On the determination of sulfur by charged particle activation analysis

An analytical method is described for the determination of trace amounts of sulfur by charged particle activation analysis. The method consists of proton irradiation followed by a rapid radiochemical separation of the product nuclide,^34m Cl. This procedure has been applied to a number of pure metal samples which range in sulfur content from 0.3 to 30 ppm. All analyses were repeated several times to ensure consistent results and to better evaluate experimental detection limits and systematic errors. The results indicate that sulfur determinations can be performed at a concentration of less than 1.0 ppm. Activation curves are presented for the reactions S(d,x)^34mCl, S(p,x)^34mCl, and the interfering reaction³⁵Cl(p, pn)^34mCl. In memoriam.     

Standardization of methods for the determination of traces of mercury : Part I. Determination of total inorganic mercury in inorganic samples

A method is described for the routine determination of mercury in the process and product streams of chlor alkali electrolysis plants (with the exception of chlorine) and also in the plant waste waters. The procedure is based on flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results for interlaboratory trials involving up to 37 participating laboratories are presented. Both synthetic and technical samples were analysed with mercury contents varying between 20 μg kg^-1 and 20 mg kg^-1. Statistical evaluation of the results gave a value of from 4 to 8% for the repeatability and from 6 to 22% for the reproducibility.     

The mechanisms of the homogeneus,unimolecular elimination kinetics of ethyl 4-chlorobutyrate and 4-chlorobutyric acid in the gas phase

Ethyl 4-chlorobutyrate, which is reexamined, pyrolyzes at 350–410°C to ethylene, butyrolactone, and HCl. Under the reaction conditions, the primary product 4-chlorobutyric acid is responsible for the formation of γ-butyrolactone and HCl. In seasoned vessels, and in the presence of a free-radical inhibitor, the ester elimination is homogeneous, unimolecular, and follows a first-order rate law. For initial pressures from 69–147 Torr, the rate is given by the following Arrhenius expression: log k₁(s^?1) = (12.21 ± 0.26) ? (197.6 ± 3.3) kJ mol^?1 (2.303RT)^?1. The rates and product formation differ from the previous work on the chloroester pyrolysis. 4-Chlorobutyric acid, an intermediate product of the above substrate, was also pyrolyzed at 279–330°C with initial pressure within the range of 78–187 Torr. This reaction, which yields γ-butyrolactone and HCl, is also homogeneous, unimolecular, and obeys a first-order rate law. The rate coefficient, is given by the following Arrhenius equation: log k₁(s^?1) = (12.28 ± 0.41) ? (172.0 ± 4.6) kJ mol^?1 (2.303RT)^?1. The pyrolysis of ethyl chlorobutyrate proceeds by the normal mechanism of ester elimination. However, the intermediate 4-chlorobutyric acid was found to yield butyrolactone through anchimeric assistance of the COOH group and by an intimate ion pair-type of mechanism. Additional evidence of cyclic product and neighboring group participation is described and presented.     

Colorimetric Determination of Ampicillin and 6-Aminopenicillanic Acid Using Acenaphthenequinone as a Chromophoric Reagent

Abstract

A colorimetric method for the determination of ampicillin (Amp.) and 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) are described, based on the reaction of these drugs with acenaphthenequinone in basic media to give a highly intense red coloured product. The latter exhibits an absorption maximum at 610 nm with apparent molar absorptivities of 2.83 and 1.45 × 10⁴ l. mol^?1 cm^?1 and Sandell sensitivities of 0.013 and 0.015 μg cm^?2 for Amp. and 6-APA, respectively. The optimum concentration ranges are 0.4-10 and 0.4-14 μg ml^?1 for Amp. and 6-APA, respectively. For more accurate results, Ringbom optimum concentration ranges are 1–8.5 and 1–12 μg ml^?1 for Amp. and 6-APA, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant difference between the results obtained by the described method and those of the official methods. The mean recoveries percentage were found to be 99.5 × 1.1% for pharmaceutical formulations and 99.1 × 1.6% for serum and urine samples. The method is selective for the determination of Amp. or 6-APA in the presence of their degradation products, additives and excipiences that are normally encountered in dosage forms. The proposed method was applied successfully to the determination of Amp. in pharmaceutical formulations. Also, applicability of the proposed method to human serum and urine is presented and the validity assessed by applying the standard addition technique.     

Chemometric criteria for assessing the certainty of qualitative analytical methods

The quality of an analysis can be described by accuracy, trueness, precision, resolution and criteria for deciding whether or not the presence of an analyte has been proved. There is a need to define the degree of (un)certainty of qualitative methods of analysis. An “uncertainty factor” is introduced as a measure of the residual uncertainty after a result has been obtained by a given analytical method. This factor is defined for an open set as the reciprocal value of the number of possibilities, and for a closed set as the ratio of the number of indistinguishable items to the total number of items in the set. The uncertainty factors estimated are as follows: 400^?1 for high-performance thin-layer chromatography, 50^?1 for high-performance liquid chromatography, 50^?1?200^?1 for gas chromatography, 50^?1?8^?1 for ultraviolet-visible diode arrays, 10^?8 for low-resolution mass spectrometry, and 10^?14 for infrared spectroscopy. These factors are mutually comparable.     

Ion chromatographic determination of common ions at ultratrace levels in Antarctic snow and ice

The simultaneous determination of major impurities present in Antarctic snow and ice at ng g^? (ppb) concentrations by ion chromatography is described. Calibration data are presented for ammonium, sodium, potassium, chloride, nitrate and sulphate ions. Special attention is paid to the different ways of removing field contamination from ice and snow cores and suitable equipment is described. The results provide evidence against the validity of published sets of concentration data for nitrogen-containing compounds (NO^?₃ and NH⁺₄ in Antarctic snow, and demonstrate a crucial contamination problem in the determination of ammonium ions.     

Nucleophilic Addition of Thiaproline to Electrochemically Derived o‐Quinone,Application to the Sensitive Voltammetric Detection of Thiaproline

The mechanism of electrochemical behavior of catechol in the presence of thiaproline is investigated by cyclic voltammetry, controlled‐potential coulometry and spectrophotometric tracing of the reaction coordinate. The results indicate that thiaproline participate in with an ECEC mechanism in a nucleophilic (Michael) addition to o‐quinone. Effect of pH of buffer solution on reaction pathway is studied and showed that addition of thiaproline to the o‐quinone is performed only in solutions with pHs higher than 5. These results indicate that the addition of thiaproline is occurred first from amine functional group. In the second step, the addition of carboxylate group of thiaproline to C‐5 of catechol results the final product with a lactone ring in its structure. Observation of two isosbestic point in absorption spectrum during the progress of the electrolysis together with the FT‐IR results for final product can be presented as evidence for two step addition of thiaproline to catechol. Final product, due to the electron donor property of thiaproline, more easily oxidized respect to the former catechol and as a result, a new redox couple is obtained for this compound in lower potentials. The easier anodic oxidation of addition product (relative to catechol) caused to an increase in anodic current for catechol, which is proportional to the thiaproline concentration. The differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) is applied as a sensitive voltammetric method for the detection of thiaproline. A linear range from 5×10^?8 to 5×10^?6 M with a detection limit of 1×10^?8 M is resulted for thiaproline. With respect to the reversibility of the electrochemical reactions in the mechanism, and also more facile oxidation of the addition products, the square‐wave voltammetry is presented as a method with considerably more sensitivity for the detection of sub‐micromolar amounts of thiaproline. The advantageous properties of the voltammetric method for thiaproline detection lie in its excellent catalytic activity, sensitivity and simplicity.     

The use of solid-state nuclear track detection for the study of boron and fissile nuclide distributions in steel samples

The technique of boron autoradiography using cellulose acetobutyrate (CAB) film for measuring the distribution of boron in stainless steels, is described. The method involves the irradiation of the specimen and detector with thermal neutrons, and the development of the α-particle tracks arising from the nuclear reaction¹⁰B(n, α)⁷Li. A related technique for the measurement of fissile nuclides in steel hulls, is also described. In this case, a polycarbonate detector, Lexan, is used to detect the fission-particles from the thermal neutron fission of²³⁵U or²³⁹Pu, present in the surfaces of the specimens. The principles of the methods are described, and an outline of the techniques presented. The quantitative aspect of the method is considered and the results on various specimens discussed.     

Enzyme-catalyzed reaction of OPD-H202-HRP voltammetric enzyme-linked immunoassay system

Enzyme-catalyzed reaction of o-phenylenediamine (OPD)-H_z0₂-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) voltammetric enzyme-linked immunoassay system has been studied in detail with electrochemical analysis, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultraviolet/visible (UV/Vis) spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The pure product of H₂0₂ oxidizing OPD catalyzed by HRP was prepared with chemical method. The experimental results of voltammetry and HPLC indicate that only one product of enzyme-catalyzed reaction has been obtained under the selected enzyme-catalyzed reaction conditions. Identifications by UV/ Vis spectrum, IR spectrum and¹³C NMR spectrum show that the product is 2,3-diaminophenazine. The processes of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction and the electroreduction of the product of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction are described. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Demethoxycarbonylation and oxidation of 13(S/R)-hydroxy-chlorophyll a to 13-demethoxycarbonyl-13-oxo-chlorophyll a and Mg-purpurin-18 phytyl ester

The conversion of 13²(S/R)-hydroxy-chlorophyll (Chl) a to 13²-demethoxycarbonyl-13²-oxo-Chl a in a yield of 40%, utilizing a simple pyrolysis technique, is described. About 10% of the phytyl ester of Mg-purpurin-18 was formed as a side product. The completely assigned ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra are presented for 13²-demethoxycarbonyl-13²-oxo-Chl a and a likely mechanism for its formation is proposed. A slight extension of this mechanism also explains the formation of the Mg-purpurin-18 side product. The proposed mechanism has several features comparable with those previously suggested for the allomerization of 13²(R/S)-Chl a. Attempts to apply the same pyrolysis method to prepare 13²-demethoxycarbonyl-13²-oxo-Chl b from 13²(S/R)-hydroxy-Chl b were unsuccessful.     

Electrochemical determination of hydrogen peroxide using o -dianisidine as substrate and hemoglobin as catalyst

A new electrochemical method for the determination of microamounts of hydrogen peroxide utilizing o-dianisidine (ODA) as substrate and hemoglobin (Hb) as catalyst is described in this paper. Hb can be used as mimetic peroxidase and it can catalyse the reduction of hydrogen peroxide with the subsequent oxidation of ODA. The oxidative reaction product is an azo compound, which is an electroactive substance and has a sensitive second-order derivative polarographic reductive peak at the potential of -0.58 V (vs. SCE) in pH 80 Britton-Robinson (B-R) buffer solution. The conditions of Hb-catalytic reaction and polarographic detection of the reaction product were carefully studied. By using this polarographic peak and under optimal conditions, the calibration curve for the H₂O₂ was constructed in the linear range of 2.0 x 10^-7 ∼ 10 x 10^-4 mol/l with the detection limit of 5.0 x 10^-8 mol/l. This method can also be used to the determination of Hb content in the range of 20 x 10^-9 ∼ 30 x 10^-7 mol/l with a detection limit of 10 x 10^-9 mol/l. The proposed method was further applied to the determination of the content of H₂O₂ in fresh rainwater with satisfactory results. The catalytic reaction mechanism and the electrode reductive process of the reaction product were carefully studied.     

Chemistry of Diamantane Part II. Synthesis of 3,5-Disubstituted Derivatives

Although chemical¹ and microbiological² methods for functionalisation of one or more of the bridgehead positions of diamantane are available, there have been no reports of substitution reactions at the methylene positions apart from that of the preparation of diamantanone (1)¹ by sulphuric acid oxidation of the hydrocarbon. There are three structural arrangements possible for a non-bridgehead disubstituted diamantane, but the synthetic route described here leads exclusively to 3,5-disubstituted derivatives.

When treated with sodium azide in cold methanesulphonic acid diamantanone (1) underwent a Schmidt fragmentation-recyclisation reaction of the type described by Sasaki et al.,³ yielding a compound which was not isolated but which was presumed to be the keto-mesylate (2) since treatment of the reaction mixture with sodium hydroxide caused a second fragmentation and the final product was the unsaturated acid (3) in 41% yield. The structure of the acid is based on the spectral data and on subsequent chemical transformations. The normal Schmidt rearrangement product, which is probably a mixture of the two possibilities (4) and (5), was also isolated in 50% yield. The unsaturated acid was readily recyclised under acidic conditions. Use of 96% sulphuric acid resulted in the formation of the lactone (6), but use of hot 50% sulphuric acid furnished 5ax-hydroxydiamantan-5-one (7) as the preponderant product (82%). That the hydroxyl-group occupied the axial config-     

2,2-Dimethylpenta-3,4-dienal derivatives: Preparation,NMR spectra,and crystal structure

Summary The preparation of some new 2,2-dimethylpenta-3,4-dienal derivatives starting byClaisen-Cope rearrangement of the pyrolytic product of the corresponding acetales and followed by condensation reactions is described. The synthesis of homoallenylketone5 from homoallenylaldehyde3 byGrignard reaction and followed by the oxidation of the formed alcohol using potassium chlorochromate (KCC) is reported. All new compounds are characterized by IR, MS,¹H, and¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The full assignment of the NMR signals is based on HETCOR and FLOCK pulse sequences. The molecular and crystal structure of 2,2-dimethylhexa-3,4-dienal 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone is presented.Dedicated to ProfessorFritz Sauter on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Chloroperoxidase Modified Electrode for Amperometric Determination of 2,4,6‐Trichlorophenol

A carbon paste‐poly(o‐phenylendiamine)‐modified electrode to be used as amperometric biosensor for 2,4,6‐trichlorophenol (TCP) is described. The enzyme chloroperoxidase (EC 1.11.1.10) from Caldariomyces fumago is immobilized through dispersion in a graphite paraffin oil carbon paste covered by an electrogenerated poly(o‐phenylendiamine) (PPD) layer. The main enzymatic dehalogenation product, 2,6‐dichloro‐1,4‐benzoquinone (DCQ) is characterized by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry and cyclic voltammetry. This product is electrochemically active and can be detected amperometrically at +150 mV vs. Ag|AgCl|KCl (3 M). The biosensor exhibits a response time of 4 min, a detection limit of 10^?7 M, and a dynamic linear range between 10^?7 and 10^?6 M. Selectivity as well as operating and storage stability were evaluated.     

Synthesis of11C propranolol

A method is described by which 60 mCi¹¹C propranolol may be obtained from about 1 Ci¹¹CO₂ in 30 min without irradiation risk for personnel. The product is chromatographically pure, sterile and apyrogenic with a specific activity between 500 mCi and 2 Ci/μmole at the time of use. The synthesis involves the preparation of¹¹C acetone followed by fixation of the isopropyl group on the precursor [1-amino-3-(1-naphtyloxy)-2-propanol] by formation of an imine, then reduction of the latter by sodium cyanoboro hydride. The influence of certain parameters (reagents, precursor, impurities) on the final product is discussed.     

Quantitative analysis of 15N-labeled positional isomers of glutamine and citrulline via electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry of their dansyl derivatives

The enteral metabolisms of glutamine and citrulline are intertwined because, while glutamine is one of the main fuel sources for the enterocyte, citrulline is one of its products. It has been shown that the administration of ¹⁵N‐labeled glutamine results in the incorporation of the ¹⁵N label into citrulline, but it is not clear which of the three nitrogen groups of citrulline is actually labeled. To determine the ¹⁵N‐enrichment of the positional isomers of glutamine and citrulline, a rapid liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed. The amino acids were analyzed as their dansyl derivatives. The product ion resulting from the loss of NH₃ from the omega carbon allows for the determination of the enrichment of the ureido (citrulline) or amido groups (glutamine). The protonated pyrrolidine (citrulline) or 5‐oxopyrrolidine (glutamine) product ion contains the 2‐N (amino group) and is used to determine its enrichment. The method described showed no ion suppression and a wide dynamic range ranging from 1.3 picomoles to 2 nanomoles for citrulline. Background samples and standards resulted in enrichments not different from those theoretically expected. The enrichment curves for the different glutamine and citrulline isotopomers were linear (R² > 0.998) over the range of enrichments studied. The method developed provides an additional insight into the metabolism of glutamine and citrulline tracing the precursor‐product relationship between these two amino acids. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reactions of small carbon cluster ions with HCN: a structural probe

The results of a detailed study of the primary and secondary reactions of carbon cluster ions, C _n ⁺ (3≤n≤20), with HCN are presented and discussed. The experiments were performed in a Fourier transform (ICR) mass spectrometer, using direct laser vaporization of graphite to form the carbon cluster ions. Evidence for two structural forms of then=7, 8 and 9 cluster ions is obtained from their differing reactivity with HCN. The C ₇ ⁺ ion is anomalous in its behavior in many respects, which is interpreted by an isomerization mechanism. The HCN reactions offer a contrast to the reactions with nonpolar neutrals studied previously. All HCN reactions produced ions of the type C_nX⁺ (primary product) or C_nXY⁺ (secondary product) where X, Y=H, CN or HCN. Fragmentation of the original carbon cluster was not observed, while radiative association is an important reaction channel. Low-energy collision-induced dissociation studies of the product ions support the mechanism of insertion into the H-CN bond and formation of covalent bonds at the carbene site for the primary reactions. In most secondary reactions however, the HCN associates weakly with the ion, rather than binding covalently.     

Application of Voltammetric Method of Total Chromium Determination in the Presence of Cupferron for Selective Determination of Cr(VI) in Water Samples

A voltammetric method of Cr(VI) determination in a flow system based on the combination of selective accumulation of the product of Cr(VI) reduction on hanging mercury drop electrode and a very sensitive method of chromium determination in the presence of cupferron previously described is proposed. The calibration graphs were linear from 3 × 10⁻⁹ to 3 × 10⁻⁸ and from 5 × 10⁻¹⁰ to 5 × 10⁻⁹ mol L⁻¹ for accumulation times of 120 and 600 s, respectively. The detection limit for the accumulation time of 600 s was 9 × 10⁻¹¹ mol L⁻¹. The relative standard deviation was 5.1% (n = 5) for Cr(VI) concentration 1 × 10⁻⁸ mol L⁻¹ and the accumulation time of 120 s. The influence of foreign ions commonly present in water samples is presented. The validation of the method was made by studying the recovery of Cr(VI) from spiked natural water samples.     

A method for the determination of additive elements in sintered tungsten metal rods by fast neutron activation analysis

A non-destructive activation analytical method developed for the determination of the axial concentration distributions of Al, Si and K residual additives in sintered tungsten rods is briefly described. A 14 MeV neutron generator is used to produce the reactions²⁷Al(n, p)²⁷Mg,²⁸Si(n, p)²⁸Al and³⁹K(n, 2n)³⁸K and the activities are compared with standards. A weighted least-squares fitting program is used for peak area determination of the scintillation spectra. A scheme of the irradiating and measuring arrangement with a pneumatic sample-transfer system is presented. The system is applicable to large-scale routine analysis and lends itself well to automation. The results of preliminary measurements with this arrangement are given.