Comparison of mono- and polyatomic primary ions for the characterization of organic dye overlayers with static secondary ion mass spectrometry

Organic carbocyanine dye coatings have been analyzed by time-of-flight static secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-S-SIMS) using three types of primary ions: Ga(+) operating at 25 keV, and Xe(+) and SF(5) (+) both operating at 9 keV. Secondary ion yields obtained with these three primary ions have been compared for coatings with different layer thickness, varying from (sub)-monolayer to multilayers, on different substrates (Si, Ag and AgBr cubic microcrystals). For (sub)-monolayers deposited on Ag, Xe(+) and SF(5) (+) primary ions generate similar precursor ion intensities, but with Ga(+) slightly lower precursor ion intensities were obtained. Thick coatings on Ag as well as mono- and multilayers on Si produce the highest precursor and fragment ion intensities with the polyatomic primary ion. The yield difference between SF(5) (+) and Xe(+) can reach a factor of 6. In comparison with Ga(+), yield enhancements by up to a factor of 180 are observed with SF(5) (+). For the mass spectrometric analysis of dye layers on AgBr microcrystals, SF(5) (+) again proves to be the primary ion of choice.     

Photochemistry of 1,3-cyclopentanediones. Oxetane formation involving both energy transfer and electron transfer processes

Photolysis of 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-cyclopentanedione in acetone resulted in oxetane formation in a two photon process involving energy transfer from triplet excited acetone and electron transfer from singlet excited acetone.     

Quantitative reaction cascades of ninhydrin in the solid state

Crystalline ninhydrin (1) undergoes waste-free solid-state cascade reactions with dimedone, L-proline, three o-phenylenediamines, o-mercaptoaniline, two ureas, three thioureas, and methyl 3-aminocrotonate. The yields are quantitative and give pure crystalline products without workup just by milling stoichiometric mixtures of the crystalline reagents. The structures of the new and the previously obtained products with lower yields from solutions are established or confirmed by spectroscopic data and density functional calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level. The success of 3- and 4-cascade reactions in the crystal without melting is unusual and of unmatched atom economy. They are mechanistically investigated with atomic force microscopy techniques (AFM) on six different faces of 1 when o-phenylenediamine was the reagent (substitution, elimination, cyclization, elimination) and interpreted on the basis of known crystal structure data. Strict correlations to the crystal packings are observed. The characteristic surface features grow to microm heights in some cases at distances of 0.5 mm from the contact edge of the reacting crystals. The waste-free and easy syntheses of highly functionalized (C=O; O-H; C=N) heterocycles or of a tetraketone are also of interest for synthetic use.     

Quantitation in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

CE-MS has evolved into a strong alternative to LC-MS. Most of CE-MS applications deal with characterization and identification. However, quantitative aspects have gained importance in, e.g., pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. Here we summarize and evaluate various methodological aspects in order to achieve sensitive and reproducible results. Similar to LC-MS, aspects of matrix influence on the electrospray process need to be carefully addressed when quantitative results are intended by CE-MS. Due to a more complicated coupling special emphasis needs to be put on the CE-MS interface. Generally linearity over more than three orders of magnitude can be achieved by CE-ESI-MS. Furthermore, a literature survey has been performed in order to give an overview over quantitative measurements performed by CE-MS. The precision can be doubled when changing from a structural related to an isotopically labeled internal standard. Thus a level of precision better than 5% RSD can be achieved.     

Capillary zone electrophoresis of natural organic matter

This paper presents an in-depth look at the use of capillary electrophoretic (CE) techniques for the fingerprinting and characterization of humic substances and natural organic matter. These materials are highly heterogeneous in structure and show all characteristics of mixtures unliked in analytical chemistry. The electrophoretic approach, however, allows the determination of mobility distributions in different solution conditions, representative of the effective charge and size distribution status of the components present. A tabulated review covers over 50 references on the subject and highlights the possibilities and problems encountered in the analysis of such polydisperse materials with CE methods. In a second part of the article the consequences of experimental and buffer parameters on the behavior of humic materials in CE are presented.     

On a characterization of polynomials by divided differences

Summary We consider the functional equationf[x ₁,x ₂,, x _n ] =h(x ₁ + +x _n ) (x ₁,,x _n K, x _j x _k forj k), (D) wheref[x ₁,x ₂,,x _n ] denotes the (n – 1)-st divided difference off and prove Theorem. Let n be an integer, n 2, let K be a field, char(K) 2, with # K 8(n – 2) + 2. Let, furthermore, f, h: K K be functions. Then we have that f, h fulfil (D) if, and only if, there are constants a_j K, 0 j n (a := a_n, b := a_{n – 1}) such thatf = ax ⁿ +bx ^{n – 1} + +a ₀ and h = ax + b.     

The relative importance of temperature and isotope effects on the dipole oscillator strength distribution of H2

Summary The calculation of the effects of temperature and isotopic composition on the energy weighted moments of the dipole oscillator strength distribution of H₂ in the random phase approximation to the polarization propagator are reported. It is seen that the effect of isotopic composition is small, while that of temperature is of an order accessible to experiment. We find that all the mean excitation energiesI , for =–1, 0, 1, decrease with temperature as does the dipole oscillator strength momentS() for >0, while the opposite is true for <0. These effects are interpreted in terms of the bond length dependence of the excitation energies.     

The structure of magnesium alanate

Mg(AlH(4))(2) was produced as a nanocrystalline powder by metathesis of NaAlH(4) and MgCl(2). Starting with a structure estimation which was developed from an evaluation of FTIR data and comparison of structural properties of two solvent adducts, quantum chemical calculations were performed on the density functional theory (DFT) level. The calculated atomic positions were used to simulate an X-ray powder diffraction pattern, based on a trigonal unit cell. The simulated pattern was congruent to experimental data. Thus, magnesium alanate exhibits a CdI(2) layer structure, the layers being formed by Mg atoms occupying the Cd sites and AlH(4) tedrahedra occupying the sites of the iodine atoms in CdI(2).     

Diastereoselective synthesis of 2-aminoalkyl-3-sulfonyl-1,3-oxazolidines on solid support

Herein we report our investigation on the oxidation of solid-support-bound amino alcohols to their corresponding aldehydes. These aldehydes were converted into diastereomerically pure (>10:1) 2,4-cis-2-aminoalkyl-3-sulfonyl-1,3-oxazolidines using optically pure 1,2-amino alcohols. The relative configuration was determined using the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE). The synthesized oxazolidines, which were obtained in high purities, represent a new, diverse scaffold for the solid-phase synthesis of libraries directed toward a pharmacological target.     

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry fingerprinting of whisky: immediate proof of origin and authenticity

Authentic samples of whisky produced in Scotland and USA and counterfeit whisky samples commercialized in Brazil have been directly submitted to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis in both the negative and positive ion modes to assess the potential of this technique for simple and rapid quality control and proof of authenticity of whisky samples. ESI in the negative ion mode yields the most characteristic whisky fingerprinting mass spectra in just a few seconds by direct infusion of the samples, detecting the most polar or acidic components of each sample in their deprotonated anionic forms. No pre-treatment of the sample, such as extraction or derivatization or even dilution, is required. The analysis of the ESI(-)-MS data both by simple visual inspection but more particularly by chemometric data treatment enables separation of the whisky samples into three unequivocally distinct groups: Scotch, American and counterfeit whisky, whereas single malt and blended Scotch whiskies are also distinguished to some extent. As indicated by ESI-MS/MS analysis, the diagnostic anions are simple sugars, disaccharides and phenolic compounds. Direct infusion ESI-MS therefore provides immediate chemical fingerprinting of whisky samples for type, origin and quality control, as demonstrated herein for American, Scottish and counterfeit samples, whereas ESI-MS/MS analysis of diagnostic ions adds a second dimension of fingerprinting characterization when improved selectivity is desired.