Two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement NMR experiments on pelargonidin-3-glucopyranoside, an anthocyanin of low molecular mass.

Pelargonidin-3-glucoside has been isolated from the acidified methanolic extract of strawberries (Fragaria anannassa variety Corona) by successive application of an ion-exchange resin, droplet-counter chromatography and gel filtration. The pigment in acidified methanolic solution was studied by means of the two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement NMR technique, and the sugar unit was found to be attached to the 3-position on the aglycone. At +20 degrees C the pigment was found to be in the extreme narrowing limit where the NOESY cross-peaks are negative. However, at -20 degrees C this low-mass anthocyanin could be studied in the slow motion regime where the NOESY cross-peaks are positive. With a mixing time of 0.3 s, the glucose H1"-H4" proton pair was measured in the initial cross-relaxation rate and their cross-peak volume corresponded to the H1"-H4" distance found in a 4C1 chair conformation.     

A novel method for the filterless preconcentration of iron

A novel method of analysis of iron by filterless preconcentration is presented. This is the first example of efficient preconcentration of a refractory transition metal where coprecipitation and columns were omitted. The method applies a manifold of flow injection analysis (FIA) to iron species that are preconcentrated on the inner walls of a tubular reactor. It was found that the adsorption of iron species to the walls was particularly pronounced in reactors of nylon material and enrichment factors of 30-35 could be attained, as dependent on the length of the reactor and on the time of preconcentration. In the preconcentration step of the FIA accessory, the optimum efficacy was obtained when the acidity of the samples was adjusted by HCl to pH = 2.5 whereas the ammonia preconcentration buffer should be kept alkaline at pH = 9.8. After being preconcentrated on the tubular reactor, the iron species were eluted by hydrochloric acid and analysed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). An unprecedented low limit of detection (LOD, 3sigma) of 1.8 microg L(-1) was thus obtained for the analysis of iron by FAAS, and the calibration line was linear up to 100 microg L(-1). A high sampling frequency of 40 per hour was obtained and the protocol allowed analysis of small amounts of iron in drinking water, in digested samples and in saline water. The major influence of interferences originated from ligands that are known to complex strongly to iron species. The method thus developed was uncomplicated in operation and it exhibited an excellent long-term stability and a high selectivity. Further, it was environmentally safe owing to production of non-toxic waste disposals. Equally high enrichment factors (EF) were obtained for Fe(ii) and Fe(iii), which is explained by the very low solubility product of both species.     

Terpenoic acid glycerides from the dorid nudibranch Archidoris montereyensis

Extracts of the dorid nudibranch $\text{Archidoris montereyensis}$ contain a diterpenoic acid glyceride 1 whose structure has been determined by x-ray diffraction analysis. The structure of a minor metabolite, the sesquiterpenoic acid glyceride 2, was determined by chemical correlation.     

Optimization of Direct Aromatic 18F-Labeling of Tetrazines

Radiolabeling of tetrazines has gained increasing attention due to their important role in pretargeted imaging or therapy. The most commonly used radionuclide in PET imaging is fluorine-18. For this reason, we have recently developed a method which enables the direct aromatic ¹⁸F-fluorination of tetrazines using stannane precursors through copper-mediated fluorinations. Herein, we further optimized this labeling procedure. 3-(3-fluorophenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine was chosen for this purpose because of its high reactivity and respective limited stability during the labeling process. By optimizing parameters such as elution conditions, precursor amount, catalyst, time or temperature, the radiochemical yield (RCY) could be increased by approximately 30%. These conditions were then applied to optimize the RCY of a recently successfully developed and promising pretargeting imaging agent. This agent could be isolated in a decay corrected RCY of 14 ± 3% and Am of 201 ± 30 GBq/µmol in a synthesis time of 70 min. Consequently, the RCY increased by 27%.     

Reactions to railway noise in Denmark

People's reactions to railway noise were studied along seven Danish railway lines with traffic intensities from 30 to about 300 trains per 24 hours. The calculated sound levels varied between 43 and 71 dB(A) for L_Aeq,24h and between 78 and 102 sB(A) for L_Amax. 615 persons were interviewed. One third of these felt strongly or somewhat annoyed by the railway noise. The relations between the noise level and the extent of annoyance or various kinds of behaviour (telephone conversation, TV-listening, opening of windows, sleep, etc.) were found. The relations were found for both L_Aeq,24h and L_Amax, but the correlation for L_Amax is generally bad. Noise in the evenings was found to be more annoying than noise in other daytime periods. More than half of the interviewees answered that goods trains especially were a problem. People exposed to noise at their place of work seem to feel more annoyed by railway noise than other people.