Synergic effect studies of the bi-enzymatic system laccase-peroxidase in a voltammetric biosensor for catecholamines

Several bi-enzymatic carbon paste biosensors modified with enzymes laccase from Pleurotus ostreatus fungi and peroxidase from zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) were constructed for evaluating the synergic effect of the two enzymes on the voltammetric biosensor response for various catecholamines. Initially was investigated the effect of pH from 5.0 to 7.5, temperature from 25 to 50 °C, initial stirring time from 30 to 150 s, scan rate from 10 to 60 mV s⁻¹ and potential pulse amplitude from 10 to 60 mV on the biosensor response for several catecholamines such as dopamine, adrenaline, isoprenaline and l-dopa. It was observed a biosensor signal increase employing both enzymes, indicating thus there is a synergic effect between laccase and peroxidase, verified also in spectrophotometric studies, in the determination of these catecholamines.     

Chemical Functionalisation of Vinyl Polymers to Obtain Heparin-Like Materials

Vinyl polymers such as poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVAL) and polyallylamine (PALA) both commercially available were chemically modified by introduction of carboxylic and sulfonate groups to obtain polymeric materials with improved haemocompatibility. The introduction of carboxyl groups was carried out by reaction of EVAL's hydroxy groups with acrylonitrile followed by basic hydrolysis of  CN groups. Amino groups of PALA were transformed into sulfonate groups by reaction with pyridine-SO₃ complex. Influence of reagents molar ratio, temperature and reaction time on the carboxylation degree was evaluated. In particular, yields of 86% (EVAL-CN 0.52) and 30% (EVALCOOH 0.16) were obtained for the cyanoethylation and the hydrolysis reaction of the  CN groups, respectively, whereas a sulfonation of 24% of the PALA amino groups was found. The functionalised polymers were characterized by physicochemical measurements. Preliminary biological tests proved the importance of strong acidic groups on the anticoagulant properties of the polymeric materials.     

The fractal calibration method applied to the characterization of polymers in solvent mixtures and in mixed gel packings by SEC

The size-exclusion chromatographic (SEC) behaviour of different solvent/polymer systems in three packing sets has been analysed from fractal considerations. The three-column sets studied are specifically formed by: (i) 'pure' micro-styragel, (ii) 'mixed' TSK Gel H(HR + XL + HR) and (iii) mixed TSK Gel H(XL + HR + XL). The experimental data reveals that in most of the systems assayed the classical universal calibration (UC) is not fulfilled, denoting the existence of secondary effects accompanying the main SEC mechanism. In order to obtain an accurate characterization of different polymers eluted in solvent mixtures and/or mixed packings, the use of a reliable and trusted calibration curve is required. In this sense, two alternative procedures have been analysed: the specific (SC) and the fractal (FC) calibrations. The results have evidenced that the use of the FC instead of the classical universal method diminishes up to nine times (in the case of the micro-styragel set) the mean deviation on the calculated molar mass with respect to the value given by the supplier. In the case of TSK Gel-based sets, the mean deviation is reduced to the half. The SC curve made with standards of the sample under study also reduces the mean deviation values but needs a broad set of narrow standards, whereas the fractal approach only needs one polymeric sample to build up the calibration curve.     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and chemometrics for classification of toys relying on toxic elements

Quality control of toys for avoiding children exposure to potentially toxic elements is of utmost relevance and it is a common requirement in national and/or international norms for health and safety reasons. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was recently evaluated at authors' laboratory for direct analysis of plastic toys and one of the main difficulties for the determination of Cd, Cr and Pb was the variety of mixtures and types of polymers. As most norms rely on migration (lixiviation) protocols, chemometric classification models from LIBS spectra were tested for sampling toys that present potential risk of Cd, Cr and Pb contamination. The classification models were generated from the emission spectra of 51 polymeric toys and by using Partial Least Squares - Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). The classification models and validations were carried out with 40 and 11 test samples, respectively. Best results were obtained when KNN was used, with corrected predictions varying from 95% for Cd to 100% for Cr and Pb.