Screening for Antimicrobials in Mouthwashes Using HPTLC-Bioluminescence Detection

One of the tasks of food law enforcement authorities is to supervise the composition of cosmetics. In the case of mouthwashes, they are likely to contain (labeled or unlabeled) antimicrobial compounds. Conventional analyses, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) only shed light on a compound’s structure, but not on its biological function. In this study, we demonstrate that the task of detecting antimicrobials in mouthwashes can be streamlined using the luminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri as a biodetector coupled with high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) as a pre-separation method. The employment of subsequent conventional techniques could then be restricted to fractions with proven V. fischeri toxicity. Samples were separated in parallel on silica gel and amino layer HPTLC plates, developed with a solvent system containing tertiary butyl methyl ether and n-hexane and dried on a plate heater. After applying V. fischeri onto the HPTLC plate, zones of interest were extracted from a parallel plate and identified by HPLC–UV or GC-mass spectrometry. The reaction of V. fischeri to more than 40 standard substances which might be present in mouthwashes was determined. Based on this information, six commercially available mouthwashes were analyzed. The workflow proved to be viable for an effect-directed screening for antimicrobial compounds. The analysis of mouthwashes revealed that not only declared preservatives are used (sodium benzoate, cetylpyridinium chloride) but also other compounds, especially constituents of essential oils. Because their main purpose is flavoring of the mouthwash, they are summarized as “aroma” (anethole, carvone, menthol, thymol) which is in compliance with legal restrictions.     

Experimental control of a chaotic semiconductor laser

We have experimentally controlled the chaotic output of a single-mode semiconductor laser pumped near threshold and subject to optical feedback. We used a novel technique called dynamic targeting, which was theoretically proposed by Wieland et al. [Opt. Lett. 22, 469 (1997)]. Optical feedback causes the semiconductor laser to undergo a bifurcation cascade that exhibits regions of stability, periodicity, chaos, and coherence collapse. By adjusting the feedback phase simultaneously as the feedback strength was varied we steered the laser into the stable maximum gain mode, and thus we stabilized the system at maximum intensity.     

Binding of 9-methylguanine to [cis-Ru(2,2'-bpy)2]2+: First X-ray structure of a cis-bis purine complex of ruthenium

Reaction of [cis-Ru(2,2'-bpy)2(O3SCF3)2] (1) with 9-methylguanine (9-MeG) affords the cis-[Ru(2,2'-bpy)2(9-MeG)2]2+ complex (2) in good yield. Two bases bind to the metal center via the N7 atoms. X-ray structure analysis of 2(SO3CF3)2 (monoclinic, P2(1)/n, a = 12.5159(6) A, b = 20.0904(13) A, c = 17.1202(9) A, beta = 98.981(6) degrees, V = 4252.1(4) A(3), Z = 4) reveals that the two bases are in a head-to-tail (HT) orientation with base-base dihedral angle of 60.4 degrees. NMR studies confirm that the complex is stable in water for hours, and no evidence for guanine substitution by solvent molecules was found.     

Overcoming Kinetic Limitations of Electron Injection in the Dye Solar Cell via Coadsorption and FRET

A new, extremely simple concept for the use of energy transfer as a means to the enhancement of light absorption and current generation in the dye solar cell (DSC) is presented. This model study is based upon a carboxy‐functionalized 4‐aminonaphthalimide dye (carboxy‐fluorol) as donor, and (NBu₄)₂[Ru(dcbpy)₂(NCS)₂] (N719) as acceptor chromophores. A set of three different devices is assembled containing either exclusively carboxy‐fluorol or N719, or a mixture of both. This set of transparent devices is characterized via IV‐measurements under AM1.5G and monochromatic illumination and their light‐harvesting and external quantum efficiencies (LHE and EQE, respectively) are determined as well. It is shown that the device containing only the donor chromophore has a marginal power conversion efficiency, thus indicating that carboxy‐fluorol is a poor sensitizer for the DSC. Cyclovoltametric measurements show that the poor sensitization ability arises from the kinetic inhibition of electron injection into the TiO₂ conduction band. Comparing the spectral properties of the DSCs assembled presently, however, demonstrates that light absorbed by carboxy‐fluorol is almost quantitatively contributing to the photocurrent if N719 is present as an additional sensitizer. In this case, N719 acts as a catalyst for the sensitization of TiO₂ by carboxy‐fluorol in addition to being a photosensitizer. Evaluation of the maximum output power under blue illumination shows that the introduction of an energy‐donor moiety via coadsorption, leads to a significant increase in the monochromatic maximum output power. This result demonstrates that energy transfer between coadsorbed chromophores could be useful for the generation of current in dye‐sensitized solar cells.     

Simultaneous soot combustion and NOx reduction over a vanadia-based selective catalytic reduction catalyst

Simultaneous NO_x reduction and soot combustion over a commercial vanadia-based selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst were investigated. Carbon black was used as model soot. The impact of the contact intensity between carbon and catalyst was studied. The experiments appeared as promising results for the utilization of vanadia-based SCR catalysts in SCR on filter system as, in the SCR operating temperature range (250–400 °C), no significant impact of the presence of carbon black on NO_x reduction was observed. However, a decrease in the specific carbon oxidation rate was highlighted. This latter increases with the contact between carbon and catalyst and is attributed to a lack of NO₂, consumed by the fast SCR reaction. At temperatures greater than 400 °C, the contact between carbon particles and the SCR catalyst partially inhibits the NO_x reduction, whereas it exhibits a catalytic effect on the carbon oxidation rate. The tighter the contact between the two materials, the more significant is this behavior. A redox mechanism, which competes with the redox cycle of the SCR mechanism, was proposed. The impregnation of a V-based SCR catalyst with 2 wt % of calcium was also performed. A drastic loss of DeNO_x activity was observed, whereas the effect of the contact between carbon and catalyst was reduced.     

Synthesis and activity of fluorescent isoprenoid pyrophosphate analogues

New fluorescent analogues of farnesol and geranylgeraniol have been prepared and then converted to the corresponding pyrophosphates. These analogues incorporate anthranylate or dansyl-like groups anchored to the terpenoid skeleton through amine bonds that would be expected to be relatively stable to metabolism. After addition of the alcohols or the pyrophosphates to the culture medium, their fluorescence is readily observed inside a human-derived leukemia cell line. Enzyme assays have revealed that the farnesyl pyrophosphate analogue is an inhibitor of FTase, while the corresponding alcohol is not. These results, together with Western blot analyses of cell lysates, indicate that the farnesyl pyrophosphate analogue penetrates the cells as an intact pyrophosphate and that it does so at a biologically relevant concentration.     

Temperature-induced obliteration of sub-oxide interfaces in amorphous GeO

The temperature-induced phase separation of native amorphous germanium monoxide, a-GeO, into Ge and GeO₂ was studied by measurements of the Ge K-edge employing partial fluorescence yield detection. In the native a-GeO samples a significant amount of sub-oxides was found. This sub-oxide content decreases with increasing annealing temperature. At elevated temperatures the formation of nanocrystals was observed. The results indicate a structure of a-GeO which consists of nanoscaled Ge and GeO₂ clusters separated by sub-oxide interfaces.