Comparative studies on some analytical methods

This work present comparative results on powder milk storage quality, obtained from analytical methods. Protein content was determined conventional (Kjeldahl) and colorimetric with biuret reagent at 540 nm and integral quality by thermogravimetric and biological methods. A method was developed for the protein separation of powder milk. Powder milk was submitted to degradation processes at 45, 60 and 80°C for 20 days. The results indicated that protein content values were inconsistent if determinations by Kjeldahl and colorimetric methods and biological tests were compared. There is evidence of thermal decomposition of powder milk as detected by biological and thermogravimetric methods.The authors thanks CNP_q/PADCT for financial support.     

Phorate and Terbufos adsorption onto four tropical soils

Adsorption of Phorate and Terbufos onto four tropical soils was investigated in this study. It was found that the adsorption kinetics was fast and that the equilibrium was established within 6 h. Adsorption isothermal data could be well described by the Freundlich equation. It was demonstrated that the soils were more favorable for the adsorption of Terbufos than Phorate, which was due to the higher hydrophobicity of Terbufos (and its lower water solubility). The presence of organic compounds in soils played an important role. A higher organic content caused higher adsorption. A new term of K_oc′, the Freundlich based organic content-normalized partition coefficient K_oc′=K/f_oc was defined. In the above equation, K and f_oc are the Freundlich constant and the fraction by weight of organic content in the soils, respectively. It was demonstrated that the K_oc′ was independent of the types of soils (or organic content). The pH effect was found to be insignificant for the adsorption of both pesticides. Finally, a competitive study demonstrated that the presence of the more strongly adsorbed Terbufos played a more important role than that of the more weakly adsorbed Phorate.     

Degradation of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates in tropical forest and mangrove soils

Bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are perceived to be a suitable alternative to petrochemical plastics because they have similar material properties, are environmentally degradable, and are produced from renewable resources. In this study, the in situ degradation of medium-chain-length PHA (PHA_MCL) films in tropical forest and mangrove soils was assessed. The PHA_MCL was produced by Pseudomonas putida PGA1 using saponified palm kernel oil (SPKO) as the carbon source. After 112 d of burial, there was 16.7% reduction in gross weight of the films buried in acidic forest soil (FS), 3.0% in the ones buried in alkaline forest soil by the side of a stream (FSst) and 4.5% in those buried in mangrove soil (MS). There was a slight decrease in molecular weight for the films buried in FS but not for the films buried in FSst and in MS. However, no changes were observed for the melting temperature, glass transition temperature, monomer compositions, structure, and functional group analyses of the films from any of the burial sites during the test period. This means that the integral properties of the films were maintained during that period and degradation was by surface erosion. Scanning electron microscopy of the films from the three sites revealed holes on the film surfaces which could be attributed to attack by microorganisms and bigger organisms such as detritivores. For comparison purposes, films of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a short-chain-length PHA, and polyethylene (PE) were buried together with the PHA_MCL films in all three sites. The PHB films disintegrated completely in MS and lost 73.5% of their initial weight in FSst, but only 4.6% in FS suggesting that water movement played a major role in breaking up the brittle PHB films. The PE films did not register any weight loss in any of the test sites.     

环境中氯苯类化合物的分析研究进展

氯苯类化合物（邻二氯苯、对二氯苯、间二氯苯、三氯苯、氯甲苯、二氯甲苯和三氯甲苯等）是环境中需要重点监测的致癌污染物,文章介绍了近年来国内外环境中氯苯类化合物的分析研究进展。主要的分析测定方法有：普通气相色谱法、固相微萃取．毛细管气相色谱法、吹扫捕集．气相色谱法、顶空气相色谱法、高效液相色谱法、光度法和红外光谱法等。分析测定方法和结果对评价环境污染具有重要意义。     

Validation of a Rapid Multiresidue Method for the Determination of Pesticide Residues in Vine Leaves. Comparison of the Results According to the Different Conservation Methods

The QuEChERS method was applied to the determination of pesticide residues in vine (Vitis vinifera) leaves by LC-MSMS. The method was validated in-house for 33 pesticides representing 17 different chemical groups, that are most commonly used in grape production. Recoveries for the pesticides tested ranged from 75 to 104%, and repeatability and reproducibility relative standard deviations (RSD_r% and RSD_Rw%) were less than 20%. The method was applied to the analysis of pesticide residues in 17 market brands of vine leaves processed according to three different preservation methods and sampled from the Lebanese market. Dried vine leaves were more contaminated with pesticide residues than those preserved in brine or stuffed vine leaves. The systemic fungicides were the most frequently detected among all the phytosanitary compounds usually applied to grape production. Brine-preserved and stuffed vine leaves contained lower concentrations of the residues but still contained a cocktail of different pesticides.     

Basic Principles of Thermoanalytical Techniques and Their Applications in Preparative Chemistry

The investigation of thermodynamic properties and reactivity yields interesting insights into the chemistry of newly synthesized substances. With thermal analysis extensive information can be gained from small samples (often only a few milligrams). In addition, the data obtained by thermal analysis can be used to plan and optimize a synthesis. Among the most important applications are identification and purity analysis, and the determination of characteristic temperatures and enthalpies of phase transitions (melting, vaporization), phase transformations, and reactions. Investigations into the kinetics of consecutive reactions and decomposition reactions are also possible. With the instruments available today such analyses can usually be performed quickly and easily. In this review the fundamentals of thermoanalytical methods are described and illustrated with selected examples of applications to low and high molecular weight compounds.     

Determination of amitraz and its degradation products and monitoring degradation process in quince and cucumber

Amitraz is a non-systemic acaracide and insecticide. Current maximum residue limits for amitraz are stated as ‘Amitraz including the metabolites containing the 2,4-dimethylaniline moiety’. Therefore, determination of amitraz and its all degradation products are important. In this study, we develop a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for determination of amitraz and its degradation products 2,4 dimethylaniline (DMA), 2,4 dimethylformamidine (DMF) and N-(2,4-dimethyl phenyl)-N’-methylformamidine (DMPF) in cucumber and quince. The mechanism of the degradation process was monitored at different temperatures. Amitraz and its degradation products were extracted using the QuEChERS method. To determine amitraz and its degradation products, we used GC/MS. Quantification was carried out by using selected ion monitoring, and total ion chromatogram was used to monitor additional degradation products. The method was validated by studying linearity, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ), recovery and precision. The mechanism of the degradation process was monitored at different temperatures. Degradation of amitraz mainly to three degradation products, namely DMA, DMF and DMPF, increased with temperature. Besides these three main degradation products, two other new degradation products were detected.     

Determination of organic acids and ketones in contaminated soils

Hydrocarbons and metabolites from biodegradation in soil have been isolated and separated using Soxhlet extraction, with n-heptane and dichloromethane, combined with solid-phase extraction on silica gel and basic aluminum oxide using n-pentane, dichloromethane, methanol, and sulfuric acid – methanol as eluents. This procedure can be used for determination of metabolites both in laboratory-prepared soil samples containing mineral oils and in actual contaminated soil. After microbiological degradation, organic acids and ketones which were not original components of the diesel fuel and lubricating oil contaminating the soil samples were identified using capillary gas chromatography – mass spectrometry in batch-soil experiments. Predominantly alicyclic and branched-chain aliphatic organic acids and diacids, and aromatic ketones, were found to be formed after a few weeks degradation.     

Differential Kinetic Spectrophotometric Determination of Methamidophos and Fenitrothion in Water and Food Samples by Use of Chemometrics

A spectrophotometric method for simultaneous analysis of methamidophos and fenitrothion was proposed by application of chemometrics to the spectral kinetic data, which was based upon the difference in the inhibitory effect of the two pesticides on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and the use of 5,5′‐dithiobis(2‐nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) as a chromogenic reagent for the thiocholine iodide (TChI) released from the acetylthiocholine iodide (ATChI) substrate. The absorbance of the chromogenic product was measured at 412 nm. The different experimental conditions affecting the development and stability of the chromogenic product were carefully studied and optimized. Linear calibration graphs were obtained in the concentration range of 0.5–7.5 ng·mL^?1 and 5–75 ng·mL^?1 for methamidophos and fenitrothion, respectively. Synthetic mixtures of the two pesticides were analysed, and the data obtained processed by chemometrics, such as partial least square (PLS), principal component regression (PCR), back propagation‐artificial neural network (BP‐ANN), radial basis function‐artificial neural network (RBF‐ANN) and principal component‐radial basis function‐artificial neural network (PC‐RBF‐ANN). The results show that the RBF‐ANN gives the lowest prediction errors of the five chemometric methods. Following the validation of the proposed method, it was applied to the determination of the pesticides in several commercial fruit and vegetable samples; and the standard addition method yielded satisfactory recoveries.     

Development of validated LC-MS/MS method for imidacloprid and acetamiprid in parsley and rocket and evaluation of their dissipation dynamics

Fast and efficient method based on quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for acetamiprid and imidacloprid residues determination in parsley and rocket was developed and validated. Linearity (R²) ranged from 0.996 to 0.999. Accuracy ranged from 95.9 to 99.1%. Precision was <11%. Limit of quantification was 2.8–10.3?µg/kg. Matrix effect was evaluated. Dissipation of acetamiprid and imidacloprid in parsley and rocket was investigated under open field conditions. The dissipation behavior of both compounds followed first-order kinetics. Half-lives (t_1/2) were 2.68 and 4.24 days with dissipation rate (k) values of 0.25 and 0.165 days^?1 for acetamiprid; 0.24 (in parsley) and 0.25 (in rocket) days^?1 with k values of 0.636 (in parsley) and 0.718 (in rocket) days for imidacloprid. Preharvest interval values were 5.53 and 1.42 days for acetamiprid; 2.5 and 0.49 days for imidacloprid in parsley and rocket, respectively. Residues of both compounds were searched in real samples. None of the real samples violated maximum residues limits of the European Commission regulations.     

Validation of an HPLC Analytical Method for Determination of Pancuronium Bromide in Pharmaceutical Injections

Abstract

Pancuronium bromide is used with general anesthesia in surgery for muscle relaxation and as an aid to intubation. A high performance liquid chromatographic method was fully validated for the quantitative determination of pancuronium bromide in pharmaceutical injectable solutions. The analytical method was performed on an amino column (Luna® 150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm). The mobile phase was composed of acetonitrile:water containing 50 mmol L^?1 of 1-octane sulfonic acid sodium salt (20:80 v/v) with a flow rate of 1.0 mL min^?1 and ultraviolet (UV) detection at 210 nm. The proposed analytical method was compared with that described in the British Pharmacopoeia.     

Degradation studies of quetiapine fumarate by liquid chromatography–diode array detection and tandem mass spectrometry methods

Quetiapine fumarate (QUE) is an antipsychotic agent with a chemical structure that is susceptible to degradation; therefore, it is important to study its stability using appropriate analytical tools. Knowledge of the stability profile of a drug is important because chemical degradation of its active component often results in a loss of potency, affecting its efficacy and safety. This current work reports degradation studies of QUE as drug substance, under different stress conditions such as oxidation, hydrolysis, heat, humidity and photolysis, by a stability‐indicating LC method. The chemical stability was evaluated using a simple HPLC/diode array detection method, with a core‐shell C₁₈ column under isocratic conditions, which allows the separation of all primary degradation products (DPs) in a short run time. QUE was mainly degraded under oxidative and hydrolytic conditions, with the formation of three and two DPs, respectively, which were identified by electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. The method was properly validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, selectivity, robustness and quantitation limit. Commercial tablets containing 25 mg of QUE were quantified, with results obtained within the United States Pharmacopeia limits. The proposed method is suitable to assess the stability and perform routine analysis of QUE in pharmaceutical samples.     

Stability-Indicating LC Determination of Nitazoxanide in Bulk Drug and in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

A novel stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatographic assay method was developed and validated for quantitative determination of nitazoxanide in bulk drugs and in pharmaceutical dosage form in the presence of degradation products generated from forced decomposition studies. An isocratic, reversed phase LC method was developed to separate the drug from the degradation products, using an Ace5- C18 (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column, and 50 mM ammonium acetate (pH 5.5 by acetic acid) and acetonitrile (55:45 v/v) as a mobile phase. The detection was carried out at a wavelength of 240 nm. The nitazoxanide was subjected to stress conditions of hydrolysis (acid, base), oxidation, photolysis and thermal degradation. Degradation was observed for nitazoxanide in base, acid and in 30% H₂O₂ conditions. The drug was found to be stable in the other stress conditions attempted. The degradation products were well resolved from the main peak. The percentage recovery of nitazoxanide was from (100.55 to 101.25%) in the pharmaceutical dosage form. The developed method was validated with respect to linearity, accuracy (recovery), precision, system suitability, specificity and robustness. The forced degradation studies prove the stability indicating power of the method.     

Stability Indicating HPTLC and LC Determination of Dasatinib in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

Two sensitive and reproducible methods are described for the quantitative determination of dasatinib in the presence of its degradation products. The first method was based on high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) followed by densitometric measurements of their spots at 280 nm. The separation was on HPTLC aluminium sheets of silica gel 60 F₂₅₄ using toluene:chloroform (7.0:3.0, v/v). This system was found to give compact spots for dasatinib after development (R _F value of 0.23 ± 0.02). The second method was based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of the drug from its degradation products on reversed phase, PerfectSil column [C₁₈ (5 μm, 25 cm × 4.6 mm, i.d.)] at ambient temperature using mobile phase consisting of methanol:20 mM ammonium acetate with acetic acid (45:55, v/v) pH 3.0 and retention time (t _R = 8.23 ± 0.02 min). Both separation methods were validated as per the ICH guidelines. No chromatographic interference from the tablet excipients was found. Dasatinib was subjected to acid–alkali hydrolysis, oxidation, dry heat, wet heat and photo-degradation. The drug was susceptible to acid–alkali hydrolysis and oxidation. The drug was found to be stable in neutral, wet heat, dry heat and photo-degradation conditions. As the proposed analytical methods could effectively separate the drug from its degradation products, they can be employed as stability indicating.     

某些分子光谱分析法测定蛋白质的进展

评述包括吸光光度法、荧光光度法及新近发展起来的共振光散射法等分子光谱分析方法定量测定蛋白质的某些进展。表列了重要的反应体系及分析特征。引用文献97种。     

Influence of plant growth regulating substances on transport and degradation of acephate and its metabolite methamidophos in tomato

The occurrence of pesticides in vegetables such as tomato poses an increasing attention to their potential risk to human health. In this study, acephate and its metabolite methamidophos were investigated for their transport and degradation in tomato cultivated in spiking nutrient solutions containing acephate at 1 mg/L. Acephate was taken up and transported via xylems with the concentrations of 41–145 μg/L in xylem sap at 2 and 8 cm above the roots in control treatment. The residue levels of methamidophos derived from acephate were in a range of 0–4.21 μg/L, being 0.00–3.73% of the parent acephate. The influence of three plant growth regulating substances, 1-naphthylacetic acid (NAA), glucose and phlorizin, on the transport and degradation of acephate and methamidophos in tomato was evaluated. All of these substances had positive effects on the transport of acephate and methamidophos in tomato xylem system. The NAA or glucose treatment promoted the degradation of acephate to methamidophos; however, with the addition of phlorizin, the concentrations of acephate were reduced in comparison to that under glucose treatment, suggesting that phlorizin would cause an inhibitory effect on the transport of acephate in tomato plant. These results may indicate an effective approach to reduce acephate and methamidophos residues in tomato.     

Simultaneous Determination of Multi-Class Pesticide Residues and PAHs in Plant Material and Soil Samples Using the Optimized QuEChERS Method and Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis

New analytical approaches to the simultaneous identification and quantification of 94 pesticides and 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in five representative matrices (pepper, apple, lettuce, wheat, and soil) were developed. The analyses were based on gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The procedure was optimized by changing the solvent used during the extraction, from acetonitrile to the acetone: n-hexane mixture at a volume ratio of 1:4 (v/v), as well as the use of a reduced amount of water during the extraction of compounds from cereals. An additional modification was the use of florisil instead of GCB in the sample cleanup step. A full method validation study was performed, at two concentration levels (LOQ and 1000 × LOQ), which showed satisfactory results for all analytes from the PAHs group, with recoveries ranging from 70.7–115.1%, and an average RSD of 3.9%. Linearity was tested in the range of 0.001–1.000 mg/kg and showed coefficients of determination (R²) ≥ 0.99 for all PAHs. Satisfactory recovery and precision parameters (LOQ and 100 × LOQ) were achieved for almost all analytes from the pesticide group in the range of 70.1–119.3% with the mean RSD equal to 5.9%. The observed linearity for all analytes in the concentration range of 0.005–1.44 mg/kg was R² ≥ 0.99, with the exception of famoxadone, chizalofop-p-ethyl, prothioconazole, spirodiclofen, tefluthrin, and zoxamid. The extended uncertainties were estimated, using a top-down approach of 9.9% (average) and 15.3% (average) for PAHs and pesticides samples, respectively (the coverage factor k = 2, the 95% confidence level). Ultimately, the method was successfully applied to determine pesticide residues in commercial samples of fruit, vegetables and grain, and soil samples for PAHs, which were collected from selected places in the Podkarpacie region. A total of 38 real samples were tested, in which 10 pesticides and 13 PAHs were determined. Proposed changes allow us to shorten the sample preparation time (by 20%) and to reduce the consumption of organic solvents (by 17%). The use of florisil for sample cleanup, instead of GCB, improves the recovery of compounds with flat particles.     

固相萃取-毛细管气相色谱法测定中草药及其土壤中多种有机氯农药残留量

建立了中草药及其土壤中多种有机氯农药残留量的固相萃取-毛细管气相色谱(SPE-CGC)分析方法,并对7种中草药及其土壤中多种有机氯农药残留量的相关性进行了初步研究。样品以正己烷-丙酮用超声波提取,Florisil(1 g)固相萃取小柱快速净化提取物。采用SPB-5弹性石英毛细管柱分离样品,GC-ECD检测7种中草药及其土壤中的13种有机氯农药的残留量。方法的线性范围为1.26×10-10~2.24×10-7g/mL;检出限为6.4×10-11~6.1×10-10g/mL;加样平均回收率为87.3%~104.4%(RSD为1.1%~7.0%)。