Online large volume sample staking preconcentration and separation of enantiomeric GHRH analogs by capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoresis method is proposed to analyze the four most well-known growth hormone–releasing hormone (GHRH) analogs that are misused by athletes. Dimethyl-β-cyclodextrin used as a chiral selector allowed, for the first time, the separation of those basic peptide analogs, including enantiopeptides (sermorelin and CJC-1293) that differ by the chirality of only one amino acid. To increase the method sensitivity, electrokinetic preconcentration methods have been investigated. The large volume sample stacking with polarity switching (PS-LVSS) method with an injected sample volume corresponding to 80% of the capillary one was found superior to the sweeping in terms of signal enhancement factor (SEF). Acid and organic solvent addition to the sample (0.1 mM phosphoric acid with 30% methanol) led to a twofold signal improvement, when compared to water as a matrix. We increased capillary dimensions to provide a signal enhancement through the injection of a larger sample volume. Finally, using a combination of the optimized PS-LVSS preconcentration with the chiral capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), the GHRH analogs were separated and limits of detection between 75 and 200 ng/mL were reached. This method was successfully applied to urine after a desalting step. An optimized C18 SPE was used for that purpose in order to provide low sample conductivity (<130 µS/cm) and preserve the efficiency of LVSS preconcentration. SEF of 640 was obtained with desalted urine spiked with sermorelin by comparison to the CZE (without preconcentration) method.     

Calorimetric study of the proximity effect in aliphatic diesters

Excess molar enthalpies,H ^E , at atmospheric pressure and 303.15 K are reported for binary mixtures of 1-chlorohexane with diethyl oxalate, diethyl malonate, diethyl succinate, diethyl glutarate, diethyl adipate, diethyl pimelate and diethyl sebacate. These experimental results, together with those obtained previously on the excess enthalpies of aliphatic diester+n-hexane mixtures, are interpreted in terms of molecular surface interactions between aliphatic, chlorinated and carboxylate groups. Comparison of the enthalpy interchange parameters reveals a decrease of the intermolecular interactions with decreasing intramolecular COO-COO distance in the diester molecule.

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Zusammenfassung Bei Atmosphärendruck und 303,15 K gemessene molare Überschußenthalpien (H ^E werden für binäre Gemische von 1-Chlorhexan mit Diäthyloxalat, Diäthylmalonat, Diäthylsuccinat, Diäthylglutarat, Diäthyladipat, Diäthylpimelat bzw. Diäthylsebacat angegeben. Diese experimentellen Ergebnisse werden zusammen mit den früher für Gemische von aliphatischen Diestern und n-Hexan erhaltenen Resultaten als molekulare Oberflächenwechselwirkungen zwischen aliphatischen, chlorierten und Carboxylatgruppen interpretiert. Ein Vergleich der Enthalpieaustauschparameter läßt eine Verminderung der intermolekularen Wechselwirkungen mit abnehmendem intramolekularem Abstand zwischen den COO-Gruppen erkennen.

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(H ^E ) 303,15 K 1- , , , , , . , + -, , . COO-COO .

     

Identification of the Out-of-Plane Shear Modulus of a 3D Woven Composite

This study deals with the identification of macroscopic elastic parameters of a layer-to-layer interlock woven composite from a full-field measurement. As this woven composite has a coarse microstructure, the characteristic length of the weaving is not small as compared to the specimen size. A procedure based on an inverse identification method and full-field digital image correlation kinematic measurement is proposed to exploit a three-point bending test on short coupons to characterize the out-of-plane shear modulus. Each step of the proposed procedure is presented, and their respective uncertainty is characterized with the help of numerical simulations. The shear modulus is identified with an accuracy of about 1.5 % and is 15 % lower than the estimate obtained through Iosipescu tests. The proposed procedure shows a correlation between the ideal mesh size and the weaving period. It also reveals that the actual boundary conditions deviate from the ideal ones and hence a special attention is paid to their optimization.