The nature of black stains in Lascaux Cave,France, as revealed by surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

We used surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy to investigate the chemical composition of the black stains threatening the rock‐art paintings of Lascaux Cave, Montignac, France. The stains are mainly composed of melanin from the fungus Ochroconis sp. and the faecal pellets of the collembolan Folsomia candida. Surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy is a useful technique for revealing the structure of unknown macromolecules in cultural heritage research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weakly compact operators on non-complete normed spaces

We prove that weakly compact operators on a non-reflexive normed space cannot be bijective. We also show that, in the above result, bijectivity cannot be relaxed to surjectivity. Finally, we study the behaviour of surjective weakly compact operators on a non-reflexive normed space, when they are perturbed by small scalar multiples of the identity, and derive from this study the recent result of Spurný [A note on compact operators on normed linear spaces, Expo. Math. 25 (2007) 261–263] that compact operators on an infinite-dimensional normed space cannot be surjective.     

Radioactive characterization of charcoal as a tool in identifying fossil contamination

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In the pyrolysis process carried out to obtain charcoal from plants, a concentration of the radionuclides found in trace amounts in the raw...     

Enzymatic-spectrophotometric determination of sucrose in coffee beans

A spectrophotometric method for determining sucrose is proposed. Sucrose is hydrolyzed by invertase into glucose and fructose. Then, glucose is oxidized in presence of glucose oxidase and the produced hydrogen peroxide reacts with phenol-4-sulfonic acid sodium salt and 4-aminoantipyrine in presence of peroxidase, yielding a pink dye with an absorption maximum at 505 nm. This method was validated following the EURACHEM and VAM project guidelines for method validation. Trueness, precision, robustness, sensitivity and linearity were considered. The method was applied to the determination of sucrose in green and roasted coffee beans. A comparison with the HPLC method with pulsed amperometric detection was carried out.     

In flow activation of diol-silica with cyanogen bromide and triethylamine for preparing high-performance affinity chromatographic columns

A new coupling strategy using pre-packed diol-silica supports to obtain affinity columns for high-performance affinity chromatography (HPAC) is described. These columns were prepared by "in flow" activation in which solutions containing anhydrous solutions of CNBr and triethylamine are separately pumped to a mixer and then onto a pre-packed diol-silica column. Recycling the amino ligand to be coupled several times over the activated silica diol columns results in ligand immobilization. DNA (the Op 1 lac operator), 6-aminohexyl-Cibacron and a peptide (melittin) were all successfully "in flow" coupled to freshly activated columns. Methods for CNBr activation of pre-packed diol-silica column were developed for one, two or three pump HPLC systems. The supports were successfully used for the HPAC purification of a Lac repressor-beta-galactosidase fusion protein, alcohol dehydrogenase, and calmodulin. Columns prepared by in flow activation/coupling procedures were shown to be stable for at least 14 months. Also, in flow activated silica columns could be stored in anhydrous acetone for at least 3 months prior to coupling. Our experiments with these affinity ligand columns (DNA-silica, aminohexyl-Cibacron F3GA-silica, and melittin-silica), suggests that this is a very successful coupling protocol for producing a variety of HPAC columns.     

Cyanogen bromide activation and coupling of ligands to diol-containing silica for high-performance affinity chromatography optimization of conditions

To obtain silica supports for high-performance affinity chromatography, a method of preparing CNBr-activated diol-silica under anhydrous conditions was developed. Activation of the silane-derived hydroxyls with cyanogen bromide and triethylamine was optimized and demonstrated to efficiently couple several amino ligands (tryptophan, 6-aminohexyl-Cibacron Blue, and DNA). Sonication and vacuum degassing, a procedure used to remove air from the silica beads, increased activation. Coupling of an amino ligand under slightly basic conditions (pH 8.0) gave the highest yield. The linkage between the immobilized ligands and silica was stable from pH 2-10. Anhydrous acetone was the most effective solvent for activation but dimethylformamide and 2-propanol were also good choices. The high-performance affinity chromatography columns obtained by coupling sequence-specific DNA binding sequences for Lac repressor-beta-galactosidase fusion protein were compared to affinity columns obtained by coupling the same DNA element to Sepharose beads; 5 microm silica gave the best performance.     

Determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in the presence of phenol by first-derivative fluorescence following micro liquid-liquid extraction (MLLE)

Bisphenol A (BPA) in the presence of phenol is determined using a method based on first-derivative spectrofluorimetry. The proposed method involves a micro liquid–liquid extraction of sodium chloride saturated water samples with diethyl ether followed by direct fluorimetric analysis of extracts. The excitation spectra of both compounds in diethyl ether are recorded between 200 and 290 nm, with the emission wavelength at 306 nm. The first-derivative spectra were calculated, measuring the analytical signal for BPA at 239 nm. The concentration range over which the method was applied was 0.5–10.0 μg·l⁻¹ of BPA with relative standard deviations of 2.9% for a concentration of 4.0 μg·l⁻¹ of BPA. The detection limit was 0.07 μg·l⁻¹. The proposed method was applied satisfactorily to the determination of BPA in synthetic mixtures and water samples from different sources previously spiked with different amounts of these chemicals. Recovery values ranging from 93% to 112% were obtained for water samples.     

Mixed conductivity and stability of A-site-deficient Sr(Fe,Ti)O<Subscript>3–δ</Subscript> perovskites

Deficiency in the A sublattice of perovskite-type Sr_{1– y} Fe_0.8Ti_0.2O_3–δ (y=0–0.06) leads to suppression of oxygen-vacancy ordering and to increasing oxygen ionic conductivity, unit cell volume, thermal expansion, and stability in CO₂-containing atmospheres. The total electrical conductivity, predominantly p-type electronic in air, decreases with increasing A-site deficiency at 300–700 K and is essentially independent of the cation vacancy concentration at higher temperatures. Oxygen ion transference numbers for Sr_{1– y} Fe_0.8Ti_0.2O_3–δ in air, estimated from the faradaic efficiency and oxygen permeation data, vary in the range from 0.002 to 0.015 at 1073–1223 K, increasing with temperature. The maximum ionic conductivity was observed for Sr_0.97Fe_0.8Ti_0.2O_3–δ ceramics. In the system Sr_0.97Fe_{1– x} Ti _x O_3–δ (x=0.1–0.6), thermal expansion and electron-hole conductivity both decrease with x. Moderate additions of titanium (up to 20%) in Sr_0.97(Fe,Ti)O_3–δ result in higher ionic conductivity and lower activation energy for ionic transport, owing to disordering in the oxygen sublattice; further doping decreases the ionic conduction. It was shown that time degradation of the oxygen permeability, characteristic of Sr(Fe,Ti)O_3–δ membranes and resulting from partial ordering processes, can be reduced by cycling of the oxygen pressure at the membrane permeate side. Thermal expansion coefficients of Sr_{1– y} Ti_{1– x} Fe _x O_3–δ (x=0.10–0.60, y=0–0.06) in air are in the range (11.7–16.5)×10^–6 K^–1 at 350–750 K and (16.6–31.1)×10^–6 K^–1 at 750–1050 K. Electronic Publication     

Determination of organic acids by capillary electrophoresis with simultaneous addition of Ca and Mg as complexing agents

Summary A capillary electrophoretic method, with divalent cations as complexing agents in the electrolyte, has been developed for separation and determination of the low molecular weight organic acids most commonly found in wine, viz. formic, fumaric, succinic, oxalic, malic, tartaric, acetic, lactic, and citric acids. The separation conditions optimized were electrolyte concentration, organic flow modifier concentration, type and concentration of complexing agents in the electrolyte, and injection time. The best resolution of some of the acids studied was achieved by use of an electrolyte containing tetraborate buffer (10mm) at pH 9.3, an organic flow modifier (tetradecyltrimethylammonium hydroxide), and Ca²⁺ (10 ppm) and Mg²⁺ (10 ppm) as complexing agents. Other conditions used in the method were hydrostatic injection (10 cm height for 30 s), detection at 185 nm, and temperature 20°C. For all the acids studied detector response was linear for the concentration ranges considered. The repeatability of each point on the calibration plot for standards (n=4) was generally better than 1% the method was applied to samples of must, wine, brandy, and vinegar from the Jerez region.