Nanostructures in Physical Materials Chemistry: An Exploratory Laboratory

The blend of nanotechnology and material science is often beyond the scope of undergraduate laboratories. Through undergraduate research, graphite-intercalated compounds have been incorporated in the production of carbon-based nanostructures. Based on this work a series of exploratory exercises were designed for the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory emphasizing nanostructure material science. This rapidly expanding area of science and technology can be introduced at an undergraduate level using a high temperature oven to produce nanostructure samples that are analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy at research university laboratories, infrared spectroscopy, and a bomb calorimeter. In these experiments we use samples of pure graphite, fluorinated graphite, and lanthanum oxide to induce the formation of nanostructures. An overview of fullerenes, nanotubes, boron nitride and Si nanostructures, other carbon forms, graphite-intercalated compounds, and the storage of hydrogen in nanotubes are provided in an appendix. Several extensions of the laboratory are proposed.     

Increasing the scope and power of flow-injection analysis through chemometric approaches

The objective of this paper is to illustrate how chemometrics can enhance the scope and power of flow injection analysis (FIA) by considering a few simple but representative cases where the ability of chemometrics to improve performance is not readily apparent. In principle, there are two phases when chemometrics can be usefully combined with FIA: first when developing an FIA method and, second, when treating raw data acquired from an FIA detection system. The most obvious application of chemometrics for the FIA practitioner is to use experimental design to replace the obsolete, but too often used one-variable-at-a-time approach when optimising an FIA method. Therefore, methods for screening variables and system optimisation are discussed. Raw data acquired from most FIA systems are first-order data, containing information about the dispersed sample plug. However, the information that is extracted when using FIA for routine purposes is of zero-order: predominantly peak height values. It is shown by a simple example that a chemometric approach in such cases can again provide additional useful information about the sample. First-order spectral data and second-order data more or less require a chemometrics approach for successful analysis, and examples of such applications are briefly discussed.     

A comparison of ten different methods for the analysis of saturates, olefins, benzene, total aromatics, and oxygenates in finished gasolines

The Technical Committee 19 of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN/TC19) in the "Lisbon resolution" requested to evaluate replacement methods to the fluorescent indicator absorption (FIA) (American Standardization for Testing and Material D 1319) method for the determination of aromatics and olefins in gasolines. In the same resolution it was requested to review the two existing methods for the determination of benzene content of gasolines, anticipating lower limit values in future European gasoline specifications. As a result of this request, a round robin (RR) was organized in which 8 gasoline samples are analyzed using 10 different methods in 33 laboratories. The methods used in the RR include, apart from the FIA method, one-dimensional gas chromatography (GC) and multidimensional GC, with and without specific detectors and spectroscopic analysis methods. This study describes these methods in short, gives an evaluation of the results of the RR, and draws a conclusion on the outcome.     

Multistep determination of enzyme activity by flow injection and sequential injection analysis. Assay of amyloglucosidase

A multi-point assay for determination of the activity of amyloglucosidase (AMG) by FIA and SIA is described. The assay is based on two consecutive reactions that are mutually incompatible. Both the FIA and SIA procedures allow these two reactions to be completely separated, whereby each of the processes can be individually optimized with respect to operational parameters. Special emphasis is placed on comparing the performance and applicability of the two procedures for this type of assay.     

Who’s Minding the Store?—Or How a Team of Undergraduate Teaching Interns Rejuvenated an ACS Certified Program

Improvements resulted at all levels in an ACS-certified chemistry program when a team of undergraduate teaching interns began consulting in the laboratories. The author describes the problems and teaching philosophies that led to the institution of the Chemistry Instruction Internship Program, the goals of the program with some preliminary assessments, and how to recruit outstanding undergraduate teaching interns.     

Flow-injection analysis systems with immobilized enzymes. Improvement of applicability by integration of coupled reactions, separation steps and background correction

The specificity of enzymes is often not sufficient to simultaneously determine two parent substrates in a given matrix. Approaches to enhance the selectivity by applying the principle of an array arrangement to flow-injection analysis (FIA) systems based on several immobilized isoenzymes are successful. Immobilized enzymes and detectors in FIA systems often suffer from interferences from impurities of the matrix. Examples are given which prove that this problem can be overcome by an integrated preseparation of the analyte (pervaporation, electrodialysis) or by correction of the matrix signal based on background subtraction using computerized data accumulation and processing.     

New approaches to molecular spectroscopic detection in flow-injection analysis

A state-of-the-art overview of molecular spectroscopy as applied in flow injection analysis (FIA) is presented. It deals chiefly with the most interesting FIA approaches aimed at improving detector performance, innovations in the detection system itself and the coupling of FIA with unusual detectors for this technique. The most salient trends in relation to this association are also commented upon.     

Determination of platinum and palladium in strongly acid solution by means of flow injection analysis

Microamounts of Pt(II/IV) (0.25–800 μg/ml) and Pd(II) (5–600 μg/ml) in> 0.5 M hydrochloric acid can readily be determined by means of a simple FIA method based on the selective reaction of tin(II)chloride with these metals. The FIA method has a high linear dynamic range, and is relatively free from interferences of many transition metals, with the exception of Au and Rh; small amounts of other PGMs can be tolerated. Determination of Pt on a hydrogenation catalyst by this method compares well with that found by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. By monitoring at two or more wavelengths, Pt and Pd can be determined in mixtures by this means, to yield a simple, cost-effective FIA method for possible on-line determinations and quality control of, in particular, Pt containing acidic refinery and other process streams.     

平头pH电极-流动注射联用技术快速滴定食醋中醋酸的方法研究

采用一种具有平头结构的pH电极作为流动注射分析(FIA)的检测器,构建了流动注射自动化酸度滴定系统.优化了样品进样量、流速、载液浓度和反应管长度等参数.用NaOH溶液作为载液,在4.639×10-4～0.212 mol·L-1范围内醋酸浓度的对数与FIA峰的峰面积成正比,该方法的相对标准偏差(RSD)小于0.5%.采用...     

Multicomponent flow injection based analysis with diode array detection and partial least squares multivariate calibration evaluation. Rapid determination of Ca(II) and Mg(II) in waters and dialysis liquids

Flow injection analysis (FIA) with multiwavelength scanning of the FIA peaks using a diode array detector (DAD) has been combined with a multivariate calibration approach applying the partial least squares (PLS) method for the data evaluation. In this way, various side effects like dilution of the reagent, high blank, absorbance changes due to the pH gradient throughout the peak and/or the other interferences can be accounted for. Thus, even with a simple FIA manifold instrumentation the satisfactory results of multicomponent analysis are obtained. The method described has been checked on analysis of binary (Ca and Mg) and ternary (Ca, Mg and Cu) mixtures with pyridylazo resorcinol (PAR) as reagent and applied for rapid determination of calcium and magnesium in dialysis liquids and waters.     

Development of a flow-injection analysis (FIA) enzyme sensor for fructosyl amine monitoring

An enzyme-sensor system with flow-injection analysis (FIA) has been developed for the detection of fructosyl amine compounds; the sensor utilizes fructosyl amine oxidase isolated from the marine yeast Pichia sp. N1-1 strain. With this FIA system 0.2 to 10 mmol L(-1) fructosyl valine can be determined. The sensor is approximately five times more sensitive to fructosyl valine, a model compound for glycated hemoglobin HbA1c, than to N(epsilon)-fructosyl lysine, a model compound for glycated albumin. This FIA system can also be used to detect fructosyl dipeptides. The operational stability of the sensor enabled more than 120 consecutive sample injections over a period of approximately 20 h.     

Flow injection determination of ethanol in whole blood using immobilized enzymes

Enzymatic methods for the determination of ethanol in whole blood are proposed. They use different types of detection and flow injection analysis (FIA) modes: fluorometric detection (use of normal FIA and stopped-flow/FIA); amperometric detection by monitoring of NADH (use of normal amperometric and pulse mode) and with the aid of a coupled enzymatic reaction (2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol/diaphorase). Determination ranges between 0.1 and 30.0 μg/ml are obtained (which in all cases comprise the legal range of ethanol in blood), with good precision and sampling frequency. The sensitivity of the methods can be manipulated by changing the injected sample volume or the pH.     

Mass distribution in a dynamic sample zone inside a flow injection manifold: modelling integrated conductimetric profiles

A mathematical model for fitting the experimental ICM (integrated conductimetric method) curves developed by the authors in a previous work, is presented for the first time in this study. The proposed model fits the experimental curves with great precision and allows to predict physical dispersion for single-line flow injection system. The correlation of the model’s parameters with typical reactionless FIA peak parameters is also assessed. The IDQ coefficient—a novel dispersion estimator previously reported by the authors—can also be predicted when operational FIA variables are changed. Experimental and modelled profiles are compared as a function of the system’s variables, showing an excellent agreement.     

What Happens When Discovery Laboratories Are Integrated into the Curriculum at a Large Research University?

Traditional laboratories are often based on the hidden assumptions that students can, and indeed should, work alone, and that they can leave the laboratory when they have finished collecting the data or observations. Discovery laboratories provide an alternative to traditional laboratories in which one or more routes are taken by groups of students working toward the discovery of a specific scientific relationship or concept. The discovery laboratories used in this study were developed by colleagues from institutions where faculty teach the laboratory component of the course. The goal of this study was to see what happens when discovery laboratories are integrated into the general chemistry curriculum at a large research university where teaching assistants are in charge of the laboratory sections.For the purpose of this study, we differentiated between a minimal level of success, in which discovery laboratories become an alternative approach to traditional experiments, and a significant level of success, in which they become a preferred approach. Evidence is presented to support the notion that discovery laboratories can be successfully integrated into the curriculum at a large research university, that students in the discovery laboratories believe they had to take responsibility for what happened in the laboratory, that both teaching assistants and the students reacted positively to the discovery laboratories, and that we achieved at least our definition of the minimal level of success.     

The flow analysis database on the World Wide Web

The field of flow injection analysis (FIA) is growing rapidly because much applied research is being conducted around the world. This creates a great need for information dissemination across the globe to keep researchers up to date on current research trends. With the internet becoming the tool for global communication, it seems appropriate that support of the growth in FIA should be via this medium. Thus, the flow analysis database (FAD) has been developed as a central resource for bibliographic information on the area of FIA and flow analysis in general.     

Micro-flow injection system for the urinary protein assay

A urinary protein assay has been investigated, employing a micro-flow injection analysis (μFIA) combined with an adsorptive separation of protein from analyte. The adsorptive separation part of protein in the artificial urine with ceramic hydroxyapatite is integrated on the μFIA chip, since the interference of other components coexisting in urine occurs in the conventional FIA system. The typical FI peak can be obtained following the adsorption–elution process of the protein prior to the detection, and the protein concentration in artificial urine can be quantitatively determined.     

Initial Validation of a New Procedure for Determining Aromatics in Petroleum Distillates

Abstract

The analytical data from an initial validation of a new method developed for determining aromatics in distillate fuels is reported. The method applies supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) for the liquid chromatographic separation of total saturates and total aromatics, followed by flame ionization detection. A study was conducted to determine the validity of a SFC procedure after it was proposed to the Canadian national standard writing body for its adoption as a new standard method for determining aromatics. Inter-laboratory results suggest that SFC provides reproducible data among different laboratories and these SFC data correlate well with those obtained from other methods such as fluorescent indicator adsorption (FIA), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS).     

Flow injection analysis of potassium using an all-solid-state potassium-selective electrode as a detector

The concentration of potassium was determined by a combination of flow injection analysis (FIA) with an all-solid-state potassium sensor detection. The all-solid-state potassium-selective electrode possessing long-term potential stability was fabricated by coating an electroactive polypyrrole/poly(4-styrenesulfonate) film electrode with a plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane containing valinomycin. The simple FIA system developed in this laboratory demonstrated sensitivity identical to that in the batch system and achieved considerably rapid assay (150 samples h⁻¹). Analyses of soy sauce and control serum samples by this FIA system yielded results in good agreement with those obtained by conventional measurements.     

Injection analysis with flow-gradient systems: a new approach to unsegmented flow techniques

Flow gradients controlled by a variable hydrostatic head have been employed in FIA for the first time. The influence of these gradients on the most characteristic parameters of an FIA recording have been studied in systems with and without a chemical reaction. The potential of this technique for enhancing the applications of FIA is shown.