Evaluation of statistical control charts for on-line radiation monitoring

Statistical control charts are presented for the evaluation of time series radiation counter data from flow cells used for monitoring of low levels of ⁹⁹TcO₄⁻ in environmental solutions. Control chart methods consisted of the 3-sigma (3σ) chart, the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart, and the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart. Each method involves a control limit based on the detector background which constitutes the detection limit. Both the CUSUM and EWMA charts are suitable to detect and estimate sample concentration requiring less solution volume than when using a 3σ control chart. Data presented here indicate that the overall accuracy and precision of the CUSUM method is the best.     

In vivo neutron activation analysis of rats

A method of estimating total body calcium and sodium in rats by in vivo neutron activation analysis is described. The subjects were exposed to an integrated flux of about 1.6·10¹¹ thermal neutrons and activity was determined by counting with a 3″×3″ NaI(Tl) detector. The growth of the subjects was followed for about 75 days. The values of total body concentrations obtained are 0.83–0.90% for Ca and 0.128% for Na. Consideration is given to the accuracy attainable and to the effects on the blood and the hematopoietic tissues of the radiation doses imparted.     

Advanced technology for enrichment monitoring for gas centrifuge enrichment plants

We report our developments of the next generation of uranium enrichment monitoring technology for gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs). The main challenge presented by current technology is the need for periodic replacement of the short half-life (1.27 year) ¹⁰⁹Cd transmission source. We report on a transmission source at the 22.1 keV K-edge of ruthenium based on an X-ray tube with a “notch” filter. As part of the design we have modeled the NaI detector passive shielding with the MCNP code. Some preliminary results from experiments and modeling will be presented.     

Detection of positive and negative ions from a flowing atmospheric pressure afterglow using a mattauch-herzog mass spectrograph equipped with a faraday-strip array detector

An ambient desorption/ionization (ADI) source, known as the flowing atmospheric pressure afterglow (FAPA), has been coupled to a Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrograph (MHMS) equipped with a focal plane camera (FPC) array detector. The FAPA ionization source enables direct mass spectral analysis of solids, liquids, and gases through either positive or negative ionization modes. In either case, spectra are generally simple with dominant peaks being the molecular ions or protonated molecular ions. Use of the FAPA source with the MHMS allows the FPC detector to be characterized for the determination of molecular species, whereas previously only atomic mass spectrometry (MS) has been demonstrated. Furthermore, the FPC is shown to be sensitive to negative ions without the need to change any detector parameters. The analysis of solid, liquid, and gaseous samples through positive and negative ionization is demonstrated with detection limits (1–25 fmol/s, ∼0. 3–10 pg of analyte per mL of helium) surpassing those obtained with the FAPA source coupled to a time-of-flight mass analyzer.     

Dibenzo-18-crown-6 modified with kojic acid fragments

Diazonium salts were prepared by diazotization of 4′-amino-, 4′,4″-, and 4′,5″-diaminodibenzo-18-crown-6. Their coupling products with kojic acid (5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-γ-pyrone) were synthesized for the first time: 4′-(6-aza-5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-γ-pyronyl)-, 4′,4″-di-(6-aza-5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-γ-pyronyl)-, and 4′,5″-di-(6-aza-5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-γ-pyronyl)-dibenzo-18-crown-6. __________ Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 415–416, September–October, 2006.     

Comparison of phoswich and ARSA-type detectors for radioxenon measurements

The monitoring of atmospheric radioxenon to ensure compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has driven the development of improved detectors for measuring xenon, including the development of a phoswich detector. This detector uses only one PMT to detect β–γ coincidence, thus greatly reducing the bulk and electronics of the detector in comparison to the ARSA-type detector. In this experiment, ¹³⁵Xe was produced through neutron activation and a phoswich detector was used to attain spectra from the gas. These results were compared to similar results from an ARSA-type β–γ coincidence spectrum. The spectral characteristics and resolution were compared for the coincidence and beta spectra. Using these metrics, the overall performance of the phoswich detector for β–γ coincidence of radioxenon was evaluated.     

Modification of salsoline, salsolidine, and anabasine with dibenzo-24-crown-8-dicarboxylic acid dichloride

New derivatives of dibenzo-24-crown-8-dicarboxylic acid diamide with salsoline, salsolidine, and anabasine moieties were prepared by condensation of the alkaloids with 4′,4″(5″)-dibenzo-24-crown-8-dicarboxylic acid dichloride. __________ Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 471–473, September–October, 2006.     

Simultaneous non-destructive determination of Al,Si and K in tungsten with 14 MeV neutrons

A non-destructive simultaneous method has been developed for the rapid determination of Al, Si and K in WO₃ powders and W metal powders. The samples were activated by 14 MeV neutrons and the radioactive isotopes identified by their γ-ray spectra with a 3″×3″ NaI(Tl) detector. Quantitative analysis was carried out by measuring the full energy peak areas. The determined concentrations of Al, Si and K were above 100, 100 and 500 ppm, the sensitivities being about 20, 10 and 100 ppm, respectively.     

Synthesis and photophysical properties of some 6,6″-functionalized terpyridine derivatives

The synthesis and photophysical properties of several 6,6″ symmetrically substituted 4′-aryl-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine derivatives are reported herein. The UV-Vis spectra in acetonitrile as well as in dichloromethane show two intense bands in the UV areas 252–262 nm and 275–290 nm while the fluorescence emission spectra are only slightly influenced by chemical derivatization.     

Synthesis of natural triisopentenylated flavanone, euchrenone a2

Euchrenone a₂ (7) isolated from the roots ofEuchresta japonica has been synthesised from 3-prenylphloroacetophenone (1) by other workers. We carried out its cyclodehydrogenation with dichloro dicyano quinone (DDQ) to obtain 6-acetyl-5,7-dihydroxy-2,2-dimethylchromene (2) which was ethoxymethylated in the 7-position to give 6-acetyl-7-ethoxymethoxy-5-hydroxychromene (3). Chalcone condensation of3 and 4-ethoxymethoxy-3-C-prenylbenzaldehyde (4) gave 4,6′-bisethoxymethoxy-2′-hydroxy-6″, 6″-dimethyl-3-C-prenylpyrano (2″, 3″–4,3) chalcone (5) which cyclised with methanolic sodium acetate to give protected 5,4′-bisethoxymethoxy-6″, 6″-dimethyl-3′-C-prenylpyrano (2″, 3″–7,8) flavanone (6). Deprotection of6 with 4% methanolic HCl yielded (7) with melting point and spectral data identical to that of the natural compound.     

4′,4″(5″)-dibenzo-18-crown-6-diaryl-acetohydroxamic acids

4′,4″(5″)-(Dibenzo-18-crown-6)diarylacetohydroxamic acids were obtained by the reaction of DB18C-6 with β-nitrostyrenes under the influence of polyphosphoric acid. __________ Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 838–840, June, 2006.     

Thermal and environmental effects on Oligothiophene low-energy singlet electronic excitations in dilute solution: a theoretical and experimental study

The absorption spectra in dilute dichloromethane solution at 300 K of four Oligotiophenes (OT), namely 2,2′:5′,2″-Terthiophene, 2,2′:5′,2″:5″,2″′-Quaterthiophene, 4,4″′-Didodecyl-2,2′:5′,2″:5″,2″′-quaterthiophene and 5,5′′′′′-Dihexyl-2,2′:5′,2′′:5′′,2′′′:5′′′,2′′′′:5′′′′,2′′′′′-sexithiophene, have been studied both experimentally and theoretically by using a combination of molecular dynamics simulations, time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) and perturbed matrix method calculations. A deep analysis of the theoretical results, affected by a systematic although not dramatic underestimation of the absorption maxima due to the well-documented TD-DFT limitations, clearly indicates that both the environmental (solvent) and thermal effects significantly alter the Oligotiophenes photophysical properties mainly because of the wide repertoire of the S₀–S₁ energy gaps and electronic densities experienced in solution by the different conformers actually populated. In particular, all the investigated OT display a very high flexibility resulting in a very high repertoire of sampled conformations. The comparison of the calculated and experimental lineshape of the S₀–S₁ electronic transition has clearly indicated that for a correct modeling of OT spectral features, the lack of an exhaustive sampling of semiclassical configurational space of the overall system, i.e., solute in interaction with the solvent, might result in an incomplete picture even in the presence of well-documented important aspects such as reliable definition of excited electronic states and the inclusion of quantum vibronic effects.     

Synthesis of Bis(2,2-benzimidazolyl)dibenzo-18-crown-6

A method has been developed for the introduction of benzimidazole substituents into the dibenzo-18-crown-6 molecule by condensation of its 4′,4″(5″)-diacetyl derivative with ortho-phenylenediamine. Increasing the length of the hydrocarbon chain of the acyl substituent or replacing Ac by CSNH₂ led to a decrease in the yield of the desired product. No product was formed when Ac was replaced by COOH or CN. __________ Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 9, 1388–1390, September, 2005.     

Furofuran lignans from the bark of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Magnolia kobus</Emphasis>

A new furofuran lignan (1) along with four knownones (2-5) were isolated from the bark of Magnolia kobus. Their structures were elucidated as (+)-2α-(3’,4’-dimethoxyphenyl)-6α-(3″-hydroxy-4″,5″-dimethoxyphenyl)-3,7-dioxabicyclo[3.3.0]octane (1), (+)-sesamin (2), (+)-yangambin (3), (+)-kobusin (4), and (+)-eudesmin (5) on the basis of their comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, including 2D NMR, and by comparison of their spectral data with those of related compounds. Published in Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 4, pp. 338–341, July–August, 2008.     

Pros and cons of benzodiazepines screening in human saliva by ion mobility spectrometry

The usefulness of ion mobility spectrometry as a screening methodology for the on-site benzodiazepine analysis in saliva samples has been critically evaluated. The procedure involved the injection of clear supernatant extracts after centrifugation and provided limit of detection values ranging from 2.0 to 18 μg L⁻¹, and a precision, expressed as relative standard deviation, from 2.9% to 16%, depending on the different benzodiazepines studied. Those values are appropriate for their positive identification in saliva samples in which benzodiazepine concentration, after a chronic or acute dose, is in the range of 2–30 μg L⁻¹. Problems related with overlapped benzodiazepine signals have been successfully overcome by application of multivariate curve resolution, which is a helpful tool to improve the resolution of the technique, without sacrificing the method simplicity and frequency of analysis. The possibility of false positives caused by the presence of interferents with the same drift time as the benzodiazepines and the possibility of false negatives due to the presence of interferents by competitive ionization have been critically evaluated. The satisfactory results obtained for the analysis of real saliva samples after an acute dose of diazepam through sublingual and oral intakes confirm the capability of the technique to be used as a screening methodology in the analysis of benzodiazepines in oral fluids.     

Formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds in light-sensitive crystals of C-2′-(o-oxyphenyl)vinyl-N-p-methylphenyl nitrone,C-2′-(2″-oxy-5″-bromophenyl)vinyl-N-p-methylphenyl nitrone,C-2′-(2″-oxy-5″-bromophenyl)-vinyl-N-phenyl nitrone,and C-2′-(o-oxyphenyl)vinyl-n-methyl nitrone

This paper studies the crystal structure of new substituted light-sensitive azomethine N-oxides (nitrones): C-2′-(o-oxyphenyl)vinyl-N-p-methylphenyl nitrone (1), C-2′-(2″-oxy-5″-bromophenyl)vinyl-N-p-methylphenyl nitrone (2), C-2′-(2″-oxy-5″-bromophenyl)-vinyl-N-phenyl nitrone (3), and C-2′-(o-oxyphenyl)vinyl-N-methyl nitrone (4). In contrast to the compounds studied earlier [1, 2], C-2′-(β-oxy-α-naphthyl)vinyl-N-p-methylphenyl nitrone (5), C-2′-(β-oxy-α-naphthyl)vinyl-N-phenyl nitrone (6), C-2′-(o-oxyphenyl) vinyl-N-phenyl nitrone (7), and C-2′-(o-oxyphenyl)vinyl-N-p-bromophenyl nitrone (8), the nitrones studies in this work have anti-rather than syn-orientations of the nitrone and hydroxyl groups. Due to this spatial arrangement of the proton-donating hydroxyl and proton-accepting nitrone groups, molecules in crystals 1–4 are bonded by intermolecular hydrogen bonds (IHB) to form chains but not centrosymmetric dimeric associates (CDA). Two types of chain arrangements were revealed: “head-to-tail” and “head-to-tail, tail-to-head”. It is shown that the introduction of an alkyl substituent instead of an aryl one at the nitrogen atom of the nitrone group in 4 leads to a change in the geometry of the IHB in the H-associate. It is proven that the hydroxyl proton can undergo an intermolecular O→O transfer in the chain of hydrogen bonds in crystals 1–4, which can give rise to photochemical transformations in these crystals. Institute of Chemical Physics in Chernogolovka, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated fromZhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 349–362, March–April, 1996. Translated by L. Smolina     

Development and Validation of LC–MS Method for the Determination of Hydroxyzine Hydrochloride in Human Plasma and Subsequent Application in a Bioequivalence Study

A rapid, simple and specific liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for the determination of hydroxyzine hydrochloride in human plasma. Samples were separated using a Thermo Hypersil-HyPURITYC18 reversed-phase column (150 mm × 2.1 mm i.d., 5 μm). The mobile phase consisted of 50 mM ammonium acetate (pH 4.0)–methanol–acetonitrile (45:36:19, v/v). Hydroxyzine and its internal standard were measured by electrospray ion source in positive selective ion monitoring mode. The method was validated with a linear range of 1.56–200.0 ng mL⁻¹ and the lowest limit of quantification was 1.56 ng mL⁻¹ for hydroxyzine hydrochloride (r ²= 0.9991). The extraction efficiencies were about 70% and recoveries of the method were in the range of 93.5–104.4%. The intra-day relative standard deviation (RSD) was less than 8.0% and inter-day RSD was within 7.4%. QC samples were stable when kept at ambient temperature for 12 h at −20 °C for 30 days and after four freeze–thaw cycles. The method has been successfully applied to the evaluation of pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence of two hydroxyzine hydrochloride formulations in 12 healthy Chinese volunteers after an oral dose of 25 mg.     

Robustness testing of control charts employed by analytical laboratories

 The robustness of Shewhart control charts for subgroup means and subgroup ranges was tested by using the Monte Carlo method using training data sets comprising various numbers of points, with two repetitions in each subgroup (as in routine laboratory practice). The following control chart designs were tested: conventional based on the arithmetic mean and standard deviation, robust based on the median and/or the trimmed mean and Winsorized standard deviation, and a two-step design. The methods were applied to the system in the state of statistical control (outliers excluded) and to the system without statistical control (outliers included). Satisfactory results for both cases were only obtained when using the two-stage control charts. The conventional charts led to underestimation of the effect of outliers in the system without statistical control, whereas the robust control charts led to overestimation of the effect of outliers (false alarm) in the system under statistical control. The tests also gave evidence that the training set should include 20 points as a minimum. Received: 13 January 1997 Accepted: 12 February 1997     

DSC study of the kinetic parameters of the metastable phases formation during non-isothermal annealing of an Al–Si–Mg alloy

Kinetics of β″ and β′ precipitations in an AlSiMg have been studied under non-isothermal conditions using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. The variation of the activation energy as a function of transformed fraction is determined using two isoconversional methods of Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) and Friedman. The results obtained using the two methods show a change in the activation energy for both metastable phases precipitations as a function of transformed fraction. The results obtained from KAS method as compared with those obtained from Friedman method, show some major disagreements between the two methods. The growth exponent, determined by Ozawa method, decreases as a function of temperature for both phases.     

PMR and <Superscript>13</Superscript>C NMR spectra of biologically active compounds. XIII.* Structure and stereochemistry of a new phenylpropanoid glycoside isolated from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Onopordum acanthium</Emphasis> seeds

The structure of a new compound was determined using PMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy (HHCOSY, HSBC, HMBC, ROESY) as 2-[3′-methoxy,4-O-β-D-galactopyranos-1-yl)benzyl]-3-(3″,4″-dimethoxybenzyl)-4hydroxybutyric acid, which was isolated for the first time from seeds of Scotch thistle Onopordum acanthium L. *For No. XII, see [1]. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 53–55, January–February, 2009.