Determination of selenium in human tissues by atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple method is described for the determination of selenium in human tissues without the use of perchloric acid. Digestion with nitric and sulphuric acids is followed by hydride generation and atomic absorption spectrometry. Results for NBS bovine liver and IAEA horse kidney reference materials were in good agreement with assigned concentrations, as was also achieved with the perchloric acid digestion. Recovery of added selenium was >90%, and the relative standard deviation was 5.5% for within-batch and 6.9% for between-batch analyses. The values of selenium in heart tissue were 0.9–1.3 μg g^?1 dry weight.     

Estimation of the lipophilicity of antiarrhythmic and antihypertensive active 1-substituted pyrrolidin-2-one and pyrrolidine derivatives

The lipophilicity of some antiarrhythmic and antihypertensive active 1-[2-hydroxy- or 1-[2-acetoxy-3-(4-aryl-1-piperazinyl)propyl]pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives (1-12) has been investigated. Their lipophilicity (R(MO) and log k') was determined by reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with mixtures of acetonitrile and Tris buffer as mobile phases. The partition coefficients of compounds 1-12 (log P(ScilogP)) were also calculated with the ScilogP program. Comparison of R(MO), log k' and calculated log D(7.0 ScilogP) values enabled calculation of clog D(7.0 TLC) and clog D(7.0 HPLC) values. Preliminary quantitative structure-activity relationship studies indicated that for active compounds there is a dependence between affinity for alpha(2)-adrenoceptors and their clog D(7.0 HPLC) values.     

Binuclear wirelike dimers based on ruthenium(II)-bipyridine units linked by ethynylene-oligothiophene-ethynylene bridges

The syntheses, structural characteristics, electrochemical behavior, ground-state spectra, photophysical properties, and transient absorption (TA) spectra in CH(3)CN solvent are reported for binuclear [(bpy)(2)Ru(bpy-E(T)(n)()E-bpy)Ru(bpy)(2)](4+) complexes, Ru(bpyT(n)bpy)Ru, where the Ru-based units are connected by alternating 3,4-dibutylthiophene (DBT')/thiophene (T') fragments linked via ethynyl groups (E) to bpy ligands at the 5-position (bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine). The ligand bpyT(3)bpy represents a module containing DBT'/T'/DBT' subunits, and bpyT(5)bpy accounts for a DBT'/T'/DBT'/T'/DBT' pattern. The syntheses and electrochemical and spectroscopic (emission and TA) properties in CH(2)Cl(2) solvent of the bpyT(n)()bpy ligands are likewise reported. The behavior of the Ru(bpyT(n)bpy)Ru dimers has been compared to that of the bpyT(n)bpy ligands and to that of a related mononuclear complex, [(bpy)(2)Ru(bpy-E-DBT')](2+), Ru(bpyDBT'). For the dimeric complexes, the electrochemical results show that the first reduction step takes place at the bpy ligand(s) bearing an ethynylene group, the first oxidation step is thiophene-centered, and further oxidation involves the metal centers, which are only weakly interacting. The photophysical and TA results for the Ru(bpyT(n)bpy)Ru dimers account for the presence of low-lying oligothiophene-centered (3)pi,pi levels, while higher-lying metal-ligand charge transfer ((3)MLCT) levels are thermally accessible only for the case of Ru(bpyT(3)bpy)Ru; the possible role of charge separation (CS) levels (from oxidation at the thiophene bridge and reduction at one of the coordinated bpy's) is also discussed.     

Determination of trace metals by ICP-OES in plant materials after preconcentration of 1,10-phenanthroline complexes on activated carbon

In this work, 1,10-phenanthroline was used as a complexing agent for the separation and preconcentration of Cd(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II) on activated carbon. The metals were adsorbed on activated carbon by two methods: static (1) and dynamic (2). The optimal condition for separation and quantitative preconcentration of metal ions with activated carbon for the proposed methods was for (1) in the static methods in the pH range 7-9. The desorption was found quantitative with 8 mol dm⁻³ HNO₃ for Cd(II) (92.6%), Co(II) (95.6%), Pb(II) (91.0%), and with 3 mol dm⁻³ HNO₃ for Cd(II) (95.4%), Pb(II) (100.2%). The preconcentration factor was 100 with R.S.D. values between 1.0 and 2.9%. For (2), the dynamic method (SPE), the pH range for the quantitative sorption was 7-9. The desorption was found quantitative with 8 mol dm⁻³ HNO₃ for Cd(II) (100.6%), Pb(II) (94.4%), and reasonably high recovery for Co(II) (83%), Cu(II) (88%). The optimum flow rate of metal ions solution for quantitative sorption of metals with 1,10-phenanthroline was 1-2 cm³ min⁻¹ whereas for desorption it was 1 cm³ min⁻¹. The preconcentration factor was 50 for all the ions of the metals with R.S.D. values between 2.9 and 9.8%.The samples of the activated carbon with the adsorbed trace metals can be determined by ICP-OES after mineralization by means of a high-pressure microwave mineralizer. The proposed method provides recovery for Cd (100.8%), Co (97.2%), Cu (94.6%), Ni (99.6%) and Pb (100.0%) with R.S.D. values between 1.2 and 3.2%.The preconcentration procedure showed a linear calibration curve within the concentration range 0.1-1.5 μg cm⁻³. The limits of detection values (defined as “blank + 3s” where s is standard deviation of the blank determination) are 5.8, 70.8, 6.7, 24.6, and 10.8 μg dm⁻³ for Cd(II), Pb(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II), respectively, and corresponding limit of quantification (blank + 10s) values were 13.5, 151.3, 20.0, 58.9 and 33.2 μg dm⁻³, respectively.As a result, these simple methods were applied for the determination of the above-mentioned metals in reference materials and in samples of plant material.     

Charge heterogeneity of recombinant pro-urokinase and urinary urokinase, as revealed by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients

When analysing homogeneous preparations of recombinant pro-urokinase and urinary urokinase by isoelectric focusing (IEF) in immobilized pH gradients, an extreme charge heterogeneity was detected (at least ten major and ten minor bands in the pH range 7–10). This extensive polydispersity was not caused by different degrees of glycosylation, or by IEF artefacts, such as binding to carrier ampholytes or carbamylation by urea. A great part of this heterogeneity could be traced back to the existence of a multitude of protein molecules containing Cys residues at different oxidation levels (-SH, -S-S-, even cysteic acid). Owing to the very large number of Cys residues in pro-urokinase (24 out of a total of 411 amino acids) and to the relatively high pI of its native forms (pI 9.5–9.8; the native form is believed to contain all Cys residues as -S-S- bridges), the presence of SH or cysteic acid residues would increase the negative surface charge, as even SH groups would be extensively ionized. In pro-urokinase, part of the heterogeneity was also due to spontaneous degradation to urokinase and possibly also to cleavage into lower-molecular-mass fragments. When all these causes of heterogeneity were removed, the pI spectrum was reduced to only four, about equally intense, bands. The cause of this residual heterogeneity is unknown.     

Complexing equilibria and redox potentials of the Ag(II)/Ag(I) system in the presence of 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine in water

Summary The conditional protonation constants (=0.1) for 2,2:6,2-terpyridine, logK ₁=4.93, logK ₂=3.69, were determined by thepH-metric method. The compositions of complexes of Ag²⁺ and Ag⁺ ions with 2,2:6,2-terpyridine (tp) were studied and equilibria of the complex formation process were described. The values of conditional complex formation constants are as follows: for Ag(tp) ₂ ⁺ :log₀₁=5.79, log₀₂=9.68, for Ag(tp) ₂ ²⁺ :log₀₂=25.31, while the conditional constant of the Ag(tp)NO₃ precipitate formation is:K _SO=2.45·10⁴. Using coulometric and chronovoltamperometric measurements, the redox systems being formed in the complex solutions of Ag(II) and Ag(I) were determined and described including their formal potentials.

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Komplexibildungsgleichgewichte und Redoxpotentiale des Systems Ag(II)/Ag(I) in Gegenwart von 2,2:6,2-Terpyridin in Wasser

Zusammenfassung Mit Hilfe derpH-metrischen Methode wurden die konditionalen Protonationskonstanten (=0.1) von 2,2:6,2-Terpyridin bestimmt: logK ₁=4.93, logK ₂=3.69. Es wurde auch die Zusammensetzung der Komplexe von Ag(II) und Ag(I) mit 2,2:6,2-Terpyridin(tp) bestimmt sowie die Gleichgewichte der komplexbildung beschrieben. Die Werte der Konditionalkomplexbildungskonstanten sind: für Ag(tp) ₂ ⁺ :log₀₁=5.79, log₀₂=9.68, für Ag(tp) ₂ ²⁺ :log₀₂=25.31 und für das Löslichkeitsprodukt Ag(tp)NO₃:K _SO ^–1 =4.08·10^–5. Die in Komplexlösungen von Ag(II) und Ag(I) vorliegenden Redoxsysteme wurden mittels cyclischer Voltametrie und Coulometrie untersucht und die Formalpotentialwerte dieser Systeme in Wasser bestimmt.

     

Distillation, on-line RP C18 preconcentration and HPLC-UV-PCO-CVAAS as a new combination for the determination of methylmercury in sediments and fish tissue

 Distillation as a way of sample digestion has been combined with on-line RP C18 preconcentration and HPLC-UV-PCO-CVAAS (high performance liquid chromatography – ultra violet – post column oxidation – cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry) for the determination of methylmercury at background levels in sediments, soils and fish tissue. To prove the accuracy of this method, it was applied to sediment and fish tissue reference materials. The results correspond with the reference values within their error ranges. Excellent recoveries (92–95%) were obtained for the sediment samples by means of the standard addition method. The standard deviations of the sediment samples were within an acceptable range (7.2–12.5%), those of the fish samples were substantially lower (3.4–5.0%). The detection limit is 0.04 ng/g for 1 g sample weight. Received: 23 November 1995/Revised: 16 April 1996/Accepted: 20 April 1996     

Synthesis and antimalarial effects of N,N-dialkyl-6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazin-3-amines

The synthesis of a series of N,N-dialkyl-6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazin-3-amines (IV) by two routes is described. The first route (Scheme I) involved the oxidative cyclization of formazans (II) to 3-bromo-6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazines (III), followed by treatment with amines. The second (Scheme II) utilized the treatment of 3-(methylthio)-6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazines (VII) with amines to provide the desired products. The intermediate 3-(methylthio)-6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazines (VII) were obtained by thiobenzoylation of hydrazinecarbohydrazonothioic acid methyl ester with [[(substituted phenyl)thioxomethyl]thio]-acetic acids (V) to afford the 1,2-dihydro-3-(methylthio)-6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazines (VI). Oxidation with bromine in acetic acid provided the desired intermediates. The target 6-(substituted phenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazin-3-amines (IV) displayed modest antimalarial activity.