Chemical characterization of ancient potteries from Himera and Pestavecchia necropolis (Sicily, Italy) by Inductively Coupled Plasma–Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP–OES)

Thirty-eight samples of pottery were analyzed for determining chemical composition in order to establish their provenance. The potteries tested in the present research come from Himera and Pestavecchia archaeological sites. After digestion in microwave oven, the samples have been analyzed for fourteen minor elements (Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ga, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, Ti, Tl, and Zn) and six major elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, and Na). Chemical analysis was carried out by Inductively Coupled Plasma–Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP–OES). The most abundant minor elements are Cr, Ba and Ni. Cr concentration ranged from 66 to 3635 mg kg^{− 1}, Ba concentration ranged from 388 to 2677 mg kg^{− 1} and Ni concentration ranged from 35 to 1758 mg kg^{− 1}. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the replicates on the concentrations of analyzed metals ranged from 0.07% to 14%.The aim of this study is to assign the local or non-local provenance of the examined potteries, in particular validating and clarifying archaeological hypothesis based on the simple visual examination and stylistic characterization of ceramic objects. Principal component analysis performed on the dataset, together with the application of cluster technique and non statistical analysis, allowed the identification of three main groups of samples and a lonely one (R 97). In particular, sample R 97 shows high Cr concentration (3635 mg kg^{− 1}) and high Ni concentration (1758 mg kg^{− 1}), typical of Corinthian pottery. The results of chemical analysis show that the stylistic features are not always sufficient to correctly identify the origin of a ceramic object.     

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry characterization of the varnish and glue of an ancient 18th century double bass

A GC-MS investigation is conducted on the double bass "Panormus", property of Conservatorio di Musica "Vincenzo Bellini" in Palermo. The most important components of the varnish (fatty acids) and of the glue (proteinaceous amino acids), with which the musical instrument was treated in the past, are determined. The analyses are carried out by prior derivatization of fatty acids by acidic methanol and of amino acids by acidic methanol and trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA). Analytes identification is achieved by direct comparison with several reference materials and the use of a digitized library.     

Voltammetric determination of platinum in perfusate and blood: Preliminary data on pharmacokinetic study of arterial infusion with oxaliplatin

Because Platinum Group Elements have found widespread use in catalytic converters in cars and as chemotherapeutic agent, interest in the development of reliable analytical methods is carried out in order to monitor these analita in humans to protect the citizen's health.Considering that information on the levels of many trace elements in biological matrices is scarce and for many non-essential elements, baseline levels in the population, and especially in those particularly exposed to the risk are lacking, in this paper we optimize an analytical method for biological matrices, using a voltammetric technique to measure the concentration of Pt in blood and perfusate.The amount of Pt recovered from the blood and perfusate samples spiked with analita was observed to be meanly of 95% with 5–6% of R.S.D. These results indicated that proposed method for the determination of platinum in biological materials is accurate and reproducible.The amounts of platinum found in the blood samples of common ranged citizen were similar to quantification limit while in the patients the concentration ranged from 1.5 to 360 μg/L, in perfusate ranged from 0.7 to 9700 μg/l. The concentrations of Pt of populace and in patients before of infusion are in agreement with the level measured in the blood of unexposed patients.The proposed analytical method permits to determine the amount of Pt in the perfusate and subsequently absorbed by the target organs in order to determine the dose and timing of treatment and to avoid overdoses with related undesired effects.     

Preliminary study on analysis and removal of wax from a Carrara marble statue

Abstract

This preliminary study has mainly focused on the wax identification by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and removal. Wax is used for many purposes in the field of art as protective coatings on wooden, stone or metal objects. From the comparison of the spectra H NMR and in particular with the correspondence of the resonance peaks of the samples taken from the statue and beeswax and paraffin, we can conclude that the wax applied on the statue surface is beeswax. From our data, it can be concluded that, to remove the beeswax, from any stone support, the more effective solvent is the mixture of cyclohexane/ethyl acetate. The removal percentages ranged from 19 to 99%. Lower percentages of removal have been observed in the case of yellow marble, probably because of its high porosity. We can affirm that, this solvent mixture can be employed in real art objects using cotton swabs to remove protective wax.     

The use of leaves of Rosmarinus officinalis L. as samplers for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Assessment of air quality in the area of Palermo

The quantitative analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in vegetables and animals allows us to evaluate the quality of air, in a determined geographic area, without the need of making long samplers with complicate instrumentation. In this work, Rosmarinus officinalis leaves have been used as passive samplers. In particular, this plant was chosen because it is widespread in the Mediterranean area and it is commonly found both in the metropolitan and in the peripheral areas of the city of Palermo. Results for the concentration of total polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (the sum of the 22 compounds) and the PAHs distribution in leaves from Rosmarinus officinalis are presented. Purified extracts were analyzed by GC-MS.     

Speciation studies of iron in ancient pots from Sicily (Italy)

Manufacture technology involves several aspects of pottery making, such as the type and the atmosphere of firing to obtain the finished item. During the firing of clay, at different environment of the oven, different compounds of iron (Fe(II) and Fe(III)) are formed and this is the reason for a different color of the ceramic body. Despite the great interest in this field, no works are devoted to the study the speciation of iron in ancient ceramics.The proposed method, even if considered destructive by archaeologists, allows the speciation of iron, using quantity of sample in the order of milligram. In order to achieve information about their firing conditions, thirty-nine pottery samples belonging to the archaeological Sicilian site of Himera (Sicily, Italy) were characterized for Fe(II) and Fe(III) by means of a UV-Vis spectrophotometric method proposed by us, while total iron was checked by ICP-OES. Were identified two groups of samples, the first (A), which is particularly rich in Fe(II) (the archaeologists have not identified the stylistic characteristics of most of this samples) the last group is instead rich Fe(III).     

Plant Oil Bodies: Novel Carriers to Deliver Lipophilic Molecules

Oil bodies (OBs) are specialised organelles ubiquitously detected in plant oil seeds, which serve as lipid storage compartments. OBs consist of a hydrophobic core of triacylglycerol (TAGs), surrounded by a monolayer of phospholipids (PLs) embedded with some specific proteins with a size ranging from 0.5 to 2 μm. In this work, we report an easy method to reconstitute OBs starting from their constituents and to encapsulate lipophilic molecules, i.e. the fluorescent fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and carboxyfluorescein (CF), into reconstituted OBs. This methods allowed us to produce OBs 4- to 10-fold smaller (50–200 nm) than the native one and to obtain a good recovery (about 40%) of both the fluorescent compounds used in the present work. The properties of reconstituted OBs were investigated by a combination of Brewster angle microscopy, scanning force microscopy, ζ-potential techniques. OBs were stable and formed ordered monolayers when patterned on hydrophobic substrates whereas they showed a higher tendency to aggregate into larger, coalescing OBs when were deposited onto hydrophilic substrates or at the air/water interface. Furthermore, we verified the uptake of FITC-loaded OBs by the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Our results indicated that OBs could be envisaged as novel carriers to deliver hydrophobic bioactive compounds.     

Platinum levels in urban soils from Palermo (Italy); Analytical method using voltammetry

A fast accumulation of platinum in the environmental and biological matrices was observed in the last years and concern arose about potential environmental and health risks.The toxicity of platinum species has been investigated in various studies, some of their, especially the chlorinated ones, are very toxic and allergenic. Information of the acute toxicity of some Pt-chlorinated salts and evidence of DNA damage due to Pt exposure have been observed both in vitro and in vivo.Taking into account what is written above, the development of reliable analytic methods to measure very low Pt concentrations is required. In this work was developed a reliable method for the determination of Pt in soils because of inherent difficulties in using conventional techniques, in particular, the ICP-OES technique. A determination of Pt using ICP-MS, for instance, is problematic, due to interfering signals. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV/a) was employed by us for the determination of platinum in soils collected in Palermo area. Possible interferences by other environmental metals have been also evaluated.All samples show concentrations of Pt above average upper crust values; concentrations were found in the ranges 0.6–2240 μ/kg d.w. We carried out linear regression analysis between total Pt concentrations in soils obtained in this work and Pt concentrations in leaves of Nerium oleander measured in previous researches. The high correlation coefficient obtained confirms the geographical distribution of the considered pollutant in the Palermo area.     

Neolithic ceramic findings from western Sicily. Chemical-physical and mineralogical characterization

This paper presents the results of a study that is part of a wider research program regarding the knowledge of the initial living phases of Sicilian agricultural and pastoral societies. Three ceramic samples attributed to the medium initial Neolithic (NEO1 and NEO2) and to the first neolithic (NEO3), recovered in two different archaeological sites of the western Sicily, have been analysed. Chemical, mineralogical and spectroscopic data point out a similarity between NEO1 and NEO3 samples; compositional and morphological differences instead have been observed in the NEO2 sample. The firing temperatures of the samples have been estimated by M?ssbauer spectroscopy; they are lower than 500 degrees C for the samples NEO1 and NEO3, and about 700 degrees C for NEO2.