Reference map of soluble proteins from Streptococcus thermophilus by two-dimensional electrophoresis

Streptococcus thermophilus is a lactic acid bacterium widely used for the production of fermented dairy products. The two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) protein profile was obtained from three independent analyses of 2-DE gels of soluble proteins of the strain PB18. About 270 spots were detected by silver staining and the average molecular weight and isoelectric point of each protein spot were calculated to be 41 600 and 5.2, respectively. Twelve proteins were purified by chromatographic techniques because their concentration was too low for direct sequencing from blots. Eleven were located in the PB18 2-DE profile after silver staining. These preliminary results contribute to the setting up of a two-dimensional image (or reference map) of the proteins from S. thermophilus in order to identify and compare strains of various origin or to follow metabolic process such as stress. Bidimensional autoradiographs of two strains (PB18 and ST105) of S. thermophilus grown in exponential phase at 42 degrees C with [35S]methionine were compared with an image analysis system. Among the eleven located proteins in the 2-DE silver-stained profile, nine were found in PB18 and eight in ST105 autoradiographs. One protein was specific to PB18. The eight proteins could play the role of internal 2-D PAGE markers of p/ and Mr for S. thermophilus.     

Solvent effects on the dissociation of aliphatic carboxylic acids in water-N,N-dimethylformamide mixtures: Correlation between acidity constants and solvatochromic parameters

The acid dissociation constants of nine aliphatic carboxylic acids in several N,N-dimethylformamide-water mixtures were subjected to factor analysis (FA) and two solvent factors emerged. A further target factor analysis (TFA) indicated that the Kamlet and Taft general equation is reduced in these mixtures to two terms: the independent one and that related to the hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) basicity solvatochromic parameter. Accordingly, an excellent correlation is found between the logarithmic values of the acidity constants of each acid in the binary mixtures and their corresponding values.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of carbaryl and 1-naphthol in micellar media

The interaction of 1-naphthol-N-methyl-carbamate (carbaryl) and its degradation product, 1-naphthol, with the surfactant hexadecyl-trimethylammonium bromide has been studied. The micellar medium allows the direct spectrofluorimetric determination of carbaryl, with 6.2 ng/ml as detection limit in acidic medium, or indirectly, after hydrolysis, as 1-naphthol at pH 11.0 or pH 3.0 with detection limits of 0.4 and 1.6 ng/ml, respectively. The recoveries of carbaryl and 1-naphthol from natural waters are acceptable.     

Fluctuating Double-Bond Localization and Charge Migration in π Systems

In π systems with localized double bonds, the switch from one localization pattern to another symmetry-equivalent one, and the corresponding changes in electron distribution are often considered to proceed via a delocalized transition state of higher symmetry. We present a different mechanism, according to which the double-bond localization and the concomitant charge distributions can fluctuate without change in energy and without passing through a delocalized, higher-symmetry transition state. This result is obtained within a simple, independent-electron (HMO-type) treatment.     

Adsorption of anionic surfactants on positively charged polystyrene particles II

In the case of cationic polystyrene latex, the adsorption of anionic surfactants involves a strong electrostatic interaction between both the particle and the surfactant, which may affect the conformation of the surfactant molecules adsorbed onto the latex-particle surface. The adsorption isotherms showed that adsorption takes place according to two different mechanisms. First, the initial adsorption of the anionic surfactant molecules on cationic polystyrene surface would be due to the attractive electrostatic interaction between both ionic groups, laying the alkyl-chains of surfactant molecules flat on the surface as a consequence of the hydrophobic interaction between these chains and the polystyrene particle surface, which is predominantly hydrophobic. Second, at higher surface coverage the adsorbed surfactant molecules may move into a partly vertical orientation with some head groups facing the solution. According to this second mechanism the hydrophobic interactions of hydrocarbon chains play an important role in the adsorption of surfactant molecules at high surface coverage. This would account for the very high negative mobilities obtained at surfactant concentration higher than 5×10^–7 M. Under high surface-coverage conditions, some electrophoretic mobility measurements were performed at different ionic strength. The appearance of a maximum in the mobility-ionic strength curves seems to depend upon alkyl-chain length. Also the effects of temperature and pH on mobilities of anionic surfactant-cationic latex particles have been studied. The mobility of the particles covered by alkyl-sulphonate surfactants varied with the pH in a similar manner as it does with negatively charged sulphated latex particles, which indicates that the surfactant now controls the surface charge and the hydrophobic-hydrophilic character of the surface.Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Safwan Al-Khouri IbrahimPresented at the Euchem Workshop on Adsorption of Surfactants and Macromolecules from Solution, Åbo (Turku), Finland, June 1989     

Spectrophotometric and electrochemical determination of the formation constants of the complexes Curcumin-Fe(III)-water and Curcumin-Fe(II)-water

The formation of complexes among the Curcumin, Fe(III) and Fe(II) was studied in aqueous media within the 5-11 pH range by means of UV-Vis spectrophotometry and cyclic voltammetry. When the reaction between the Curcumin and the ions present in basic media took place, the resulting spectra of the systems Curcumin-Fe(III) and Curcumin-Fe(II) presented a similar behaviour. The cyclic voltammograms in basic media indicated that a chemical reaction has taken place between the Curcumin and Fe(III) before that of the formation of complexes. Data processing with SQUAD permitted to calculate the formation constants of the complexes Curcumin-Fe(III), corresponding to the species FeCur (lob beta110 = 22.25 +/- 0.03) and FeCur(OH)- (log beta111 = 12.14 +/- 0.03), while for the complexes Curcumin-Fe(II) the corresponding formation constants of the species FeCur- (log beta110 = 9.20 +/- 0.04), FeHCur (log beta111 = 19.76 +/- 0.03), FeH2Cur+ (log beta112 = 28.11 +/- 0.02).     

Two-dimensional nano-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system for applications in proteomics

Transient isotachophoresis-capillary zone electrophoresis with artificial seawater as the background electrolyte (BGE) was improved to further lower the limit of detection (LOD) for determination of nitrite and nitrate in seawater. By lowering the pH of BGE, the difference between effective mobility of nitrite and that of nitrate increased, thereby permitting increased sample volumes to be tolerated and their LOD values to decrease. Artificial seawater with pH adjusted to 3.0 using phosphate buffer was adopted as the BGE. To reverse electroosmotic flow (EOF), a capillary was flushed with 0.1 mM dilauryldimethylammonium bromide for 3 min before the capillary was filled with the BGE. Limits of detection (LODs) for nitrite and nitrate were 2.7 and 3.0 microg/l (as nitrogen), respectively. The LODs were obtained at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Values of the relative standard deviation (RSD) of peak area for these ions were 2.0 and 0.75%, respectively, when nitrite concentration was 0.05 mg/l and that of nitrate was 0.5 mg/l. The RSDs of peak height were 4.4 and 2.3%. The RSD values of migration time for these ions were 0.19 and 0.17%. The proposed method was applied to determination of nitrite and nitrate in a proposed certified reference material for nutrients in seawater, MOOS-1, distributed by the National Research Council of Canada. Results agreed with the assigned tolerance interval. This method was also applied to determination of these ions in seawater collected around Osaka Bay. Results nearly agreed with those obtained by a conventional spectrophotometric method.     

Voltammetric evaluation of the electrode material on the oxidation of cyanide catalyzed by copper ions

The cyanide oxidation on vitreous carbon (VC), stainless steel 304 (SS 304) and titanium (Ti) was investigated through a voltammetric study of cyanide solutions also containing copper ions. Results showed that cyanide oxidation occurs by means of a catalytic mechanism involving adsorbed species as CN^–, Cu(CN)₄^3– or Cu(CN)₄^2– depending on the electrode material. It was observed that on VC, the adsorption of Cu(CN)₄^3– controlled the oxidation rate. Instead, for SS 304 and Ti, the adsorption of CN^– controlled the global process. However, in all cases, the adsorption of Cu(CN)₄^3– on the electrode surface was required for the catalytic oxidation of CN^–. Voltammetric experiments for solutions containing cyanide oxidation products, such as cyanogen (CN)₂ and cyanate (CNO^–), confirmed that the adsorbed species mentioned above controlled the catalytic oxidation of CN^– depending on the electrode material. A voltammetric identification of the oxidation products showed that cyanogen, (CN)₂ tended to adosorb on VC, while the formation of cyanate, CNO^– predominated on SS 304.     

Determination of some selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental samples by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Summary Analytical methods for the determination in environmental samples, of some selected Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH's), which are included on the EPA Priority Pollutant list, have been developed and evaluated. The methodology involves the extraction of PAH's from water samples by solvent extraction with dichloromethane. Solid samples were ultrasonically extracted with acetone/hexane and the extract was cleaned up on a silica gel/alumina column. The concentrated and cleaned up extracts were analysed by HPLC on a polymeric C₁₈ column using a gradient of acetonitrile/water as the mobile phase and fluorescence detection. Typical detection limits lie in the range of 1–30 ng ml^–1 of the analytes, but after sample pretreatment detection limits of 10–300 ng l^–1 were obtained. The extraction, clean-up and HPLC methodology was applied to the determination of selected PAH's in coal washings samples and the method was validated by the quantification of PAH's in a natural contaminated and a spiked sediment.