Quantitation in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

CE-MS has evolved into a strong alternative to LC-MS. Most of CE-MS applications deal with characterization and identification. However, quantitative aspects have gained importance in, e.g., pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. Here we summarize and evaluate various methodological aspects in order to achieve sensitive and reproducible results. Similar to LC-MS, aspects of matrix influence on the electrospray process need to be carefully addressed when quantitative results are intended by CE-MS. Due to a more complicated coupling special emphasis needs to be put on the CE-MS interface. Generally linearity over more than three orders of magnitude can be achieved by CE-ESI-MS. Furthermore, a literature survey has been performed in order to give an overview over quantitative measurements performed by CE-MS. The precision can be doubled when changing from a structural related to an isotopically labeled internal standard. Thus a level of precision better than 5% RSD can be achieved.     

Calculation of hydrophobic interactions from molecular dynamics,surface areas,and experimental hydrocarbon solubilities

Using experimental solubilities and partial pressures for hydrocarbon solution in water and molecular dynamics calculations of hydrocarbon water interaction energies, hydrocarbon–water cavity potentials are obtained and then plotted vs. accessible surface area. The data used is mainly for aliphatic hydrocarbons, but benzene is included. Molecular dynamics calculations of pairs of hydrocarbon molecules together with the cavity potential curve are then used to obtain hydrophobic interaction free energies between the hydrocarbon pairs. While the cavity potential change is related to a change in surface area for hydrocarbon systems, the hydrocarbon–water interaction energy is not, so that the hydrophobic binding energy is not. The results are in agreement with previous results by a different method (R.B. Hermann, In Seventh Jerusalem Symposium on Quantum Pharmacology, E. Bergman and B. Pullman, Eds., D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974, p. 441) in that there is little or no solvent-induced binding free energy between small hydrocarbon molecules in a dilute aqueous solution. It is proposed that the cavity potential vs. accessible surface area curve obtained here can be used together with OPLS parameters to calculate both hydrocarbon–water solvation free energies and hydrophobic interactions. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Representations of double coset hypergroups and induced representations

The principal goal of this paper is to investigate the representation theory of double coset hypergroups. IfK=G//H is a double coset hypergroup, representations ofK can canonically be obtained from those ofG. However, not every representation ofK originates from this construction in general, i.e., extends to a representation ofG. Properties of this construction are discussed, and as the main result it turns out that extending representations ofK is compatible with the inducing process (as introduced in [7]). It follows that a representation weakly contained in the left-regular representation ofK always admits an extension toG. Furthermore, we realize the Gelfand pair (where are a local field andR its ring of integers) as a polynomial hypergroup on ℕ₀ and characterize the (proper) subset of its dual consisting of extensible representations.     

Development of a very low energy μ+ beam at PSI

At PSI we are investigating the technique of decelerating an existing very intense secondary beam of surface ⁺ (4 MeV) to an energy of 10 eV using appropriate moderators. These ⁺ can then be used as a source of a tertiary beam of low energy muons with tunable kinetic energy between 10 eV and 10 keV.With a 1000 A layer of solid Argon deposited on an Al substrate we obtain a moderation efficiency (with respect to the number of incoming surface ⁺) of the order of 10^–4.Results of our investigations and the present status of the project are presented together with future plans and possibilities.     

Ferroelastic domain freezing and low-frequency elastic behaviour of [Formula: see text] (ALHS)

In this work elastic measurements on [Formula: see text] (ALHS) which were carried out in the low-frequency range between 1 and 50 Hz are presented. The temperature dependence of the inverse elastic compliance [Formula: see text] has been determined between 90 K and 420 K. Distinct anomalies have been found in the temperature dependence of [Formula: see text], which are connected to the motion of domain walls in the ferroelastic phase below [Formula: see text]. Around [Formula: see text] a (partial) ferroelastic `domain freezing' phenomenon has been observed. To the knowledge of the authors this is the first time that pure ferroelastic domain freezing has been reported. However, below [Formula: see text] the domain walls seem to retain a certain vibrational degree of freedom which could be responsible for an additional anomaly of the loss modulus which was observed. The elastic behaviour of a crystal of ALHS is dependent on the `history' of the given sample. During temperature cycling [Formula: see text] shows differences between the first run of heating and cooling and later runs. Finally, some basic insights concerning the domain wall motion were obtained; it was found that the domain wall mobility decreases by three orders of magnitude in the temperature region 170 - 230 K.     

Generation of Ethyl Metathiophosphate by Thermal Fragmentation of O-Ethyl N-Substituted Phosphoramidothioates

O-Ethyl N-1-adamantylphosphoramidothioate was synthesized and found to fragment on heating in inert solvents to form the pyrophosphate AdNHP(S)(OEt)OP(S)(OEt)OH. The proposed mechanism involves an elimination of the amine portion with release of ethyl metathiophosphate (EtOP(S)O), as was confirmed in previous work for the comparable structure with oxygen. This transient compound then phosphorylates the starting phosphoramidothioate. O-Ethyl N,N-diethylphosphoramidothioate was also synthesized, and while it gave a similar pyro compound on heating, the reaction mixture was more complex. Both phosphoramidothioates, however, served effectively as thiophosphorylating agents toward alcohols, a silanol, and the silanol groups on the surface of silica gel. Exploratory experiments showed that these phosphoramidothioates also could thiophosphorylate the OH group of a monoester of phosphoric acid, as well as that of phosphinic acids, forming anhydrides with the partial structure     

Continuous flow in open microfluidics using controlled evaporation

This paper presents a method for programming the flow rate of liquids inside open microfluidic networks (MFNs). A MFN comprises a number of independent flow paths, each of which starts with an open filling port, has a sealed microchannel in which assays can be performed, and an open capillary pump (CP). The MFN is placed over Peltier elements and its flow paths initially fill owing to capillary forces when liquids are added to the filling ports. A cooling Peltier element underneath the filling ports dynamically prevents evaporation in all filling ports using the ambient temperature and relative humidity as inputs. Another Peltier element underneath the CPs heats the pumps thereby inducing evaporation in the CPs and setting the flow rate in the microchannels. This method achieves flow rates in the microchannels ranging from approximately 1.2 nL s(-1) to approximately 30 pL s(-1), and is able to keep 90% of a 0.6 microL solution placed in an open filling port for 60 min. This simple and efficient method should be applicable to numerous assays or chemical reactions that require small and precise flow of liquids and reagents inside microfluidics.