Certification of nitrate in spinach powder reference material SPIN-1 by high-precision isotope dilution GC–MS

A high-precision exact-matching quadruple isotope dilution method (ID⁴MS) was employed for the quantitation of nitrate in an air-dried spinach powder Certified Reference Material (CRM). The analyte was extracted in hot water following addition of ¹⁵NO\({}_{3}^{-}\) internal standard. The blend was then treated with sulfamic acid to remove nitrite and with triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate to promote aqueous conversion of nitrate into volatile EtONO₂. The derivative was analyzed by headspace GC–MS with 3-min elution time. The method performance was validated with a series of tests which demonstrated adequate selectivity and ruggedness. This method supported the development of novel SPIN-1 CRM giving a modest contribution to its uncertainty (u_char = 0.85%). With respect to previous attempts, the SPIN-1 was proven stable, homogeneous (u_hom = 0.44%), and suitable for spinach monitoring under EU regulations. On dried basis, the nitrate content of SPIN-1 was found to be 22.53 ± 0.43 mg/g (U_c = 1.9%, k = 2). The material was also used in an inter-laboratory study where four laboratories employed a total of ten measurement methods.

SPIN-1 Certified Reference Material for nitrate in spinach powder

     

Novel Stereoselective Phase Transfer Catalytic Synthesis and Some Applications of ( E )-2-Chlorovinylthioarenes and Hetarenes

A novel two-step method for the preparation of ( E )-2-chlorovinylthioarenes (or hetarenes) from thiols and 1,1,2-trichloroethane in the phase transfer catalytic systems solid K 2 CO 3 /solid KI/18-crown-6/xylene and solid KOH/18-crown-6/toluene has been developed. ( E )-2-chlorovinylthioarenes were isolated in yields up to 98%. Utilization of ( E )-2-chlorovinylthioarenes in the Heck and Stille reactions has been shown.     

The commutant of L(H) in its ultrapower may or may not be trivial

Kirchberg asked in 2004 whether the commutant of L(H) in its (norm) ultrapower is trivial. Assuming the Continuum Hypothesis, we prove that the answer depends on the choice of the ultrafilter.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of EXAFS in germanium

Classical molecular dynamics simulations have been performed for crystalline germanium with the aim to estimate the thermal effects within the first three coordination shells and their influence on the single-scattering and multiple-scattering contributions to the Ge K-edge extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS).     

Comparing the uniformity invariants of null sets for different measures

It is shown to be consistent with set theory that the uniformity invariant for Lebesgue measure is strictly greater than the corresponding invariant for Hausdorff r-dimensional measure where 0<r<1.