Determination of mercury in fish tissue using a minianalyzer based on cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry at the 184.9 nm line.

A sensitive method was proposed and optimized for the determination of total mercury in fish tissue by using wet digestion, followed by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) at the main resonance line of mercury (184.9 nm). The measurements were made using a new type of a non-dispersive mercury minianalyzer. This instrument was initially designed and built for atmospheric mercury-vapor detection. For determining mercury in aqueous samples, the minianalyzer was linked with a mercury/hydride system, Perkin Elmer Model MHS-10. To check the method, the analyzed samples were spiked with a standard solution of mercury. The recoveries of mercury spiked to wet fish tissue were >90% for 0.5 - 0.8 g samples. The results showed a better sensitivity (about 2.5 times higher) when using the mercury absorption line at 184.9 nm compared with the sensitivity obtained by conventional CVAAS at 253.7 nm.     

Synthetic study toward 17-thiasteroids: synthesis of the 1-thiahydrinden-5-one subunit using a new annulation procedure and investigation of its reduction

The enantioselective syntheses of ketones 6 and 7 featuring the CD subunit of 17-thiasteroid are described. The key bicyclic 1-thiahydrindenone (S)-5 was assembled in three steps from Michael adduct (S)-12 via β-keto ester 15 using a one-pot sequential process involving cleavage of both the ketal group and the tert-butyl ester group, decarboxylation, and finally intramolecular aldol condensation. Hydridoalkyl cuprate-induced conjugate reduction of 1-thiahydrindenone (S)-5 and its corresponding sulfone (S)-23 gave 1-thiahydrindanones 6 and 7, respectively, which display unexpectedly the unnatural cis-ring junctions.     

Organophosphorus insecticides extraction and heterogeneous oxidation on column for analysis with an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) biosensor

This paper presents an analysis method for organophosphorus insecticides based on AChE biosensors coupled with a preconcentration and oxidation on a solid phase column. Three organic solvents, acetonitrile (ACN), ethanol and methanol were tested for their influence on AChE activity, insecticide inhibition and their ability to elute the adsorbed insecticides. Our results showed that ACN in a concentration of 5% (v/v) had the less negative effect on biosensor analysis and was the most appropriate organic solvent for the column elution. The presence of the organic solvent in the incubation media of the biosensor was found to induce a reduction of the inhibition percentages. The inhibition of the biosensors was performed in phosphate buffer with 5% (v/v) ACN, while the initial and remaining response of the biosensors were measured in PBS. In these conditions, the LODs of paraoxon and dichlorvos were measured with or without a preconcentration step. The LODs of the AChE biosensor without sample preconcentration were 8 × 10⁻⁸ M for paraoxon and 1 × 10⁻⁷ M dichlorvos and the LOD obtained after the preconcentration step were 2.5 × 10⁻⁸ M for paraoxon and 2.5 × 10⁻⁸ M for dichlorvos. Moreover, the use of the column allowed the heterogeneous oxidation of organophosphorus insecticides for improved LOD.