Low-Cost Potentiometric Sensor for Chloride Measurement in Continuous Industrial Process Control

Recently, the new updates in legislation about drinking water control and human health have increased the demand for novel electrochemical low-cost sensors, such as potentiometric ones. Nowadays, the determination of chloride ion in aqueous solutions has attracted great attention in several fields, from industrial processes to drinking water control. Indeed, chloride plays a crucial role in corrosion, also influencing the final taste of beverages, especially coffee. The main goal is to obtain devices suitable for continuous and real-time analysis. For these reasons, we investigated the possibility to develop an easy, low-cost potentiometric chloride sensor, able to perform analysis in aqueous mediums for long immersion time and reducing the need of periodic calibration. We realized a chloride ion selective electrode made of Ag/AgCl sintered pellet and we tested its response in model solutions compatible with drinking water. The sensor was able to produce a stable, reproducible, and accurate quantification of chloride in 900 s, without the need for a preliminary calibration test. This opens the route to potential applications of this sensor in continuous, in situ, and real time measurement of chloride ions in industrial processes, with a reduced need for periodic maintenance.     

Metabolic Profile of Agropyron repens (L.) P. Beauv. Rhizome Herbal Tea by HPLC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS Analysis

Agropyron repens (L.) P. Beauv. (couch grass) is a world-wide infesting rhizomatous plant with pharmacological applications. Chemical research is focused on its allelopathic and anti-inflammatory components, which are mainly present in the essential oil. Conversely, the aqueous extracts have been sparingly investigated, although the herbal tea is by far the most used formulation. To fill the gap, the metabolic profile of Agropyron repens rhizome herbal tea was investigated by electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem–mass spectrometry (MS/MS); the phenolic profile was investigated by HPLC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS. ESI-MS fingerprinting was provided, evidencing diagnostic ions for saccharides, organic acids and amino acids. The HPLC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS analysis evidenced at least 20 characteristic phenolic compounds, the most representative being caffeoyl and feruloyl quinic esters, followed by coumaric, caffeic and ferulic acids, and hesperidin among flavonoids. In addition, the essential amino acid tryptophan was identified for the first time. The results suggest new perspectives of applications for Agropyron repens rhizome.     

Influence of Aliphatic Chain Length on Structural,Thermal and Electrochemical Properties of n-alkylene Benzyl Alcohols: A Study of the Odd–Even Effect

The century-old, well-known odd–even effect phenomenon is still a very attractive and intriguing topic in supramolecular and nano-scale organic chemistry. As a part of our continuous efforts in the study of supramolecular chemistry, we have prepared three novel aromatic alcohols (1,2-bis[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenoxy]butylene (Do4OH), 1,2-bis[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenoxy]pentylene (Do5OH) and 1,2-bis[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenoxy]hexylene (Do6OH)) and determined their crystal and molecular structures by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In all compounds, two benzyl alcohol groups are linked by an aliphatic chain of different lengths (CH₂)_n; n = 4, 5 and 6. The major differences in the molecular structures were found in the overall planarity of the molecules and the conformation of the aliphatic chain. Molecules with an even number of CH₂ groups tend to be planar with an all-trans conformation of the aliphatic chain, while the odd-numbered molecule is non-planar, with partial gauche conformation. A direct consequence of these structural differences is visible in the melting points—odd-numbered compounds of a particular series display systematically lower melting points. Crystal and molecular structures were additionally studied by the theoretical calculations and the melting points were correlated with packing density and the number of CH₂ groups. The results have shown that the generally accepted rule, higher density = higher stability = higher melting point, could not be applied to these compounds. It was found that the denser packaging causes an increase in the percentage of repulsive H‧‧‧H interactions, thereby reducing the stability of the crystal, and consequently, the melting points. Another interesting consequence of different molecular structures is their electrochemical and antioxidative properties—a non-planar structure displays the highest oxidation peak of hydroxyl groups and moderate antioxidant activity.     

Antioxidant activity,lipophilicity and extractability of polyphenols from pig skin – development of analytical methods for skin permeation studies

Permeation of polyphenols through the stratum corneum barrier is a precondition for the protective action of polyphenols against oxidative skin damage. Prior to in vitro skin permeation experiments, we developed a method for the quantification of polyphenols in pig skin, including organic solvent extraction and HPLC analysis. Catechine hydrate, epigallocatechin gallate, trans‐resveratrol, quercetin, rutin and protocatechuic acid were chosen for this study as representatives of phenolics with different lipophilicity and molecular weight. The antioxidative activities of polyphenols as well as their octanol–water partition coefficients at different pH values were determined. Extraction of polyphenols from pig skin was optimized by variation of solvent composition, homogenization intensity and time, as well as partial exclusion of oxygen during extraction. The highest recovery rates could be reached by extraction with the methanol–water mixture (90:10, v/v), containing 0.2 g/L l ‐ascorbic acid, after the cryo‐milling for 4 min. Recoveries of 72% for total phenolics, 96% for quercetin and protocatechuic acid, 90% for rutin and 74% for trans‐resveratrol, were achieved. These extraction parameters will be selected for the polyphenol extraction from pig skin for further in vitro drug permeation studies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of the Discontinuous-Galerkin- and Spectral-Difference-Method on triangulations using PKD polynomials

This paper gives a first numerical comparison of the Discontinuous-Galerkin-(DG) and Spectral-Difference-Method (SD) under almost equivalent conditions for smooth test cases.     

Increasing Complexity: A Practical Synthetic Approach to Three-Dimensional,Cyclic Sulfoximines and First Insights into Their in Vitro Properties

A short synthetic approach with broad scope to access five- to seven-membered cyclic sulfoximines in only two to three steps from readily available thiophenols is reported. Thus, simple building blocks were converted to complex molecular structures by a sequence of S-alkylation and one-pot sulfoximine formation, followed by intramolecular cyclization. Seventeen structurally diverse cyclic sulfoximines were prepared in high overall yields. In vitro evaluation of these underrepresented, three-dimensional, cyclic sulfoximines with respect to properties relevant to medicinal chemistry did not reveal any intrinsic flaw for application in drug discovery.