Characterization of silsesquioxanes by size-exclusion chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography in combination with spectroscopic methods like matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful method to characterize silsesquioxanes and silsesquioxane mixtures. As new examples, the formation of silsesquioxyl-substituted silsesquioxanes [(n-octyl)(7)(SiO(1.5))(8)](2)O and [(n-octyl)(7)(SiO(1.5))(8)O](2)[(n-octyl)(6)(SiO(1.5))(8)] as well as the cage rearrangement of octa-[(n-heptyl)silsesquioxane] to larger structures [(n-heptyl)SiO(1.5))](n) up to n=28 are shown.     

Determination of aristolochic acid by capillary zone electrophoresis

A simple and rapid capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method for the determination of aristolochic acid (AA) in dietary supplements and selected herbs is described. A clear separation of AA from other sample constituents was achieved within 5 minutes without any sample clean up. A mixture of 20 mM-morpholinethanesulphonic acid+10 mM-BisTrisPropane+0.2% hydroxyethylcelullose in 10% methanol serves as a background electrolyte. The linearity, accuracy, intra-assay and detection limit of the developed method are 200–6000 ng/mL, 95–103%, 3.5%, and 50 ng/ml, respectively. Ease of use, sufficient sensitivity and low running cost are the most important attributes of the CZE method. The proposed CZE method was compared with HPLC.     

An experimental and theoretical study of the Cp2VO2CO: use of 13CO3(2-) for structure investigation of d1-metallocene complexes

EPR study has shown that the anticancer agent vanadocene dichloride (Cp2VCl2) interacts with carbonate contained in physiological solutions. Chelate complex Cp2VO2CO (|A(iso)(51V)| = 175.1 MHz, g(iso) = 1.9861) is the only paramagnetic species formed in the range about the physiological pH (5.5-11.0). The super-hyperfine coupling (|a(iso)(13C)| = 24.1 MHz) was evidenced at measurements using 13C labelled carbonate. The structure of carbonate complex was validated by comparison of observed and theoretical calculated HFC tensors (at the density functional level of theory).