High performance liquid chromatographic measurement of bisoprolol in plasma

A simple high performance liquid chromatographic method has been devised for the measurement of bisoprolol in plasma or serum. The sample (200 microL) is vortex mixed for 30 s with 2 M Tris solution (50 microL), aqueous internal standard (benzimidazole, 2.0 mg/L, 50 microL) and methyl t-butyl ether (200 microL). After centrifugation (9950 x g, 2 min), a portion of the resulting extract is analysed on a microparticulate (5 microns) silica column using 1 mM camphorsulphonic acid in methanol as the mobile phase. Detection is by fluorescence at an excitation wavelength of 215 nM. The lower limit of accurate measurement for the assay is 10 micrograms/L (CV% = 8.9, n = 9) with a lower limit of detection of 5 micrograms/L. There is minimal interference from either commonly prescribed drugs or endogenous compounds.     

The statistics of chain sectioning experiments on cellulose fibers

It has been suggested that transverse sectioning of natural cellulose fibers can be used to test ideas about microfibril structure. This proposal has been examined theoretically and numerical calculations of the weight-distribution curve of sectioned chains are given for several different models. These calculations illustrate the effects that different types of chain folding have on the sectioned size distribution. The difficulties involved in the practical execution of this type of experiment are discussed and it is concluded that fiber-sectioning experiments described in the literature do not disprove the folded-chain hypothesis.     

Barium tetraphosphate

The structure of the low‐temperature form of barium tetraphosphate, Ba₃P₄O₁₃, shows the tetraphosphate to exist in an S conformation.