Separation of Imazalil and T824 in Cucurbits—Part one: Comparison of HPLC Reversed-Phase Columns

Abstract

Seven reversed-phase columns, HRPB, Kromasil 100-5-C18, S5ODS2B, Vydac 218TP, YMC Polymer C18, Zorbax SBPhenyl and Zorbax SBCN, were compared with the polymeric Hamilton PRP-1 used so far, for ability to separate and determine imazalil and its degradation product, T824. Zorbax SBCN presented the best performance with sharp peak shape for both compounds, the height for imazalil being much superior to that from the PRP-1 column. It presented the best N and a under the conditions selected and gave a k' of 4.39 and 3.00 for imazalil and T824, respectively. The retention time for T824 was the second greatest of the columns, which is likely to be advantageous for the extracts of interest. As far as time of analysis is concerned, it presented a shorter total time of ca 8 minutes using a ratio of 6:4 for the mobile phase of acetonitrile:water. That ratio was confirmed to give higher and sharper peaks for both compounds and to lead to a lower limit of detection for imazalil and for T824. The better separation obtained for imazalil and T824 with this column is attributed to the reduction of the strong adsorption of basic compounds due to the steric protection of silanol groups.     

顶空固相微萃取-气相色谱-质谱联用分析纺织品中挥发性有机物

建立了顶空固相微萃取（HSSPME）-气相色谱（GC）-质谱（MS）联用测定纺织品中甲苯、4-乙烯基环己烯、苯乙烯、萘和1-苯基环己烯5种挥发性有机物（VOCs）的分析方法。选择聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）作为萃取涂层，优化了SPME的萃取条件，包括平衡时间、萃取时间、萃取温度、顶空体积、离子强度、搅拌速度、解吸温度和时间以及GC—MS仪器条件。对于甲苯、4-乙烯基环己烯、苯乙烯、萘和1-苯基环己烯方法线性范围分别为0．087～870、3．32～3320、2．28～2280、0．015～150和0．050～50．0ng／g；检出限分别为0．005、0．042、0．670、0．008和0．011ng／g。实际样品加标回收率在80．1％～122％之间，RSD在0．8％～8．6％之间。方法符合纺织品中痕量VOCs的快速分析要求。     

Exploring the applicability of density functional tight binding to transition metal ions. Parameterization for nickel with the spin-polarized DFTB3 model

In this work, we explore the applicability and limitations of the current third order density functional tight binding (DFTB3) formalism for treating transition metal ions using nickel as an example. To be consistent with recent parameterization of DFTB3 for copper, the parametrization for nickel is conducted in a spin-polarized formulation and with orbital-resolved Hubbard parameters and their charge derivatives. The performance of the current parameter set is evaluated based on structural and energetic properties of a set of nickel-containing compounds that involve biologically relevant ligands. Qualitatively similar to findings in previous studies of copper complexes, the DFTB3 results are more reliable for nickel complexes with neutral ligands than for charged ligands; nevertheless, encouraging agreement is noted in comparison to the reference method, B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ, especially for structural properties, including cases that exhibit Jahn–Teller distortions; the structures also compare favorably to available X-ray data in the Cambridge Crystallographic Database for a number of nickel-containing compounds. As to limitations, we find it is necessary to use different d shell Hubbard charge derivatives for Ni(I) and Ni(II), due to the distinct electronic configurations for the nickel ion in the respective complexes, and substantial errors are observed for ligand binding energies, especially for charged ligands, d orbital splitting energies and splitting between singlet and triplet spin states for Ni(II) compounds. These observations highlight that future improvement in intra-d correlation and ligand polarization is required to enable the application of the DFTB3 model to complex transition metal ions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Molecular Thermodynamics for Chemical Process Design

Thermodynamic properties are essential for quantitative process design to produce chemical products. Caloric properties are required for heat balances, but these properties are usually available or estimated easily. More important—and often much more difficult to estimate—are the chemical potentials of components in mixtures; it is these potentials which determine phase equilibria, as required for separation operations, and chemical equilibria, as required for chemical reactors and for separation operations based on chemical reactions. Molecular thermodynamics is an engineering-oriented science for calculating the desired chemical potentials from a minimum of experimental data. This applied science, based on classical and statistical thermodynamics, yields chemical potentials through models that are based on molecular physics and physical chemistry. Selected examples are cited to illustrate the applicability of molecular thermodynamics: group-contribution methods for obtaining chemical potentials in highly nonideal mixtures as required for distillation-column and process-safety design; equation of state for precipitation of uniform-sized crystals from supercritical fluids; molecular-orbital calculations to guide process development for alternatives to environmentally dangerous chlorofluorohydrocarbons; molecular-simulation calculations for separation of gas mixtures with porous adsorbents; equilibria in two-phase aqueous systems for separation of protein mixtures; and, finally, extended polymer-solution thermodynamics to guide synthesis of hydrogels suitable for protein recovery from soybeans and for novel drug-delivery devices.     

电荷注入检测器电感耦合等离子体光谱仪测定非金属元素的分析性能

研究了电荷注入检测器ICP光谱仪测定非金属元素的分析性能。以S、P、As、Se为代表的非金属元素在170－800nm波段内最灵敏的谱线均处于175－200nm远紫外区内。在此区内等离子体有很低的光谱背景发射和良好的谱线测量和背景测量的光度精度。标准曲线线性动态范围在4个数量级。给出了As,Se,S,P主要分析线的灵敏度、线背比、背景等效浓度及检出限。在纯水溶液中的检出限分别为：As 189.142nm 0.003mg/L,P213.618nm 0.005mg/L,S 180.731nm 0.01mg/L,Se 196.090nm 0.009mg/L.     

Dibenzomethanopentacene-Based Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity for Use in Gas-Separation Membranes

Dibenzomethanopentacene (DBMP) is shown to be a useful structural component for making Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) with promise for making efficient membranes for gas separations. DBMP-based monomers for PIMs are readily prepared using a Diels–Alder reaction between 2,3-dimethoxyanthracene and norbornadiene as the key synthetic step. Compared to date for the archetypal PIM-1, the incorporation of DBMP simultaneously enhances both gas permeability and the ideal selectivity for one gas over another. Hence, both ideal and mixed gas permeability data for DBMP-rich co-polymers and an amidoxime modified PIM are close to the current Robeson upper bounds, which define the state-of-the-art for the trade-off between permeability and selectivity, for several important gas pairs. Furthermore, long-term studies (over ≈3 years) reveal that the reduction in gas permeabilities on ageing is less for DBMP-containing PIMs relative to that for other high performing PIMs, which is an attractive property for the fabrication of membranes for efficient gas separations.     

Amalgam Electrodes for Electroanalysis

Liquid mercury is a unique material for the indicator electrode in voltammetry. One reason for this is the high overvoltage for hydrogen formation, thus extending the actual potential window. Diluted amalgams are important reaction products in voltammetric (polarographic) processes, however liquid amalgams are rarely used directly as electrode material for analytical purposes. Because of the fact that voltammetry is very suitable for field and remote monitoring, issues concerning the use of mercury electrodes in environmental analyses have led to considerable research effort aimed at finding alternative tools with acceptable performance. Solid electrodes are such alternatives. Different types of electrodes are reviewed. In particular, solid amalgam electrodes are very promising, with acceptable low toxicity to be used for field measurements. Solid amalgam electrodes are easy and cheap to construct and are stable over a reasonable time up to several weeks. Assessment of the toxicity risk and the long time stability for remote and unattended monitoring is discussed. The differences between solid dental amalgam electrodes, made by using techniques known from dental clinical practice, and mercury film or mercury layer electrodes on solid substrates are reviewed. In particular the dental technique for constructing solid amalgam electrodes gives advantage because it's fast and inexpensive. Also the technique for making dental amalgam has been explored and optimized over years by dentists, giving advantage when the same technique is used for constructing electrodes. Dental amalgam electrodes has been found to act similar to a silver electrodes, but with high overvoltage towards hydrogen. This make it possible to use the dental amalgam electrode for detection of zinc, cobalt and nickel in additions to other metals like lead, copper, thallium, cadmium, bismuth, iron etc. Also the use for reducible organic compounds is expected to be promising.     

Multiple microflame quartz tube atomizer: Study and minimization of interferences in quartz tube atomizers in hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry

A systematic study was performed to evaluate the performance of a multiple microflame (MM) quartz tube atomizer (QTA) for minimizing interferences and to improve the extent of the calibration range using a batch system for hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HG AAS). A comparison of the results with conventional QTA on the determination of antimony, arsenic, bismuth and selenium was performed. The interference of As, Bi, Se, Pb, Sn and Sb was investigated using QTA and MMQTA atomizers. Better performance was found for MMQTA, and no loss of linearity was observed up to 160 ng for Se and Sb and 80 ng for As, corresponding to an enhancement of two times for both analytes when compared to QTA (analyte mass refers to a volume of 200 μl). For Bi, the linear range was the same for QTA and MMQTA (140 ng). With the exception of Bi, the tolerance limits for hydride-forming elements were improved more than 50% in comparison to the conventional QTA system, especially for the interferences of As, Sb and Se. However, for Sn as an interferent, no difference was observed in the determination of Se and Sb using the MMQTA system. The use of MMQTA-HG AAS complied with the relatively high sensitivity of conventional QTA and also provided better performance for interferences and the linear range of calibration.     

Method validation and determination of lisdexamfetamine and amphetamine in oral fluid,plasma and urine by LC–MS/MS

Lisdexamfetamine (LDX) is a long‐acting prodrug stimulant indicated for the treatment of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder and binge‐eating disorder symptoms. In vivo hydrolysis of LDX amide bond releases the therapeutically active d ‐amphetamine (d ‐AMPH). Since toxicological tests in biological samples can detect AMPH from the use of some legal medications, efficient methods are needed in order to correctly interpret the results. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an LC–MS/MS method for the simultaneous quantification of LDX and its main biotransformation product AMPH in human oral fluid, plasma and urine. Calibration curve range for both analytes was 1–128 ng/mL in oral fluid and plasma and 4–256 ng/mL in urine, being the lowest concentration the limit of quantification. Accuracy of the determined values of the target analytes for the five control levels ranged from 94.8 to 111.7% for oral fluid, from 91.3 to 100.2% for plasma and from 94.8 to 109.8% for urine. Imprecision for the five control levels did not exceeded 12.8% for oral fluid, 16.2% for plasma and 17.1% for urine. The method developed for the three matrices was validated and was also successfully applied to assess real samples, showing for the first time the detection of LDX in oral fluid.     

AB5 Derivatives of Cyclotriphosphazene for the Synthesis of Dendrons and Their Applications

AB₅ compounds issued from the reactivity of hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene are relatively easy to obtain using two ways: either first the reaction of one chloride with one reagent, followed by the reaction of the five remaining Cl with another reagent, or first the reaction of five chlorides with one reagent, followed by the reaction of the single remaining Cl with another reagent. This particular property led to the use of such compounds as core for the synthesis of dendrons (dendritic wedges), using the five functions for growing the dendritic branches. The single function can be used for the synthesis of diverse types of dendrimers (onion peel, dumbbell-shape, Janus), for covalent or non-covalent grafting to solid surfaces, providing nanomaterials, for grafting a fluorophore, especially for studying biological mechanisms, or for self-associations to get micelles. All these properties are reviewed in this paper.     

Overview of Special Session B—Compositional and Structural Analysis of Biomass

Special Session B at the 29th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals was the first invited session at this symposium devoted to analytical methods. The special topic was added in response to numerous requests for information on new and innovative methods that could be applied in the growing renewable fuels industry. Presentation topics include analytical methods for the characterization and analysis of maize traits, tools for investigating cell wall limitations to enzymatic degradation, methods for customizing enzyme cocktails for biomass, new techniques for the analysis of carbohydrates, analytical methods that enhance our understanding of pretreatment, improved methods for monitoring process intermediates, and published standard analytical methods for biomass conversion processes.     

Determination of amphetamine and methadone in human urine by microextraction by packed sorbent coupled directly to mass spectrometry: An alternative for rapid clinical and forensic analysis†

Speed and low cost, together with regulatory approval, are the most important requirements of clinical assays. Therefore, a fast and automated on‐line sample preparation method is essential for the routine analysis of biological samples. Microextraction by packed sorbent is an option for optimal sample preparation due to its easy automation, minimal requirements for the sample and elution solvent volumes, elimination of evaporation and reconstitution steps, and ability to integrate sample preparation and injection into one step. The use of effective sample preparation steps circumvents the need for chromatographic separation and therefore allows more rapid and less expensive sample analysis in clinical and forensic practice. Two biologically active compounds, amphetamine and methadone, were chosen as representative drugs of abuse for the application of microextraction by packed sorbent coupled directly to mass spectrometry. The developed method was validated, with the results confirming the suitability of the combination of these techniques for the analysis of biological samples. The approach was confirmed to be appropriate for use in clinical and forensic practice with regard to cost and time requirements for analysis.     

Encouragements for the Use of Microwaves in Industrial Chemistry

Microwave travels at the speed of light, and transfers energy solely to materials. This holds great promise for energy conservation in industrial processes. However, due to differences with common heating principles, and misunderstanding of the correct way to handle them, the effectiveness of microwaves has been underestimated, and development of technologies using microwaves often stops due to this. This paper has focused on the use of microwave heating for organic/polymer synthesis, specifically for a highly effective condensation reaction and for use with ionic reactants. In addition to covering the process of ascertaining which reactions are suitable for the application of microwave heating, and introducing studies on scaling these up, this paper covers points of caution, especially those relating to the all‐important measurement/control of temperature. Based on their accumulation of expertise in the area, the authors present the design for equipment/plants for industrial use and introduce their research into the practical application of such technology.     

A sensitive electrochemical chlorophenols sensor based on nanocomposite of ZnSe quantum dots and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

In this work, a very sensitive and simple electrochemical sensor for chlorophenols (CPs) based on a nanocomposite of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and ZnSe quantum dots (ZnSe–CTAB) through electrostatic self-assembly technology was built for the first time. The composite of ZnSe–CTAB introduced a favorable access for the electron transfer and gave superior electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of CPs than ZnSe QDs and CTAB alone. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used for the quantitative determination of the CPs including 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Under the optimum conditions, the peak currents of the CPs were proportional to their concentrations in the range from 0.02 to 10.0 μM for 2-CP, 0.006 to 9.0 μM for 2,4-DCP, and 0.06 to 8.0 for PCP. The detection limits were 0.008 μM for 2-CP, 0.002 μM for 2,4-DCP, and 0.01 μM for PCP, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of CPs in waste water with satisfactory recoveries. This ZnSe–CTAB electrode system provides operational access to design environment-friendly CPs sensors.     

Economic analysis of ethanol production in California using traditional and innovative feedstock supplies

In this article, we estimate the costs of using alternative feedstocks to produce ethanol in a 40 million-gal facility in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Feedstocks include corn imported from Midwestern states and locally grown agricultural products such as corn, grapes, raisins, oranges, and other tree fruits. The estimated feedstock costs per gallon of ethanol include $0.92 for Midwestern corn, $1.21 for locally grown corn, $6.79 for grapes, $3.36 for raisins, $3.92 for citrus, and $1.42 for other tree fruit. Adjusting for coproduct values lowers the estimated net feedstock costs to $0.67/gal of ethanol for Midwestern corn, $0.96 for locally grown corn, $6.53 for grapes, and $3.30 for raisins. We also examine the potential increases in net revenue to raisin producers, made possible by having an alternative outlet available for selling surplus raisins.     

Determination of Carbamate Pesticides in Vegetables by Octadecyl Modified Graphene Reinforced Hollow Fiber Liquid Phase Microextraction Combined with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A novel adsorbent, octadecyl modified graphene, was prepared for hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction to increase the efficiency of the preconcentration process. The modified material was employed for the isolation of metolcarb, carbaryl, isoprocarb, and diethofencarb from vegetables prior to determination by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. Octadecyl modified graphene dispersed in 1-octanol served as the acceptor phase of the sorbent, resulting in enhanced efficiency. The optimization of several parameters was carried out to achieve the maximum efficiency. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration curve was linear from 0.5 to 100.0 nanograms per gram for carbaryl and 1.0 to 100.0 nanograms per gram for the other analytes with correlation coefficients (r) between 0.9952 and 0.9990. The limits of detection for the carbamates were from 0.2 to 0.6 nanogram per gram. The recoveries of the analytes ranged from 90.3 to 107.4 percent, indicating the excellent performance of the method for the determination of carbamates in vegetables.     

Carbohydrate microarrays: an advanced technology for functional studies of glycans

The biological significance of glycans in the post-genomic era requires the development of new technologies to enable functional studies of carbohydrates in a high-throughput manner. Recently, carbohydrate microarrays have been exploited as an advanced technology for this purpose. Efficient immobilization methods for carbohydrate probes on the proper surface are essential for the successful fabrication of carbohydrate microarrays. Up to date, several techniques have been developed to attach simple or complex carbohydrates to a solid surface. The developed glycan microarrays have been applied for functional glycomics, drug discovery, and diagnosis. In this concept article, we discuss the progress of immobilization methods of carbohydrates on solid surfaces, their potential uses for biological research and biomedical applications, and possible solutions for some remaining challenges to improve this new technology.