Artificial neural networks for simultaneous spectrophotometric differential kinetic determination of Co(II) and V(IV)

A method for simultaneous analysis of V(IV) and Co(II) has been developed by using artificial neural network (ANN). This method is based on the difference of the chemical reaction rate of V(IV) and Co(II) with Fe(III) in the presence of chromogenic reagent, 1,10-phenanthroline. The reduced product of the reaction, Fe(II), can form a colored complex with 1,10-phenanthroline and make a visible spectrophotometric signal for indirect monitoring of the V(IV) and Co(II) concentrations. Feed forward neural networks have been trained to quantify considered metal ions in mixtures under optimum conditions. The networks were shown to be capable of correlating reduced spectral kinetic data using principal component analysis (PCA) of mixtures with individual metal ion. In this way an ANN containing three layers of nodes was trained. Sigmoidal and linear transfer functions were used in the hidden and output layers, respectively, to facilitate nonlinear calibration. Both V(IV) and Co(II) were analyzed in the concentration range of 0.1-4.0 μg ml⁻¹. The proposed method was also applied satisfactorily to the determination of considered metal ions in several synthetic and water samples.     

Flow-injection chemiluminescence determination of chlorinated isocyanuric acids

A rapid and sensitive flow-injection chemiluminescence method is described for the determination of dichloro- and trichloroisocyanuric acids based on the chemiluminescence produced during their reaction with luminol in alkaline medium. The effects of analytical and flow-injection variables on these chemiluminescence systems and determination of both oxidants are discussed. The optimized method yielded 3sigma detection limits of 8x10(-8) and 5x10(-8) mol L(-1) for the sodium dichloroisocyanurate and trichloroisocyanuric acid, respectively. The optimum conditions were found to be as follows: NaOH, 1x10(-1) mol L(-1); luminol, 5x10(-3) mol L(-1); KI, 2x10(-3) mol L(-1) and flow rate, 3.5 mL min(-1).     

Highly sensitive and selective measurements of cobalt by catalytic adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry

A very sensitive and selective catalytic adsorptive cathodic stripping procedure for trace measurements of cobalt is presented. The method is based on adsorptive accumulation of the cobalt-MTB (methyl thymol blue) complex onto a hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by reduction of the adsorbed species by voltammetric scan using differential pulse modulation. The reduction current is enhanced catalytically by nitrite. The optimum conditions for the analysis of cobalt include pH 9.0 (ammonia buffer), 2.0 μM methyl thymol blue, 0.8 M sodium nitrite and an accumulation potential of −0.5 V (versus Ag/AgCl). The peak current is proportional to the concentration of cobalt over the entire concentration range tested (0.02–500 ng ml⁻¹) with a detection limit of 0.005 ng ml⁻¹ for an accumulation time of 60 s. The method was applied to determination of cobalt in a mineral water sample and some analytical grade salts with satisfactory results.     

Synthesis and cytotoxicity of novel chromenone derivatives bearing 4-nitrophenoxy phenyl acryloyl moiety

This work describes synthesis of novel chromenone derivatives bearing 4-nitrophenoxy phenyl acryloyl moiety through the reaction of 4-(4-nitrophenoxy)benzaldehydes and 3-acetyl-2H-chromen-2-ones in refluxing toluene. Cytotoxicity of all compounds was evaluated using a tetrazolium (MTT) colorimetric assay against human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231.     

Design of an optical sensor for indirect determination of isoniazid

The characterization of an optical sensor membrane is described for indirect determination of isoniazid. The sensing membrane was consisted of immobilized 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine (PDT) on a triacetylcellulose membrane. The procedure is based on the reaction of Fe(III) with isoniazid in the presence of PDT. Fe(III) is reduced by isoniazid to Fe(II) which forms a complex with PDT. The complex shows an absorption maximum at 558nm. By measuring the absorbance of the complex at this wavelength, isoniazid can be determined in the range of 0.62-6.15mugmL(-1). This method was applied to the determination of isoniazid in pharmaceutical formulation and enabled the determination of isoniazid in microgram quantities.     

Independent component analysis of 2-D electrophoresis gels

We present a novel application of independent component analysis (ICA), an exploratory data analysis technique, to two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) gels, which have been used to analyze differentially expressed proteins across groups. Unlike currently used pixel-wise statistical tests, ICA is a data-driven approach that utilizes the information contained in the entire gel data. We also apply ICA on wavelet-transformed 2-DE gels to address the high dimensionality and noise problems typically found in 2-DE gels. Also, we use an analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) approach as a benchmark for comparison. Using simulated data, we show that ICA detects the group differences accurately in both the spatial and wavelet domains. We also apply these techniques to real 2-DE gels. ICA proves to be much faster than ANOVA, and unlike ANOVA it does not depend on the selection of a threshold. Application of principal component analysis reduces the dimensionality and tends to improve the performance by reducing the noise.     

Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of traces of sulfide

A method for the determination of sulfide based on the addition reaction of sulfide with magenta at pH 7 and 25 degrees C is described. The decrease in absorbance of magenta at 540 nm, its lambda(max), over a fixed time is proportional to the concentration of sulfide over the range of 25-2500 ng ml(-1). The limit of detection was found to be 15 ng ml(-1). Ten replicate analysis of a sample solution containing 1.5 mug ml(-1) sulfide gave a relative standard deviation of 0.8%. The effects of various cations and anions on sulfide determination have been reported and procedures for removal of interferences have been described.     

A PVC-membrane bulk optode for gallium(III) ion determination

An optical probe responsive to gallium(III) ion has been developed. The gallium sensing system was prepared by incorporating 4-(p-nitrophenyl azo)-pyrocatechol (NAP) as ionophore in a plasticized PVC membrane containing tributylphosphate (TBP) as plasticizer. The sensing membrane in contact with gallium ion at pH 3.5, changes color from yellow-brown to pink-brown. Under optimum conditions, the proposed membrane displayed a linear range of 5-83 μM with a limit of detection of 4 μM. The response time of the membrane was within 10-15 min depending on the concentration of Ga³⁺ ions. The selectivity of the probe towards gallium determination was found to be very good. Experimental results showed that the probe could be used as an effective tool in analyzing the gallium content of water samples.     

A Novel Electrochemical Sensor for Simultaneous Determination of Hydroquinone,Catechol, and Resorcinol Using a Carbon Paste Electrode Modified by Zn-MOF,Nitrogen-doped Graphite,and AuNPs

In this work, the carbon paste electrode was modified with a composite of a metal-organic framework, nitrogen-doped graphite, and gold nanoparticles and used as an electrochemical sensor for dihydroxybenzene isomers. The morphology and characteristics of the modifiers were found by SEM and FT-IR. Electrochemical techniques showed the specific surface of the electrode to be significantly enhanced. The outcome achieved shows that this novel sensor displays an excellent electro-catalytic activity towards the oxidation of these isomers. The sensor was applied to the simultaneous determination of each three isomers using DPV with a linear response in the concentration range of 5–10⁵ nM.     

Direct Electrochemistry and Electrocatalytic Properties of Hemoglobin Immobilized on Carbon Nanotubes Ionic Liquid Electrode

Hemoglobin (Hb) was directly immobilized on a multiwalled carbon nanotubes ionic liquid electrode by immersing this electrode in a solution consisting of Hb and 1‐octyl‐pyridinium chloride as an ionic liquid. The immobilized Hb displayed a pair of well‐defined cyclic voltammetric peaks with a formal potential of ?0.187 V in acetate buffer solution, pH 5.0. This modified electrode exhibits fast response, a long linearity range, a low detection limit, high stability and excellent sensitivity through hydrogen peroxide detection with a detection limit (3σ) of 3.18 µM. The electrode was also used for electrocatalysis and voltammetric determination of oxygen and trichloroacetic acid.