Flow injection-chemical vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry hyphenated system for organic mercury determination: A step forward

Monomethylmercury and ethylmercury were determined on line using flow injection-chemical vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry without neither requiring a pre-treatment with chemical oxidants, nor UV/MW additional post column interface, nor organic solvents, nor complexing agents, such as cysteine. Inorganic mercury, monomethylmercury and ethylmercury were detected by atomic fluorescence spectrometry in an Ar/H₂ miniaturized flame after sodium borohydride reduction to Hg⁰, monomethylmercury hydride and ethylmercury hydride, respectively. The effect of mercury complexing agent such as cysteine, ethylendiaminotetracetic acid and HCl with respect to water and Ar/H₂ microflame was investigated.The behavior of inorganic mercury, monomethylmercury and ethylmercury and their cysteine-complexes was also studied by continuous flow-chemical vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry in order to characterize the reduction reaction with tetrahydroborate. When complexed with cysteine, inorganic mercury, monomethylmercury and ethylmercury cannot be separately quantified varying tetrahydroborate concentration due to a lack of selectivity, and their speciation requires a pre-separation stage (e.g. a chromatographic separation). If not complexed with cysteine, monomethylmercury and ethylmercury cannot be separated, as well, but their sum can be quantified separately with respect to inorganic mercury choosing a suitable concentration of tetrahydroborate (e.g. 10^? 5 mol L^? 1), thus allowing the organic/inorganic mercury speciation.The detection limits of the flow injection-chemical vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry method were about 45 nmol L^? 1 (as mercury) for all the species considered, a relative standard deviation ranging between 1.8 and 2.9% and a linear dynamic range between 0.1 and 5 μmol L^? 1 were obtained. Recoveries of monomethylmercury and ethylmercury with respect to inorganic mercury were never less than 91%. Flow injection-chemical vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry method was validated by analyzing the TORT-1 certificate reference material, which contains only monomethylmercury, and obtaining 83 ± 5% of monomethylmercury recovered, respectively. This method was also applied to the determination of monomethylmercury in saliva samples.     

Associative and segregative phase separations of poly(N-tert-butylacrylamide)/poly(acrylic acid) mixtures. Effect of solvent

Poly(N-tert-butylacrylamide) (PNtBAm) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) form interpolymer complexes in 1- and 2-propanol, blend in ethanol, whereas a segregative phase separation is observed when using methanol as solvent as shown by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and elemental analysis studies. The composition of PNtBAm/PAA complexes has been determined. Thermal studies demonstrated that all complexes show unique glass transition temperatures, higher than those of the polymer components. Complexation of PAA with PNtBAm results in an improvement of its thermal stability. Solvent effects and specific interactions in the system PNtBAm/PAA have been studied by FTIR, revealing that differences in the polymer–solvent interactions are a decisive factor governing complex formation in solution.     

Development and Application of Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Method to the Quantification of the Biotransformation of Methyl Paraben in Eisenia foetida

A simple and quick ultra performance liquid chromatography method (UPLC) has been developed for determination of methyl paraben (MP) and its major metabolites p‐hydroxybenzoic acid (pHBA) and phenol (Phe), following its biotransformations in Eisenia foetida. After different exposure time to paper contact test, the presence of methyl paraben and his biotransformation products in adult earthworms was monitored. Determination of its metabolites was achieved with a BEH (bridged ethane‐silicon hybrid) C₁₈ column (2.1×50 mm i.d., 1.7 µm particle size), using methanol/water/phosphoric acid as mobile phase, under a gradient elution program, and a PDA (photo‐diode array) detection (quantification with MaxPlot in the range 210–400 nm). The absorption of MP did not exceed 30% and in the first 4–6 h after exposure only minute amounts of pHBA and Phe were detected in the worm homogenates. After 48 h of exposures, almost 70% of absorbed MP was already metabolized to Phe and around 20% could be found as pHBA.     

Synthesis of (S)‐3‐heteroaryl‐2‐hydroxy‐l‐propyl benzoates by ‘ring switching’ methodology

(S)‐5‐Benzoyloxymethyl‐3‐[(E)‐(dimethylamino)methylidene]tetrahydrofuran‐2‐one (6), prepared in 5 steps from L‐glutamic acid (1), was used as precursor in a one step ‘ring switching’ synthesis of (S)‐2‐hydroxy‐3‐heteroaryl‐l‐propyl benzoates 13‐18, 23, 24. In the reaction of 6 with 2‐aminopyridine (21) and 2‐amino‐4,6‐dimethylpyrimidine (22) the corresponding dimethylamine substitution products (25, 26) were obtained.     

Reversible coordinative chain transfer polymerization of styrene by rare earth borohydrides,chlorides/dialkylmagnesium systems

The ability of various rare earth borohydride and chloride complexes/n‐butylethylmagnesium systems to operate styrene chain transfer polymerization in mild conditions has been assessed. Thirteen precatalysts have been considered: the rare earth trisborohydrides Ln(BH₄)₃(THF)_x (x = 3, Ln = Nd (1), La (2), Sm (3), x = 2, Ln = Y (4), Sc (5)), the rare earth chlorides LnCl₃(THF)_x (x = 3, Ln = Nd (6), La (7), Sm (8), Y (9), x = 2, Ln = Sc (10)), the mixed La(BH₄)₂Cl(THF)_2.6 (11) and the half‐lanthanidocenes Cp*Ln(BH₄)₂(THF)₂ (Ln = Nd (12), La (13)). Six systems were found to be active precatalysts for the polymerization of styrene. 1 , 2 , and 11 led to an efficient transmetalation of the growing polystyrene chain with the simultaneous occurrence of βH elimination, whereas 7 , 12 , and 13 led to catalyzed chain growth behavior. It is noteworthy that the catalyzed chain growth obtained with 12 and 13 occurs with significant stereoselectivity. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 802–814, 2010     

A Flexible Pro‐porous Coordination Polymer: Non‐conventional Synthesis and Separation Properties Towards CO2/CH4 Mixtures

The novel coordination polymers [Cu(Hoxonic)(H₂O)]_n ( 1 ) and [Cu(Hoxonic)(bpy)_0.5]_n ? 1.5 n H₂O ( 2?H₂O ) (H₃oxonic: 4,6‐dihydroxy‐1,3,5‐triazine‐2‐carboxylic acid; bpy: 4,4′‐bipyridine) have been isolated and structurally characterised by ab initio X‐ray powder diffraction. The dense phase 1 contains 1D zig‐zag chains in which Hoxonic dianions bridge square‐pyramidal copper(II) ions, apically coordinated by water molecules. On the contrary, 2?H₂O , prepared by solution and solventless methods, is based on 2D layers of octahedral copper(II) ions bridged by Hoxonic ligands, further pillared by bpy spacers. The resulting pro‐porous 3D network possesses small hydrated cavities. The reactivity, thermal, magnetic and adsorptive properties of these materials have been investigated. Notably, the adsorption studies on 2 show that this material possesses unusual adsorption behaviour. Indeed, guest uptake is facilitated by increasing the thermal energy of both the guest and the framework. Thus, neither N₂ at 77 K nor CO₂ at 195 K are incorporated, and CH₄ is only minimally adsorbed at 273 K and high pressures (0.5 mmol g^?1 at 2500 kPa). By contrast, CO₂ is readily incorporated at 273 K (up to 2.5 mmol g^?1 at 2500 kPa). The selectivity of 2 towards CO₂ over CH₄ has been investigated by means of variable‐temperature zero coverage adsorption experiments and measurement of breakthrough curves of CO₂/CH₄ mixtures. The results show the highly selective incorporation of CO₂ in 2 , which can be rationalised on the basis of the framework flexibility and polar nature of its voids.     

FTIR microspectroscopy of melanocytic skin lesions: a preliminary study

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy has been employed to investigate benign (ordinary dermal and Reed nevi), dysplastic and malignant (invasive melanoma) skin lesions through the analysis of spectral changes of melanocytes as well as in the evaluation of the presence of melanin. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis led to a satisfactory separation of malignant from dysplastic and normal melanocytes. Also, on enlarging the clustering with spectra from Reed and dermal nevi, the multivariate analysis segregated well the spectral data into discrete clusters, allowing the obtaining of reliable average spectra for analysis at the molecular level of the main groups or components responsible for the biological and biochemical changes. The most significant spectral characteristics appear to be related to differences in secondary protein structures, in nucleic acid conformation, in intra- and intermolecular bonding. In all cases, supervised and unsupervised spectral analyses resulted in satisfactory agreement with histopathological findings.     

Carbon and diamond paste microelectrodes based on Mn(III) porphyrins for the determination of dopamine

Three Mn(III) porphyrins were used for the design of carbon paste and diamond paste based microelectrodes, which were employed for the determination of dopamine in pharmaceutical and biological samples using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The limits of detection lie between 1.6 × 10⁻¹³ and 2.0 × 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹ while the sensitivities were between 230 pA μmol L⁻¹ and 3.24 μA mol L⁻¹. Dopamine was recovered reliable from pharmaceutical and biological samples in percentages higher than 91.00% and 92.00%, respectively. The surface of the microelectrodes can easily be renewed by simple polishing, obtaining a fresh surface ready for use in a new assay.     

Halo-carbonyl complexes of palladium,platinum and gold

In this review we summarize some recent literature data concerning synthetic procedures, properties, structure, reactivity and applications of halo-carbonyl complexes of palladium, platinum and gold, taking into consideration that the organometallic chemistry of these metals, with a particular attention to the halo-carbonyls, has been reviewed 20 years ago [F. Calderazzo, J. Organomet. Chem. 400 (1990) 303]. A brief overview of the early studies is provided.