Recent developments in electrochemical detection for microchip capillary electrophoresis

Significant progress in the development of miniaturized microfluidic systems has occurred since their inception over a decade ago. This is primarily due to the numerous advantages of microchip analysis, including the ability to analyze minute samples, speed of analysis, reduced cost and waste, and portability. This review focuses on recent developments in integrating electrochemical (EC) detection with microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE). These detection modes include amperometry, conductimetry, and potentiometry. EC detection is ideal for use with microchip CE systems because it can be easily miniaturized with no diminution in analytical performance. Advances in microchip format, electrode material and design, decoupling of the detector from the separation field, and integration of sample preparation, separation, and detection on-chip are discussed. Microchip CEEC applications for enzyme/immunoassays, clinical and environmental assays, as well as the detection of neurotransmitters are also described.     

Evaluation of Techniques Used for Parameters Estimation: an Application to Bioremediation of Grease Waste

In the present work, evaluation of different conventional techniques, i.e., chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and gas chromatography used for estimating biodegradation of grease waste was carried out. In this order grease waste was incubated with Penicillium chrysogenum for 7?C30?days and analyzed percentage of degradation. After 15?days of incubation, the percentages of reduction in COD, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen content of grease waste were found 28, 53.5, 12.7, and 0, respectively. Further it was analyzed by FTIR and gas chromatography?Cmass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and observed that bifurcated peaks of grease waste at 2,926 and 2,855?cm^?1 had reduced remarkably, which corresponds to aliphatic hydrocarbons, while new broad peaks appeared at 3,400?cm^?1 indicating addition of oxygen molecule to reduced aliphatic hydrocarbon. GC-MS study also supports the results of FTIR, COD, and elemental analysis, but quantification of the percentage of degradation was difficult and limited to volatile organic content, while COD and elemental analysis were found more accurate and more informative. The current study would be helpful in the estimation of biodegradability not only of grease waste but also of other complex nonbiodegradable compounds polluting the environment.     

校正系数法测定高氯离子废水中的COD

采用校正系数法对测定高氯离子废水中的化学需氧量(COD)进行氯离子干扰校正。实际样品测定时,先加入浓硫酸消解,将水样中氯离子全部氧化,再加入硫酸银进行样品催化氧化,通过滴定得到COD表观值,扣除氯离子校正值后得到样品COD真实值。方法适合于高氯离子低COD样品的测定。     

Miniaturized Salinity Gradient Energy Harvesting Devices

Harvesting salinity gradient energy, also known as “osmotic energy” or “blue energy”, generated from the free energy mixing of seawater and fresh river water provides a renewable and sustainable alternative for circumventing the recent upsurge in global energy consumption. The osmotic pressure resulting from mixing water streams with different salinities can be converted into electrical energy driven by a potential difference or ionic gradients. Reversed-electrodialysis (RED) has become more prominent among the conventional membrane-based separation methodologies due to its higher energy efficiency and lesser susceptibility to membrane fouling than pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO). However, the ion-exchange membranes used for RED systems often encounter limitations while adapting to a real-world system due to their limited pore sizes and internal resistance. The worldwide demand for clean energy production has reinvigorated the interest in salinity gradient energy conversion. In addition to the large energy conversion devices, the miniaturized devices used for powering a portable or wearable micro-device have attracted much attention. This review provides insights into developing miniaturized salinity gradient energy harvesting devices and recent advances in the membranes designed for optimized osmotic power extraction. Furthermore, we present various applications utilizing the salinity gradient energy conversion.     

PLS and first derivative of ratio spectra methods for determination of hydrochlorothiazide and propranolol hydrochloride in tablets

Two new analytical methods have been developed as convenient and useful alternatives for simultaneous determination of hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) and propranolol hydrochloride (PRO) in pharmaceutical formulations. The methods are based on the first derivative of ratio spectra (DRS) and on partial least squares (PLS) analysis of the ultraviolet absorption spectra of the samples in the 250–350-nm region. The methods were calibrated between 8.7 and 16.0 mg L⁻¹ for HCT and between 14.0 and 51.5 mg L⁻¹ for PRO. An asymmetric full-factorial design and wavelength selection (277–294 nm for HCT and 297–319 for PRO) were used for the PLS method and signal intensities at 276 and 322 nm were used in the DRS method for HCT and PRO, respectively. Performance characteristics of the analytical methods were evaluated by use of validation samples and both methods showed to be accurate and precise, furnishing near quantitative analyte recoveries (100.4 and 99.3% for HCT and PRO by use of PLS) and relative standard deviations below 2%. For PLS the lower limits of quantification were 0.37 and 0.66 mg L⁻¹ for HCT and PRO, respectively, whereas for DRS they were 1.15 and 3.05 mg L⁻¹ for HCT and PRO, respectively. The methods were used for quantification of HCT and PRO in synthetic mixtures and in two commercial tablet preparations containing different proportions of the analytes. The results of the drug content assay and the tablet dissolution test were in statistical agreement (p < 0.05) with those furnished by the official procedures of the USP 29. Preparation of dissolution profiles of the combined tablet formulations was also performed with the aid of the proposed methods. The methods are easy to apply, use relatively simple equipment, require minimum sample pre-treatment, enable high sample throughput, and generate less solvent waste than other procedures. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Alternative LC–MS–MS Method for Simultaneous Determination of Proguanil, Its Active Metabolite in Human Plasma and Application to a Bioequivalence Study

An alternative rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of proguanil (PRO) and cycloguanil (CYC) in human plasma. The analytes were extracted from human plasma by solid phase extraction. Riluzole (RIL) was used as an internal standard for proguanil and cycloguanil. A HyPURITY Advance C18 column provided chromatographic separation of analytes followed by detection with mass spectrometry. The method involves simple isocratic chromatography conditions and mass spectrometric detection in the positive ionization mode using an API-4000 system. The proposed method has been validated with linear range of 1.5–150.0 ng mL^?1 for PRO and 0.5–50.0 ng mL^?1 for CYC. The inter-run and intra-run precision values are within 2.54, 9.19% for PRO and 1.99, 10.69% for CYC at LOQ levels. The overall recoveries for PRO and CYC were 102.52 and 106.72%, respectively. Total elution time was as low as 2.50 min. This validated method was used successfully for analysis of plasma samples from a bioequivalence study.     

Contributions to the on-line method for the extraction and isolation of pesticide residues and environmental chemicals II. Miniaturization of the on-line method

Summary Till now it was difficult to miniaturize any of the conventional extraction methods without major inconveniences. Compared with the conventional techniques the on-line method can be miniaturized very easily, so that the solvent consumption is reduced down to 1/10–1/100 of the original amount. Furthermore, the extraction is finished after 15–30 sec and yields accurate results. The reduction of solvents and chemical waste by miniaturization of analytical procedures is an important step for environmental protection.     

Plasmas for lab-on-the-chip applications

Two small-size plasmas used as detectors of halogenated hydrocarbons and suitable for miniaturized instrumentation are discussed. A reduced pressure dielectric barrier discharge was integrated in a diode laser atomic absorption spectrometer and the already reported chlorine detection limits of 5 ppm (v/v) can be improved with one order of magnitude by spatially resolved measurements. A microstructured electrode discharge at atmospheric pressure was coupled with a miniaturized Échelle spectrometer and detection limits were found to be 20 ppb for chlorine as well as for fluorine.     

Improving tomographic images with a filtered projection in real space

A certain quantity of noise, which reduces the diagnostic power of the tomographic technique, is always present in a reconstructed image. This is due to various reasons. On the one side, the finite precision of computers and the acquisition system geometry generate artefacts that degrade the image quality. On the other side, there are errors due to the experimental acquisition, the mathematical modelling of the physical problem and, last but not least, those caused by the choice of the reconstruction algorithm.

In the present work this last aspect is improved using a reconstruction method known as filtered backprojection (FBP) in which the projections are filtered in real space rather than in Fourier space. In this way some of the so called aliasing artefacts are reduced, in particular those due to interperiodical interference of the F-transformed tails which represent one of the main problems while working in transformed space.

The algorithm proposed in this paper represents an alternative to the usual filtering technique which consists of applying a filter, typically the Hamming filter, which manipulates the projections in transformed space in order to cut the high spatial frequency components. This is an important source of noise. The main limitation of such a procedure is loss of correspondence with real space and, consequently, has the possibility of introducing non-physical effects in the reconstructed image.     

Miniaturized Sequencing Gel System for Quick Analysis of DNA by Hydroxyl Radical Cleavage

We described a simple and quick miniaturized sequencing gel system for DNA analysis. Two major modifications were made to the previously reported miniaturized DNA sequencing gel system to achieve high-resolution hydroxyl radical cleavage analysis: including formamide in the miniaturized gel and providing uniform heating during electrophoresis. Our method enables one to reduce the cost for chemicals and to significantly reduce electrophoresis time. Furthermore, minimal gel handling simplifies the entire process. We show that the resolution of DNA fragments obtained by hydroxyl radical cleavage for the miniaturized gel is similar to that of a large conventional sequencing gel.     

Microscale chemistry-based design of eco-friendly, reagent-saving and efficient pharmaceutical analysis: a miniaturized Volhard's titration for the assay of sodium chloride

This work demonstrates the extended application of microscale chemistry which has been used in the educational discipline to the real analytical purposes. Using Volhard's titration for the determination of sodium chloride as a paradigm, the reaction was downscaled to less than 2 mL conducted in commercially available microcentrifuge tubes and using micropipettes for the measurement and transfer of reagents. The equivalence point was determined spectrophotometrically on the microplates which quickened the multi-sample measurements. After the validation and evaluation with bulk and dosage forms, the downsized method showed good accuracy comparable to the British Pharmacopeial macroscale method and gave satisfactory precision (intra-day, inter-day, inter-analyst and inter-equipment) with the relative standard deviation of less than 0.5%. Interestingly, the amount of nitric acid, silver nitrate, ferric alum and ammonium thiocyanate consumed in the miniaturized titration was reduced by the factors of 25, 50, 50 and 215 times, respectively. The use of environmentally dangerous dibutyl phthalate was absolutely eliminated in the proposed method. Furthermore, the release of solid waste silver chloride was drastically reduced by about 25 folds. Therefore, microscale chemistry is an attractive, facile and powerful green strategy for the development of eco-friendly, safe, and cost-effective analytical methods suitable for a sustainable environment.     

Power generation with pressure retarded osmosis: An experimental and theoretical investigation

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) was investigated as a viable source of renewable energy. In PRO, water from a low salinity feed solution permeates through a membrane into a pressurized, high salinity draw solution; power is obtained by depressurizing the permeate through a hydroturbine. A PRO model was developed to predict water flux and power density under specific experimental conditions. The model relies on experimental determination of the membrane water permeability coefficient (A), the membrane salt permeability coefficient (B), and the solute resistivity (K). A and B were determined under reverse osmosis conditions, while K was determined under forward osmosis (FO) conditions. The model was tested using experimental results from a bench-scale PRO system. Previous investigations of PRO were unable to verify model predictions due to the lack of suitable membranes and membrane modules. In this investigation, the use of a custom-made laboratory-scale membrane module enabled the collection of experimental PRO data. Results obtained with a flat-sheet cellulose triacetate (CTA) FO membrane and NaCl feed and draw solutions closely matched model predictions. Maximum power densities of 2.7 and 5.1 W/m² were observed for 35 and 60 g/L NaCl draw solutions, respectively, at 970 kPa of hydraulic pressure. Power density was substantially reduced due to internal concentration polarization in the asymmetric CTA membranes and, to a lesser degree, to salt passage. External concentration polarization was found to exhibit a relatively small effect on reducing the osmotic pressure driving force. Using the predictive PRO model, optimal membrane characteristics and module configuration can be determined in order to design a system specifically tailored for PRO processes.     

Tomographic Spectral Imaging with Multivariate Statistical Analysis: Comprehensive 3D Microanalysis.

A comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) microanalysis procedure using a combined scanning electron microscope (SEM)/focused ion beam (FIB) system equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) has been developed. The FIB system was used first to prepare a site-specific region for X-ray microanalysis followed by the acquisition of an electron-beam generated X-ray spectral image. A small section of material was then removed by the FIB, followed by the acquisition of another X-ray spectral image. This serial sectioning procedure was repeated 10-12 times to sample a volume of material. The series of two-spatial-dimension spectral images were then concatenated into a single data set consisting of a series of volume elements or voxels each with an entire X-ray spectrum. This four-dimensional (three real space and one spectral dimension) spectral image was then comprehensively analyzed with Sandia's automated X-ray spectral image analysis software. This technique was applied to a simple Cu-Ag eutectic and a more complicated localized corrosion study where the powerful site-specific comprehensive analysis capability of tomographic spectral imaging (TSI) combined with multivariate statistical analysis is demonstrated.     

Rapid, sensitive and on-line measurement of chemical oxygen demand by novel optical method based on UV photolysis and chemiluminescence

A novel on-line method based on the combination of UV photolysis and chemiluminescence detection was established and experimentally validated for the determination of chemical oxygen demand (COD). A quantitative amount of free radicals can be produced by analytes in the UV irradiation process. By utilizing the phenomenon that luminol can be oxidized by the free radicals to produce luminescence, COD was successfully determined indirectly. This new approach overcomes many problems associated with the conventional COD determination techniques such as long analysis time, tedious operations, consumption of expressive and toxic reagents, production of secondary toxic waste and poor reproducibility. The method was successfully applied to the determination of COD in synthetic samples, certified reference samples and real samples of river water and lake water. A limit of detection of 0.08 mg/L COD with a linear dynamic range of 0.2-20 mg/L was achieved under the optimum experimental conditions. The proposed method is a unique method that is environmentally friendly (without using any strong oxidizing reagent and any catalysts such as titanium dioxide), rapid (with only 5-10 min required for each sample), sensitive (with the lowest limit of detection for COD so far), simple (mainly with a photo-reactor and a chemiluminescence detector) and automated (using an intermittent flow system).     

Repetitive determination of chemical oxygen demand by cyclic flow injection analysis using on-line regeneration of consumed permanganate.

A cyclic flow injection analysis (cyclic FIA) for the repetitive determination of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was developed. The acidic KMnO4 method was carried out by adopting a single-line circulating flow system. The oxidant (KMnO4) consumed by the oxidation of organic substances was regenerated and reused repeatedly, resulting in an extreme reduction of hazardous wastes. Only 50 ml of the reagent carrier solution containing 0.2 mM KMnO4 and 1 mM HIO4 in 0.8 M H2SO4 solution was continuously circulated through the system. The KMnO4 could play two roles: acting as an oxidant of the organic substances and/or a spectrophotometric reagent. The co-existing HIO4 acted as a regenerator of KMnO4, which made it possible to recycle the system repeatedly. Under two different digestions (70 and 130 degrees C), 50 repetitive determinations of standard sodium oxalate (6.5 mg COD L(-1)) and D-glucose (7.2 mg COD L(-1)) were skillfully carried out with a slightly decreased baseline. The analytical frequency was 30 samples per hour for COD determination. The proposed method saved consumption of the used reagents, KMnO4 and H2SO4, and thus these wastes were extremely reduced. The obtained COD values with the proposed method were co-related with those provided by the manual standard method, but were fairly low owing to the insufficient digestion step.     

“氧化·脱色·絮凝”协同法处理含吡啶酮废水

根据染料中间体吡啶-2-酮生产废水的特点,提出了利用“氧化、脱色和絮凝”三位一体的物化方法处理这种废水;探究了搅拌速度、絮凝反应时间、pH值、药剂用量、废水浓度和温度对COD去除率和脱色率的影响,得出了最佳工艺条件.研究结果表明,在常温下,两性聚丙烯酰胺NDPAM用量35 mg/L,氧化交联剂PDO用量0.55 mL/L,pH=5.7,搅拌速度80 r/m in,絮凝时间为15 m in和静止时间为30 m in的条件下,COD的去除率和脱色率均达到98%,处理后的废水达到了可生化的指标范围.并对处理成本和絮凝动力学机理进行了探讨.     

Membranes for power generation by pressure-retarded osmosis

A model has been developed for obtaining the projected performance of membranes in pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) from direct osmosis and reverse osmosis measurements. The model shows that concentration polarization within the porous substrate of the membrane markedly lowers the water flux under PRO conditions. The model has been used along with experimental data obtained with a variety of reverse osmosis membranes to project PRO performance with several water—brine sources. Some literature data on PRO have been similarly examined. Based on these results and a simple economic analysis we conclude that membranes with significantly improved performance will be needed if PRO is to become an economically feasible method for power generation using seawater—fresh water as the salinity gradient resource. However, the economics of a brine/fresh water system appear competitive with conventional power generation technologies.     

Direct determination of propranolol in urine by spectrofluorimetry with the aid of second order advantage

This work presented an application of the second-order advantage provided by parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) aiming at direct determination of propranolol, a beta-blocker also used as doping agent, in human urine by spectrofluorimetry. The adopted strategy combined the use of PARAFAC, for extraction of the pure analyte signal, with the standard addition method, for a determination in the presence of an individual matrix effect caused by the quenching action of the proteins present in the urine. The urine samples were previously 100 times diluted. For each sample, four standard additions were performed, in triplicates. A specific PARAFAC model was built for each triplicate of each sample, from three-way arrays formed by 231 emission wavelengths, 8 excitation wavelengths and 5 measurements (sample plus 4 additions). The models were built with three factors and always explained more than 99.87% of the total variance. The obtained loadings were related to PRO and two background interferences. The scores related to PRO were used for a linear regression in the standard addition method. The obtained determinations in the PRO concentration range from 5.0 to 20.0 microg ml(-1) provided recoveries between 91.1 and 108.4%.     

Automated mass spectrometry imaging with a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight instrument

The automated use of a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometer (MS) is described for image analysis of samples through implementation of new software for instrument control, data acquisition, and data analysis. The software permits automated acquisition of MS MALDI spectra to form an ordered data array and contains display features to provide images at one or more mass-to-charge ratio values. The technique can be used to scan tissue samples, blotted samples, gels, or other sample surfaces where the image analysis of that sample is required. The program achieves a time of typically 1 s per image point, permitting an analysis made up of large numbers of points with high spatial resolution up to 850 dpi. The features of the software are demonstrated in this paper with samples of printed images, where visible images can be compared to those obtained by mass spectrometry. Quantitative aspects are introduced by analyzing a series of sample spots containing different amounts of several proteins.     

Development of a green miniaturized quick,easy, cheap,effective, rugged,and safe approach in tandem with temperature-assisted solidification of floating menthol droplet for analysis of multiclass pesticide residues in milk

A new green miniaturized quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe approach was developed and used for the extraction of multiclass 16 pesticides in milk before gas chromatography analysis. The miniaturization of method reduced the consumption of chemical reagents and samples. Magnetic three-dimensional graphene was used as sorbent in the clean-up step. Choline chloride:lactic acid (1:2) natural deep eutectic solvent was used as desorption solvent. Temperature-assisted solidification of floating menthol drop was executed for preconcentration of analytes. The method parameters including sorbent, desorption solvent, sorption and desorption times, menthol amount, pH, and ionic strength were optimized. The limit of quantification and linear range were 0.03–0.38 and 0.03–250 μg/kg, respectively. The accuracy was assessed by recovery evaluation at the spike levels of 50 and 100 μg/kg, in the range of 61–119%, with relative standard deviations within 2.1–18.2%. The method was applied to the analysis of pasteurized low and high-fat bovine milk, and various pesticide residues were detected in the concentrations range of 1.24–4.68 μg/kg. Finally, the greenness of the procedure was evaluated using the Analytical Eco-Scale. This work represents the first application of hybrid miniaturized extraction/preconcentration using a natural deep eutectic solvent and menthol to analyze pesticides.