Force measurements on hydrophobized silica surfaces by using AFM

Force measurements between SiO₂ surfaces with and without adsorbed phenyl groups in aqueous media using the atomic force microscope (AFM) are compared. An oxidized silicon tip and an oxidized silicon wafer were hydrophobized with phenyl groups, and the long-range attraction induced by hydrophobation is shown in force vs. distance curves. The observed differences prove that the silanol groups of the unmodified SiO₂ surface are replaced by the phenyl groups. Received: 4 May 1998 / Revised: 1 July 1998 / Accepted: 5 July 1998     

Effect of available volumes on radial distribution functions

The traditional method of analyzing solution structuring properties of solutes using atom–atom radial distribution functions (rdfs) can give rise to misleading interpretations when the volume occupied by the solute is ignored. It is shown by using the examples of O(4) in α- and β-D-allose that a more reliable interpretation of rdfs can be obtained by normalising the rdf using the available volume, rather than the traditional volume of a spherical shell. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 363–367, 1998     

Force measurements on hydrophobized silica surfaces by using AFM

Force measurements between SiO₂ surfaces with and without adsorbed phenyl groups in aqueous media using the atomic force microscope (AFM) are compared. An oxidized silicon tip and an oxidized silicon wafer were hydrophobized with phenyl groups, and the long-range attraction induced by hydrophobation is shown in force vs. distance curves. The observed differences prove that the silanol groups of the unmodified SiO₂ surface are replaced by the phenyl groups. Received: 4 May 1998 / Revised: 1 July 1998 / Accepted: 5 July 1998     

A statistical analytical approach to predict the secondary structure of proteins from amino acid sequence information

A statistical analytical approach has been used to analyze the secondary structure (SS) of amino acids as a function of the sequence of amino acid residues. We have used 306 non-homologous best-resolved protein structures from the Protein Data Bank for the analysis. A sequence region of 32 amino acids on either side of the residue is considered in order to calculate single amino acid propensities, di-amino acid potentials and tri-amino acid potentials. A weighted sum of predictions obtained using these properties is used to suggest a final prediction method. Our method is as good as the best-known SS prediction methods, is the simplest of all the methods, and uses no homologous sequence/family alignment data, yet gives 72% SS prediction accuracy. Since the method did not use many other factors that may increase the prediction accuracy there is scope to achieve greater accuracy using this approach. Received: 4 May 1998 / Accepted: 17 September 1998 / Published online: 10 December 1998     

Elimination of sulfide interference by sodium hypochlorite solution in the cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometric determination of mercury using tin(II) reduction in alkaline medium

An addition of sodium hypochlorite solution effectively eliminated the interference by sulfide in the cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometric determination of mercury using tin(II) reduction in alkaline medium. Mercury ranging from 0.01 to 0.5 μg could be determined within ±10% error in 100 mL of sample solution containing 10 mg of sulfide by the addition of 1 mL of 10.4%(w/v) sodium hypochlorite solution. The proposed method is rapid (5 min per determination) and has good reproducibility (3.0%). Received: 20 May 1998 / Revised: 7 July 1998 / Accepted: 10 July 1998     

Optical Sensor Arrays Based on Microtiterplate Dimensions

 Multi-analyte and multi-sample sensing requires highly parallel analysis. This paper compares biomolecular interaction analysis based on direct optical detection, with microtiterplate-based assays using labelled reagents. Depending on the method and the application, assays in either a homogeneous or a heterogeneous phase are possible. Their feasibility in different applications is discussed. Two approaches with highly parallel detection devices are demonstrated in the area of environmental analysis as well as in high-throughput screening of drugs. An outlook on the limits of detection using affinity reactions is given. First results of the transfer to nanotiterplates are presented. Received July 14, 1998. Revision November 10, 1998.     

Coulter particle analysis used for studying the effect of sample treatment in slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

This work focuses on the potential of using a Coulter particle analyzer for method development in slurry sampling ETAAS. Plant materials were used as an example; the particle size distributions obtained after grinding in a mixer mill were measured for ground material and slurries prepared from flowers, leaves, stem and roots of the same plant material. Normally the particle size distribution is reported either as number of particles versus size or volume of particles versus size. The advantage of using the latter mode of reporting is demonstrated. It is shown that detailed information about the larger particles is lost when the distribution is reported in terms of the number-percentage. In the present case, 60 min of grinding gave similar size distribution for all the plant materials. All particles had diameters less than 50 μm and the calculated number of particles per mg was 6–8 × 10⁷. It is shown that the ultrasonic agitation used to homogenize the slurries, prior to injection of the sample, also had an effect on the particle size distribution. Received: 16 February 1998 / Revised: 20 July 1998 / Accepted: 26 July 1998     

Dioctyltin and tributyltin detection at trace levels in water and beverages by capillary gas chromatography with flame photometric detection

A simple chromatographic procedure has been developed for the sensitive determination of dioctyltin and tributyltin compounds in water and beverages. Dioctyltin and tributyltin react with NaBH₄ at pH 5 to produce volatile hydrides which can be quantitatively extracted into CH₂Cl₂. The corresponding dioctyltin hydride derivative is identified by HPLC-ES-MS and measured by flame photometric detection using the quartz surface-induced tin emission. Detection limits of less than 0.7 pg of tributyltin and 10 pg of dioctyltin were achieved. Results showed that up to 9.5 ng/mL levels of dioctyltin were present in beverages. Received: 20 July 1998 / Revised: 26 August 1998 / Accepted: 28 August1998     

Selection of optimum pH for the iodate determination using differential pulse polarography

The concentration of iodate in seawater samples was determined at various pH values using differential pulse polarography (DPP). The sensitivity for the iodate determination decreased rapidly below pH 7 and above pH 9. The decrease below pH 7 may be caused by conversion of iodate to iodide, followed by the successive formation of I₂ and I₃ ^–. The decrease above pH 9 is probably due to the combination of iodate and hydroxide. Theoretical calculations have demonstrated that the optimum pH for iodate determination is above pH 7.4 for Po₂ = 0.101 Pa. Received: 14 July 1998 / Revised: 2 October 1998 / Accepted: 3 October 1998     

META 4. Prediction of the metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely distributed in the environment and are often implicated as potential carcinogens. It is generally believed that the carcinogenic potential of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is linked to the formation of ultimate carcinogens generated by metabolic biotransformations. In this paper we propose a methodology that consists of using both quantum chemical properties and structural features of the reaction sites to predict PAH metabolism. Two essential questions have been answered: at which sites will the reaction take place and does the transformation consist of epoxidation or hydroxylation? This methodology has been successfully implemented into an expert system, META, for the evaluation of metabolic transformations of new chemicals. Received: 3 April 1998 / Accepted: 6 July 1998 / Published online: 7 October 1998     

Dioctyltin and tributyltin detection at trace levels in water and beverages by capillary gas chromatography with flame photometric detection

A simple chromatographic procedure has been developed for the sensitive determination of dioctyltin and tributyltin compounds in water and beverages. Dioctyltin and tributyltin react with NaBH₄ at pH 5 to produce volatile hydrides which can be quantitatively extracted into CH₂Cl₂. The corresponding dioctyltin hydride derivative is identified by HPLC-ES-MS and measured by flame photometric detection using the quartz surface-induced tin emission. Detection limits of less than 0.7 pg of tributyltin and 10 pg of dioctyltin were achieved. Results showed that up to 9.5 ng/mL levels of dioctyltin were present in beverages. Received: 20 July 1998 / Revised: 26 August 1998 / Accepted: 28 August1998     

Preconcentration of some metals using metalfix chelamine resin prior to ICP-AES analysis

Preconcentration and separation of Ni, Pb and Cd have been investigated using the metalfix chelamine resin prior to inductively coupled plasma – atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) under various experimental conditions. The recoveries of the analytes obtained with 95% confidence level were 92 ± 1% for Ni, 100 ± 4% for Pb and 93 ± 3% for Cd. Received: 5 February 1998 / Revised: 30 April 1998 / Accepted: 12 June 1998     

Osmotic deswelling of polymer gels

The osmotic deswelling of polymer networks swollen in a good solvent by transferring it into a solution of a linear polymer in the same solvent is investigated using the modified Flory model proposed previously. The predicted results obtained using this simple model are compared to the experimental data available in the literature. We further examine the variation of the degree of deswelling, the degree of swelling and the partition coefficient with the molecular weight, and the volume fraction of the linear polymer chains in the surrounding polymer solution. Also, the role of the packing factor is briefly discussed.© 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 2525–2535, 1998     

A theoretical study of substituent effects on the structure of isolated and condensed three-membered rings. A comparison between radicals and parent hydrocarbons

Substituent effects on the structure of radicals and parent hydrocarbons formed by isolated or condensed three-membered rings have been investigated by Hartree-Fock, post-Hartree-Fock and density functional methods. The trends of structural parameters computed for the hydrocarbon systems are in agreement with available experimental data. Substituent effects can be rationalized in terms of interactions between localized orbitals obtained by natural bond analysis. The effects are even larger in free radicals and can be analyzed using the same model. Received: 13 March 1998 / Accepted: 13 July 1998 / Published online: 9 October 1998     

Determination of traces of metals in wines from Macedonia

A new method for the determination of chromium and manganese in wines using square-wave voltammetry was developed. For chromium, acrylic acid was chosen as supporting electrolyte and for manganese a mixture of NH₄OH and NH₄Cl. The experimental conditions (initial and final potential, frequency, pulse height, scan increment, scan rate and equilibrium and deposition time) were optimized. Chromium and manganese were determined in the Macedonian wines Kratošija, Kavadarka, Ohridija and Smederevka. The results agreed well with those obtained by standard UV/VIS spectrophotometry. A statistical treatment of the experimental data was performed using STATGRAPH and MATHCAD software packages. Received: 13 February 1998 / Revised: 19 May 1998 / Accepted: 25 May 1998     

Study of electrochemical palladium behavior by the quartz crystal microbalance. I. Acidic Solutions

Sorption of hydrogen in a palladium electrode with a limited volume has been studied using the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). During the hydrogen sorption process in the palladium electrode, strains are generated inside the metal which result in changes in the frequency of the crystal. These stresses change in a non-linear manner during electrode saturation, with α- and β-phases. This effect creates significant problems with the objective estimation of the amount of sorbed hydrogen inside the palladium electrode using the QCM method. This method is more accurate for the study of electrode surface processes, i.e. specific anion adsorption on the electrode surface or electrode dissolution. Received: 6 August 1998 / Accepted: 1 December 1998     

The partial averaging Fourier path Integral approach based on the harmonic reference path

The Monte Carlo Fourier path integral approach has proved to be quite useful in calculating equilibrium thermodynamic properties. One of its advantages is that it can be formulated in such a way as to include higher order terms using the partial averaging technique, which includes the contribution from higher terms usually neglected by the discretized path integral approach. In the original approach, the Feynman path integral is evaluated via a free-particle reference state. Here, using a new expression for the Feynman paths expanded around a harmonic reference path, we derive an alternative formulation for the density matrix element and its corresponding partial averaging expression. Received: 16 September 1998 / Accepted: 30 October 1998 / Published online: 1 February 1999     

Method of calculating band shape for molecular electronic spectra

A method for approximating the band shape of molecular electronic transitions based on a single geometric configuration is described. The band shape is modeled using an empirical parameter to estimate the width at half-height for each transition. In addition to generating a shape for allowed transitions, a procedure is developed for approximating the oscillator strength for the symmetry forbidden bands. The results obtained using these two approximations are then compared with experimental spectra and to the results obtained from stochastic methods for simple organic molecules, such as benzene, naphthalene, and the diazobenzenes. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 781–796, 1998     

Determination of EDTA in used fixing solutions by capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoretic method for the determination of EDTA has been developed. EDTA was converted to Ni(II)-EDTA prior to separation, separated from Fe(III)-EDTA, thiosulphate, bromide and polythionates using a fused silica capillary (57 cm × 75 μm I.D.) filled with a borate buffer (50 mmol L^–1; pH 8.5; applied voltage, 30 kV) and detected at 214 nm. The separation time is about 6 min. The detection limit achieved is 2 × 10^–6 mol L^–1 for EDTA. This method was applied for the determination of free EDTA in used fixing solutions. Received: 27 February 1998 / Revised: 28 April 1998 / Accepted: 20 May 1998