An attempt to prepare and characterize a soil reference material for Cr(VI) and Cr(III)

Reference materials for the speciation and quantification of chromium in contaminated soils were prepared by impregnating diatomaceous earth with BaCrO₄ and Cr₂O₃. The chronium concentrations of these materials were confirmed to be 200 mg/kg both by atomic absorption spectrometry and by instrumental neutron activation analysis, but monthly assays over two calendar quarters of the reference material impregnated with BaCrO₄ revealed the hexavalent chromium was not stable in this matrix.     

Trace aluminum determination and sampling problems of archeological bone employing destructive neutron activation analysis

A destructive neutron activation analysis procedure was developed for determining trace aluminum content in bone. It was found that soil contamination can influence the aluninum bone levels in prehistoric bone specimens. These maximum aluninum content values for prehistoric bone are larger than those of modern bone and comparable to aluminum levels present in bone from renal patients.     

Recherches en série triazepine-1,2,4: 1 - détermination de la structure de la triazolotriazépinone obtenue par action de l'acétylacétate d'éthyle sur le diamino-3,4 triazole-1,2,4

The condensation of 3,4-diamino 1,2,4-triazole with ethyl aceloacelate gave 6-methyl-8,9-dihydro(7H)-s-triazolo[4,3-b]-1,2,4-triazepin-8-one ( 2 ); 2 has been caracterized by nmr spectroscopy and by comparison with its methylated derivative prepared in an unambigous manner.     

Etude de la microstructure des oligomeres desactives du butadiene-1,3

Oligomers of butadiene have been prepared in hydrocarbons in the presence of butyllithium isomers. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), gas chromatography and i.r. spectroscopy allowed the study of the microstructures of the products. Various parameters (nature of the deactivator, the solvent and the initiator as well as the monomer/initiator ratio) influence the microstructure. All the results may be explained on the basis of delocalized living species in anionic polymerization of conjugated dienes.     

Glass forming ability and thermal stability in the system ZrF46BaF26PrF3

New glasses have been synthesized in the system ZrF₄6BaF₂6PrF₃. Glasses were prepared by conventional fusion method and the vitreous domain was established. For vitreous samples the thermal stability parameters were determined, so that the best compositions could be selected according to a compromise between high glass forming ability and thermal stability vs. crystallization.     

Infrared laser ablation study of pressed soil pellets with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

Potential of infrared laser ablation (LA) coupled with ICP-AES as a technique suitable for the determination of trace elements (Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, and V) in agricultural soils was studied. Operating parameters such as laser beam energy, laser beam focusing with respect to the sample surface, and velocity of the sample translation in the plane perpendicular to the laser beam were optimized. Soil samples were mixed with powdered Ag as a binder, and an internal standard (GeO(2)), and pressed into pellets. Calibration samples were prepared by adding known amounts of oxides of elements of interest into soils of known elemental composition and then processed in the same way as the analyzed samples. Calibration curves were found to be linear at least up to several hundreds of mg kg(-1) for the elements of interest. The elemental contents obtained by using LA-ICP-AES were compared with those obtained by analysis using wet chemistry followed by ICP-AES with pneumatic nebulization (PN). The results were in good agreement. Accuracy was also tested using certified reference soils with a bias not exceeding 10% relative.     

Extraction separation of rare-earth elements by amines in the presence of complexing agents

The extraction separation of La and Sm by benzyldibutylamine (BDBA) from an aqueous solution containing 6 mol·dm^–3 NaNO₃ and 0.5 mol·dm^–3 HNO₃ is not very efficient. It may remarkably be improved by addition of a complexing agent, 2-hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetic acid (HEDTA). The effect of preferential La extraction into the organic phase together with the effect of preferential complexation of Sm in the aqueous phase may lead, by proper choice of the complexing agent concentration, to a 7–10 fold increase in _La/Sm values. The procedure described here enables fairly good separation of a major from minor elements.     

Separation of dideoxyribonucleosides in trace amounts by automated liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis.

No satisfactory high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is currently available for the separation of the major dideoxyribonucleosides (ddNs) and their derivatives. A method involving HPLC has been developed for the separation of five major ddNs [ddA, ddC, ddI, azT and 2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-didehydrothymidine (d4T)]. Elution of the common and modified components of DNA was also examined under the selected separation conditions of HPLC. The elution characteristics of these compounds were studied using serum plasma samples spiked with ddN derivatives. In addition, capillary electrophoresis (CE) was investigated for the separation of ddNs and their derivatives. Picomolar amounts of the five major ddNs and the metabolic product of azT [5'-O-glucuronide-3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (Glo-azT)] were satisfactorily resolved in 10 min by using a modification of CE. The spectral properties of the ddNs were characterized under different pH conditions and compared with those of their parent deoxyribonucleosides (dNs) because these compounds are commonly measured in HPLC by their spectral properties. The spectra of ddC and ddT derivatives resemble very closely those of dC and dT, but those of ddA and ddI differ to some extent from their parent dNs. The HPLC method was extensively examined for satisfactory resolutions of these compounds. For example, an isocratic elution method, although simple, failed to resolve these compounds and ion-pair chromatography did not offer any advantage. Gradient elution involving buffered solutions and increasing amounts of an organic modifier yielded satisfactory results. Methanol appeared to be the organic modifier of choice. A reversed-phase matrix with smaller than octadecyl alkyl chains did not produce the necessary interactions. Uniform spherical beads of smaller diameter produced superior resolutions. The separation of these compounds on three commercially available columns is discussed. The separation of human plasma samples spiked with dideoxynucleoside derivatives by HPLC was accomplished in ca. 16 min. The presence of the dNs did not interfere in their separations.     

DMC: A multifunctional hybrid dynamics/Monte Carlo simulation algorithm for the evaluation of conformational space

A hybrid conformational search algorithm (DMC) is described that combines a modified form of molecular dynamics with Metropolis Monte Carlo sampling, using the COSMIC(90) force field. Trial configurations are generated by short bursts of high-temperature dynamics in which the initial kinetic energy is focused into single bond rotations or alternatively into “corner-flapping” motions in ring systems. Constant temperature and simulated annealing search protocols have been applied to the conformational analysis of several model hydrocarbons (cyclopentane, cyclohexane, cycloheptane, cyclooctane, cycloheptadecane, decane, and tetradecane), and the performance compared with conventional molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo sampling methods. Optimum Metropolis sampling temperatures have been determined and range from 1000–2000 K for acyclic molecules to 3000 K for cyclic systems. Simulated annealing runs are most successful at locating the global minimum when cooling slowing from these optimum temperatures.     

Molecular determinants in the bioactivation of the dopaminergic neurotoxin N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)

Summary Nineteen analogs of the dopaminergic neurotoxin N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) have been used as probes to study the structural parameters that influence MAO-catalyzed oxidation. In this study, the efficiency of enzyme-catalyzed substrate oxidation was found to be unrelated to parameters such as the ionization potential, dipole moment, net atomic charge at C5 and the dihedral angle between the phenyl ring and the tetrahydropyridine moiety. Conformational analysis revealed that substitution at the C2 position of MPTP yields atropisomers. It is suggested that one of these atropisomers would be either inactive or substantially less active than the other. Therefore, the relative oxidative efficiency and toxicity of these compounds reported earlier may have been significantly underestimated. Based on the conformational analysis and other data, a rudimentary model of the MAO substrate site has been developed which partially explains the substrate specificities of MAO A and MAO B.Each substrate binding site can be divided into two regions, (a) an amine-binding pocket (for the tetrahydropyridine moiety), and (b) a bulky substituent region (for the phenyl group and its substituents). The length of the substrate binding site (measured along the long axis of MPTP) is approximately 8.5 Å, and the width of the amine-binding pocket is approximately 2.5 Å (from C3 to C5). The bulky substituent region contains a central area for binding the phenyl group of MPTP. This central area is flanked by two hydrophobic pockets, P2 and P3. In MAO A, the pocket P2-A is oriented 45–135° relative to the plane of the tetrahydropyridine moiety, with a radius of 3.1 Å from C2 of the phenyl ring. The radius of a similar but smaller pocket, P2-B, in MAO B, is approximately 2.7 Å. In MAO B, the pocket P3-B (radius 2.36 Å from C3) is larger than a similar pocket P3-A (radius 1.70 Å from C3) in MAO A. The foregoing characterization suggests that differences in the size and topography of both of the substituent pockets play an important role in determining the substrate specificities of these two isozymes.