Determination of calcium in complex samples using functional magnetic beads combined with electrodeless/sheathless electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Conventionally, electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry (ESI-ITMS) is not used for the analysis of metal ions because metal ions may be of too low mass to be trapped by the mass analyzer. Furthermore, metal ions can easily precipitate during ESI processes because of their poor volatilities. We present an approach for solving these two problems using milk as the sample to demonstrate the feasibility of using ESI-ITMS as the detection method for metal ions. Iron oxide magnetic beads with nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) immobilized on their surface were used as affinity probes for calcium ions from dairy drinks. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used for the elution of the metal ions chelated by NTA on the beads. The EDTA eluent was analyzed by electrodeless/sheathless ESI-ITMS. The use of functional magnetic beads to trap metal ions from complex samples can effectively reduce the interference from sample matrix. Using the EDTA eluent as the sample avoids the problem of the low volatility of metal ions during ESI-ITMS analysis. This method gives measurements of calcium ions in dairy drinks quantitatively very close to the true values (<4% error).     

Determination of magnesium and calcium ions in seawater by capillary zone electrophoresis

Capillary zone electrophoresis is proposed for the determination of magnesium and calcium ions in seawater. A carrier solution containing EDTA was adopted for the complexation of these ions and the effect of sodium chloride concentration in the sample solutions on the results was examined. It was found that magnesium and calcium ions could be determined without any pretreatment by injecting 100-fold diluted seawater samples. Linear calibration graphs were obtained for standard solutions containing up to 10.0 mg/l of calcium ion when both peak area and peak height were used. On the other hand, a linear calibration graph was obtained for standard solutions containing up to 20.0 mg/l of magnesium ion when the peak area was used, while a curved one was obtained when the peak height was used. Relative standard deviations were 0.8 and 1.2% when a standard solution containing 5.0 mg/l of magnesium and 8.0 mg/l of calcium ions was analysed 8 times using the peak area. Limits of detection for magnesium and calcium ions were 0.13 and 0.26 mg/l, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of magnesium and calcium ions in surface and bottom seawater samples.     

Removal of sulphate and phosphate from aqueous solutions using a food grade polysaccharide as flocculant

The mucilage extracted from the seeds of Tamarindus indica pods, a food grade natural polysaccharide, is used as a flocculant for removal of sulphate and phosphate ions in aqueous medium. The maximum removal obtained was 73.71% for sulphate ions and 75.71% for phosphate ions after 30 min. The optimum mucilage dose was 50 mg/L for both sulphate and phosphate ions. The maximum removal was obtained at acidic pH for both the ions. A series of contact time experiments were conducted to assess the system variables such as concentrations of mucilage and ions and pH. The conductivity measurements were also done and correlated with the percent removal. This eco-friendly food grade polysaccharide was proved to be a very good flocculant for the removal of sulphate and phosphate ions.     

Origins and structures of background ions produced by fast-atom bombardment of glycerol

Accurate mass measurements were used to assign elemental compositions and tandem mass spectrometry was used to characterize the peak-at-every-mass background ions produced by kiloelectron-volt-particle bombardment of neat fast-atom bombardment matrices. The majority of the background ions observed in the mass spectrum of neat glycerol was identified. On the basis of the experiments with glycerol, a theory for the formation of background ions is presented. Results are discussed according to the chemical and physical changes that ygoe;on-volt-particle bombardment produces in the matrix.     

Valency stabilization of polyvalent ions during gamma irradiation of their aqueous solutions by sacrifical protection

Polyvalent ions are very sensitive to gamma irradiation in aqueous solutions. The present work is a part of a more comprehensive study dealing with the stabilization of certain oxidation states of some polyvalent ions during their gamma irradiation in aqueous systems. Sulphite ions, being well known reducing agents has been used for stabilizing Fe(II) ions in aqueous solutions during gamma radiolysis. Fe(II) ions in solution are known to be readily oxidized by gamma radiations in such a way that a 10^–3N solution decays completely in about 2 hours at a dose rate 310 Gy/hr. In presence of an excess of sulphite ions it was found that Fe(II) ions were stabilized for extended time periods depending on the amount of sulphite ions used. The conditions of stabilization and its limits in the studied case has been identified.     

Separation and determination of aluminium by single-column ion-chromatography

A quick, reliable method for the determination of Al(III) in the presence of other metal ions is presented. A Chromatographic system consisting of a low-capacity cation-exchange column, an eluent of diprotonated p-phenylenediamine, and a conductivity detector was used to measure the retention times for various cations. During the course of this work, it was found that Al(III) was eluted later than most bivalent metal ions but earlier than other tervalent metal ions. Therefore the concentration of eluent was adjusted so that an early sharp peak was obtained for Al(III) and the bivalent metal ions were eluted as a group. Through analysis of an NBS standard, as well as of solutions containing Al(III) and other metal ions, the method was shown to be precise, accurate and rapid for determination of Al(III) without interference from common bivalent metal ions.     

Green synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots from Kumquat (Fortunella margarita) for detection of Fe3+ ions in aqueous solution

In this study, kumquat was first time used for synthesizing carbon dot structures (CDs) with the hydrothermal method. These newly synthesized CDs was characterized structurally and optically. The ion sensor application of the new CDs was carried out using 20 different metal ions. It was observed that CDs have high selectivity only for Fe³⁺ ions among the metal ions studied. Detection limit for Fe³⁺ ions was calculated as 0.70 µM. The results showed that these new CDs are highly selective against Fe³⁺ ions and have a very short response time such as 0.5 min. The Fe³⁺ ions selectivity of CDs was tested on real (tap water) samples. The results exhibited that this new CDs, obtained with green synthesis from Kumquat fruit without using chemical agents in one-pot simple and economical process, can be used as fluorometric sensor for detection of Fe³⁺ ions with high selectivity and sensitivity, low detection limit and rapid response time.

     

Study of Sorption Properties for Lead(II) Ions Exhibited by Anion Exchangers Synthesized on the Basis of Aromatic Hydrocarbons,Epichlorohydrin, and Polyethyleneimine

Aromatic hydrocarbons, epichlorohydrin, and polyethyleneimine were used to synthesize polyfunctional anion exchangers. IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis were used to examine their composition and structure. The method of classical polarography was employed to examine the process of extraction of lead ions and determine the dependences of the sorption of lead(II) ions in the static mode on the solution acidity, concentration of metal ions, and duration of contact between ion exchangers and a Pb(NO₃)₂ solution. It was found that the ion exchangers possess high sorption properties for lead ions.     

香蕉皮对重金属离子铅的吸附性能研究

建立了香蕉皮快速、高效对重金属离子铅吸附性能的方法。采用分光光度法测定重金属离子铅的浓度,分别研究了7种不同形态的吸附剂对废水中重金属离子铅的吸附性能。在优化的实验条件下,重金属离子铅浓度与吸光度的线性相关系数R=0.999 83,且方法相对标准偏差(RSD)低于3%。结果表明,香蕉皮对废水中的重金属离子铅有良好的吸附效果,吸附率达到91.3%。利用香蕉皮去除废水中的重金属离子,可以变废为宝,且方法吸附率高、准确可靠、精密度高,可用于吸附废水中重金属离子铅。     

Study of the efficiency for ion transfer through bent capillaries

Discontinuous atmospheric pressure interfaces (DAPIs) with bent capillaries represent a highly simplified and flexible means for introducing ions into a vacuum manifold for mass analysis or gas phase ion reactions. In this work, a series of capillaries of different radians and curvatures were used with DAPI for studying the impact of the capillary bending on the ion transfer. The variation of transfer efficiency was systematically characterized for dry and solvated ions. The efficiency loss for dry ions was less than one order of magnitude, even with a three‐turn bent capillary. The transfer of solvated ions generated by electrospray was found to be minimally impacted by the bending of the transfer capillary. For multiply protonated ions, the transfer efficiency for ions at lower charge states could be relatively well retained, presumably due to the lower reactivity associated with proton transfer reaction and the compensation in intensity by conversion of ions at higher charge states. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow injection gas-diffusion amperometric determination of trace amounts of ammonium ions with a cupric hexacyanoferrate

A new flow injection method for the determination of trace amounts of ammonium ions was developed by using a glassy carbon electrode electrodeposited with a film of cupric hexacyanoferrate coated with Nafion film as the sensor. The electrode gives sensitive but not selective response to potassium and ammonium ions. A gas-diffusion unit was used for the separation of ammonium and potassium ions and high selectivity and sensitivity for ammonium ions can be obtained. The method is simple and sensitive. Under optimum analytical conditions, the linear range of the calibration graph for ammonium ions is 2-40 muM. The method has been applied to the determination of ammonium ions in lake water and rain water samples. Recoveries of 94.4 to 104.4% were obtained. The relative standard deviations of seven replicate analyses for all samples were 1.1-2.3%.     

The STEP method (statistical test of equivalent pathways): application to pharmaceuticals

The STEP method (Statistical Test of Equivalent Pathways), recently developed to determine primary and secondary fragmentation in the MS/MS of peptides and carbohydrates, is applied in the current study to common pharmaceutical antibiotics. The classification of product ions as primary or secondary is then utilized to construct genealogy diagrams that aid in the structural characterization of the product ions. Four compounds were subjected to the MS/MS conditions used for the STEP method, and the method was used to correctly identify primary and secondary ions in three of the four pharmaceuticals. Calculated STEP values for erythromycin did not match previously characterized fragmentation assignments. This provided an opportunity to explore potential limitations of STEP analysis. It was determined that inaccurate STEP assignments could result, if the starting compound is classified as "fragile", because fragile ions, such as erythromycin can produce abnormally low STEP ratios. While this finding represents a limitation of using the STEP method to determine whether product ions are due to primary or secondary fragmentation for fragile ions, it suggests the possibility of identifying the presence of "fragile ions" by STEP analysis.     

Concentration and separation of trace metals with an arsonic acid resin

Macroporeus arsonic acid resins with different pore sizes and surface areas were prepared and the properties compared. One of the resins was used for concentration of trace metal ions from dimineralized water, tap-water, and sea-water. The effect of pH and complexing agents on the recovery of metal ions was studied. A method for separation of uranium(VI) and thorium(IV) from each other and from other metal ions was developed.     

Computational study of cation substitutions in apatites

Density-functional theory plane-wave modeling of fluor- and hydroxyapatites has been performed, where one or two calcium ions per unit cell were replaced with cadmium or zinc cations. It was found that cadmium ions favor Ca(1) positions in fluorapatites and Ca(2) positions in hydroxyapatites, in agreement with experiment. A similar pattern is predicted for zinc substitutions. In the doubly substituted cases, where only hydroxyapatites were modeled, a preference for the substituting ions to be located in Ca(2) position was also observed. Displacement of the hydroxide ions from their symmetrical positions on the hexagonal axis can be used to explain the preferred configurations of substituting ions around the axis.     

A Simple and Highly Sensitive Electrochemically Reduced p‐Nitrobenzoic Acid Film Modified Sensor for Determination of Mercury

Herein, a simple electrochemical sensor was fabricated for sensing Hg²⁺ ions by using electrochemically reduced p‐nitrobenzoic acid molecules modified (ERpNBA) glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The modified electrode was applied for the determination of Hg²⁺ ions by using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). Experimental parameters such as concentration of p‐nitrobenzoic acid used for electrode modification, pH, accumulation time and deposition potential used for the determination of Hg²⁺ ions were optimized. The strong interaction between the Hg²⁺ ions and the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atoms of ERpNBA molecules leads to highly selective adsorption of Hg²⁺ ions on the modified electrode. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the sensor showed higher sensitivity and very low detection limit for Hg²⁺ ions than other metal ions such as Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions. The LOD for Hg²⁺ ions was 240 pM which is below the guideline value given by the World Health Organization and the earlier reports.     

Thermogravimetric studies of benzoylthiourea-modified MCM-41 after adsorption of mercury ions from aqueous solutions

High-resolution thermogravimetry (HR TG) was used to study the adsorption of mercury(II) ions by modified MCM-41 material and regeneration of the loaded adsorbent with mercury ions by using different eluents. The weight change curves were measured for MCM-41 samples modified with 1-benzoyl-3-propylthiourea ligand loaded with mercury ions. The differential thermogravimetric (DTG) curves were analyzed to investigate the adsorption of mercury ions by the aforementioned multifunctional ligand and to monitor the decomposition of the metal-ligand complexes. A series of experiments performed for different Hg(2+):ligand ratios allowed us to correlate the adsorption data for mercury ions measured by means of UV spectrophotometry with those obtained by HR TG analysis. The DTG results provided additional information about mercury-ligand interactions as well as the thermal stability of mercury-ligand complexes. This study shows that HR TG is a very attractive technique for studying the adsorption of mercury ions on modified nanoporous silicas and monitoring their regeneration. Since the samples used are small, this method seems to be promising for studying adsorption systems of environmental significance.     

Transport of ions through tubes in a stream of flowing gas

The theoretical analysis and experimental investigations of phenomena connected with the transport of ions in regions devoid of external electric field were performed. The movement of ions in such regions is caused by gas flow. Due to diffusion, recombination and mutual repulsion the concentration of transported ions in the space outside the ionization source drops. The influence of these phenomena was analyzed using simplified ions balance equations taking into account a specific mechanisms of ion losses. A full system of balance equations describing a combined effect of diffusion, recombination and repulsion was also solved. The results of theoretical considerations were confirmed experimentally by measuring currents, for which the charge carriers were ions transported through metal tubes. The measurements were performed for the case when the ions of both polarities were present in the gas as well as for swarms consisting of positive ions only. The possibility of ion transport between parts of the measurement system connected to different potentials was also investigated. The method used for this purpose involved the application of the metal tubes connected to variable potential as an intermediate element.     

Preparation of Amberlite XAD resins coated with dithiosemicarbazone compounds and preconcentration of some metal ions

The Amberlite XAD resins coated with dithiosemicarbazones were prepared and their collection behavior of metal ions from aqueous solution was investigated. Among the resins used, the reagent-loaded Amberlite XAD-7 was found to be superior for the collection of metal ions to other reagent-loaded resins used. The quantitative collection of mercury(II), palladium(II) and copper(II) was obtained from acidic medium, while cadmium(II) and lead(II) was obtained from neutral medium by the Amberlite XAD-7 resin coated with dimethylglyoxal bis(4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone) (DMBS). These metal ions collected on the resin were easily eluted with a small volume of N,N-dimethylformamide as their DMBS chelates. This collection-elution method was applied to the determination of their metal ions by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with a spectrophotometric detection.     

Simultaneous fragmentation of multiple ions using IMS drift time dependent collision energies

Ion mobility spectrometry coupled with mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) was utilized to evaluate an ion collision energy ramping technique that simultaneously fragments a variety of species. To evaluate this technique, the fragmentation patterns of a mixture of ions ranging in mass, charge state, and drift time were analyzed to determine their optimal fragmentation conditions. The precursor ions were pulsed into the IMS-MS instrument and separated in the IMS drift cell based on mobility differences. Two differentially pumped short quadrupoles were used to focus the ions exiting the drift cell, and fragmentation was induced by collision induced dissociation (CID) between the conductance limiting orifice behind the second short quadrupole and before the first octopole in the mass spectrometer. To explore the fragmentation spectrum of each precursor ion, the bias voltages for the short quadrupoles and conductance limiting orifices were increased from 0 to 50 V above nonfragmentation voltage settings. An approximately linear correlation was observed between the optimal fragmentation voltage for each ion and its specific drift time, so a linear voltage gradient was employed to supply less collision energy to high mobility ions (e.g., small conformations or higher charge state ions) and more to low mobility ions. Fragmentation efficiencies were found to be similar for different ions when the fragmentation voltage was linearly ramped with drift time, but varied drastically when only a single voltage was used.     

Chromatographic and mass spectral studies of perfluorooctanesulfonate and three perfluorooctanesulfonamides

The chromatographic and mass spectral characteristics of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and three nitrogen-substituted perfluorooctanesulfonamides have been obtained. A methyl/phenyl mixed-phase fused-silica capillary column was used for gas chromatographic (GC) analyses, while a C18 reversed-phase microbore column was used for liquid chromatographic (LC) analyses. Mass (MS) and tandem mass (MS/MS) spectra were generated using electron ionization (EI), argon CE, methane positive and negative ion CI, and ES ionization modes. EI spectra of the amides showed ions characteristic of both the fluorinated hydrocarbon and the sulfonamide portion of the molecules. The fragmentation pathway was studied using hydrogen/deuterium exchange, and was thought to involve a cyclic intermediate ion. Formation of molecular ions by CE and protonated molecule ions by CI to obtain molecular weight information was only partially successful. Negative ion ES-MS spectra provided intense [M-H]- anions for the amides, and an [M-K]- anion for PFOS from which molecular weight information could be obtained, while ES-MS/MS produced product ions that could be used to detect the presence of these compounds in biological or environmental samples.