Capillary electrochromatography of biologically relevant flavonoids

Flavonoids were separated utilizing CEC technique. Baseline separation of biologically relevant flavonoids was obtained using a 100 microm ID fused-silica capillary filled with 3 microm Silica-C18 material and an optimized mobile phase comprising of 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 6.5), ACN and water at a ratio of 10/40/50 v/v/v. Separations were carried out at 25 kV and a column temperature of 25 degrees C. The influence of relevant parameters for the CEC separation, such as buffer concentration, pH, separation voltage, and ACN concentration, was investigated and optimized. Dependencies of the electroendoosmotic flow (EOF) on these parameters and effects on the resolution of the analytes were studied. During analyses the solvents used for dissolving the samples turned out to have significant effects on the separation of flavonoids. The optimized system was then successfully used for the separation of the flavonoids epicatechin, myricetin, quercetin, naringenin, and hesperetin. CEC turned out to be a useful complementary tool for the economic analysis of flavonoids in addition to common HPLC, muHPLC, and CE methodologies. This method can be used for real applications in phytomics.     

The electrolyte switchable solubility of multi-walled carbon nanotube/ionic liquid (MWCNT/IL) hybrids

In this communication we report the first preparation of ionic liquid-modified carbon nanotubes with reversibly switchable solubility between aqueous and organic solvents, induced by anion exchange.     

Thermal and UV shape shifting of surface topography

The confinement of LCE materials into surface monodomains via micropatterning leads to the formation of reversible, shape-shifting surface patterns. The individual features are liquid crystalline monodomains, and by switching to an isotropic state using light or heat, the features switch between imprinted circular features and anisotropic liquid crystalline features.     

Secondary structural preferences of 2,2-disubstituted pyrrolidine-4-carboxylic acid oligomers: beta-peptide foldamers that cannot form internal hydrogen bonds

We examine a new class of beta-peptides, 2,2-disubstituted pyrrolidine-4-carboxylic acid oligomers, and show that they manifest discrete conformational preferences despite the impossibility of internal hydrogen bonding. Numerous beta-peptide families have been described that display specific secondary structural preferences, but all of the conformations characterized in detail so far have contained internal hydrogen bonds. Internal hydrogen bonding is observed within the most common secondary structures of conventional peptides as well. Identifying foldamers in which shape control is independent of hydrogen bonding is significant in two ways. At a fundamental level, foldamers in this small but growing class are interesting because their shapes are controlled by distinctive networks of noncovalent forces. At a practical level, non-hydrogen bonded foldamers may be useful in biomedical applications because the low intrinsic polarity of their backbones may promote bioavailability.     

Non-hydrogen-bonded secondary structure in beta-peptides: evidence from circular dichroism of (S)-pyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acid oligomers and (S)-nipecotic acid oligomers

[formula: see text] Homooligomers of beta-amino acids (S)-3-pyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acid (PCA) and (S)-nipecotic acid (Nip) were studied by circular dichroism (CD) in methanol. In each series, a profound change in the far-UV CD spectrum was observed from monomer to tetramer, but little change was observed from tetramer to hexamer. A comparable pattern is observed in the CD spectra of short proline oligomers. We conclude that both PCA and Nip oligomers with > or = four residues adopt a characteristic secondary structure.     

Fast analysis of flavonoids in plant extracts by liquid chromatography-ultraviolet absorbance detection on poly(carboxylic acid)-coated silica and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric detection

A highly hydrophilic poly(7-oxonorbornene-5,6-dicarboxylic acid-block-norbornene) [=poly-(ONDCA-b-NBE)]-coated silica was investigated for the liquid chromatographic (LC) determination of flavonoids in plant extracts of complex biological origin using UV absorbance and mass spectrometric (MS) detection. Compared to the most commonly used octadecyl derivatized silica this sorbent allowed fast separations even at extreme pH values. Furthermore, UV absorbance and MS detection were evaluated. As we found, UV detection at 254 nm allows the determination of flavonoids down to the ng range with a linearity of R2>0.9906. For the more selective characterization the validated LC system was coupled to a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer via an electrospray ionization (ESI) interface. MS detection showed high linearity (R2>0.9904) for all investigated flavonoids. Due to the relatively high flow-rate of 1 ml/min the limits of detection were found in the lower-microg range. Collision induced dissociation was applied to obtain characteristic fragmentation fingerprints. Finally, the validated LC-ESI-MS-MS method demonstrated that this poly-(ONDCA-b-NBE) stationary phase allows fast characterization and quantitation in onion, elderflower blossom, lime blossom, St. John's Wort and red wine.     

NMR in Laves phase alloy system GdPt x —analysis of nonstoichiometry in intermetallic compounds

NMR is applied to ferromagnetic Laves phase compounds Gd_1–x A _x Pt₂ (A=Sc, La) and GdPt _x (2x3). The different hyperfine field contributions are analyzed. Neighbour contributions to the Gd hyperfine field and strength of ferromagnetic coupling are compared. It is found that there is a strong predominance of the nearest neighbour contribution (92%) to the Pt hyperfine field. We show that the Pt NMR allows to derive the deviation in occupation number of Gd atoms on Gd sites in nonstoichiometric compounds with about 4% accuracy.Now with Dürrwächter K. G., Pforzheim     

Near-infrared reflection spectroscopy and partial least squares regression for determining the total carbon coverage of silica packings for liquid chromatography

Near-infrared reflection spectroscopy (NIRS) was used in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression to determine the silica packing properties, whether endcapped (EC) or non-endcapped, and the amount of surface total carbon coverage (%). A preparation technique for the reproducible analysis of bulk materials is covered as well as spectral data pretreatments to enhance prediction accuracy of the PLS models. Especially derivatives and scatter correction methods turned out to be well suited. A standard error of prediction (SEP) of 0.57% C for the determination of the total carbon load of octadecylated (C₁₈) silica was found. In case of the C₁₈-EC silica a SEP of 0.51% carbon gives rise to a robust and accurate model. The presented method allows the simultaneous determination of several parameters, e.g. particle and pore size or surface modifications, from a single spectrum and is amenable to implementation for in-line or on-line analysis in the silica producing industry.     

On the alkali instability of phenoxazine dyes as adsorbates of chemically modified electrodes

The alkali instability of phenoxazine dyes was investigated with respect to their application as catalysts for anodic NADH oxidation. Spectrophotometric measurements were used in aqueous solutions at different pH values together with cyclovoltammograms of the dyes adsorbed on a graphite electrode. It is shown that the reason for desactivation in the case of Meldola Blue is a cation-pseudobase equilibrium followed by a ring-opening tautomerism. The open-ring isomer, an unstable o,p′-quinoneanile dye, could be isolated as a dark blue precipitate. Also a by-product (“dimethyl”-Nile Red V) was identified. In the case of phenoxazine dyes substituted with an amino or acylamino group in p-position to the heterocyclic nitrogen, the reason for desactivation of the electrodes is the known reversible formation of a quinone diimine as an anhydrobase.