Application of an in-line imprinted polymer column in a potentiometric flow-injection chemical sensor to the determination of the carbamate pesticide carbaryl in complex biological matrices

A flow-injection biosensor-like system based on a nonenzymatic approach has been developed to determine the carbamate pesticide carbaryl in complex biological samples without lengthy and expensive extraction steps. Molecularly imprinted polymeric beads were used to immobilize carbaryl from biological samples. pH variation permitted the elution of carbaryl from the binding cavity to the flow cell. A pH electrode was used to detect changes in the charge of carbaryl in the sample solution resulting from the protonation and deprotonation of the molecule over different pH ranges. At pH 2.0, the secondary amine group is protonated, giving a (+1) charge to the carbaryl molecule. At pH 8.0, the ionized carbaryl loses a proton to become neutral, changing the local pH of the flow cell. The pH change at the flow cell generated by the deprotonation of carbaryl ion in alkaline medium was used to determine the carbaryl concentration. Parameters influencing the performance of the system were optimized for use in the detection procedure. The validated biosensor-like system had a carbaryl detection limit of 10.0 μg/mL and a response that was linear (r ² > 0.98) over the concentration range of 10.0–00 μg/mL.     

Investigation of the diffusion coefficient of polymers and micelles in aqueous solutions using the Soret effect in cw-laser thermal lens spectrometry

The concentration gradient (Soret effect) induced in cw-laser thermal lens spectrometry subsequently to the formation of the thermal gradient (thermal lens effect) has been investigated in aqueous solutions of various macromolecular species including micelles, mixed micelles and polymers. It is shown that the build-up of the concentration gradient is much shorter than that in classical Soret experiments, reaching steady-state values in less than 1 min. The time evolution of the Soret signal has been used to derive mass-diffusion times from which mass-diffusion coefficients were calculated. Our data are in agreement with previous results obtained from quasi-elastic light scattering studies for the micellar solutions and calculated from a known molecular weight-dependent power law for polymer solutions.     

Effect of the surface coverage of endcapped C18-silica on the excess adsorption isotherms of commonly used organic solvents from water in reversed phase liquid chromatography

The excess adsorption isotherms of methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol, acetonitrile, and tetrahydrofuran from water were measured on five different silica-based packing materials by the minor disturbance method. These materials were prepared with the same lot of 5-microm particles (average pore size 90 A), all endcapped with trimethylchlorosilane (TMS), and bonded to octadecyl chains with different surface coverages (0, 0.42, 1.01, 2.03, and 3.15 micromol/m2). The relative adsorption of one eluent by respect to a second one informs on the heterogeneity of the material (alkyl-bonded and bare silica regions) and on the accessibility of the unreacted silanol groups to the mobile phase. It is shown that the total surface area of the adsorbent decreases with increasing degree of surface coverage with octadecyl chains and that the relative surface area of the regions occupied by accessible silanol groups to the regions occupied by alkyl-bonded groups decreases. For the five columns, an average of 10% of the adsorbent surface area is covered of bare silica accessible to the liquid phase, with a minimum of 5% with tetrahydrofuran and a maximum of 12% with ethanol or 2-propanol. Increasing the surface coverage by the C18 chains causes a significant increase of the attraction potential of the hydrophobic surface toward the organic solvent. This result is confirmed by the increase of the number of adsorbate monolayers with increasing bonding density of the octadecyl chains. This number is twice larger for the 315C18 column than for the C1 column.     

Comparison of the sensitivity of 11 crosslinked hyaluronic acid gels to bovine testis hyaluronidase

Crosslinked hyaluronan gels are used in various applications where their stability is a prerequisite. The sensitivity of such gels to hyaluronidase can be determined as an index of stability by several approaches: chromatography, electrophoresis, and viscometry. We describe here a test based on the colorimetric determination of the N-acetyl-d-glucosamine released by hyaluronidase in standardized conditions. The sensitivities to bovine testicular hyaluronidase of 11 different gels used to fill skin wrinkles (Restylane; Perlane; Juvéderm 18, 24, 24HV, 30, and 30HV; Surgiderm 18, 24XP, 30, and 30XP) were compared.The method was reproducible, easy to perform, not time-consuming and allowed us to demonstrate that the sensitivity to testicular hyaluronidase was dependent on the degree of crosslinking of the gels and also on their monophasic/biphasic nature. Under our conditions, Surgiderm 30, 24XP and 30XP were the most resistant gels.We propose to retain the hyaluronidase test to predict the in situ stability of a crosslinked gel used to fill skin wrinkles.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the reaction of Cl atoms with HO2 radicals

The kinetic and mechanism of the reaction Cl + HO₂ → products (1) have been studied in the temperature range 230–360 K and at total pressure of 1 Torr of helium using the discharge‐flow mass spectrometric method. The following Arrhenius expression for the total rate constant was obtained either from the kinetics of HO₂ consumption in excess of Cl atoms or from the kinetics of Cl in excess of HO₂: k₁ = (3.8 ± 1.2) × 10^?11 exp[(40 ± 90)/T] cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1, where uncertainties are 95% confidence limits. The temperature‐independent value of k₁ = (4.4 ± 0.6) × 10^?11 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1 at T = 230–360 K, which can be recommended from this study, agrees well with most recent studies and current recommendations. Both OH and ClO were detected as the products of reaction (1) and the rate constant for the channel forming these species, Cl + HO₂ → OH + ClO (1b), has been determined: k_1b = (8.6 ± 3.2) × 10^?11 exp[?(660 ± 100)/T] cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1 (with k_1b = (9.4 ± 1.9) × 10^?12 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1 at T = 298 K), where uncertainties represent 95% confidence limits. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 33: 317–327, 2001     

Copper coordination by polymers with glycylglycine, phenylalanine or methionine in the side chain: potentiometric and viscosimetric study

The coordination of copper(II) to polymers bearing glycylglycine, phenylalanine or methionine in their side chain was studied by potentiometry and viscosimetry. These polymers, which are not polypeptides, have carboxyl and amide group as potential binding sites in their side chain. They form a 2:1 COO:Cu complex in the lower pH range. The stability of this complex is in the order PPhe > PMet > PGlygly corresponding to the existence and stability of a compact conformation which exists for PPhe and PMet but not for PGlygly. The values of the stability constants decrease while the metal concentration increases. This is linked to the simultaneous viscosity decrease and was explained by increased steric strains in the collapsed polymer complex. At higher pH, potentiometric data indicate that deprotonation of the amide group occurs but the stoichiometry of the corresponding complex(es) cannot be obtained thanks to this technique although one amide group seemed to be deprotonated per copper ion.     

Determination of the single component and competitive adsorption isotherms of the 1-indanol enantiomers by the inverse method

The inverse method of isotherm determination consists in calculating the numerical values of the coefficients of an isotherm model that give a set of chromatographic profiles in best possible agreement with the set of experimental profiles available. This method was applied to determine the adsorption isotherms of the 1-indanol enantiomers on a cellulose tribenzoate chiral stationary phase. Both single-component and competitive isotherms were determined by using no more than one or two overloaded band profiles. The isotherms determined from the overloaded band profiles agreed extremely well with the isotherms determined by frontal analysis. Several isotherm models were used and tested. The best-fit isotherm was selected by means of statistical evaluation of the results. The results show that the adsorption is best characterized with a model describing heterogeneous adsorption with bimodal adsorption energy distribution.     

Comparison between adsorption isotherm determination techniques and overloaded band profiles on four batches of monolithic columns

The adsorption isotherms of 4-tert.-butyl phenol were measured on four different monolithic columns, using three different techniques, classical frontal analysis (FA), the perturbation on a plateau method (PP) and the recently introduced numerical procedure known as the inverse numerical method (IN). This last approach requires only the recording of a few overloaded profiles and has the potential advantage of affording a dramatic decrease of the amounts of compounds, solvent, and time needed to determine accurate estimates of the coefficients of the isotherm. The reproducibility of the adsorption data measured on the four columns is discussed with reference to the specific techniques used for obtaining these data and to the most suitable equation used for modeling them. The data obtained for the different columns were highly consistent. The inverse numerical approach was confirmed to provide a powerful, accurate, and economic method for measuring single component adsorption data.     

Pressure-induced effects in the heterogeneous adsorption of insulin on chromatographic surfaces

The effect of increasing the average column pressure (ACP) on the heterogeneous adsorption of insulin variants on a C18-bonded silica was studied in isocratic reversed-phase HPLC. Adsorption isotherm data of lispro and porcine insulin obtained for values of the ACP ranging from 57 to 237 bar were fitted to the Langmuir-Freundlich and the Tóth equation. The resulting isotherm parameters, including the equilibrium adsorption constant and the heterogeneity index, were next used for the calculation of distribution functions characterizing the energy of interactions between the adsorbed insulin molecules and the stationary phase. It was observed that increasing the pressure by 180 bar causes a broadening of the distribution functions and a shift of the position of their maximum toward lower interaction energies. These findings suggest that, under high pressures, the insulin molecules interact with the stationary phase in a more diversified way than under low pressures. Additionally, the most probable value of the energy of the insulin-surface interactions becomes lower when the ACP increases. The pressure-induced changes in the interaction of insulin variants with the hydrophobic surface are attributed to a possible conformational flexibility of the molecular structure of this protein.     

Chiral ditopic receptors. Application to palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation

Chiral pyridinooxazoline, quinolinooxazoline, bis(oxazolino)pyridine (pybox), and bisoxazoline (box) derivatives containing crown ether residues were prepared. Some of the ligands were assessed in substrate binding studies and in palladium catalyzed allylic alkylations.