Magnetic N-doped carbon nanotubes: A versatile and efficient material for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental water samples

This paper describes a new, efficient and versatile method for the sampling and preconcentration of PAH in environmental water matrices using special hybrid magnetic carbon nanotubes. These N-doped amphiphilic CNT can be easily dispersed in any aqueous matrix due to the N containing hydrophilic part and at the same time show high efficiency for the adsorption of different PAH contaminants due to the very hydrophobic surface. After adsorption, the CNT can be easily removed from the medium by a simple magnetic separation. GC/MS analyses showed that the CNT method is more efficient than the use of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with much lower solvent consumption, technical simplicity and time, showing good linearity (range 0.18–80.00 μg L⁻¹) and determination coefficient (R² > 0.9810). The limit of detection ranged from 0.05 to 0.42 μg L⁻¹ with limit of quantification from 0.18 to 1.40 μg L⁻¹. Recovery (n = 9) ranged from 80.50 ± 10 to 105.40 ± 12%. Intraday precision (RSD, n = 9) ranged from 1.91 to 9.01%, whereas inter day precision (RSD, n = 9) ranged from 7.02 to 17.94%. The method was applied to the analyses of PAH in four lake water samples collected in Belo Horizonte City, Brazil.     

Thermodynamic characterization of poly(2,2,3,3,3‐pentafluoropropyl methacrylate)

The thermodynamic characterization of a fluorinated methacrylic homopolymer was conducted by means of inverse gas chromatography (IGC), at infinite dilution. The homopolymer under study, poly(2,2,3,3,3‐pentafluoropropyl methacrylate) (PPFPMA), was synthesized via a free radical polymerization reaction and was characterized by the employment of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) techniques. The specific retention volume of 15 solvents, used as probes, was used for the assessment of the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter, the weight fraction activity coefficient, the molar heat, energy and entropy of sorption, the partial heat of mixing of the probes, as well as the solubility parameter of the polymer. The results demonstrate that PPFPMA is insoluble in most organic solvents even at increased temperatures, with the exception of solvents like 2‐Butanone. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1826–1833, 2010     

Comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography: Ion chromatography × reversed-phase liquid chromatography for separation of low-molar-mass organic acids

In the work presented here a novel approach to comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography is evaluated. Ion chromatography is chosen for the first-dimension separation and reversed-phase liquid chromatography is chosen for the second-dimension separation mode. The coupling of these modes is made possible by neutralising the first-dimension effluent, containing KOH, prior to transfer to the second-dimension reversed-phase column. A test mixture of 24 low-molar-mass organic acids is used for optimisation of the system. Three food and beverage samples were analysed in order to evaluate the developed methodology, the resulting two-dimensional separation is near-orthogonal, the set-up is simple and all instrumental components are available commercially. The method proved to be robust and suitable for the analysis of wine, orange juice and yogurt.     

Investigation of protein adsorption and electrochemical behavior at a gold electrode

The adsorption of two model proteins, human serum albumin and immunoglobulin G, on a gold electrode surface was investigated using 125I radiolabeling and cyclic voltammetry (CV). 125I radiolabeling was used to determine the extent of protein adsorption, while CV was used to ascertain the effect of the adsorbed protein layer on the electron transfer between the gold electrode and an electroactive moiety in solution, namely, K3Fe(CN)6. The adsorbed amounts of HSA and IgG agreed well with previous results and showed approximately monolayer coverage. The amount of adsorbed protein increased when a positive potential (700 mV) was applied to the electrode, while the application of a negative potential (-800 mV) resulted in a decrease. When the solution pH was varied to alter the charge on the protein, the adsorption trends appeared to follow electrostatic interaction, namely, greater adsorption when the electrode and the protein possessed opposite charge and vice versa. The adsorbed protein layer had the effect of blocking the electron transfer. It was possible to correlate the degree of electron blocking with the amount of adsorbed protein to show that the greater the adsorption, the larger the blocking effect. Of the two proteins used, HSA proved to be more efficient at blocking the electron transfer.     

A novel and easy two-step,microwave-assisted method for the synthesis of halophenyl pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinoxalines via their pyrrolo precursors. Evaluation of their bioactivity

A novel, two-step, facile route for the synthesis of pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinoxalines via 2,3-dioxopyrroles, enhanced by microwave irradiation, is presented. The newly synthesized 2,3-dioxo-5-halophenyl pyrrolo precursors 4a–c as well as the non-aromatized ethyl 2-(4-halophenyl)-1-methyl-2,4-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline-3-carboxylates 6a–c and the aromatized ethyl 2-(4-halophenyl)-1-methyl-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline-3-carboxylates 7a–c were evaluated for their antioxidant, cytostatic, and antiviral properties. Most of them proved to be potent hydroxyl radical scavengers and inhibited in vitro lipid peroxidation. The compounds showed moderate antiproliferative activity, while 6a inhibited vaccinia virus at an EC₅₀ value of 2 μM, and 4c and 6c inhibited Sindbis virus at EC₅₀ values of 4 μM.     

Wide angle electron-positron bremsstrahlung at adone a new limit for the existence of a heavy electron

The cross section for the reaction e⁺+e^?→e⁺+e^?+γ has been measured at the Adone storage ring. The results in agreement with the QED predictions, establish a new limit for the mass and the coupling constant $\text{e}{}^1\text{e}\text{γ}$ of a heavy electron e¹.     

Convergence analysis of a DDFV scheme for a system describing miscible fluid flows in porous media

In this article, we prove the convergence of a discrete duality finite volume scheme for a system of partial differential equations describing miscible displacement in porous media. This system is made of two coupled equations: an anisotropic diffusion equation on the pressure and a convection‐diffusion‐dispersion equation on the concentration. We first establish some a priori estimates satisfied by the sequences of approximate solutions. Then, it yields the compactness of these sequences. Passing to the limit in the numerical scheme, we finally obtain that the limit of the sequence of approximate solutions is a weak solution to the problem under study. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 31: 723–760, 2015     

Surface characterization of poly(2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl methacrylate) by inverse gas chromatography and contact angle measurements

A fluorinated methacrylic homopolymer, poly(2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl methacrylate) (PPFPMA) was synthesized by a free radical polymerization reaction. The dispersive component of the surface energy () of PPFPMA was determined by contact angle measurements and inverse gas chromatography (IGC). An extensive surface characterization was conducted by means of IGC. Surface characterization demonstrated that PPFPMA has low value, even at 35 °C and is a Lewis amphoteric polymer with predominantly basic character, as confirmed by the Lewis acidity and basicity constants K_A and K_B, respectively. The values of obtained by IGC are slightly higher than those obtained by the contact angle method. This trend can be attributed to the fact that IGC evaluates, primarily, high energy sites of a surface.     

Metabolomic fingerprinting of plant extracts

The standardization and quality control of plant extracts is an important topic, in particular, when such extracts are used for medicinal purposes. Consequently, the development of fast and effective analytical methods for metabolomic fingerprinting of plant extracts is of high interest. In this investigation, electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and (1)H NMR techniques were employed with further statistical analyses of the acquired data. The results showed that negative ion mode ESI-MS is particularly effective for characterization of plant extracts. Different samples of the same species appear well-clustered and separated from the other species. To verify the effectiveness of the method, two other batches of extracts from a species, in which the principal components were already identified (Cynara scolymus), were analyzed, and the components that were verified by the principal component analysis (PCA) were found to be within the region identified as characteristic of Cynara Scolymus extracts. The data from extracts of the other species were well separated from those pertaining to the species previously characterized. Only the case of a species that was strictly correlated from a botanical point of view, with extracts that were previously analyzed, showed overlapping.     

Scaling of a collapsed polymer globule in two dimensions

Extensive Monte Carlo data analysis gives clear evidence that collapsed linear polymers in two dimensions fall in the universality class of athermal, dense self-avoiding walks, as conjectured by Duplantier [Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 4274 (1993)].10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.4274 However, the boundary of the globule has self-affine roughness and does not determine the anticipated nonzero topological boundary contribution to entropic exponents. Scaling corrections are due to subleading contributions to the partition function corresponding to polymer configurations with one end located on the globule-solvent interface.