The photoelectric aerosol sensor as a fast-responding and sensitive detection system for cigarette smoke analysis

Summary The combination of the photoelectric aerosol sensor (PAS) and the time programmed sampling of small aerosol volumes within a cigarette puff allows the quantitative time-resolved determination of photoemitting substances in the aerosol. All photoemitting substances contribute to the measured photoelectric (PE) signal. In this comparative study it is shown that the PAS signal correlates well (r=0.94, n=20) with the BaP content. The benzo-a-pyrene (BaP) amounts of the cigarette smoke aerosol were separately determined by in situ synchronous fluorimetry on TLC plates. The absolute detection limit is about 50 pg.

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Photoelektrischer Aerosolsensor als schnell ansprechendes und empfindliches Detektionssystem zur Analyse von Zigarettenrauch

     

Analytical Study of Extracts of St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), Evaluation of HPTLC Plates by Multivariate Data Analysis

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - HPTLC with multivariate data analysis has been used as a new means of evaluating the quality of herbal extracts. Spectral data from...     

Accelerated stochastic simulation of the stiff enzyme-substrate reaction

The enzyme-catalyzed conversion of a substrate into a product is a common reaction motif in cellular chemical systems. In the three reactions that comprise this process, the intermediate enzyme-substrate complex is usually much more likely to decay into its original constituents than to produce a product molecule. This condition makes the reaction set mathematically "stiff." We show here how the simulation of this stiff reaction set can be dramatically speeded up relative to the standard stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) by using a recently introduced procedure called the slow-scale SSA. The speedup occurs because the slow-scale SSA explicitly simulates only the relatively rare conversion reactions, skipping over occurrences of the other two less interesting but much more frequent reactions. We describe, explain, and illustrate this simulation procedure for the isolated enzyme-substrate reaction set, and then we show how the procedure extends to the more typical case in which the enzyme-substrate reactions occur together with other reactions and species. Finally, we explain the connection between this slow-scale SSA approach and the Michaelis-Menten [Biochem. Z. 49, 333 (1913)] formula, which has long been used in deterministic chemical kinetics to describe the enzyme-substrate reaction.     

Komplexbildung und Extraktion von Molybdän(VI) mit zweizähnigen Liganden

Coordination and Extraction of Molybdenum(VI) with Bidentate Ligands A series of bidentate ligands as well as their thio derivatives from the groups of 8-quinolinols, β-diketones, acylpyrazolones, and N-acyl-phenylhydroxylamines was studied for the ability to extract molybdenum(VI) from heptamolybdate. The extraction principally runs only in acidic medium, sulfur-containing extractants having no advantage. The composition of the complexes was determined by the isolation of compounds in the solid state and also by the interpretation of distribution data.     

Thin-layer chromatography and multivariate data analysis of willow bark extracts

In most cases the pharmacological activity of plant extracts is not assigned to single components and often not all active ingredients are known. Approaches other than those considering single compounds only to analyze plant material have proven helpful for a better characterization of extracts in their entirety. In this study extracts of willow bark are analyzed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and two different pharmacological tests [the 2,2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride reaction and the xanthine/xanthine oxidase reaction] with the help of multivariate data analysis. Described are two models using the results of the chromatographic study of 22 various extracts of willow bark and their pharmacological properties. The chromatographic data are obtained by a special TLC scanner that enables measurement of HPTLC tracks simultaneously in the range of lambda = 200-400 nm. Additionally, the developed models are used to predict the activity of another three extracts of willow bark demonstrating the quality of the model.     

Surface activation influencing the microstructure of Zn(Ca) phosphate coatings

Zinc and zinc calcium phosphate coatings on steel were formed by dipping in commercial baths. A surface activation with titanium phosphate influences not only the film morphology but also the composition of the conversion films. Qualitative phase analysis of the polycrystalline deposits reveals a typical phosphophyllite crystal growth apart from hopeite and scholzite respectively. The growth rate depends on the free surface of the steel; the contact area to the solution controls the rate of iron pickling.     

Unusual Multilayered Structures in Poly(ethylene oxide)/Laponite Nanocomposite Films

Summary: The unusual structure of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and Laponite clay in transparent nanocomposite films was investigated using scanning electron, atomic force, and optical microscopy, and X‐ray scattering. Each method is sensitive to different aspects of structural features and together they measure the resulting morphology and shear‐induced orientation. On nanometer length scales, clay platelets were found to orient in bundles while polymer crystallinity was suppressed. Microscopy led to the observation of unexpected and highly oriented multilayers on the micron length scale.

Scanning electron microscopy image of the freeze‐fractured surface of a poly(ethylene oxide)–Laponite film: the view on top of the x–y plane.     

Time‐Resolved Thermodynamic Profile upon Photoexcitation of a Nitrospiropyran in Cycloalkanes and of the Corresponding Merocyanine in Aqueous Solutions

The photoconversion of 2′,3′‐dihydro‐6‐nitro‐1′,3′,3′‐trimethylspiro[2H‐1‐benzopyran‐2,2′‐indole] ( Sp ) to its open merocyanine form ( Mc ) in a series of aerated cycloalkanes (cyclopentane, cyclohexane, and trans‐ and cis‐decalin) and of the protonated merocyanine ( McH ⁺ ) to Sp in aqueous solution were studied by laser‐induced optoacoustic spectroscopy (LIOAS). The +(11±2) ml mol⁻¹ expansion determined for the ring closure is due to deprotonation of McH ⁺ plus the reaction of the ejected proton with the monoanion of malonic acid (added to stabilize Mc ), an intrinsic expansion and a small electrostriction term. The energy difference between Sp and initial McH ⁺ is (282±110) kJ mol⁻¹. An intrinsic contraction of −(47±15) ml mol⁻¹ occurs upon ring opening, forming triplet ³Mc in the cycloalkanes, whereas no volume change was detected for the ³Mc to Mc relaxation. Electrostriction decreases the ³Mc energy, (165±18) kJ mol⁻¹, to 135 kJ mol⁻¹. The difference in the values of the ring‐opening ( Sp to Mc ) reaction enthalpy in cycloalkanes as derived from the temperature dependence of the Sp ⇌ Mc equilibrium, (29±8) kJ mol⁻¹, and from the LIOAS data, −(9±25) kJ mol⁻¹, is due to the formation of Mc‐Sp aggregates during steady‐state measurements. The Sp ‐sensitized singlet molecular oxygen, O₂(¹Δ_g), quantum yield (average Φ_Δ=0.58±0.03) derived from the near‐IR emission of O₂(¹Δ_g), was taken as a measure of Mc production in the cycloalkanes. These solvents, albeit troublesome in their handling, provide an additional series for the determination of structural volume changes in nonaqueous media, besides the alkanes already used.     

A simple and efficient synthesis of bisphosphine platinum(0) complexes with various P-Pt-P angles

Improved syntheses of a series of [(L)₂Pt(η²-nb)] (4)-(8) (L = PPh₃, 1/2 dpp(o-xyl), 1/2 dppb, 1/2 dppbe, 1/2 dppn) complexes are described. Complexes 4-8 have been characterized by ¹H, ³¹P NMR, IR spectroscopy as well as mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. The reaction of [(dppbe)Pt(Cl₂)] with sodium borohydride and tolan was investigated by ³¹P NMR spectroscopy. The complex [(dppbe)Pt(η²-tolan)] (11) has been isolated and characterized. The reactivity of [(dppn)Pt(η²-nb)] with the spirocyclohexyl-1,2,4-trithiolane 12 and the sterically hindered 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-3-thioxocyclobutanone 13 was tested. The complex [(dppn)Pt(η²-13)] (14) has been isolated and characterized by ¹H, ³¹P NMR, IR spectroscopy as well as mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. X-ray crystal analyses have been performed on complex 8, 11 and 14.