β-(1→3)-D-葡聚糖可德胶化学改性的研究进展

可德胶是一种天然的直链型微生物发酵多糖,具有独特的凝胶特性,在食品及医药等领域有重要应用.可德胶不溶于水,这限制了其实际应用.因此对可德胶进行化学改性来扩大其应用范围,成为可德胶研究特别是其生物活性研究的重要方向之一.一些常用的多糖化学改性方法如磺酸化、羧甲基化等已被大量运用于可德胶改性上,这不仅极大改善了可德胶的水溶性,同时也赋予了可德胶更多的生物活性.本文综述了近年来国内外可德胶化学改性的研究进展,着重介绍了可德胶主链水解、磺酸化、羧甲基化、疏水改性等化学修饰的方法和发展动向.同时还介绍了"点击化学"这一最新的选择性化学修饰方法在可德胶化学改性中的应用.     

Fractionation studies of mercury in soils and sediments: A review of the chemical reagents used for mercury extraction

Mercury in contaminated soils and sediments could be extracted by various chemical reagents in order to determine the different mercury species and partitions, providing useful information of toxicology, bioavailability and biogeochemical reactivity. Unfortunately, at present, neither specific extractants nor standard protocols exist for the isolation of particular mercury species. Although there has been considerable research focused on reagents for extracting mercury species, there is still little consensus. Thus, workers are advised to select the most appropriate reagent based on the nature of their sample, and to take all possible steps to validate the analyses performed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review the current reagents used for determining total mercury and its speciation as well as fractionation such as methylmercury, ethylmercury, elemental mercury, mercury sulphide and organically bound mercury by supposed selective (one reagent) and sequential (several reagents) extractions. The gathering information presented here bring to light the need for standard protocol for which the used chemical reagents should take into account the particular chemistry of mercury associated with specific properties of soil and sediment. Beside this required scheme, appropriate reference materials are also demanded.     

Direct evidence of chemical effect of surface-enhanced Raman scattering observed on electrochemically prepared rough gold substrates

In this study, polypyrrole (PPy) films were electrochemically deposited on gold substrates roughened by an electrochemical triangular-wave oxidation-reduction cycles (ORC) in an aqueous solution containing 0.1N KCl. Then the substrates were heated from 25 to 50 °C and the corresponding SERS performances of PPy were observed in situ. The results indicate that the SERS enhancement capabilities of substrates are gradually raised from 25 °C to a maximum at 40 °C and monotonically decreased from 40 to 50 °C. These SERS enhancement capabilities ascribed to the charge transfers from PPy to Au, which are responsible for the chemical effects of SERS mechanisms, are successfully observed via SERS and high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS) analyses. The variation in content of the oxidized PPy peak of the double peaks in the range of 1000-1150 cm⁻¹ in SERS spectrum obtained on an Au substrate at different temperatures is consistent with its corresponding variation in the SERS intensity of PPy. The variation in content of the oxidized nitrogen of PPy deposited on an Au substrate at different temperatures revealed from an HRXPS analysis also confirms this consistence.     

Morphological and phase evolution of TiO2 nanocrystals prepared from peroxotitanate complex aqueous solution: Influence of acetic acid

Nanosized anatase and rutile TiO₂ having different shape, phase and size have been prepared from aqueous solutions of peroxo titanium complex starting from titanium(IV) isopropoxide (TTIP), acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in water/isopropanol media by a facile sol-gel process. The TiO₂ nanocrystals are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, TEM, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) techniques. The influence of pH and the sequence of addition of reaction contents on the phase and morphology of TiO₂ are studied. The reasons for the observation of only anatase and/or mixture of anatase and rutile are given.     

Investigations by various analytical techniques to the correct classification of archaeological finds and delineation of technological features: Late Roman lamps from Egnatia: From imports to local production

Late Roman oil lamps from the archaeological site of Egnatia (Fasano, Brindisi, Italy) were characterized from physical–chemical, mineralogical and morphological points of view. Atomic Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction analyses were carried out on ceramic body and coatings with the aim of identifying the provenance of lamps, in order to arrive at a correct archaeological classification of finds and to outline their technological features.The analytical results show that the finds differ in raw materials and in production technology. The statistical multivariate treatment of compositional data of ceramic bodies groups the objects into two macro clusters and, according to a study of their different petrographic features and by a comparison with coeval pottery whose provenance is already known, suggests one group to have been imported from North Africa and the other to have been locally produced. Moreover, chemical results and in-depth archaeological analyses allow us to split the imported lamps into two subgroups, hypothesizing the first group to originate from central Tunisia and the second from the north of the same country.The analytical characterisation of finds, by different complementary techniques, has allowed us to identify the raw materials and the technological solutions used by the ancient potters from Egnatia to produce lamps. The potters made lamps which had an external appearance very similar to that of African prototypes, but which were nevertheless different as they employed the locally available materials.     

Micellar selectivity triangle for classification of chemical selectivity in electrokinetic chromatography

A novel micellar selectivity triangle (MST) is developed and used to characterize and classify the chemical selectivities of pseudo-phases in electrokinetic chromatography (EKC). The MST scheme is, in concept, similar to the widely known solvent selectivity triangle (SST) originally developed by Snyder. However, the MST is based on linear solvation energy relationships. Thus it incorporates the solvation characteristics of both the pseudo-phase and the bulk solvent; while the SST is basically for classification of pure solvents. The similarities and differences of these pseudo-phases are determined by the relative scales of hydrogen bond donating ability (X_b), hydrogen bond accepting ability (X_a) and dipolarity (X_s). The MST scheme is used for characterization and classification of a wide range of pseudo-phases such as micelles, polymers, vesicles, liposomes, as well as mixed systems such as mixed micelles, mixed polymer–surfactants, organically modified pseudo-phases, etc. Over seventy pseudo-phases were examined and four clusters of pseudo-phases with different selectivity patterns are recognized that include pseudo-phases with strong hydrogen bond acidities (e.g. fluorinated micelles or micelles modified with fluorinated alcohols), strong hydrogen bond acceptor pseudo-phases (such as bile salts, liposomes, microemulsions, as well as biphasic octanol–water system), strong dipolar phase of a class of polymeric pseudo-phase, and pseudo-phases with intermediate hydrogen bonding and dipolarity [like sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and its analogs as well as organically modified SDS]. The MST scheme is also useful in identifying pseudo-phases that closely resemble the selectivities of octanol–water for determination of octanol–water partition coefficients by EKC.     

Determination of beryllium by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry using tungsten surfaces and zirconium modifier

Electrothermal atomization of beryllium from graphite and tungsten surfaces was compared with and without the use of various chemical modifiers. Tungsten proved to be the best substrate, giving the more sensitive integrated atomic absorption signals of beryllium. Tungsten platform atomization with zirconium as a chemical modifier was used for the determination of beryllium in several NIST SRM certified reference samples, with good agreement obtained between the results found and the certified values. The precision of the measurements (at 10 μg L⁻¹), the limit of detection (3σ), and the characteristic mass of beryllium were 2.50%, 0.009 μg L⁻¹ and 0.42 pg, respectively.     

On the structure and cure acceleration of phenol-urea-formaldehyde resins with different catalysts

Phenol-urea-formaldehyde (PUF) resins with different catalysts [calcium oxide (CaO), sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃), zinc oxide (ZnO), and magnesium oxide (MgO)] were prepared to accelerate the cure of the resin at low temperature. The cure-acceleration effects of catalysts on chemical structure and cure characteristics of PUF resins were investigated by using both liquid ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The liquid ¹³C NMR analysis indicated that the catalyst such as CaO seemed to present a retarded effect on the polycondensation reaction of phenolic components with urea units, while the Na₂CO₃ appeared to promote the self-condensation reaction of phenolic methylol groups at para position toward the formation of para-para methylene linkage. Both ZnO and MgO in PUF resins promoted self-condensation reaction of para methylol groups and condensation reaction of ortho methylol groups with para methylol groups. The catalysts such as Na₂CO₃, ZnO, and MgO can make PUF resins cure at a low temperature. Among these catalysts, the MgO had the most significant accelerating effect on polycondensation and cure reaction of PUF resin.     

Smart templates for peak pattern matching with comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography

Comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LCxLC) generates information-rich but complex peak patterns that require automated processing for rapid chemical identification and classification. This paper describes a powerful approach and specific methods for peak pattern matching to identify and classify constituent peaks in data from LCxLC and other multidimensional chemical separations. The approach records a prototypical pattern of peaks with retention times and associated metadata, such as chemical identities and classes, in a template. Then, the template pattern is matched to the detected peaks in subsequent data and the metadata are copied from the template to identify and classify the matched peaks. Smart Templates employ rule-based constraints (e.g., multispectral matching) to increase matching accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate Smart Templates, with the combination of retention-time pattern matching and multispectral constraints, are accurate and robust with respect to changes in peak patterns associated with variable chromatographic conditions.     

Palladium-citric acid-ammonium fluoride as a matrix modifier for overcoming of interferences occurring during the direct determination of Sn in aqua regia extracts from environmental samples by D2-ETAAS

When tin is to be determined in such a complex matrix like aqua regia extracts of environmental samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS), spectral interferences occur when deuterium-lamp (D₂) background correction is used, even using high pyrolysis temperature of 1400 °C achieved with palladium with citric acid chemical modifier. We have found that the further addition of NH₄F to palladium with citric acid chemical modifier is essential for overcoming the above-mentioned problems for which aluminium oxide is most probably responsible. It is supposed, that NH₄F enables volatilization of the alumina matrix formed by hydrolysis from the chloride salt and interfering in a gas phase via the formation of AlF₃ which could be, in contrast to aluminium oxide, removed from the graphite furnace during the pyrolysis stage. Using the proposed chemical modifier, the direct and accurate determination of Sn in aqua regia extracts from rocks, soils and sediments is possible even when using matrix free standard solutions. This presumption was confirmed by the analysis of certified reference samples and by the comparison with inductively coupled plasma time of flight mass spectrometry (ICP-TOFMS) method. Characteristic mass and LOD value for the original sample (10-μL aliquots of sample) was 17 pg and 0.055 μg g⁻¹, respectively.