical conditions. The results provide valuable information about the corrosion processes occurring in high‐level radioactive waste repositories. Systematic patterns can be deduced from the results, irrespective of carbon steel grade, type of bentonite and its degree of compaction, geochemical environment or experimental setup. Thus, a clear dependence of the corrosion rates on temperature and exposure period, as well as on the availability of H₂O and O₂ provided by the surrounding bentonite buffer, is observed. Furthermore, Fe(II) ions released by corrosion interact with the structural Fe in the clay. Recent developments highlight the usefulness of reactive transport modelling in understanding the coupled corrosion and Fe–clay interaction processes.

A simple and highly stereoselective method has been developed for the synthesis of (Z)-β-iodo Baylis-Hillman adducts using CeCl₃·7H₂O/NaI as an inexpensive and readily available reagent system. High conversions and enhanced Z-selectivity together with the environmentally benign nature of the CeCl₃/NaI reagent system makes this method an attractive alternative to established methods.