Investigation of the Cu-Zr-Y oxides activity in the carbon black catalytic oxidation by differential thermal analysis and temperature programmed reduction

Different copper/zirconium-yttrium catalysts have been tested in carbon black oxidation reaction. Supported mainly on differential thermal analysis and temperature programmed reduction, two different mechanisms have been proposed to explain the catalytic results. In the absence of copper, it has been shown that Zr³⁺ ions and associated anionic vacancies are responsible to the catalytic enhancement observed in the mixed oxides, oxygen species being activated on these sites. Among mixed zirconia-yttria solids, ZrO₂-5 mol%Y₂O₃ is the most active catalyst. Copper impregnation on these oxides leads to the formation of different copper species. Small particles of CuO in low interaction with the support, induce a catalytic improvement due to the highest reducibility of these species. Moreover, in order to be more efficient, CuO species should have some interactions with the support, since impregnated samples are more active than the simple mechanical mixtures.     

Rapid analysis of intact phospholipids from whole bacterial cells by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry combined with on-probe sample pretreatment

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), utilizing an on-probe sample pretreatment, was applied to the rapid and direct detection of intact phospholipids from whole bacterial cells. The sample preparation procedure involved depositing growing bacterial colonies from culture dishes directly onto the MALDI probe followed by treatment of the sample spot with a 3 micro L aliquot of an aqueous 0.05 M solution of sodium iodide prior to the addition of a 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) matrix solution (ca. 8 mg dissolved in 70% acetonitrile/30% H(2)O containing 0.1% of trifluoroacetic acid). The MALDI spectra obtained from whole bacteria cells showed a series of ions generated from bacterial phospholipids, such as phosphatidylethanol-amines (PEs) and phosphatidylglycerols (PGs), which were clearly observed as well-resolved peaks. The ranges of the observed total carbon numbers in two acyl groups for PEs and PGs (30-36 and 33-36, respectively) were in good agreement with those reported previously. Furthermore, the distinct discrimination of four species of the Enterobacteriaceae family cultured identically was achieved by using principal components analysis (PCA) conducted on the relative peak intensities of phospholipids observed from the MALDI spectra.     

Matching Zerilli to Chandrasekhar-Esposito through the first post-Newtonian order

The results obtained from an analysis of the wave zone of the Zerilli equation by Anderson, Kates, Kegeles, and Madonna are reviewed. An asymptotic gauge transformation is then developed in order to transform the metric from Regge-Wheeler gauge to Chandrasekhar and Esposito gauge, through the first post-Newtonian (PN) order. The transformation is carried out and the transformed wave zone metric is matched to the Chandrasekhar-Esposito (CE) metric.     

Single bubble sonochemistry: decomposition of alkyl bromide and the isomerization reaction of maleic acid

Single bubble cavitation offers an unique opportunity to evaluate the effect of bubble activity in promoting chemical reactions. In this paper we study the isomerization reaction of maleic acid into fumaric acid using an aqueous solution of maleic acid saturated with CH2Br2. The Br* radicals are generated at the bubble surface and a whitish thread forms. For comparison, the same reaction was conducted in a sonochemical bath. A possible scheme of the reactions activated at bubble surface after the decomposition of organic brominated substances is proposed.     

Investigation of cell culture media infected with viruses by pyrolysis mass spectrometry: Implications for bioaerosol detection

Mass spectrometry coupled with a pyrolysis inlet system was used to investigate media from cell cultures infected with viruses. Cell culture media is an intricate mixture of numerous chemical constituents and cells that collectively produce complicated mass spectra. Cholesterol and free fatty acids were identified and attributed to lipid sources in the media (blood serum supplement and plasma membranes of host cells). These lipid moieties could be utilized as signature markers for rapidly detecting the cell culture media. Viruses are intracellular parasites and are dependent upon host cells in order to exist. Therefore, it is highly probable that significant quantities of media needed to grow and maintain viable host cells would be present if a viral agent were disseminated as an aerosol into the environment. Cholesterol was also detected from a purified virus sample, further substantiating its use as a target compound for detection. Implications of this research for detection of viral bioaerosols, using a field-portable pyrolysis mass spectrometer, is described.     

Carbon black and propylene oxidation over Ru/CoxMgyAl2Oz catalysts

The effects of Co_xMg_yAl₂O_z mixed oxides composition and ruthenium addition on the oxidation of propylene and carbon black (CB) were investigated. Different reactive cobalt and ruthenium oxide species were formed following calcination at 600 °C. The addition of ruthenium was beneficial for the CB oxidation under “loose contact” conditions and for propylene oxidation when the cobalt content was intermediate to low. The calculated activation energy for CB oxidation was decreased from 151 kJ mol⁻¹ for the uncatalyzed reaction to 111 kJ mol⁻¹ over the best catalyst.     

Total Oxidation of Propene and Toluene on Copper/Yttrium Doped Zirconia

The catalytic oxidation of propene and toluene has been investigated on pure ZrO₂, pure Y₂O₃, and ZrO₂ doped with 1, 5, and 10 mol % Y₂O₃ in the presence or absence of copper (0.5, 1, and 5 wt%). A synergetic effect has been detected since ZrO₂ and Y₂O₃ exhibit significantly lower activities than the mixed oxides. The higher surface areas, related to structural change from mononoclinic (ZrO₂) to tetragonal (ZrO₂–;;Y₂O₃), partly explained the higher activity of ZrO₂–;;Y₂O₃. However, it has been shown that the number of anionic vacancies, created by the substitution of Zr⁴⁺ by Y³⁺, in yttria-stabilized zirconia solids depends on the yttrium contents. Their effect on propene and toluene oxidation activity is significant. The anionic vacancies should induce better activity of the ZrO₂—5 mol % Y₂O₃ catalyst with or without copper, which presents the higher number of Zr³⁺ species. This support should favor the formation of CuO particles, which should be the most active catalytic sites in the studied reaction.     

The role of vapour pressure in multibubble sonoluminescence from organic solvents

The action of high intensity cavitation on several liquid halocarbons (C(2)Cl(4) CCl(4), CHCl(3), C(2)H(2)Br(4)) and other organic solvents (acetone, benzene and their mixtures) was investigated by recording multibubble sonoluminescence UV-Vis spectra over the temperature range between 246 and 298 K. The temperature induced variation of some thermophysical properties of the solvents Favours the interpretations of their role in determining the salient characteristics of the recorded spectra. We observed that high volatility does not necessarily quench sonoluminescence emission and that argon flow plays a key role in the appearance of radical emission lines. While for each investigated substance the intensity of C*(2) emission lines was clearly correlated to temperature, a comparative test between different halocarbons did not show a clear correlation with vapour pressure. Following recently reported results which evidenced the formation of dynamically differentiated populations of emitting bubbles in sulphuric acid, we performed MBSL experiments in liquid mixtures of halocarbons and sulphuric acid to investigate the correlation between the production of emitting species and the halocarbon volatility.     

Detection of Escherichia coli using immunomagnetic separation and bacteriophage amplification coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The application of whole cell analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) has emerged as a valuable tool for rapidly identifying/detecting bacteria. This technique requires minimal sample preparation and is simple to perform, but is generally limited to purified samples of bacteria at concentrations greater than 1.0 x 10(6) cells/mL. In this paper, we describe a bacterial detection method that integrates immunomagnetic separation with bacteriophage amplification prior to MALDI-MS analysis. The developed method consists of three main stages: (1) isolation of a target bacterium by immunomagnetic separation; (2) infection of the immuno-captured bacterium with a lytic bacteriophage; and (3) assay of infected medium for bacteriophage progeny using MALDI-MS to produce a molecular weight signal for the virus capsid protein. With this technique, the presence of Escherichia coli in broth was determined in less then 2 h total analysis time at a concentration of approximately 5.0 x 10(4) cells/mL.