Determination of deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

A rapid method for the analysis of deoxynivalenol (DON) was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with reductive electrochemical detection (ED). Deoxynivalenol produced by Fusarium roseum growing on solid cornmeal and rice substrates and from naturally contaminated wheat was extracted and quantitated via ED. DON levels in wheat were verified by gas chromatography and structurally confirmed by mass spectrometry. DON was optimally resolved by HPLC employing a radially compressed octadecylsilane column and a mobile phase of deoxygenated methanol-40 mM borate buffer (35:65) at a flow-rate of 1.0 ml/min. Under these conditions DON exhibited an average retention time of 3.6 min. Reductive ED (-1.4 V) allowed a 12-fold increase in sensitivity and greater selectivity than classical UV absorption at 224 nm. A detection limit for DON of 25 pg/microliter was achieved under these conditions. The determination of DON in crude grain extracts was hindered by extractable interfering substances, whereas ED was more functional-group selective (i.e. reduction of the carbonyl moiety). ED permits a direct quantitation of DON from crude grain extracts and may facilitate the determination of this agent and associated metabolites in biological samples.     

One‐Step Synthetic Access to Isosteric and Potent Anticancer Nitrogen Heterocycles with the Benzo[c]phenanthridine Scaffold

A versatile one‐step two‐component cyclization to build new tetracyclic nitrogen heterocycles is described. Ortho‐methylhetarenecarbonitrile components were condensed with aldehydes to access a large library of differently substituted ring systems. The heterocyclic core can be easily modified by variation of the position of the endocyclic nitrogen atom in the o‐methylhetarenecarbonitrile substrate. The manner of the nucleophilic attack that leads to the condensation can be triggered by different electron‐density distribution in the molecule induced by the position of the nitrogen atom. Taking this into account, there is an electronic preference that leads to either pyridophenanthrolines or the corresponding pyridoazacarbazoles as the main products. We demonstrate the high antitumor potential of some of our synthesized heterocycles, which is strongly dependent on the substitution pattern introduced through the aldehyde component. The position and number of endocyclic nitrogen atoms play an important role regarding cytotoxicity of the studied compounds.     

Synthesis and characterization of divalent metal complexes with bipyridylamide ligands

Reaction of N-(4-pyridyl)picolinamide (4-ppa), N-(4-pyridyl)nicotinamide (4-pna), N-(4-pyridyl)isonicotinamide (4-pina), and N-(2-pyridyl)isonicotinamide (2-pina) with divalent metal salts led to the formation of six new coordination complexes. The X-ray structure of [Zn(4-ppa)₂Cl₂] (1) shows a mononuclear structure with interesting intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions. [Zn(4-pna)(OAc)₂]_n (2), Cu(4-pna)(OTf)₂(DMF)₂]_n (3), {[Zn(4-pina)(DMF)₄](OTf)₂}_n (4), {[Fe(4-pina)(DMF)₄](OTf)₂}_n (5), and [Cu(2-pina)(OTf)₂(DMF)₂]_n (6) are one-dimensional coordination polymers with conformational differences caused by the coordination donor disposition, which demonstrates the flexibility of the pyridylamide ligands in polymeric structures. Reflectance UV-visible spectra and thermal properties of the coordination polymers are also reported.     

The Strong Chebyshev Distribution and Orthogonal Laurent Polynomials

The strong Chebyshev distribution and the Chebyshev orthogonal Laurent polynomials are examined in detail. Explicit formulas are derived for the orthogonal Laurent polynomials, uniform convergence of the associated continued fraction is established, and the zeros of the Chebyshev L-polynomials are given. This provides another well-developed example of a sequence of orthogonal L-polynomials     

Bacterial suspensions under flow

Fluids laden with motile bacteria enter in the category of active matter, a new field currently developing at the convergence of biology, hydrodynamics and statistical physics. Such suspensions were shown recently to exhibit singular macroscopic transport properties. In this paper we review some recent results, either theoretical or experimental, on the active fluid rheology. We focus principally on bacteria suspensions and the objective is to provide the basis for understanding the emergence of the singular constitutive relations characterizing the macroscopic transport properties of such an active fluid under flow.     

Creep and fluidity of a real granular packing near jamming

We study the internal dynamical processes taking place in a granular packing below yield stress. At all packing fractions and down to vanishingly low applied shear, a logarithmic creep is observed. The experiments are analyzed using a viscoelastic model which introduces an internal, time-dependent, fluidity variable. For all experiments, the creep dynamics can be rescaled onto a unique curve which displays jamming at the random-close-packing limit. At each packing fraction, we measure a stress corresponding to the onset of internal granular reorganization and a slowing down of the creep dynamics before the final yield.     

The BOSCO solar cell – a both sides collecting and contacted structure

The BOSCO solar cell represents a bifacial structure with double‐sided collection. The structure allows the use of standard module interconnection technology and favours the use of material with low to medium diffusion length and low resistivity for maximum benefit towards other structures, such as Al‐BSF and PERC. Within this work, we present first results on different multicrystalline silicon materials yielding a monofacial efficiency of 17.4% on large‐area wafers from block‐cast mc‐Si. This value represents a gain of ～0.7%_abs compared to Al‐BSF cells processed in parallel. The applicability for bifacial operation is demonstrated by a significantly increased quantum efficiency for rear side illumination. These results make the BOSCO solar cell concept a promising candidate to further boost the output of utility‐scale PV plants even when using low‐cost wafers of low to medium diffusion length material.

     

Phase diagram of electrostatically doped SrTiO3

Electric double layer transistor configurations have been employed to electrostatically dope single crystals of insulating SrTiO(3). Here we report on the results of such doping over broad ranges of temperature and carrier concentration employing an ionic liquid as the gate dielectric. The surprising results are, with increasing carrier concentration, an apparent carrier-density dependent conductor-insulator transition, a regime of the anomalous Hall effect, suggesting magnetic ordering, and finally the appearance of superconductivity. The possible appearance of magnetic order near the boundary between the insulating and superconducting regimes is reminiscent of effects associated with quantum critical behavior in some complex compounds.     

Amplitude and phase measurements of femtosecond pulse splitting in nonlinear dispersive media

Frequency-resolved optical gating is used to characterize the propagation of intense femtosecond pulses in a nonlinear, dispersive medium. The combined effects of diffraction, normal dispersion, and cubic nonlinearity lead to pulse splitting. The role of the phase of the input pulse is studied. The results are compared with the predictions of a three-dimensional nonlinear Schr?dinger equation.