New materials: analytical and environmental applications in ion chromatography

This review details ion chromatography developments and related applications, mainly in the field of environmental analysis, gained by the evolution in the science and technology for new stationary phases. Unconventional approaches to ion chromatographic separations are also outlined.     

Biosensors based on screen-printing technology,and their applications in environmental and food analysis

This review summarizes scientific research activity on biosensors, especially screen-printed, electrode-based biosensors. The basic configurations of biosensors based on screen-printing technology are discussed and different procedures for immobilization of the biorecognition component are reviewed. Theoretical aspects are exemplified by practical environmental and food-analysis applications of screen-printed, electrode-based biosensors.     

Ionic liquid applications in peptide chemistry: synthesis, purification and analytical characterization processes

This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the recent advances made in the field of ionic liquids in peptide chemistry and peptide analytics.     

Molecularly imprinted polymers-based sensors for bisphenol-A: Recent developments and applications in environmental,food and biomedical analysis

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well-known endocrine-disrupting industrial compound that is found throughout many aspects of our daily life; from the water we drink and the food we eat to the babies’ bottles and children’s plastic toys. Chronic exposure to BPA may result in some severe medical issues which account for the great importance of its monitoring and removal from everyday products. The use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for that purpose has acquired a lot of traction in recent decades. MIPs are artificial antibodies with selective recognition cavities for specifically targeted substances. They are created using a variety of synthetic methods and employed in numerous types of sensors to be used in a wide range of applications. In this review, we focus on the different production methods of MIPs and the varied types of electrochemical and optical sensors that employed MIPs to detect and analyze BPA. Finally, the broad variety of applications of MIPs in environmental, foodstuff, and biological samples are thoroughly examined. Future expected trends and prospective developments are also assessed.     

Czechoslovakian biological certified reference materials and their use in the analytical quality assurance system in a trace element laboratory

Summary The Trace Element Laboratory of the University of Agriculture in Prague (CSFR) participated successfully in interlaboratory experiments on the determination of the contents of trace elements in seven Czechoslovakian reference materials. Czechoslovakian certified reference material CRM 12-02-01 (Bovine liver) was used for the development of a new analytical method using the Dry Mineralizer Apion as well as in analytical quality assessment of data in the determination of Cd, Pb, and Hg contents in routinely analyzed animal tissues.     

Quality assurance in biological monitoring of environmental exposure to pollutants: from reference materials to external quality assessment schemes

The presence of chemicals in the environment is a matter of concern in that it poses potential health risks. At present, exposure to toxic chemicals and their biological and biochemical effects can be better estimated by biological monitoring, through the systematic collection of specimens from potentially exposed humans. Biological monitoring of human exposure to environmental pollutants is hampered by the difficulty to assess data reliability. As a consequence, the validity of biological monitoring should depend on the strict implementation of a quality assurance (QA) program, which includes a series of procedures aiming to ensure that laboratory results meet defined standards of quality and are reliable. For the validation and monitoring of methods’ performance, to ensure the trueness of measurements and to warrant the traceability to international standards, reference materials (RMs) and certified reference materials should be used. Internal quality control and external quality assessment (EQA) are part of overall QA and are carried out to verify that analytical errors are compatible with the specific requirements or needs of the user. In particular EQA schemes (EQAS) allow to test independently the analytical performance of participating laboratories. In the last decades, increasing concern has been raised by urban air pollution; lead and benzene, two gasoline components released by motor vehicle exhausts, are known to be toxic to humans. For biological monitoring of lead exposure of the general population, screening campaigns, utilizing lead in blood as a biomarker, have been carried out since the 1970s. Strict strategies were adopted to ensure data comparability, including the preparation of RMs, the organization of EQAS and the cross-exchange and analysis of blood samples between laboratories. Biological monitoring of benzene exposure could be carried out by means of various biomarkers such as benzene in blood and benzene, trans,trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA) and S-phenylmercapturic acid (S-PMA) in urine. At present, few RMs and EQAS are available for these biomarkers. A pilot EQAS for t,t-MA in urine, adopted to assess the reliability of data regarding benzene exposure, has been organized and carried out between 1996 and 1997 in Italy. From the accrued experience, it clearly emerges the importance of strategies designed to guarantee the quality of biological monitoring data. The use of RMs and the participation in EQAS are highly recommended in order to improve the global performance of methods and laboratories involved in biological monitoring.     

Graphene nanosheet: synthesis, molecular engineering, thin film, hybrids, and energy and analytical applications

The emergence of graphene nanosheet (GN, 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics) has recently opened up an exciting new field in the science and technology of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials with continuously growing academic and technological impetus. GN exhibits unique electronic, optical, magnetic, thermal and mechanical properties arising from its strictly 2D structure and thus has many important technical applications. Actually, GN-based materials have enormous potential to rival or even surpass the performance of carbon nanotube-based counterparts, given that cheap, large-scale production and processing methods for high-quality GN become available. Therefore, the studies on GN in the aspects of chemistry, physical, materials, biology and interdisciplinary science have been in full flow in the past five years. In this critical review, from the viewpoint of chemistry and materials, we will cover recent significant advances in synthesis, molecular engineering, thin film, hybrids, and energy and analytical applications of the "star-material" GN together with discussion on its major challenges and opportunities for future GN research (315 references).     

Topological data analysis: A promising big data exploration tool in biology,analytical chemistry and physical chemistry

An important feature of experimental science is that data of various kinds is being produced at an unprecedented rate. This is mainly due to the development of new instrumental concepts and experimental methodologies. It is also clear that the nature of acquired data is significantly different. Indeed in every areas of science, data take the form of always bigger tables, where all but a few of the columns (i.e. variables) turn out to be irrelevant to the questions of interest, and further that we do not necessary know which coordinates are the interesting ones. Big data in our lab of biology, analytical chemistry or physical chemistry is a future that might be closer than any of us suppose. It is in this sense that new tools have to be developed in order to explore and valorize such data sets. Topological data analysis (TDA) is one of these. It was developed recently by topologists who discovered that topological concept could be useful for data analysis. The main objective of this paper is to answer the question why topology is well suited for the analysis of big data set in many areas and even more efficient than conventional data analysis methods. Raman analysis of single bacteria should be providing a good opportunity to demonstrate the potential of TDA for the exploration of various spectroscopic data sets considering different experimental conditions (with high noise level, with/without spectral preprocessing, with wavelength shift, with different spectral resolution, with missing data).