We prove two approximations of the open problem of whether the adjoint group of a non-nilpotent nil ring can be finitely generated. We show that the adjoint group of a non-nilpotent Jacobson radical cannot be boundedly generated and, on the other hand, construct a finitely generated, infinite-dimensional nil algebra whose adjoint group is generated by elements of bounded torsion.

We study properties of two-sided and one-sided ideals of A-rings, i.e. rings that are sums of their nil left ideals. We show that the question as to whether one-sided ideals of A-rings are again A-rings is equivalent to the famous Koethe problem. We also obtain some results on another related open problem that asks whether annihilators of elements of non-zero A-rings are non-zero.

We construct new examples of non-nil algebras with any number of generators, which are direct sums of two locally nilpotent subalgebras. Like all previously known examples, our examples are contracted semigroup algebras and the underlying semigroups are unions of locally nilpotent subsemigroups. In our constructions we make more transparent than in the past the close relationship between the considered problem and combinatorics of words.

We construct a ring $R$ which is a sum of two subrings $A$ and $B$ such that the Levitzki radical of $R$ does not contain any of the hyperannihilators of $A$ and $B$. This answers an open question asked by Kegel in 1964.