Enzymic Methylation of Ascorbigen and Demethylation of Its N-Methyl Derivative by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. phaseolicola Bacteria

Biotransformation of ascorbigen and N-methylascorbigen as a model compound pair was studied in the presence of Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. phaseolicola bacterium cells. These compounds were separated from a methanolic mixture by using an overpressured layer chromatographic method. After saturation of the developed chromatoplates with the bacterial cell suspension, the composition of the chromatographic spots was analyzed by means of high performance liquid chromatography. Pattern recognition by independent multicategory analysis was used to compare of the retention behavior of the standard and putative ascorbigen and methylascorbigen, and to manage the analytical data. Results showed that ascorbigen was partially methylated and N-methylascorbigen was partially demethylated by the bacteria. Our new results confirm the former assumption that formaldehyde is formed by demethylation of the N-methyl group of methylascorbigen.

     

Application of Internal Standard for Micro Extraction– Spectrophotometric Determination of Bismuth in Pharmaceutical Formulations

 A micro extraction – spectrophotometric procedure is developed for the determination of bismuth in pharmaceutical formulations. The procedure is based on the extraction of tetraiodobismuthate(III) ion paired with benzyltributylammonium cation into chloroform. The application of Nile Blue as internal standard (IS) enabled good analytical performance for micro-scale analysis. The ratio between the absorbances measured at 491 nm (bismuth complex) and at 632 nm (IS) was taken as the analytical signal. The procedure was carried out in Eppendorf tubes, lowering significantly the use of reagents and the volume of organic solvent. In the calibration range up to 60 mgċl⁻¹, the linear regression coefficient was 0.9999, the CV for 15 mgċl⁻¹ and for 50 mgċl⁻¹ Bi were 1.6% and 0.7% respectively. The results obtained in the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations were in good agreement with the results of EDTA titration method. Received November 25, 1999. Revision February 14, 2000.     

Derived length and products of conjugacy classes

Let G be a supersolvable group and A be a conjugacy class of G. Observe that for some integer η(AA ⁻¹) > 0, AA ⁻¹ = {ab ⁻¹: a, b ∈ A} is the union of η(AA ⁻¹) distinct conjugacy classes of G. Set C _G (A) = {g ∈ G: a ^g = a for all a ∈ A. Then the derived length of G/C _G (A) is less or equal than 2η(AA ⁻¹) − 1.     

Oscillations of Short Periods in Neutron and Strange Stars

We present a model of a remnant of supernova, and we analyze the correlation with the observational data to short periods oscillations between a neutron star and a strange matter star. The results confirm previous conclusions.     

Stochastic scheduling of parallel queues with set-up costs

We consider the problem of allocating a single server to a system of queues with Poisson arrivals. Each queue represents a class of jobs and possesses a holding cost rate, general service distribution, and a set-up cost. The objective is to minimize the expected cost due to the waiting of jobs and the switching of the server. A set-up cost is required to effect an instantaneous switch from one queue to another. We partially characterize an optimal policy and provide a simple heuristic scheduling policy. The heuristic's performance is evaluated in the cases of two and three queues by comparison with a numerically obtained optimal policy. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of our heuristic over a wide range of problem instances with four queues.     

Validation of the CALUX bioassay for PCDD/F analyses in human blood plasma and comparison with GC-HRMS

Following the dioxin crisis of 1999, several studies were conducted to assess the impact of this crisis on the dioxin body burden in the Belgian population. The Scientific Institute of Public Health identified a population from whom plasma samples were available and from whom, during the follow up survey, plasma samples were obtained in 2000. In total, 496 samples were collected for GC-HRMS and CALUX analyses to verify statistical assessment conclusions. This study was seen as an opportunity to validate the CALUX bioassay for biological sample analysis and to compare toxic equivalency (TEQ) values obtained by the reference GC-HRMS technique and by the screening method. This article focuses on the validation results of the CALUX bioassay for the analyses of the dioxin fractions of blood plasma. The sample preparation is based on a liquid–liquid extraction, followed by an acid silica in series with an activated carbon clean-up. A good recovery (82%) and reproducibility (coefficient of variation less than 25%) were found for this method. Based on 341 plasma samples, a significant correlation was established between the bioassay and chemical method (R = 0.64). However, a proportional systematic error was observed when the results obtained with the CALUX bioassay were regressed with the results from the GC-HRMS analyses. The limit of quantification (LOQ) used to calculate TEQ values from the GC-HRMS determinations, the use of the relative potency values instead of the toxic equivalent factor and the potential of CALUX bioassay to measure all compounds with affinity for the AhR may partly explain this proportional systematic error. Nevertheless, the present results suggest that the CALUX bioassay could be a promising valid screening method for human blood plasma analyses.     

Analysis of individual natural pyrethrins in indoor matrices by HRGC/ECD

An HRGC/ECD method is presented which permits the identification and quantitation of individual components of pyrethrins (cinerin I, jasmolin I, pyrethrin I, cinerin II, jasmolin II, pyrethrin II) in indoor matrices (airborne particles, house dust) after application of an agent containing pyrethrum. In order to prepare calibration standards for the individual components of the pyrethrum extract, the pyrethrins were isolated hy semi-preparative HPLC and their content and purity were determined by ¹H-NMR spectroscopy.     

THE MECHANISM OF THE 9,10-DIBROMOANTHRACENE MEDIATED TRIPLET-SINGLET ENERGY TRANSFER IN THE TETRAMETHYL-1,2-DIOXETANE ENERGIZED RUBRENE LUMINESCENCE*

Abstract— The ternary chemiluminescent system consisting of tetramethyl-dioxetane (TMD), 9 ,10-dibromoanthracene (DBA) and rubrene (Ru) has been investigated in benzene solution and in polystyrene matrices. DBA has been found to mediate the energy transfer between excited triplet acetone (³K), generated from TMD, and rubrene resulting in the enhancement of the Ru emission and reduction in the DBA emission. A detailed kinetic analysis confirms that ca. 50% of the enhanced chemilumines-cence involves triplet-singlet (TS) energy transfer from ³K to DBA, followed by singlet-singlet (SS) energy transfer from DBA to Ru, the remainder ca. 50% being due to reabsorption of DBA fluorescence by rubrene. It is concluded that the TS energy transfer is of the resonance type, occurring with a rate of k^TS_K.DBA= (1.4 ± 0.4) ± 10⁹M^-1s^-1 and an efficiency of ø^TS_K.DBA= 0.3 ± 0.1. As expected, the SS energy transfer is also of the resonance type, taking place at comparable rates in benzene solution and in polystyrene matrices, is. k^SS_DBARU= 1.5 ± 10¹⁰ M^-1 and (2.2 ± 0.2) ± 10¹⁰M^-1s^-1, respectively.