Determination of cadmium by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after microwave-assisted digestion of animal tissues and sewage sludges

The determination of cadmium in different sample types has been carried out by electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry with D(2)-background correction using a unpyrocoated graphite tube, after pressurized microwave-assisted digestion. Five chemical modifiers [(NH(4))(2)HPO(4), Pd(NO)(3))(2), Ni(NO(3))(2), thiourea and Triton X-100] have been assayed and nickel nitrate has been found to be most effective for an accurate determination of cadmium in mussel tissue, pig kidney and sewage sludge. The characteristic mass of the method is of the order of 1 pg and the limit of detection is lower than 0.1 ng/ml.     

Invertomers at nitrogen in aziridine carboxylates by mltltinuclear (1H,13C,17O,and15N) NMR study

A confrgurational and conformational study of NH, N-acetyl- and N-sulfonylaziridine carboxylates is performed by¹H ,¹³C,¹⁷O, and¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. The presence of acetyl and su fonyl groups on the ring nitrogen atom seems to reduce greatly the configurational stability at nitrogen.Published in Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 9, pp. 1226–1234, September, 1995.     

Mass spectrometry of 3,4-dihydroquinazolin-4-ones of pharmaceutical interest. Part 3 . Electron ionization mass spectra of 2-substituted-3-(5′-pyrazolyl)-4(3H)-quinazolinones

The fragmentation reactions induced by electron impact of eighteen title compounds has been investigated with the aid of low beam energy spectra (14 eV, nom. value), metastable ion detection, high resolution measurements and labelling experiments. The loss of the 4-carbonyl oxygen together with the 3-substituent, which constitutes a characteristic fragmentation route of 3-aryl and 3-heteroaromatic substituted-4(3H)-quinazolinones, is again observed, but the presence of a carboxyethyl group at the 4′-position of the pyrazole ring is responsible of an anomalous loss of 47 daltons from the molecular ion. Lastly, a comparison with the previously described behaviour of 3-(5′-isoxazolyl) derivatives was carried out.     

Reaction of methyl 4-nitrobenzenesulfonate with Br- in water-formamide tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide micellar solutions

Summary The reaction methyl 4-nitrobenzenesulfonate + Br^- was studied in water-formamide tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide micellar solutions. A pseudophase kinetic model was used to quantitatively rationalize the kinetic micellar effects observed     

The exo-selectivity of the new non-natural chiral auxiliary (+)-(1R,endo)-2-benzonorbornenol in an asymmetric aza-Diels-Alder reaction

The recently reported compound (+)-(1R,endo)-2-benzonorbornenol (2) proved to be an efficient chiral auxiliary in the asymmetric aza-Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and the N-benzyl imine of its glyoxylate, which afforded a virtually all-exo mixture of cycloaducts with a 1S:1R diastereomeric ratio of 63:37.     

Chiral comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with electron-capture detection applied to the analysis of chiral polychlorinated biphenyls in food samples

The feasibility of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with electron-capture detection (GC x GC-ECD) for the enantioseparation of chiral PCBs from other possible interfering compounds has been evaluated. Three commercially available enantioselective beta-cyclodextrin-based capillary columns (Chirasil-Dex, BGB-172 and BGB-176SE) have been tested as first-dimension columns. Three non-enantioselective stationary phases (HT-8, BPX-50 and Supelcowax-10) were combined with the enantioselective columns to allow the unambiguous determination of the enantiomers of the target chiral PCBs. Each enantioselective first-dimension column tested was able to separate into enantiomers different PCB congeners, but in all cases, the use of Supelcowax-10 as second-dimension column provided the most satisfactory results. The Chirasil-Dex x Supelcowax-10 column combination allowed the determination of the enantiomeric fraction (EF) of PCBs 84, 91, 95, 132, 136, 149, 174 and 176 in the working standard solution, while that of congener 135 was hindered. The BGB-172 x Supelcowax-10 column set allowed a proper EF determination of congeners 45, 84, 131, 132, 135, 171, 174 and 183, while that of PCB 91 was interfered with co-elutants. The column combination BGB-176SE x Supelcowax-10 allowed the determination of all congeners that this enantioselective stationary phase was able to separate into enantiomers, i.e. PCBs 45, 91, 95, 136, 149 and 176. These column combinations have also been evaluated for the simultaneous determination of the 12 congeners with a toxic equivalency factor assigned by the WHO (PCBs 77, 81, 105, 114, 118, 123, 126, 156, 157, 167, 169, 189) and the seven indicator congeners (PCBs 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153 and 180), and evaluated for the analysis of food samples.     

A general and enantiodivergent method for the asymmetric synthesis of piperidine alkaloids: concise synthesis of (R)-pipecoline, (S)-coniine and other 2-alkylpiperidines

A simple and very efficient protocol for the preparation of highly enantioenriched 2-alkylpiperidines has been set up, which allows the preparation of the final heterocycles with any wanted configuration at the stereogenic center starting from the same starting material. The key step of the synthesis relies on a diastereodivergent aza-Michael reaction protocol using the readily available and cheap reagent (+)-(S,S)-pseudoephedrine as chiral auxiliary.     

Protein secondary structure conformations and associated hydrophobicity scales

We have developed conformational preference functions and a hierarchy of algorithms that can evaluate the success of each hydrophobicity scale in predicting protein secondary conformation. The results of such evaluation are shown for fiftyfive different scales with respect to their ability to predict -helix, -sheet and coil structure in three testing sets of proteins: five integral membrane proteins, twelve -class and sixteen -class soluble proteins. Our scale of conformational parameters is the best predictor of secondary structure segments in membrane proteins and -class proteins. The success rate and correlation coefficient for -helix conformation in membrane proteins are 76% and 0.46 respectively, which is superior to the performance measures attained with other prediction schemes. Evaluation of solution hydrophobicity scales, often used to predict transmembrane segments in membrane proteins, indicated absence of correlation in prediction of helix segments and experimental results for the conformation of membrane proteins. Such scales have better performance (correlation coefficient around 0.30) in predicting sheet conformation in the -class proteins.     

Multicommutation as an environmentally friendly analytical tool in the hydride generation atomic fluorescence determination of tellurium in milk

The aim of this study is to show the advantages of the emerging multicommutation methodology based on the use of solenoid valves for Te determination in milk by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). The delivery of a series of alternating sequential insertions of small volumes of samples and reagents gives rise to new hydrodynamic processes and exciting analytical potentials by controlling the time of flow through the on/off-switched solenoid valves. This drastically reduces the reagent consumption by a factor of 4 and the generation of effluents (590 mL h^–1 instead of 750 mL h^–1 generated by the continuous-mode measurement) and also provides an improvement in the laboratory productivity by an increase of the sample throughput (85 h^–1 compared to 20 h^–1 found in the continuous mode). So, multicommutation is an environmentally and economically sustainable alternative to the methodology based on continuous measurements. The multicommutation-based method developed was applied to tellurium determination in commercially available milk samples; a calibration range of 0.0–0.5 ng mL^–1 and a detection limit of 0.20 ng L^–1 with average relative standard deviation of 2.1% were found. Comparable results were obtained for a series of samples using both continuous and multicommutation HG-AFS modes.     

Enhancing selectivity in oxidation catalysis with sol-gel nanocomposites

Valuable organic compounds such as alpha-hydroxy acids are easily synthesised with relevant selectivity enhancement using a sol-gel hydrophobized nanostructured silica matrix doped with the organocatalyst TEMPO: A materials science based synthetic route which cannot be achieved via classical homogeneous synthesis.