Peptides—XXXII: The use of phenyl esters in peptide synthesis

Phenyl esters of N-terminal amino-protected peptides are valuable intermediates in synthesis of polypeptides. The phenyl ester function is stable during the customary manipulations of chain extension, and it can be removed selectively by treatment with one equivalent of hydrogen peroxide at pH 10.5 in a variety of solvents such as 80% acetone, dimethylfonnamide, hexamethylphosphoramide or trifluoroethanol. The method has always been satisfactory providing that dimethylsulphide is used as a scavenger.     

One-pot synthesis of functionalized piperid-4-ones: a four-component condensation

The one-pot synthesis of highly substituted piperid-4-ones has been achieved. Diketene is added to a tosyl imine in the presence of TiCl(4) and MeOH, followed by 1 equiv of aldehyde to generate 2,6-disubstituted nonsymmetrical piperid-4-ones as a mixture of cis-/trans-diastereomers in good yields. This mixture of diastereomers can be converted to a single 2,6- cis-diastereomer by epimerization with K(2)CO(3).     

Analysis of the Electrochemical Oxidation of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Tower Electrodes in Sodium Hydroxide

Towers of aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were electrochemically oxidized in aqueous 1 M NaOH. An oxidation current that decayed with time was monitored using amperometry at a fixed potential. Cyclic voltammetry showed that the background current and electrode capacitance increased after oxidation without significantly affecting the faradaic current from the reduction of ferricyanide. Oxidation in NaOH caused morphological changes and increased hydrophilicity of the MWCNT tower electrodes. XPS spectra indicated increased oxygen on the surface after oxidation, while Raman spectra indicated that a large amount of amorphous carbon was present before and after oxidation.     

Determination of arsenic in gold by flow injection inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with matrix removal by reductive precipitation

Arsenic was determined in gold by flow injection hydride generation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry following a batch mode reductive precipitation removal of the interfering gold matrix. A solution of potassium iodide, L-ascorbic acid, and hydrochloric acid was used as the reluctant. The recovery of gold by precipitation and filtration was 99 ± 3%. The detection limit for arsenic in gold was 55 ng g⁻¹ in the solid. The concentration of arsenic that was determined in the Royal Canadian Mint gold sample FAU-10 was 29.7 μg g⁻¹ in the solid; this value was indistinguishable, with 95% confidence, from values determined at the Royal Canadian Mint by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The standard deviation for four replicate determinations of the arsenic in FAU-10 was 0.972 μg g⁻¹ in the solid.     

Analytical applications of absorption spectroelectrochemistry at grazing incidence

Analytical applications of spectroelectrochemistry are limited by the short path-length, in the absorbing medium, that can be produced with most light-beam/electrode configurations. This disadvantage is overcome for grazing incidence. A cell fitted with glassy-carbon electrodes and used in a conventional spectrophotometer is described and applied to model systems illustrating the use of (a) homogeneous redox reactions, (b) homogeneous redox reaction followed by chemical reaction and (c) electro-deposition followed by stripping into a reagent solution. This last technique is the spectroelectrochemical analogue of anodic-stripping voltammetry.     

Determination of trace elements in marine plankton by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

A method has been developed for the determination of 23 elements in marine plankton in which inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source mass spectrometry (MS) was used to quantify the elements in the solution after digestion in a mixture of hydrofluoric and nitric acids in sealed PTFE vessels in a microwave field. The procedure was validated by the analysis of a standard reference soil (SRM 2709 San Joaquin Soil) and a standard reference fresh water plankton (CRM 414). The method was applied to the analysis of several marine plankton samples grown under controlled conditions including several whose growth media had been enriched with selenium. Matrix induced signal suppressions and instrumental drift were corrected by internal standardization. The suitabilities of germanium, indium, rhodium, scandium and yttrium as internal standard elements were evaluated. Neither scandium nor yttrium could be used due to the presence of these elements in the samples, germanium was used for the determination of As, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Se, Si and Zn, indium was used for Al, Ba, Ca, Eu, Sr, and Tl, and rhodium was used for Cd, Cr, Hg, Mg, Pb, Sb, Sn, and V. For Al, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Si, Sr, V, and Zn internal standardization did not completely compensate for the suppressive effect of the heavier elements and the solutions were diluted. However, for As, Ba, Cd, Co, Eu, Hg, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn and Tl, it was possible to obtain accurate results despite the 35–¶40% suppression in the signals. Isobaric overlap was only a problem in the cases of ⁴²Ca and ⁷⁸Se; ⁴⁴Ca and ⁷⁷Se, respectively, were used. Memory effects were only observed with Hg for which a nitric acid-sodium chloride solution was the most effective wash-out solution. The marine plankton samples were able to tolerate a higher concentration of Hg as the selenium concentration increased.     

Flow injection calibration techniques

Summary The role of calibration in the overall analytical procedure is discussed and the potential role of flow injection techniques are assessed. The factors affecting the dispersion obtained in a flow injection system are described and examples given of how control of the various factors can be exploited to produce manifolds for calibration purposes. Most of these examples concern atomic spectrometry methods for which there is considerable interest at present in developing extended range calibrations and flow injection versions of the standard additions method. Several examples of the latter are given.

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Anwendung der Fließinjektions-Technik für Eichmethoden

     

Singular solutions, homogeneous norms, and quasiconformal mappings in Carnot groups

In any Carnot (nilpotent stratified Lie) group G of homogeneous dimension Q, Green's function u for the Q-Laplace equation exists and is unique. We prove that there exists a constant so that is a homogeneous norm in G. Then the extremal lengths of spherical ring domains (measured with respect to N) can be computed and used to give estimates for the extremal lengths of ring domains measured with respect to the Carnot-Carathéodory metric. Applications include regularity properties of quasiconformal mappings and a geometric characterization of bi-Lipschitz mappings. Received: 18 September 2000/ revised version: 19 November 2001 / Published online: 17 June 2002