Validation and application of an HPLC method for determination of di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in liver samples

A reversed-phase gradient elution, UV detection method is developed for the simultaneous determination of mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [MEHP] and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [DEHP] in tissue samples. The method is validated with respect to extraction recovery, inter and intra-day precision, linearity of response, detect ability, and specificity. The validated method has been successfully applied to the study of DEHP and MEHP in liver, kidney, testis, brain, and plasma samples from rat.     

Adsorption technology for direct recovery of compressed,pure CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> from a flue gas without pre-compression or pre-drying

The effects of the sorption and the regeneration temperatures on the performance of a novel rapid thermal swing chemisorption (RTSC) process (Lee and Sircar in AIChE J. 54:2293–2302, 2008) for removal and recovery of CO₂ from an industrial flue gas without pre-compression, pre-drying, or pre-cooling of the gas were mathematically simulated. The process directly produced a nearly pure, compressed CO₂ by-product stream which will facilitate its subsequent sequestration. Na₂O promoted alumina was used as the CO₂ selective chemisorbent, and the preferred temperatures were found to be, respectively, 150 and 450 °C for the sorption and regeneration steps of the process. The specific cyclic CO₂ production capacity of the process and the pressure of the by-product CO₂ gas were substantially increased over those previously achieved by using the sorption and regeneration temperature of, respectively, 200 and 500 °C (Lee and Sircar in AIChE J. 54:2293–2302, 2008). The net compressed CO₂ recovery from the flue gas (∼92%) did not change. However, substantially different amounts of high and low pressure steam purges were necessary for comparable degree of desorption of CO₂. A first pass estimation of the capital and the operating costs of the RTSC process was carried out for a relatively moderate size application (flue gas clean up and CO₂ recovery from a ∼80 MW coal fired power plant). Both costs were substantially lower than those for a conventional absorption process using MEA as the CO₂ solvent (Desideri and Paolucci in Energy Convers. Manag. 40:1899–1915, 1999).     

Metallo-guanines and metallo-guanosines

Metallo-guanines of the type [M(G)₂·2H₂O] [M = Ni^II, Fe^II, Cu^II and UO₂ ^II; G = anionic guanine], [M(G)₂(GH)· H₂O] (M = Co^II and Mn^II; GH = neutral guanine), [Pd(G)₂]·2H₂O and [Zn(G)Cl]₂ have been isolated and characterised. Anionic guanine functions as a bidentate ligand and links through N(3) and N(9). E.p.r. data indicate that the Cu^II complex has a highly distorted octahedral structure. The magnetic susceptibility data suggest that the Co^II and Ni^II complexes possess pseudooctahedral geometry. Neutral guanines are probably unidentate and coordinate either through N(3) or N(9). The isolated guanosine complexes are of the types: [M(Gs)₂·H₂O] [M = Ni^II and Cu^II, Gs = anionic guanosine] [Pd(Gs)₂]·2H₂O and [UO₂(Gs)₂]. I.r. data indicate that guanosine also functions as a bidentate ligand, but coordinates through N(1) and C₂ — NH₂. The electronic absorption spectra of the complexes indicate that guanine is a stronger ligand than guanosine.     

Design of high pressure differential volumetric adsorption measurements with increased accuracy

High pressure adsorption measurements for light gases on volumetric equipment are prone to error. Differential units reduce the sensitivity to leakage, gas compressibility, and temperature gradients, but remain highly sensitive to volume uncertainties, the calibration of which is difficult in the presence of low-density, microporous samples. Calibration error can be reduced using a high initial pressure differential and large calibration volume; however, systematic error is prevalent in the literature. Using both analytical and multivariate error analysis, we demonstrate that calibration of the differential unit with the differential pressure transducer significantly decreases volume sensitivity. We show that hydrogen adsorption to GX-31 superactivated carbon at 298 K and 80 bar can be measured with a 7 % error in measurement (i.e. within 0.05 wt% for a 100 mg sample), even when experimental volume calibration is determined only within ~1 %. This represents approximately a 2–7 fold increase in sensitivity relative to previous reports using differential measurements. We also provide a framework for optimizing the design of a volumetric adsorption unit. For virtually any system design, the improved differential methods offer a significant increase in precision relative to the conventional volumetric measurement (from 10- to over 250-fold, depending on the precision of the pressure transducer). This improvement further enhances advantages of the differential unit, in addition to advantages that arise for treating gas compressibility and temperature fluctuations.     

An improved and efficient synthesis of 2-substituted 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives via regiospecific bromination

A highly regioselective conversion of DHP to DHP has been achieved for the first time in high yield. Treatment of the bromide with different nucleophiles under basic conditions produced 2-substituted 1,4-dihydropyridines in high yields and purity.