A Rapid Determination of Taurine in Human Plasma by LC

Taurine is an amino acid which is not incorporated into proteins but found in the cytosol of many mammalian cells, in high concentrations (2–30 mM). Increase in plasma taurine concentration has already been reported after surgical trauma, X-radiation, muscle necrosis, carbon tetrachloride-induced liver damage, and paracetamol overdose. Plasma taurine concentration was measured using LC with fluorescence detection following derivatization by o-phtalaldehyde plus 3-mercapto-propionic acid and α-aminobutyric acid as internal standard. Under these conditions the retention time of taurine was 10 min. This method was sensitive enough, to quantify 150 pg mL⁻¹ and detect 50 pg mL⁻¹ of taurine ranging normally between 65 and 179 mmol L⁻¹ (8–22 μg mL⁻¹). The validated method allowed simple determination of human plasma taurine in pharmacokinetic and biomarker studies.

     

Possibility to deduce the emission time sequence of neutrons and protons from the neutron-proton correlation function

Experimental information has been derived from the neutron-proton correlation function in order to deduce the time sequence of neutrons and protons emitted at 45 degrees in the E/A = 45 MeV 58Ni + 27Al reaction.     

Deformation effects in the 28Si+12C and 28Si+28Si reactions

The possible occurrence of highly deformed configurations is investigated in the ⁴⁰Ca and ⁵⁶Ni di-nuclear systems as formed in the ²⁸Si + ¹²C, ²⁸Si reactions by using the properties of emitted light charged particles. Inclusive as well as exclusive data of the heavy fragments and their associated light charged particles have been collected by using the ICARE charged particle multidetector array. The data are analysed by Monte Carlo CASCADE statistical-model calculations using a consistent set of parameters with spin-dependent level densities. Significant deformation effects at high spin are observed as well as an unexpected large ⁸Be cluster emission of a binary nature.     

A generalised perturbation-based equation of state for thermodynamic modelling of fluids over a wide range of density

A new generalized perturbed thermodynamic nonlinear isotherm regularity (GPTNLIR) equation of state (EoS) has been proposed for the fluids over the entire density range from gas to liquid. The GPTNLIR has been derived on the basis of an effective nearest neighbor pair interaction of an extended average effective pair potential (AEPP) in the framework of the thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT). The selected AEPP is an extended Lennard-Jones (12, 6, 3) type which considers the repulsive, dispersion, dipole-dipole and longer-range interactions between pair molecules, respectively. Based on the EoS, a non-linear relationship exists between (Z– Z_CS)v² and ρ for each isotherm of fluid, where Zis the compression factor, v=1/ρis the molar volume, Z_CS is Carnahan–Starling (CS) expression for the compression factor of the reference fluid with the temperature-dependent effective hard-core diameter (σ_eff). The validity of EoS against the experimental p–v–Tdata were tested for a variety of fluids, including polar, non-polar, hydrogen bonded and quantum fluids. This EoS provides the estimation of σ_eff at T>T_c, T=T_c and T<T_c, in which T_c is critical temperature, for each real fluid using its experimental p–v–T data and the extension of TPT theory as well.     

Synthesis and structural study of new substituted chiral sulfamoyl oxazolidin-2-ones

The synthesis of new series of oxazolidinones having sulfonamide moieties is described. These compounds are synthesized in good yield starting prochiral 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol and chlorosulfonyl isocyanate. This strategy involves the formation of carboxylsulfamide by carbamoylation–sulfamoylation reaction followed by intermolecular cyclization. In order to determine the enantioselectivity during the cyclization step, X-ray studies of products are performed.     

Liquid chromatographic determination of meloxicam in serum after solid phase extraction

A liquid chromatographic method for the determination of meloxicam in serum has been developed. The technique includes a solid phase extraction of the serum samples on [poly (divinylbenzeneco-N-vinylpyrrolidone)] as a solid phase extraction sorbent. After conditioning, the cartridge was loaded with 1 mL of acidified serum containing an internal standard. Elution was carried out using 1 mL of water-acetonitrile (φ _r = 1: 1) mixture. After evaporation of the eluate to dryness and reconstitution of the residue with 0.1 mL of methanol, the samples were analyzed on a Symmetry C18 column. Mobile phase consisted of 1 % aqueous acetic acid/THF/acetonitrile (φ _r = 60: 30: 10) + 0.1 mL of 1-octane sulfonic acid. Detection was carried out using a photodiode array detector. Full validation of the proposed method is provided. Linearity of the method was proven over the range of 0.01–10 φg mL⁻¹ of meloxicam. Meloxicam assay was accurate and reliable with average intra- and inter-day precisions lower than 5.0 % and the intra- and inter-day accuracy higher than 97 %. Limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) found were 0.003 μg mL⁻¹ and 0.01 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The proposed method was successfully utilized to quantify meloxicam in serum.     

A Rapid Determination of Taurine in Human Plasma by LC

Taurine is an amino acid which is not incorporated into proteins but found in the cytosol of many mammalian cells, in high concentrations (2–30 mM). Increase in plasma taurine concentration has already been reported after surgical trauma, X-radiation, muscle necrosis, carbon tetrachloride-induced liver damage, and paracetamol overdose. Plasma taurine concentration was measured using LC with fluorescence detection following derivatization by o-phtalaldehyde plus 3-mercapto-propionic acid and α-aminobutyric acid as internal standard. Under these conditions the retention time of taurine was 10 min. This method was sensitive enough, to quantify 150 pg mL^?1 and detect 50 pg mL^?1 of taurine ranging normally between 65 and 179 mmol L^?1 (8–22 μg mL^?1). The validated method allowed simple determination of human plasma taurine in pharmacokinetic and biomarker studies.     

Investigating parameters on the preparation of mesoporous activated carbons by the combination of chemical and physical activations using the Taguchi method

Mesoporous activated carbons were prepared from coconut shell by the combination of chemical and physical activation methods. Zinc chloride and CO₂ were used as chemical and physical agents, respectively. Optimum parameters were obtained from investigating the effect of various factors at different levels on the methane storage of wet activated carbons using the Taguchi experimental design method. Soaking time, carbonization temperature, and carbonization time were found as effective parameters in the methane storage. Finally, after achieving optimum levels for each factors based on the enhancement of methane storage, a confirmation experiment was conducted. Methane uptakes of the activated carbons were measured at temperature of 2?^°C up to the pressure of 80 bar and it turned out that the maximum amount of methane storage (241?V/V) had a good agreement with the predicted result from the Taguchi method.     

Characterization of a delaminated clay and pillared clays by adsorption of probe molecules

Characterization of the textural and structural properties of a sodium form of a delaminated calcic montmorillonite, and of aluminium pillared materials prepared with and without amine pre-adsorption, was made using the adsorption of different probe molecules (nitrogen, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone and 1,1,1-trichloroethane). Due to the delaminated character of the prepared solids, the characterization by X-ray diffraction of the pillared materials was not possible. In this context, the adsorption of probe molecules revealed to be informative since, although the prepared materials were mainly mesoporous solids in consequence of their delaminated nature, when the amine pre-adsorption was used before the pillaring, microporosity was also formed.     

Synthesis of chiral iminoalkyl functionalised N-heterocyclic carbenes and their use in asymmetric catalysis

A library of new chiral iminoalkyl imidazolium salts has been synthesised from amino acids using a modular design approach. Deprotonation with silver oxide yields silver carbene transfer reagents, which can be used as ligand sources in asymmetric catalysis. Preliminary testing has shown that the ligands induce enantioselectivity in the palladium-catalysed allylic alkylation of 1,3-diphenylprop-3-enyl acetate with dimethyl malonate.