Dynamic behavior of potentiometric ammonia-sensing probes in samples of high osmolarity

Results are presented for potentiometric ammonia gas-sensors which show that the response times increase significantly with age of the sensor when ammonium picrate is used as internal electrolyte and the samples have greater osmolarities than the internal electrolyte solution. A build-up of ammonium picrate crystals on the inner side of the gas-permeable membrane is responsible for this increasein response time. The use of ammonium chloride as internal electrolyte provides constant response times indepent of sample osmotic strength, and is recommended as a means of ensuring that optimal dynamic response characteristics are maintained.     

7-azasteroid analogues—I

Although 7-methoxy- and 6,7-dimethoxy-2-methyl-4-vinyl-isocarbostyrils could not be isolated and characterised, they have been generated in situ and shown to undergo cyclo-addition reactions with typical dienophiles. The enol acetate of 2-methyl-4-acetylisocarbostyril has also been trapped as its adduct with maleic anhydride and with p-benzoquinone.     

Super-Resolved Raman Spectroscopy

In this paper we present a super-resolved Raman spectroscopy configuration where, due to the proposed resolution improvement, more chemical species can be simultaneously detected. The idea includes usage of the basic property of Raman in which shifting the excitation wavelength will shift the absolute wavelength of the Raman spectral lines. Thus, encoding the spectra prior to analysis by the spectrometer allows obtaining spectral super-resolved sensing via time multiplexing super-resolution concepts applied over the spectral domain.     

Cannabinoids in oral fluid by on-site immunoassay and by GC-MS using two different oral fluid collection devices

Oral fluid (OF) enables non-invasive sample collection for on-site drug testing, but performance of on-site tests with occasional and frequent smokers’ OF to identify cannabinoid intake requires further evaluation. Furthermore, as far as we are aware, no studies have evaluated differences between cannabinoid disposition among OF collection devices with authentic OF samples after controlled cannabis administration. Fourteen frequent (≥4 times per week) and 10 occasional (less than twice a week) adult cannabis smokers smoked one 6.8 % ?⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cigarette ad libitum over 10 min. OF was collected with the StatSure Saliva Sampler, Oral-Eze, and Draeger DrugTest 5000 test cassette before and up to 30 h after cannabis smoking. Test cassettes were analyzed within 15 min and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry cannabinoid results were obtained within 24 h. Cannabinoid concentrations with the StatSure and Oral-Eze devices were compared and times of last cannabinoid detection (t _last) and DrugTest 5000 test performance were assessed for different cannabinoid cutoffs. 11-nor-9-Carboxy-THC (THCCOOH) and cannabinol concentrations were significantly higher in Oral-Eze samples than in Stat-Sure samples. DrugTest 5000 t _last for a positive cannabinoid test were median (range) 12 h (4–24 h) and 21 h (1–?≥?30 h) for occasional and frequent smokers, respectively. Detection windows in screening and confirmatory tests were usually shorter for occasional than for frequent smokers, especially when including THCCOOH ≥20 ng L^?1 in confirmation criteria. No differences in t _last were observed between collection devices, except for THC ≥2 μg L^?1. We thus report significantly different THCCOOH and cannabinol, but not THC, concentrations between OF collection devices, which may affect OF data interpretation. The DrugTest 5000 on-site device had high diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency for cannabinoids.     

Synthesis of Poly(methyl methacrylate) Nanosize Particles by Differential Microemulsion Polymerization

Poly(methyl methacrylate) nanosize particles were synthesized by a differential microemulsion polymerization process. Sodium dodecylsulfate and ammonium persulfate were used as the surfactant and initiator, respectively. The effects of reaction conditions on the particle size have been investigated. A particle size of less than 20 nm in diameter has been achieved with surfactant/monomer and surfactant/water weight ratios of 1:18 and 1:120, i.e. much milder conditions than those previously reported in the literature.

TEM image of nanoparticles prepared via differential microemulsion polymerization.     

Comparative Photophysical Study of Disulfonated Aluminum Phthalocyanine in Unilamellar Vesicles and Leukemic K562 Cells

Abstract— The photophysical properties of cis -disulfonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPcS₂) in unilamellar vesicles (liposomes) of DL-a-dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine have been measured. Both the fluorescence and triplet quantum yields decreased with increasing sensitizer concentration. The time-resolved fluorescence decays, analyzed by both the sum of exponentials and decay time distribution analyses, are compared with those reported for AlPcS₂ in leukemic K562 cells. Information on the pho-todynamic transport and localization mechanism has been obtained by drawing correlations between the two systems, indicating active transport of the phthalocyanine into tumor cells involving lysosomal accumulation.     

Human Group IIA Phospholipase A2—Three Decades on from Its Discovery

Phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) enzymes were first recognized as an enzyme activity class in 1961. The secreted (sPLA₂) enzymes were the first of the five major classes of human PLA₂s to be identified and now number nine catalytically-active structurally homologous proteins. The best-studied of these, group IIA sPLA₂, has a clear role in the physiological response to infection and minor injury and acts as an amplifier of pathological inflammation. The enzyme has been a target for anti-inflammatory drug development in multiple disorders where chronic inflammation is a driver of pathology since its cloning in 1989. Despite intensive effort, no clinically approved medicines targeting the enzyme activity have yet been developed. This review catalogues the major discoveries in the human group IIA sPLA₂ field, focusing on features of enzyme function that may explain this lack of success and discusses future research that may assist in realizing the potential benefit of targeting this enzyme. Functionally-selective inhibitors together with isoform-selective inhibitors are necessary to limit the apparent toxicity of previous drugs. There is also a need to define the relevance of the catalytic function of hGIIA to human inflammatory pathology relative to its recently-discovered catalysis-independent function.     

The crystal and molecular structures of three copper‐containing complexes and their activities in mimicking galactose oxidase

The structures of three copper‐containing complexes, namely (benzoato‐κ²O,O′)[(E)‐2‐({[2‐(diethylamino)ethyl]imino}methyl)phenolato‐κ³N,N′,O]copper(II) dihydrate, [Cu(C₇H₅O₂)(C₁₃H₁₉N₂O)]·2H₂O, 1 , [(E)‐2‐({[2‐(diethylamino)ethyl]imino}methyl)phenolato‐κ³N,N′,O](2‐phenylacetato‐κ²O,O′)copper(II), [Cu(C₈H₇O₂)(C₁₃H₁₉N₂O)], 2 , and bis[μ‐(E)‐2‐({[3‐(diethylamino)propyl]imino}methyl)phenolato]‐κ⁴N,N′,O:O;κ⁴O:N,N′,O‐(μ‐2‐methylbenzoato‐κ²O:O′)copper(II) perchlorate, [Cu₂(C₈H₇O₂)(C₁₂H₁₇N₂O)₂]ClO₄, 3 , have been reported and all have been tested for their activity in the oxidation of d ‐galactose. The results suggest that, unlike the enzyme galactose oxidase, due to the precipitation of Cu₂O, this reaction is not catalytic as would have been expected. The structures of 1 and 2 are monomeric, while 3 consists of a dimeric cation and a perchlorate anion [which is disordered over two orientations, with occupancies of 0.64 (4) and 0.36 (4)]. In all three structures, the central Cu atom is five‐coordinated in a distorted square‐pyramidal arrangment (τ parameter of 0.0932 for 1 , 0.0888 for 2 , and 0.142 and 0.248 for the two Cu centers in 3 ). In each species, the environment about the Cu atom is such that the vacant sixth position is open, with very little steric crowding.