TLC Separation and Identification of Heavy Metals Present in Cotton Material

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - Optimization of the separation and identification of heavy metals present in cotton material has been performed by...     

Investigation of mercury speciation in lichens.

Epiphytic lichens have long been considered to be reliable bioindicators of air pollution. In the present study only one lichen species, Hypogymnia physodes (L.) Nyl., was chosen; this species is very often used for biomonitoring in Europe. Total mercury and methylmercury were determined in lichens taken from various polluted and unpolluted locations in Slovenia, including a mercury mining area around Idrija. Additionally, total gaseous mercury in air was also determined at several sampling points.     

Sample preparation in analysis of pharmaceuticals

Sample preparation is a very important and essential step in environmental analysis. This article presents an overview of extraction methods for environmental samples, focusing especially on pharmaceuticals as there is great concern about them as pollutants.     

A modified method for the determination of methylmercury by gas chromatography

A simple modification of the West?? extraction procedure for methylmercury and its determination by gas chromatography (GC) is presented. The cysteine clean-up step has been modified, with use of cysteine-impregnated paper instead of cysteine solution. Methylmercury bromide is extracted from the sample into toluene and is selectively adsorbed on the cysteine paper. Interfering compounds are washed from the paper with toluene. The isolated methylmercury is set free with sulphuric acid containing bromide, extracted into benzene and determined by GC. The modification of the extraction procedure results in good recovery and reproducibility for various biological and environmental samples, good sensitivity with a detection limit of 0.1 ng/g, avoidance of difficulties arising from emulsion formation, cleaner chromatograms, and faster analysis. It is particularly suitable for determination of low levels of MeHg.     

Photometrische Kationenbestimmung mit Gelatinefolien

Zusammenfassung Eine einfache und schnelle Methode zur photometrischen Kationenbestimmung mittels Gelatinefolien wurde ausgearbeitet. Eine reine Filmfolie als Träger der Farbreaktion wird in die Kationenlösung und danach in die Reagenslösung eingetaucht, wobei sich in der Gelatineschicht ein gefärbter Niederschlag bildet, dessen Farbintensität proportional der Metallkonzentration ist.Die Folie wird photometriert und mittels einer Eichkurve die Metallkonzentration bestimmt. Das Verfahren wurde an Hand der Cu-Bestimmung mit Diäthyldithiocarbamidat erprobt. Die Färbung befolgt in diesem Fall das Beersche Gesetz. Eine Bestimmung erfordert etwa 20 min. Der relative Fehler beträgt ±5 % bei einer Konzentration von 3–30 g Cu²⁺/ml.

---

Photometric determination of cations by means of gelatin filmDetermination of copper with diethyldithiocarbamidate

A simple and rapid method for the photometric determination of cations using a strip of gelatin film has been developed. The strip is immersed in the sample solution and afterwards in a reagent solution. The intensity of a the coloured precipitate formed in the strip is proportional to the metal ion concentration, which is determined photometrically using a calibration curve. The determination of Cu with diethyldithiocarbamidate has been selected for testing the technique. The colour intensity in this case follows Beer's law. The determination can be performed within 20 min. The relative error amounts to ±5 % for a concentration range of 3–30 g of Cu²⁺/ml.

     

XANES speciation of mercury in three mining districts – Almadén,Asturias (Spain), Idria (Slovenia)

The mobility, bioavailability and toxicity of mercury in the environment strongly depend on the chemical species in which it is present in soil, sediments, water or air. In mining districts, differences in mobility and bioavailability of mercury mainly arise from the different type of mineralization and ore processing. In this work, synchrotron‐based X‐ray absorption near‐edge spectroscopy (XANES) has been taken advantage of to study the speciation of mercury in geological samples from three of the largest European mercury mining districts: Almadén (Spain), Idria (Slovenia) and Asturias (Spain). XANES has been complemented with a single extraction protocol for the determination of Hg mobility. Ore, calcines, dump material, soil, sediment and suspended particles from the three sites have been considered in the study. In the three sites, rather insoluble sulfide compounds (cinnabar and metacinnabar) were found to predominate. Minor amounts of more soluble mercury compounds (chlorides and sulfates) were also identified in some samples. Single extraction procedures have put forward a strong dependence of the mobility with the concentration of chlorides and sulfates. Differences in efficiency of roasting furnaces from the three sites have been found.     

Pure and Disiline-doped (6,0) AIN Nanotube: A Computational DFT Study on the NMR Parameters

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) parameters including isotropic and anisotropic chemical shielding parameters (CSI, CSA) and electronic structures were calculated using Density Functional Theory (DFT) for Disiline-doped Aluminum Nitride Nanotubes (Disiline-AlNNTs). The 27Al and 15N nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was calculated by means of the GIAO, CSGT, and IGAIM methods. Geometry optimizations were carried out at the B3LYP/6-311+G* level of theory using the Gaussian 98 program suite. The calculated parameters indicate that the Al and N atoms located at the mouths of nanotube have the smallest and largest chemical shielding isotropic (CSI) values among those of other identical ones, respectively. In the Disiline-doped model, the NMR parameters of those nuclei directly bonded to the C and Si atoms show significant changes, while other nuclei changes are inferior.     

A methodological study of mercury speciation using dogfish liver CRM (DOLT-2)

The purpose of the study was to optimise analytical methods for determination of the chemical speciation of mercury in studies of protective mechanisms of selenium. Optimisation of the methods was performed using CRM DOLT-2 (Dogfish liver), both in its original form and after separation of various fractions. The sample was homogenised with 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.6) and ultracentrifuged. The soluble phase obtained was applied to a size exclusion chromatography column (Sephadex G-75 column) for separation of various protein fractions. Total mercury (total Hg), monomethyl mercury (MeHg) and selenium (Se) were determined in whole dogfish liver tissue and its soluble and insoluble phases (pellet). Different approaches for determination of total Hg and MeHg were compared. Simultaneous determination of MeHg and inorganic mercury (Hg2+) was based on alkaline dissolution and/or acid leaching, followed by ethylation, room temperature precollection, isothermal gas chromatography (GC), pyrolysis and detection with cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CVAFS). The sum of MeHg and Hg2+ was compared to total Hg results obtained by acid digestion and CVAAS detection. The accuracy of MeHg determination was checked by its determination using acid leaching at room temperature, solvent extraction, back extraction into Milli-Q water, ethylation, GC and CVAFS detection. For the insoluble phase it is recommended to use solvent extraction for MeHg and acid digestion CVAAS for total Hg. For determination of MeHg and Hg2+ in the lyophilised sample and water soluble fractions containing low concentrations of mercury species, the simultaneous measurement of MeHg and Hg2+ after alkaline dissolution is the most appropriate method.     

A bound on the scale of spacetime noncommutativity from the reheating phase after inflation

In an approach to noncommutative gauge theories, where the full noncommutative behavior is delimited by the presence of the UV and IR cutoffs, we consider the possibility of describing a system at a temperature T in a box of size L. Employing a specific form of UV/IR relationship inherent in such an approach of restrictive noncommutativity, we derive, for a given temperature T  , an upper bound on the parameter of spacetime noncommutativity _ΛNC∼|θ|^−1/2${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{NC}}\sim {|\theta |}^{-1/2}$. Considering such epochs in the very early universe which are expected to reflect spacetime noncommutativity to a quite degree, like the reheating stage after inflation, or believable pre-inflation radiation-dominated epochs, the best limits on _ΛNC${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{NC}}$ are obtained. We also demonstrate how the nature and size of the thermal system (for instance, the Hubble distance versus the future event horizon) can affect our bounds.