Ultrasonication extraction and gel permeation chromatography clean-up for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in edible oil by an isotope dilution gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

An analytical method for the determination of US EPA priority pollutant 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in edible oil was developed by an isotope dilution gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Extraction was performed with ultrasonication mode using acetonitrile as solvent, and subsequent clean-up was applied using narrow gel permeation chromatographic column. Three deuterated PAHs surrogate standards were used as internal standards for quantification and analytical quality control. The limits of quantification (LOQs) were globally below 0.5 ng/g, the recoveries were in the range of 81–96%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were lower than 20%. Further trueness assessment of the method was also verified through participation in international cocoa butter proficiency test (T0638) organised by the FAPAS with excellent results in 2008. The results obtained with the described method were satisfying (z ≤ 2). The method has been applied to determine PAH in real edible oil samples.     

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes/cryogel composite, a new sorbent for determination of trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

A new cost-effective sorbent, multiwalled carbon nanotubes/poly (vinyl alcohol) cryogel composite (MWCNTs/PVA), was prepared under frozen conditions for the extraction and preconcentration of trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples. This was followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The proposed method provided a high enrichment factor with an extremely high extraction efficiency (89–98%) of three spiked levels of three standard PAHs with relative standard deviations of less than 8%. The low detection limits of the method were 5, 8 and 5 ng L^{− 1} for benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and benzo(a)pyrene, respectively. This method was successfully applied for the determination of the three PAHs in real water samples where they were found in the range of 7 to 22 ng L^{− 1}. The major advantages of MWCNTs/PVA over the commercial C₁₈ is that it can be operated at a higher loading flow rate without sorbent clogging and requires a shorter time for completion without any loss of extraction efficiency.     

H-D exchange on graphite–potassium intercalation compounds

Potassium graphite intercalation compounds are able to activate C–H bonds of hydrocarbons at room temperature. In this paper, the hydrogen–deuterium exchange of CHD₃ in the presence of C₈K, C₂₄K and C₃₆K is described.     

Estimation of the ionization potential for polyhalogenated hydrocarbons by weakest bound potential method

The weakest bound potential method was proposed to estimate the ionization potential (IP) of polyhalogenated methanes, that is, the model IP = aχ_ve + bPEI_fi + c was developed, in which χ_ve is molecular electronegativity calculated by valence electrons equilibration method, and polarizability effect index (PEI)_fi is the influence of polarizability effect. The result indicates that the model is reasonable and effective to predict the IP for polyhalogenated methanes. Besides, the quantum chemistry method, the MOPAC AM1 method, and the density functional theory (B3LYP) method were employed to calculate the IP values of the same polyhalogenated methanes, and those results were less than that of the weakest bound potential method. Furthermore, the experimental values of 67 polyhalogenated hydrocarbons were correlated with the parameters χ_ve and PEI_fi. The regression results show a good correlation (R = 0.988), and the average absolute error between the experimental values and the calculated values is only 0.10 eV. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A chromatoscopic study of fluorene,indenes and styrene

Summary A molecular-statistical calculation of the retention volumes at zero sample size on graphitized thermal carbon black is carried out for quasi-rigid molecules of fluorene, indene, 1-methylindene, 2-methylindene and three dimethylindenes. A reasonable agreement is observed between the calculated and the available experimental gas chromatographic data. The potential barrier to internal rotation and the torsional angle in styrene molecules are estimated by comparing theoretically calculated and measured retention volumes.     

Bioremediation of contaminated groundwater

Contaminated groundwater from industrial areas in former East Germany was biologically treated using lab-scale solid-state reactors. The ability of bacterial strains of the autochroneous microflora to utilize representative pollutants was tested.     

Conversions of hydrocarbons treated with neodymium metal under the conditions of mechanochemical activation at room temperature

The conversions of cyclohexene and 1,3- and 1,4-cyclohexadiencs treated with neodymium metal under the conditions of mechanochemical activation at 20 °C have been studied. A complicated cycle of conversions, including isomerization, disproportionation, and polymerization, occurs under the reaction conditions. A mechanism for the conversion of the hydrocarbons involving organornetallic intermediates is proposed.The conversion of hexane under the conditions used for the reactions with cyclohexene and cyclohexadienes varies only slightly, which makes it possible to use hexane as the internal standard.Deceased.Translated fromlzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 1386–1390, June, 1996.     

Topological hamiltonian spectra of polycyclic benzenoid hydrocarbons

A general theory which points out the relations between Hückel-electron energy, the number of Kekulé structures and the HOMO-LUMO separation is presented. Some normalized topological invariants are derived from the concept of the spectral density function. A reasonably simple (three parameters) model spectral density function leads to universal relations between topological invariants that, although valid for any alternant molecule, were tested numerically for polycyclic benzenoid hydrocarbons. Some general conclusions concerning a distribution of the adjacency matrix eigenvalues are drawn.