Development of a simplified densitometer for the determination of aflatoxins by thin-layer chromatography

A simple, miniaturised and low power consuming (battery, fully semiconductor based) detector cell (SeBaDeC) was developed for the densitometric measurement of aflatoxins on TLC plates. A UV-light emitting diode (UV-LED) with a peak emission wavelength of 370 nm was used for fluorescence excitation, while a photo diode with a peak sensitivity of 440 nm in combination with a 418 nm cut-off filter was applied for detecting the fluorescence intensity. The resulting signal was further amplified by means of a commonly used operational amplifier integrated circuit (OA) and directly converted into a digital signal with a simple analogue-digital-converter (ADC). This signal was recorded at the serial (RS232) port of a portable PC and processed with a spreadsheet program. The software used for data recording is freeware and available in its source code, and the long lifetime of the UV-LED (up to 10 000 h) permits a maintenance free application of this device. This simplified device has shown to be able to detect concentrations of aflatoxins of 1 ng, thus offering a cheap and sensitive alternative to currently available TCL scanners.     

Flow measurements below 50 mum: NMR microscopy experiments in lithographic model pore spaces

Quasi two-dimensional random site percolation model objects have been prepared using a synchrotron radiation lithography technique with a spatial resolution better than 50 microm and an aspect ratio of up to 17. Flow of water through the pore space was studied with the aid of an NMR velocity mapping method and compared with a computational fluid dynamics simulation. In order to be able to measure and map widely distributed flow velocities with microscopic resolution (typically 40 x 40 microm), an experimental protocol that permits one to cover an effectively very wide velocity field of view (0.6-10 mm/s) had to be developed.     

1-ethynylpyrene-modified guanine and cytosine as optical labels for DNA hybridization

1-ethynylpyrene shows remarkable absorption changes upon DNA hybridization when it is covalently attached to the 8-position of guanine. An absorption band at approximately 420 nm is only present in the duplex, exhibits thermal melting behaviour and provides the basis for a molecular beacon together with 1-ethynylpyrene-modified cytosine.     

Visualization of transport: NMR microscopy experiments with model objects for porous media with pore sizes down to 50 microm

Hydrodynamic flow and electric currents through model porous media were investigated. The transport rates through the individual pathways of the pore network are determined by the local width of the pore channels and by the driving mechanism. The model objects represent quasi two-dimensional random site percolation clusters. The calculated design was realized by milling the structure in polystyrene sheets. Velocity maps of stationary flow and current density maps of stationary currents through the cluster were acquired by magnetic resonance imaging methods. The findings were compared to the results of numerical simulations based on the same structure. Since the difference in the transport patterns of the different driving mechanisms are expected to be more pronounced in smaller pore spaces, ultra deep X-ray lithography has been used for the fabrication of downsized model objects with a spatial resolution of better than 50 microm and an aspect ratio as large as 20. First results obtained with these objects are reported.     

Sweet success: Ionic liquids derived from non-nutritive sweeteners

The anions of the sweeteners saccharin and acesulfame form ionic liquids when paired with a variety of organic cations.     

Analysis of procyanidins in chocolate by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionisation mass spectrometric and tandem mass spectrometric detection

Four cation-exchange materials, possessing propanesulfonic acid ligands, for use in capillary electrochromatography were prepared from different commercially available 5-microm bare-silica particles ranging from 80 to 800 A in pore size. The performance of the materials was investigated at different compositions of the mobile phase (pH, ionic strength, and acetonitrile content) using tricyclic antidepressants and related quaternary ammonium analogues as test analytes. The wide-pore materials promoted pore flow, but this had no positive influence on the performance. The small-pore (highest surface area) particles gave, as could be expected, the best selectivity.     

Induced solvent chirality: A VCD study of camphor in CDCl3

It is shown how the presence of a chiral compound in solution induces chirality in the surrounding solvent molecules. Using Vibrational Circular Dichroism on camphor dissolved in deuterated chloroform, it is found that the C–D stretch in the latter indeed becomes VCD active. The experimental results agree with ab initio computed spectra for 1:1 associations between the solvent and solute.