Evolution of the solvent polarity in an electrospray plume

Solvent polarity plays an important role in electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), one of the most widely used analytical methods for biochemistry. To have a comprehensive understanding of how solvent polarity affects ESI-MS measurements, we systematically investigated the polarity change in the ESI plume formed from an ethanol solution using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy. Two solvatochromic dyes (i.e., dyes whose fluorescence emission is sensitive to solvent polarity), Nile red and DCM (4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-p-dimethylaminostyryl-4H-pyran), were used as probes. The peak emission wavelengths of these two dyes exhibited significant red shifts (8–12 nm) when the measuring spot was moved away from the spray tip and in radial direction in the plume, indicating a dramatic polarity change during shrinking of the droplets. The emission intensities were also measured with a polarity-insensitive dye as a reference. The results are consistent with the peak wavelength measurements. Two key mechanisms responsible for the change of solvent polarity in the plume were considered, water entrainment from the surrounding air and solvent evaporation. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of the solvent polarity change was performed by using the Lippert-Mataga polarity parameter Δf. The value of Δf reached 0.305–0.307 at the periphery of the ESI plume, which means that the solvent polarity in the smaller droplet is close to that of a mixture of 30% water and 70% ethanol (Δf = 0.307), even though the bulk solvent was ethanol containing less than 1% water as an impurity.     

Coulometric investigation of the drying conditions of high-grade iron ores for chemical analysis

Drying conditions for several iron ores have been investigated by the coulometric microdetermination of water. Samples, which were heated in an atmosphere of dry argon at 110 degrees for 3-4 hr and cooled, usually evolved less than 0.015% of water during a further 1 hr of heating. Therefore the difference in water content of the sample thus treated did not significantly influence the analytical results for total iron. Some magnetites and sintered pellet could be dried readily by heating for 2 hr in dry argon. Heating of samples of high water content for too long is not advisable as they may evolve some combined water.     

磁性珠状纤维素的性能表征

本文采用反相悬浮包埋技术制各了磁性珠状纤维素（magneticcellulosebead缩写MCB），并对MCB各方面的性能进行了全面的评价：湿态孔度高达80％以上，磁化率在10-3emu／g数量级，磁性铁分布均匀，且磁稳定性较高。     

Preparation and characterization of highly polar polymeric sorbents from styrene–divinylbenzene and vinylpyridine–divinylbenzene for the solid‐phase extraction of polar organic pollutants

This article explores the synthesis of styrene–divinylbenzene resins with different surface areas and the influence of these surface areas on their performance in the solid‐phase extraction of polar compounds from water samples. As expected, increasing the surface areas increases the retention capability of polar compounds. To improve the retention properties, we have used 4‐vinylpyridine instead of styrene in the polymerization and evaluated the influence of the sorbent polarity and surface area on the retention properties. We have found that a compromise is required between the percentage of 4‐vinylpyridine, which increases the polarity of the sorbent, and the percentage of divinylbenzene, which increases the surface area. In the solid‐phase extraction of polar compounds, the results are best for a polymer containing 2.14% N and having a surface area of 710 m²/g. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 1927–1933, 2003     

Assessing the Influence of Electrode Polarity on the Treatment of Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater

Electrochemical methods have been increasingly gaining popularity in the field of wastewater treatment. However, the performance of these methods can be highly affected by the polarity direction as determined by the electrodes arrangement (anode to cathode or cathode to anode); as well as the characteristics of the wastewater to be treated as determined by the type of wastewater. The presented research work investigated the relationship between polarity direction and the removal of pollutants from poultry slaughterhouse wastewater using titanium and aluminium electrode materials. In the first case, the wastewater was exposed to the Ti (anode)-Al (cathode) combination, whereas in the second case the wastewater was subjected to the Al (anode)-Ti (cathode) arrangement. The two cases were designed to see if the polarity direction of the chosen electrode materials affected the removal of pollutants. The removal efficiencies were computed as a ratio of the remaining concentration in the treated effluent to the concentration before treatment. It was observed that the production processes generate highly fluctuating wastewater in terms of pollution loading; for instance, 422 to 5340 Pt-Co (minimum to maximum) were recorded from color, 126 to 2264 mg/L were recorded from total dissolved solids, and 358 to 5998 mg/L from chemical oxygen demand. Also, the research results after 40 min of retention time showed that both electrode arrangements achieved relatively high removal efficiencies; Whereby, the aluminium to titanium polarity achieved up to 100% removal efficiency from turbidity while the titanium to aluminium polarity achieved a maximum of 99.95% removal efficiency from turbidty. Also, a similar phenomenon was observed from total dissolved solids; whereby, on average 0 mg/L was achieved when the wastewater was purified using the aluminium to titanium arrangement, while on average 2 mg/L was achieved from the titanium to aluminium arrangement. A little higher removal efficiency discrepancy was observed from ammonia; whereby, the aluminium to titanium arrangement outperformed the titanium to aluminium arrangement with average removal efficiencies of 82.27% and 64.11%, respectively.     

The influence of substituting metals (Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co and Ni) on the thermal stability of magnetite

In this paper, a systematic study on the influence of substituting metals on the thermal stability of magnetite was carried out. Six series of substituted magnetite (Fe_3?x M _x O₄, M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co and Ni) and Ti–V co-doped magnetite were prepared by a precipitation-oxidation method, followed by the characterization of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy and thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) analyses. XRD patterns confirmed the formation of samples with spinel structure and XANES probed the valence and site occupancy of the substituting ions. From the TG-DSC analysis results, the substitution of Ti⁴⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ stabilizes the magnetite structure, while V³⁺ and Cr³⁺ do not show such an effect. For the thermal stability of maghemite, V³⁺ has a negative effect while the other studied ions show a positive effect. In Ti–V co-doped magnetites, the influence of Ti⁴⁺ and V³⁺ on the thermal stability of magnetite is similar to the case of their single-metal-substituted magnetites. The mechanism about the thermal stability change of magnetite by metal substitution was also discussed. The obtained results will be of high importance for the industrial applications of magnetite.     

Influence of Surface Coating on Fluoride Removal by Magnetite

Al(OH)₃- and ZrO(OH)₂-coated magnetites were prepared and used for fluoride removal from aqueous samples. The influence of pH, sorbent mass, and ions such as chloride, sulfate, and phosphate on the removal of fluoride was characterized. The sorption process was highly pH dependent, and the optimal sorption was obtained from pH 4 to 5 for ZrO(OH)₂- and pH 4 to 7 for Al(OH)₃-coated magnetites. The sorption isotherm was well described by the Langmuir equation for the sorbents. The maximum adsorption capacity of ZrO(OH)₂-coated magnetite (57.47?mg-F?g^?1-sorbent) was higher than for Al(OH)₃-coated magnetite (23.87?mg-F?g^?1-sorbent). The ion-exchange reaction occurred in 5?min and more than 99% of fluoride was removed from solution. When the ZrO(OH)₂-coated magnetite was used, the presence of foreign ions negatively affected the fluoride removal. The prepared sorbents showed an excellent performance for the removal of fluoride in water samples.     

Improved workup for glycosaminoglycan disaccharide analysis using CE with LIF detection

This work describes improved workup and instrumental conditions to enable robust, sensitive glycosaminoglycan (GAG) disaccharide analysis from complex biological samples. In the process of applying CE with LIF to GAG disaccharide analysis in biological samples, we have made improvements to existing methods. These include (i) optimization of reductive amination conditions, (ii) improvement in sensitivity through the use of a cellulose cleanup procedure for the derivatization, and (iii) optimization of separation conditions for robustness and reproducibility. The improved method enables analysis of disaccharide quantities as low as 1 pmol prior to derivatization. Biological GAG samples were exhaustively digested using lyase enzymes, the disaccharide products and standards were derivatized with the fluorophore 2‐aminoacridone and subjected to reversed polarity CE‐LIF detection. These conditions resolved all known chondroitin sulfate (CS) disaccharides or 11 of 12 standard heparin/heparan sulfate disaccharides, using 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 3.5, and reversed polarity at 30 kV with 0.3 psi pressure. Relative standard deviation in migration times of CS ranged from 0.1 to 2.0% over 60 days, and the relative standard deviations of peak areas were less than 3.2%, suggesting that the method is reproducible and precise. The CS disaccharide compositions are similar to those obtained by our group using tandem MS. The reversed polarity CE‐LIF disaccharide analysis protocol yields baseline resolution and quantification of heparin/heparan sulfate and CS/dermatan sulfate disaccharides from both standard preparations and biologically relevant proteoglycan samples. The improved CE‐LIF method enables disaccharide quantification of biologically relevant proteoglycans from small samples of intact tissue.     

硅胶表面键合物的正电子湮没谱研究

本文在多孔无定形硅胶的表面上键合了不同极性的化学基团, 制成一系列相同基体, 但表面基团不同的样品, 测定了其正电子湮没寿命谱, 发现寿命谱的最长寿命组份随表面键合基不同, 寿命值有明显差别。寿命值与基团的极性及基团的体积有关, 正电子湮没谱的最长寿命组份能灵敏地表征表面的极性和化学性, 可作为表面化学定性分析的有用技术。     

Simple method for the determination of trace levels of pesticides in honeybees using matrix solid-phase dispersion and gas chromatography

A simple multiresidue method for the determination of insecticides in honeybees is described. The developed method is based on the matrix solid-phase dispersion technique. A total number of 12 insecticides (azinfos-methyl, buprofezin, chlorpyriphos, chlorpyriphos-methyl, diazinon, ethion, fenitrothion, fipronil, methidathion, phosalone, pirimicarb, propoxur) used on flowering fields are determined by this method. The method uses Florisil and silica as dispersing agents, alumina and silica as cleanup adsorbents and a low polarity solvent system to elute pesticide residues from the honeybee samples. The insecticides were quantified using capillary gas chromatography with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector. The method has shown good recovery (70-110%) for various levels of spiked samples (0.01-1.0 mg/kg). The relative standard deviations were in the range of 2-8% for all pesticides studied. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.005-0.05 mg/kg. The procedure can be applied for the determination of residues of low-polarity and medium polarity pesticides in honeybee samples.     

离子色谱法测定乌龙茶叶中的F-、NO2-、NO3-

应用离子色谱法测定乌龙茶叶中的F~-、NO_2~-和NO_3~-。测得3种样品中F~-、NO_2~-和NO_3~-的含量分别为1.19～1.75、0.000～0.020和0.024～0.058 mg/g,加标回收率分别为94.9％、96.7％和93.4％。     

表面功能化的介孔分子筛SBA-3的表征

采用γ-氨丙基三乙氧基硅烷（AM）,通过表面硅烷化反应,对脱模板后的纯 硅六方介孔分子筛SBA-3进行了表面功能化,并通过XRD,TEM,低温N_2吸附, FTIR和吸附染料分子的UV-vis漫反射光谱等对功能化样品的结构、孔性质和表面极 性等进行了详细表征。结果表明,功能分子锚接后,样品的六方结构基本保持。样 品的表面硅羟基由于被消耗而明显减少,导致表面极性降低。另外,由于功能分子 占据了部分孔道空间,样品的孔容、表面积和孔径下降。     

Determination of mercaptopurine and its four metabolites by large-volume sample stacking with polarity switching in capillary electrophoresis

This study describes approaches for stacking a large volume of sample solutions containing a mixture of mercaptopurine monohydrate, 6-methylmercaptopurine, thioguanine, thioguanosine, and thioxanthine in capillary electrophoresis (CE). After filling the run buffer (60 mM borate buffer, pH 8.5), a large sample volume was loaded by hydrodynamic injection (2.5 psi, 99.9 s), followed by the removal of the large plug of sample matrix from the capillary using polarity switching (-15 kV). Monitoring the current and reversing the polarity when 95% of current recovered, the separation of anionic analytes was performed in a run buffer < 20 kV. Around 44- to 90-fold improvement of sensitivity for five analytes was achieved by large-volume stacking with polarity switching when compared with CE without stacking. This method was feasible for determination of the analytes spiked in plasma. Removing most of electrolytes from plasma is a key step for performing large-volume sample stacking. Solid-phase extraction was used for pretreatment of biological samples. To our knowledge, this study is one of few applications showing the possibilities of this stacking procedure to analyze biological samples by large-volume sample stacking with polarity switching (LVSSPS) in CE.     

2,4,6-三硝基-2,4,6-三氮杂环己酮的晶体形貌预测

利用Materials Studio 5.0软件包中的Morphology模块所含的BFDH、Growth Morphology和Equilibri-um Morphology三种方法计算了2,4,6-三硝基-2,4,6-三氮杂环己酮的晶体形貌,得到了特定晶面的面积、附着能、表面能及晶面相对生长速率等参数,确定了形态学上重要的生长晶面.各晶面的表面结构分析结果表明,(101)和(111)晶面为强极性晶面,(002)、(110)和(021)晶面为极性晶面,而(020)晶面为非极性晶面.据此可以预测,在强极性的质子溶剂中,(101)和(111)晶面为形态学上重要的晶面,(002)、(110)和(021)晶面的显露面可能增加,而(020)晶面会变小或消失.在非极性溶剂中,情况则可能刚好相反.     

Pretilt angle of liquid crystals and liquid-crystal alignment on microgrooved polyimide surfaces fabricated by soft embossing method

In this study, the soft embossing method is proposed to fabricate periodical microgrooved structure on polyimide surfaces. These microgrooved polyimide surfaces are assembled to form liquid-crystal cells. It is found that the director of liquid crystals uniformly aligns along the groove direction even when the groove width is as high as 3 microm. The anchoring energy of these microgrooved polyimide surfaces is higher than that of the typical rubbed surfaces. The pretilt angle of liquid crystals is adjusted by tuning the surface polarity of the polyimide alignment layer, which is identified by the advancing contact angle of water. The surface polarity of polyimide alignment layers is manipulated by simply mixing two kinds of polyimide: a more hydrophilic one and a more hydrophobic one. It is found that the pretilt angle of liquid crystals increases along with the advancing contact angle of water on the alignment layer under the condition of a fixed surface topography.     

Sampling of volatile components using a PTV in the solvent split mode

Several packing materials were evaluated for their sampling performance with a cold programmed temperature vaporizing injector operated in the solvent split (solvent elimination) mode. Evaluations were made by comparing accuracy and precision of the data for mixtures of n-alkanes, ethyl esters, n-alcohols, and carboxylic acids covering polarity and volatility ranges typical of compounds present in food samples. Tenax exhibits the most desirable retention characteristics. Careful selection of the experimental conditions lowers losses of volatile compounds by co-evaporation with the solvent and allows a reliably quantitative analysis. Coefficients of variation of relative (normalized) peak areas and absolute peak area ratios of each compound to the standard are generally less than 2%.     

Validation of a liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of drugs in wastewater using a three‐phase solvent system

Pharmaceuticals constitute one of the most important emerging classes of environmental pollutants. A three‐phase solvent system of water, water containing 0.1% of formic acid and acetonitrile was successfully used to separate, by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC‐MS), polarity‐matched pharmaceuticals, that is, carbamazepine, clarithromycin, and erythromycin, as well as amoxicillin and metformin. Despite of polarity similarities, these pharmaceuticals were completely resolved in the analytical run time of 15 min. The optimized three‐phase solvent system based‐method was validated for the simultaneous analysis of six matched‐polarity pharmaceuticals in wastewater samples. Good linearity (coefficient of determination more than 0.993) and precision (relative standard deviation less than 15.66%) were achieved. Recovery of analytes from the wastewater was between 0.70 and 1.18. Limits of detections ranged from 0.0001 to 0.5114 µg/L. No significant matrix effect, evaluated by post extraction addition, was observed in the electrospray ionization (ESI) source. Then, this methodology has been successfully applied to environmental study of pharmaceutical residues occurring in influent and effluent wastewater samples, from the main wastewater treatment plant in Potenza (Basilicata, Southern Italy).     

Molecular switch triggered by solvent polarity: synthesis,Acid-base behavior,alkali metal ion complexation,and crystal structure

The synthesis and characterization of the new tetraazamacrocycle L, bearing two 1,1'-bis(2-phenol) groups as side-arms, is reported. The basicity behavior and the binding properties of L toward alkali metal ions were determined by means of potentiometric measurements in ethanol/water 50:50 (v/v) solution (298.1+/-0.1 K, I=0.15 mol dm(-3)). The anionic H(-1)L(-) species can be obtained in strong alkaline solution, indicating that not all of the acidic protons of L can be removed under the experimental conditions used. This species behaves as a tetraprotic base (log K(1)=11.22, log K(2)=9.45, log K(3)=7.07, log K(4)=5.08), and binds alkali metal ions to form neutral [MH(-1)L] complexes with the following stability constants: log K(Li)=3.92, log K(Na)=3.54, log K(K)=3.29, log K(Cs)=3.53. The arrangement of the acidic protons in the H(-1)L(-) species depends on the polarity of the solvents used, and at least one proton switches from the amine moiety to the aromatic part upon decreasing the polarity of the solvent. In this way two different binding areas, modulated by the polarity of solvents, are possible in L. One area is preferred by alkali metal ions in polar solvents, the second one is preferred in solvents with low polarity. Thus, the metal ion can switch from one location to the other in the ligand, modulated by the polarity of the environment. A strong hydrogen-bonding network should preorganize the ligand for coordination, as confirmed by MD simulations. The crystal structure of the [Na(H(-1)L)].CH(3)CN complex (space group P2(1)/c, a=12.805(1), b=20.205(3), c=14.170(2) A, beta=100.77(1) degrees, V=3601.6(8) A(3), Z=4, R=0.0430, wR2=0.1181), obtained using CH(2)Cl(2)/CH(3)CN as mixed solvent, supports this last aspect and shows one of the proposed binding areas.     

Intercalated linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)/clay nanocomposites prepared with oxidized polyethylene as a new type compatibilizer: Structural, mechanical and barrier properties

In this study, the use of low molecular weight oxidized polyethylenes (OxPE) with different molecular weight and acid number as a new type of compatibilizer in low density polyethylene (LLDPE)/org-clay nanocomposite preparation was examined. Nanocomposites having 5 phr (part per hundred) org-clay were prepared by melt processing. The effect of compatibilizer polarity and clay dispersion on the thermal, mechanical and barrier properties of the nanocomposites was investigated. It was observed that oxidized polyethylenes created a strong interfacial interaction between the clay layers and polymer phase based on the analysis of the linear viscoelastic behavior of the samples by small amplitude oscillatory rheometry. We showed that physical performance of the nanocomposites is not only affected by clay dispersion but also both melt viscosity and polarity of the oxidized polyethylene compatibilizers. It was found that oxygen permeability values of the nanocomposite samples prepared with the oxidized polyethylenes were lower than that of a sample prepared with conventional compatibilizer, maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (PE-g-MA).     

A theoretical study of conformational flexibility,magnetic properties,and polarizabilities of trimethylnaphthalenes

For almost all trimethylnaphthalenes (TMNs), the transition from a planar equilibrium ring conformation to a nonplanar conformation characterized by the torsional angle of 20° results in an energy increase of less than 2.5 kcal/mol. For some of them, it is less than 1.6 kcal/mol, which indicates that these molecules can change their conformation easily through intermolecular interactions. The results of the calculations reveal a linear relationship between the averaged rigidity constant and the relative energy for all planar TMNs. The changes of rings deformational energy imposed on π‐electron systems of TMNs by medium polarity are negligible (less than 0.05 kcal/mol). The aromaticity indices, based on nucleus‐independent chemical shifts, indicate aromatic character of TMNs. The α substitution increases the ring area more than the β substitution. The increase of anisotropy of dipole polarizabilities with the decrease of the area of rings for all planar TMNs, dimethylnaphthalenes and methylnaphthalenes is noticed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.