Automated column-switching high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of flumequine and oxolinic acid in extracts from fish

Two methods for automated analysis of extracts from edible muscle tissue of Atlantic salmon are described. Oxolinic acid and flumequine are extracted with phosphate buffer pH 9, and the extracts are analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography using a column-switching system. One method applies on-line concentration and clean-up of the extracts on a precolumn packed with polystyrene-divinylbenzene. This method was useful for the analysis of oxolinic acid and flumequine in the microgram/g range. The other method was based on on-line dialysis and concentration of the dialysate on the polymeric precolumn. This method was shown to be a reliable method for residue analysis, and the limit of detection was 2 ng/g for oxolinic acid and 3 ng/g for flumequine with fluorescence detection.     

Autoresonant excitation of antiproton plasmas

We demonstrate controllable excitation of the center-of-mass longitudinal motion of a thermal antiproton plasma using a swept-frequency autoresonant drive. When the plasma is cold, dense, and highly collective in nature, we observe that the entire system behaves as a single-particle nonlinear oscillator, as predicted by a recent theory. In contrast, only a fraction of the antiprotons in a warm plasma can be similarly excited. Antihydrogen was produced and trapped by using this technique to drive antiprotons into a positron plasma, thereby initiating atomic recombination.     

On-line dialysis and weak cation-exchange enrichment of dialysate. Automated high-performance liquid chromatography of pholcodine in human plasma and whole blood.

An automated method for the determination of pholcodine in plasma and whole blood is described. The technique combines dialysis and trace enrichment prior to high-performance liquid chromatography. Dialysis, trace enrichment on a weak cation-exchange column, separation on a cyano column and fluorescence detection was shown to be an extremely selective and sensitive method. The method has been used successfully in the analysis of real samples after administration of pholcodine. The automated method can be used, after minor modification, to determine other basic drugs in whole blood and plasma.     

A molecular beam Fourier transform microwave study of 2-methylpyridine and its complex with argon: structure,methyl internal rotation and 14N nuclear quadrupole coupling

The rotational spectrum of 2-methylpyridine (α-picoline, CH₃C₅H₄N) in the two lowest levels of methyl internal rotation (m=0, ±1) has been recorded in the frequency range from 2 to 15 GHz using a molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. The high resolution and sensitivity of this spectroscopic technique allowed resolution of hyperfine structures due to ^l4N nuclear quadrupole coupling with high accuracy and detection of the spectra of the ¹⁵N- and all ¹³C-isotopomers. These investigations considerably extend the results from an earlier study on the normal species (Dreizler, H., Rudolph, H. D., and Mader, H., 1970, Z. Naturforsch., 25a, 25); improved rotational and centrifugal distortion constants as well as all components of the ¹⁴N quadrupole coupling tensor have been obtained. Analysis of the spectra of the isotopomers yielded the ^I4N quadrupole coupling constants χ _cc and χ _aa – χ _bb (for the ¹³C species), the potential parameter V ₃ for the barrier hindering the internal rotation of the methyl group, and, in particular, r_o, r_s r _m ⁽¹⁾ and r _m ⁽²⁾ structural parameters for the molecule. In addition to the microwave studies on the monomer, we have also investigated the rotational spectrum of the weakly bound dimer of normal 2-methylpyridine with Ar. The results obtained for the quadrupole coupling constants and the hindering potential for the internal methyl rotation show that the corresponding parameters are not significantly, or only slightly, changed in the complex.     

Planar imaging of a laboratory flame and of internal combustion in an automobile engine using UV rayleigh and fluorescence light

Rayleigh scattering of tunable excimer laser light (193 nm and 248 nm) is used to obtain 2-D images of the distribution of total densities in a laboratory flame and in a cylinder of an automobile engine. Because the UV light is very strongly scattered, there is ample signal and there is excellent contrast of Rayleigh light against surface scattered light, even in the small volume of the engine cylinder. The laboratory flame data are converted to an image of the temperature field. The Rayleigh images are compared with those from planar laser induced predissociative fluorescence, which yield state-specific densities of selected molecules. The experimental arrangement is the same except for the selection of laser wavelength and the filtering of the radiated light.     

Multi-species detection in spray flames with tunable excimer lasers

Planar imaging with tunable excimer-laser sheet illumination is used to determine spatial distributions of different species in liquid-fuelled spray flames of commercial oil burning furnaces. Two burner configurations, which differ only in the fuel/air mixing devices, are investigated to understand why one configuration yields 30% less NO_x emission. Iso-octane and n-heptane fuels are used. To understand the origin for NO_x reduction spatial distributions of reactants (fuel, O₂), the reaction intermediate OH and the pollutant NO are recorded. OH and O₂ are measured by LIPF, NO by LIF. Fuel distributions are determined by another broad-band emission, whose origin is not yet identified. Both single shot and averaged distributions are recorded. The averaged distributions are extremely reproducible and depend sensitively on details of the burner geometry and the fuel/air mixing device. They can clearly be used to distinguish fine details in different injection systems. The spatial distribution of different species relative to each other yield considerable insight in the differences between the two combustion processes. On the basis of purely qualitative visualization it is possible to understand the origin for NO_x reduction: it results from faster injection of air in the one fuel/air mixing device.     

Effect of laser intensity and of lower-state rotational energy transfer upon temperature measurements made with laser-induced predissociative fluorescence

2 (8) and Q₂(11) in OH. Received: 6 February 1997/Revised version: 28 July 1997     

Neutron diffraction investigation of MnAs under high pressure

Powdered MnAs has been investigated by neutron diffraction in a pressure cryostat, at hydrostatic pressures up to 13 kbar and temperatures down to 4.2 K. It has been found that in the orthorhombic MnP type structure, which under pressure is retained at low temperature, a spiral magnetic structure with propagation vector τ_a = 0.125X2πX a¹ at 12.6 kbar is formed.