Measurement/data-processing method to improve the ruggedness of membrane-based sensors: Application to amperometric oxygen sensor

This paper describes alternative measurement and data-processing approaches that can reduce effects of experimental variables on results obtained with a membrane-based sensor for oxygen. In the new approaches, the membrane-based sensor is first equilibrated with the sample solution, after which a polarizing voltage is applied and current vs. time data are recorded as the response decays toward a steady-state condition. Current vs. time data are then processed by a fixed-time option and an integration option designed to determine the charge corresponding to the total amount of oxygen inside the membrane when a polarizing voltage is applied. The current measured at a fixed time and the total charge varied linearly with oxygen concentration between 0.05 and 0.26 mmol l(-1). Pooled relative standard deviations (N = 35) for the measurement/data-processing step were near 0.4% for the new pre-equilibrium options compared to a value of 0.3% for the steady-state option. Dependencies of the pre-equilibrium options on membrane thickness and stirring rate in the most sensitive regions were at least two orders of magnitude smaller than for the steady-state option.     

A Novel Adsorptive Square Wave Voltammetric Method for Pico Molar Monitoring of Lorazepam at Gold Ultra Microelectrode in a Flow Injection System by Application of Fast Fourier Transform Analysis

Abstract

This paper describes development of a new analysis system for determination of lorazepam by a novel square wave voltammetry method to perform a very sensitive method. The method used for determination of lorazepam involves measuring the changes in admittance voltammogram of a gold ultramicroelectrode (in 0.05 M H₃PO₄ solution) caused by adsorption of the lorazepam on the electrode surface. Variation of admittance in the detection process is created by inhibition of oxidation reaction of the electrode surface, by adsorbed lorazepam. Furthermore, signal-to-noise ratio is significantly increased by application of discrete fast Fourier transform (FFT) method, background subtraction, and two-dimensional integration of the electrode response over a selected potential range and time window. Also in this work, some parameters such as SW frequency, eluent pH, and accumulation time were optimized. Calibration plots are given for solutions containing 10^?6–10^?11 M of lorazepam. The detection limit is calculated to be 6.0 × 10^?12 M (～ 2 pg/ml). The relative standard deviation at concentration 3.0 × 10^?8 M is 6.1% for 5 reported measurements.     

Kinetic Spectrophotometric Determination of Nanogram Levels of Manganese (II) Based on its Catalytic Effect on the Oxidation of an Azo Compound with Potassium Periodate in the Presence of 1, 10-Phenanthroline

ABSTRACT

The catalytic effect of manganese (II) on the oxidation of Diphenylamine-4-azo-benzen-4'-sulfonic acid potassium salt with potassium periodate in the presence of 1, 10-phenanthroline in weakly acidic media was studied. A catalytic kinetic spectrophotometric method for determination of manganese (II) in the range 0.05 – 2.5 ng ml-^?1 can be determined by the fixed-time method with a detection limit of 0.017 ng ml-^?1. The method was applied successfully to the determination of manganese (II) in tap water and human urine.     

A review and tutorial discussion of noise and signal-to-noise ratios in analytical spectrometry—III. Multiplicative noises

In this review, signal-to-noise ratios are discussed in a tutorial fashion for the case of multiplicative noise. Multiplicative noise is introduced simultaneously with the analyte signal and is therefore much more difficult to reduce than additive noise. The sources of noise, the mathematical representation of noise, and the major types of noises in emission and luminescence spectrometry are discussed. If the limiting source of noise is multiplicative white noise, the signal-to-noise ratio for optimal sampling time τ_s increases as the square root of the response or integration time of the readout and is independent of the rate at which sample and reference are measured. The variation of multiplicative flicker noise with variation in sampling time, τ_s, time interval between sample and reference measurements, T, and response (τ_r) or integration (τ_i) time is discussed in some detail. The optimal system for the case of multiplicative noise is a dual channel approach in which the sample and reference are measured simultaneously and a ratio of signals is taken. Although the best reference in most cases of interest to analytical chemists is a calibration standard, it is often impossible to measure a sample and a calibration standard simultaneously and so an internal standard, a detector monitoring the source intensity, etc., may be useful.     

Fixed-time kinetic enthalpimetry: improved sensitivity for enthalpimetric enzyme activity determinations in homogeneous and heterogeneous systems

A fixed-time (integral) method is described for the enthalpimetric determination of enzyme activity. The method involves the determination of residual unreacted substrate after a fixed incubation time with the sample. Results are presented for the determination of cholinesterase in aqueous solution and in 0.1cm³ samples of reference sera using 30-min incubation periods. Results are correlated with a spectrophotometric procedure. A precision of 1.8% relative standard deviation is reported for serum assays. Preliminary data are also presented for the enthalpimetric determination of cholinesterase activity after immobilization onto non-porous glass beads by carbodiimide and glutaraldehyde coupling procedures.     

Einsatz der echten Integration in der Atomabsorptions-Spektroskopie

An improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio in atomic absorption spectroscopy may be obtained by each of the following three methods of signal averaging:

increase of the time constant

digital signal averaging

true integration of the signal

The most adequate of these methods appears to be true integration. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the improved signal-to-noise ratio due to the application of this method:

trace analysis of mercury in water by means of flameless AAS. The detection limit appears to be 0.2 ng which corresponds to a concentration of 2 · 10^?13 g/ml.

trace analysis of copper in human urine by means of flame AAS: 1,3 · 10^?8 g/ml copper could be detected without any solvent extraction process.

     

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Unresolved Responses In Liquid Chromatoraphy With Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Detection By Using the Kalman Filter

Abstract

The optimization of chromatographic separations is hindered by difficulties in establishing the identities of components, and by the need to have well-resolved chromatographic peaks for commonly-used methods of quantitation. Full spectra methods, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, may assist in establishing identities, but are hampered by poor sensitivity. A method is proposed which efficiently reduces the large amounts of spectral data obtained in such cases, and enhances signal-to-noise ratios to permit identification and quantitation of components present in well-and poorly-resolved chromatographic peaks obtained under nonoptimal conditions. the method is based on combined Gram-Schmidt orthogo-nalization for removal of the dominant response from the mobile phase, followed by Kalman filtering for qualitative and quantitative analysis of averaged spectra. the method is demonstrated for infrared detection of a reverse-phase separation of a five-component mixture. Although Kalman filtering is effective at enhancing weak     

Synthesis, spectral characterization and antihaemostatic activity of 1,2,4-triazoles incorporating 1,2,4-triazine rings

A simple and high yielding method for the integration of a 1,2,4-triazole ring with 1,2,4-triazine-5-one (4a-j) has been developed starting from 3-arylsydnones (1a-d). The structures were proved by their spectral data and screened for antihaemostatic activity.     

Software for Microprocessor Controlled HPLC: Peak Area Integration

Abstract

Programs are described for determination of peak areas and peak retention times from the chromatographic data obtained by a dual-microprocessor data handling microcomputer (DHC). The programs provide the necessary equipment testing and calibration routines for an accurate reproduction of a recorded chromatogram, and they are written to be merged with the data acquisition programs to provide a true “real-time” integrator. The integration is performed with baseline stabilization and automatic peak splitting. These features make the integrator applicable to gradient elution chromatography, as well as for the integration of complex chromatograms with overlapping peaks. The integrated chromatogram can be displayed with the limits of integration for each peak. Results of peak area integration of simple and complex chromatograms demonstrate satisfactorily accurate and consistant results that are independent of chromatographic conditions and shape of the peaks.     

Some Quantitative Aspects of Scanning Densitometry in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

The optimization of instrumental parameters that influence resolution and signal-to-noise ratios in the recording of thinlayer chromatograms by scanning densitometry are discussed. A standardized method of determining sensitivity and detectability is proposed and used to evaluate the performance of a Shimadzu CS-910 scanning densitometer. Fluorescence enhancement reagents are discussed as a method of improving sample detectability in the fluorescence mode. The influence of the sorbent medium on both the position and intensity of the fluorescence emission signal is discussed.     

Determination of Biacetyl by Sensitized Photochemical Kinetic Fluorimetry

Abstract

A new in-situ photochemical kinetic fluorimetric method was proposed for the determination of biacetyl (BI). It is based on the sensitization of BI on the photochemical reaction of amaranth (AM). AM, a nonfluorescent compound was converted into an intensively fluorescent compound in a slightly alkaline medium by the sensitized photochemical reaction, and BI was indirectly determined by monitoring the change of the fluorescence intensity. The determination can be carried out by fixed-time method or tangent method. The kinetic behavior of the reaction and the effects of some experimental conditions were investigated and discussed. The calibration graph was rectilinear from 1.0 μg ml^?1 to 10.0 μg ml^?1 of BI (r = 0.999), the limit of detection was 1.0 ng ml^?1, and the coefficient of variation was 0.44% for 0.90 μg ml^?1 of BI (n = 6). The mechanism for the sensitization of BI was examined and the triplet-triplet energy transfer, in which BI acted as the energy donor and AM as the energy acceptor, was suggested to be the main cause. Its application to real samples has been tested.     

Genome-wide predicting disease-related protein complexes by walking on the heterogeneous network based on data integration and laplacian normalization

BackgroundAssociating protein complexes to human inherited diseases is critical for better understanding of biological processes and functional mechanisms of the disease. Many protein complexes have been identified and functionally annotated by computational and purification methods so far, however, the particular roles they were playing in causing disease have not yet been well determined.ResultsIn this study, we present a novel method to identify associations between protein complexes and diseases. First, we construct a disease-protein heterogeneous network based on data integration and laplacian normalization. Second, we apply a random walk with restart on heterogeneous network (RWRH) algorithm on this network to quantify the strength of the association between proteins and the query disease. Third, we sum over the scores of member proteins to obtain a summary score for each candidate protein complex, and then rank all candidate protein complexes according to their scores. With a series of leave-one-out cross-validation experiments, we found that our method not only possesses high performance but also demonstrates robustness regarding the parameters and the network structure. We test our approach with breast cancer and select top 20 highly ranked protein complexes, 17 of the selected protein complexes are evidenced to be connected with breast cancer.ConclusionsOur proposed method is effective in identifying disease-related protein complexes based on data integration and laplacian normalization.     

Determination of flavonoids in the flowers of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Paulownia tomentosa</Emphasis> by high-performance liquid chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) technique coupled with photodiode array (PDA) detection was developed for the simultaneous determination of four flavonoids, i.e. apigenin (AP), diplacone (DI), mimulone (MI) and 5,4′-dihydroxy-7,3′-dimethoxyflavanone (DDF) in extracts of the flowers of Paulownia tomentosa. The optimized method was proposed for the separation and detection of the selected constituents, using methanol-1% acetic acid as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, 290 and 267 nm as the detection wavelengths. All the flavonoids showed good linearity in a relatively wide concentration range (r > 0.9999). The detection limits for the analytes ranged from 0.2 to 4.0 ng, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Inter- and intra-assay accuracy and precision were all lower than 5.0%. The recovery of the method was 95.9–101.9%. Moreover, the optimized HPLC method was employed to analyze the flowers of Paulownia tomentosa.     

3D amperometry in the liquid chromatographic determination of trace pharmaceutical and herbicide emerging compounds

ABSTRACT

In this work, we innovatively applied the 3D amperometry detection, coupled to liquid chromatography, for the determination of a mixture of chromatographically unresolved compounds (two herbicides—monuron and bentazon, one drug—propranolol and the main metabolite of an antiepileptic drug—5-(4?-hydroxyphenyl)-5-phenylhydantoin). Exploiting the post-chromatographic current integration, a scanning waveform was successfully applied to explore a wide range of potentials (0.0–1.3 V) to find the peculiar oxidative potential value for each compound. This approach allowed us to obtain 3D chromatograms (elution time vs potential vs current) in which coeluted species could be clearly distinguished.

Quantitation was easily obtained by extraction of 2D chromatograms (elution time vs integrated current), from the 3D ones, at the optimised waveform time ranges (800–1,000 msec and 1,500–1,700 msec, corresponding to 0.6–0.8 V and 1.0–1.2, respectively). Validation of the proposed 3D amperometry method was performed in terms of linearity, limits of detection and quantitation and repeatability. Matrix effect was studied by statistical treatment on a wastewater effluent. By coupling an on-line solid phase extraction step prior to separation and detection by 3D amperometry, detection limits were significantly reduced (57 ng/L for bentazon, with recovery yields of 82.9 ± 10.9%). It is worth mentioning that this value fully satisfies the requirements of the 98/83/CE directive for the determination of bentazon in groundwater.     

Kinetic Study of Radical Polymerization VI. Copolymer Composition and Kinetic Parameters for Coplymerization of Styrene‐Itaconic Acid by On‐Line 1H‐NMR

Free radical solution copolymerization of styrene (St) and itaconic acid (IA) in dimethylsulfoxide‐d₆ (DMSO‐d₆) as the solvent and the use of 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator at 78°C was investigated by an on‐line ¹H‐NMR spectroscopy technique. Individual monomer conversion vs. reaction time, which was calculated from the ¹H‐NMR spectra data, was used to study the drift in monomer mixture composition vs. conversion. It was found that in general, both monomers were incorporated almost equally into the copolymer. However, when the mole fraction of IA was low, the tendency of IA toward incorporation into the copolymer chain was somewhat higher than St and by increasing the mole fraction of IA in the reaction mixture, the inverse tendency was observed. Overall monomer conversion as a function of time was calculated from individual monomer conversion data and used for the estimation of k_p /k_t ^0.5 for various monomer mixture compositions. This ratio was decreased with increasing the amount of IA in the initial feed, indicating a decrease in the rate of copolymerization. Changes in the copolymer composition vs. overall monomer conversion were investigated experimentally from the NMR spectra. This was in good agreement with the changes in monomer mixture composition vs. reaction progress. Plotting the copolymer composition vs. initial monomer feed showed tendency of the system toward alternating copolymerization.     

Additivity of statistical moments in the exponentially modified Gaussian model of chromatography

A homologous series of saturated fatty acids ranging from C₁₀ to C₂₂ was separated by reversed-phase capillary liquid chromatography. The resultant zone profiles were found to be fit best by an exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) function. To compare the EMG function and statistical moments for the analysis of the experimental zone profiles, a series of simulated profiles was generated by using fixed values for retention time and different values for the symmetrical (σ) and asymmetrical (τ) contributions to the variance. The simulated profiles were modified with respect to the integration limits, the number of points, and the signal-to-noise ratio. After modification, each profile was analyzed by using statistical moments and an iteratively fit EMG equation. These data indicate that the statistical moment method is much more susceptible to error when the degree of asymmetry is large, when the integration limits are inappropriately chosen, when the number of points is small, and when the signal-to-noise ratio is small. The experimental zone profiles were then analyzed by using the statistical moment and EMG methods. Although care was taken to minimize the sources of error discussed above, significant differences were found between the two methods. The differences in the second moment suggest that the symmetrical and asymmetrical contributions to broadening in the experimental zone profiles are not independent. As a consequence, the second moment is not equal to the sum of σ² and τ², as is commonly assumed. This observation has important implications for the elucidation of thermodynamic and kinetic information from chromatographic zone profiles.     

Analysis of SO2 Concentration in Air by Microwave Spectroscopy

Abstract

Low concentrations of SO₂ in air were measured using a Stark modulated microwave spectrometer. Measurement of the intensity of absorption lines for rotational transitions gives a quantitative measure of the concentration of specific small molecules. Concentrations of 20 ppm of SO₂ In air were easily detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of over 20/1 with a 5 sec time constant using a straightforward sample concentration technique.     

Photochemical behaviour of Schiff base liquid crystals based on isoxazole and isoxazoline ring. A kinetic approach

ABSTRACT

The kinetic study on the hydrolysis of Schiff bases (SBs) 1a-c and 2a-c induced by UV-vis was undertaken as a complementary study of the stability in solution and in bulk of the SBs. Solutions in chloroform were exposed to UV-vis and acquisition data occurred for 1a-c and for 2a-c in 21°C, 30 °C, 35°C and 40°C. Kinetic profile for 1a-c and 2a-c displayed the similar photochemical behaviour in that four temperature values. At 21°C, two kinetic regimes were observed where the decomposition of SBs is faster at the initial stage, with no linear plot of absorbance vs time, and after the kinetic profile obeyed a linear behaviour. A mathematical treatment of the experimental data was applied, which allowed associating the initial stage data with a second-order reaction, and the final stage of the hydrolysis with a first-order reaction. The mechanism of photochemical hydrolysis of SBs 1a and 2a was addressed. It was composed of three parts, the excitation, then the isomerisation and activation processes of tetrahedral intermediate and, the last process, a collapse of the intermediate to the yielded products of the hydrolysis aldehydes and amines which were detected by their UV-vis spectrum.     

Photometric and Fluorimetric Determination of Creatine Kinase Activity by Using Co-Immobilized Auxiliary Enzymes and an Open/Closed Flow Injection Manifold

Abstract

An open-closed configuration for the determination of creatine kinase activity based on fixed-time and reaction-rate measurements on a multipeak recording obtained by using a single conventional photometric or fluorimetric detector is proposed. The complexity of the biochemical reaction (three enzyme-catalysed steps) was partially overcome by using the two auxiliary enzymes that catalyse the two-step indicator reaction co-immobilized on controlled-pore glass. Both measurement methods provided excellent results (linear calibration ranges 0.01–0.80 U/L and 0.01–2.00 U/L, and r.s.d. smaller than 2%) and were checked by application to the determination of the analyte activity in serum samples. The results obtained agreed well with those provided by the standard method, and recoveries were between. 96 and 103% in all instances.     

Fluorimetric kinetic method for the determination of total ascorbic acid with o-phenylenediamine

A fluorimetric reaction-rate method for the determination of L-ascorbic acid (AA) in aqueous solution is presented. The technique is based on the rapid oxidation of AA by mercury(II) chloride to dehydro-L-ascorbic acid, which then reacts with o-phenylenediamine to form a fluorescent quinoxaline. The formation of the product is monitored fluorimetrically with a data acquisition system based on a microcomputer, a voltage-to-frequency converter and a timer-counter board. The initial rate is estimated with a fixed-time computational method. With a 20-s measurement time (after a 5-s delay from initiation of the reaction), the detection limit for AA is 0.02 μg ml^?1 with a linear dynamic range extending to 10 μg ml^?. The procedure is applied to the determination of the AA in vitamin pills and juice. The relative standard deviation is 1.9% or better.