An Investigation of Inclusion Complexes of Cyclodextrins with Phenylurea Herbicides by Photochemically-Induced Fluorescence. Analytical Applications

The effect of -cyclodextrin (-CD) and hydroxypropyl--cyclodextrin (HP--CD) upon the photochemically-induced fluorescence (PIF) properties of four phenylurea herbicides, including linuron, diuron, isoproturon and neburon has been studied. Photochemical conversion of these nonfluorescent herbicides into strongly fluorescent photoproducts was shown to occur in -CD and HP--CD aqueous media. The influence of pH, UV irradiation time and photoproduct stability on the fluorescence intensity was also investigated. In addition, the stoichiometry and formation constants of the complexes formed between herbicides and -cyclodextrin (-CD) or 2-hydroxypropyl--cyclodextrin (HP--CD) were determined. The formation constant values, ranging from 184 ± 40 to 1498 ± 245 M^-1, were calculated by applying the iterative nonlinear regression (NLR) approach to the PIF data. Linear calibrations graphs were established in the interval 1–12 g/mL, for diuron, linuron and neburon. The IUPAC limits of detection ranged between 580 and 700 ng/mL, according to the compound. Application to the analysis of phenylurea herbicides in spiked river water was also described.     

XPS spectra of some transition metal and alkaline earth monochalcogenides

The first-row transition-metal monosulfides and alkaline-earth chalcogenides were studied by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is shown that the bonding in the alkaline earth compounds is relatively ionic with XPS evidence for significant charge separation. On the other hand, transition metal sulfides, with the exception of MnS, appear to be principally metallic with little or no charge separation. Values for the inner orbital binding energy shifts are reported for a large number of monochalcogenides.     

Polarized basis sets of Slater-type orbitals: H to Ne atoms

We present three Slater-type atomic orbital (STO) valence basis (VB) sets for the first and second row atoms, referred to as the VB1, VB2, and VB3 bases. The smallest VB1 basis has the following structure: [3, 1] for the H and He atoms, [5, 1] for Li and Be, and [5, 3, 1] for the B to Ne series. For the VB2 and VB3 bases, both the number of shells and the number of functions per shell are successively increased by one with respect to VB1. With the exception of the H and Li atoms, the exponents for the VB1 bases were obtained by minimizing the sum of the Hartree-Fock (HF) and frozen-core singles and doubles configuration interaction (CISD FC) energies of the respective atoms in their ground state. For H and Li, we minimized the sum of the HF and CISD FC energies of the corresponding diatoms (i.e., of H(2) or Li(2)) plus the ground-state energy of the atom. In the case of the VB2 basis sets, the sum that was minimized also included the energies of the positive and negative ions, and for the VB3 bases, the energies of a few lowest lying excited states of the atom. To account for the core correlations, the VBx (x = 1, 2, and 3) basis sets for the Li to Ne series were enlarged by one function per shell. The exponents of these extended (core-valence, CV) basis sets, referred to, respectively, as the CVBx (x = 1, 2, and 3) bases, were optimized by relying on the same criteria as in the case of the VBx (x = 1, 2, and 3) bases, except that the full CISD rather than CISD FC energies were employed. We show that these polarized STO basis sets provide good HF and CI energies for the ground and excited states of the atoms considered, as well as for the corresponding ions.     

Micellar liquid chromatography: suitable technique for screening analysis

The screening capability of micellar liquid chromatography (MLC) is discussed using the reported chromatographic data of several sets of compounds (amino acids, beta-blockers, diuretics, phenethylamines, phenols, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, steroids and sulfonamides) and new results (sulfonamides and steroids). The chromatographic data are treated with an interpretive optimisation resolution procedure to obtain the best separation conditions. Usually, the pH and the concentration of surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS, or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) for the optimal mobile phase were 2.5-3 and < 0.12 M, respectively. The nature and concentration of organic solvent depended on the polarity of the eluted compounds: a low volume fraction of propanol (approximately 1%, v/v) was useful to separate the amino acids, with log P(o/w) < -1 (where P(o/w) is the octanol-water partition coefficient). A greater concentration of this solvent (approximately 5-7%) was needed for compounds in the range -1 < log P(o/w) < 2, as with the studied diuretics and sulfonamides, and a high concentration of propanol (approximately 15%) or a low concentration of butanol (< 10%) had to be used for less polar compounds with 1 < log P(o/w) < 3, such as the beta-blockers. Pentanol (< 6%) was more suitable for the even less polar compounds with log P(o/w) > 3, such as the steroids. For basic drugs such as the phenethylamines (0 < log P(o/w) < 1.7), eluted with a micellar eluent of anionic SDS, propanol was too weak. A study is also shown for mixtures of sulfonamides (log P(o/w) = -1.2 to 1.7) and steroids (log P(o/w) = 3.0-8.1) eluted from conventional C18 columns with SDS mobile phases containing acetonitrile and 1-pentanol, respectively, which are compared with classical acetonitrile-water and methanol-water mixtures. The results complement a previous study on beta-blockers (log P(o/w) = -0.03 to 2.8) and reveal that MLC is a very competitive technique for the screening of compounds against conventional RPLC, due to its peculiar behaviour with regard to the selectivity and elution strength. The concentration of organic solvent needed to obtain sufficiently low retention times (even for highly hydrophobic steroids with log P(o/w) = 7-8) is also appreciably smaller for MLC, which reduces the environmental impact of the mobile phases.     

Extraction of macro- and microamounts of lanthanides by D2EHPA

The effect of macroconcentration (Ma) lanthanide extraction on the microcomponent (Mi) extraction by D2EHPA was investigated. The investigation corroborated that the macrocomponent suppresses the microcomponent extraction. The extractability of Mi decreases with increasing Ma concentration and with increasing proton lanthanide number in macroconcentrations. Semi-empirical relations were derived describing lanthanide extraction in lanthanide macro- and microconcentrations as a function of the extraction of lanthanide macroconcentrations. Under the conditions discussed, these relations can be used to estimate for any lanthanide the distribution ratios for the lanthanide applied as a macrocomponent and for Eu applied as a microcomponent.     

Kinetic determination of tellurium based on its inhibitory effect on the palladium(II)-catalysed reaction between pyronine G and hypophosphite ion

A kinetic method for the determination of Te based on its inhibitory effect on the PdII-catalysed reaction between pyronine G and H2PO2- is described. The influence of experimental variables on the rate of the process and the potential interfering effect of a large number of ions has been studied. Under the selected experimental conditions: 6 x 10(-5) M pyronine G; 0.6 M H2PO2-; pH 2.6, adjusted with Britton-Robinson buffer; 0.80 microgram ml-1 of PdII; and a temperature of 22 +/- 0.2 degrees C, Te was determined in the concentration range 0.08-0.85 microgram ml-1. The method was applied to the determination of Te in waters and lead concentrates.     

Applications of the dicarbollylcobaltate(III) anion in the water/nitrobenzene extraction system

The fundamental properties of the polyhedral sandwich dicarbollylcobaltate(III) anion {[pi-(3)-1,2-B(9)C(2)H(11)](2)Co(III)}(-) are given, together with results for extraction of alkali-metal, alkaline-earth metal and some other cations (e.g., H(+), Pb(2+), Pd(2+) and Ce(3+)) into nitrobenzene and corresponding analytical applications. Considerable attention is paid to charge-transfer through the water-nitrobenzene interface in the presence of this hydrophobic anion.     

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography of proteins on Separon hema. I. The effect of an initial salt concentration on the separation of proteins

The influence of an initial salt concentration, phi(0), on the gradient separation of proteins using hydrophobic interaction chromatography on Separon HEMA 1000 was investigated. The results obtained were compared with the retention times and peak widths calculated according to a mathematical model.     

Determination of triclosan in foodstuffs

A reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method coupled with an ultraviolet detector was developed to determine triclosan which had migrated into foodstuffs from packaging materials. The method includes extraction with hexane, followed by evaporation to dryness and residue re-dissolution in ACN 90%. Chromatographic separation was performed with a Kromasil 100 C18 column (15 cm x 0.4 cm ID, 5 microm particle size) at 30 degrees C and using ACN and water as mobile phases. Regarding recoveries, good results (higher than 83% and lower than 112%) were obtained for the three representative food matrixes selected (orange juice, chicken breast meat, and Gouda cheese).