Development and application of a simple routine method for the determination of selenium in serum by octopole reaction system ICPMS

The aim of the study was to develop an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) method for robust and simple routine determination of selenium in serum. Polyatomic interferences on ⁷⁶Se, ⁷⁷Se, and ⁷⁸Se were removed by applying an octopole reaction system ICPMS with the reaction cell pressurized with H₂ gas. We developed a novel simple optimization routine for the H₂ gas flow based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculation of the selenium signal measured in a single selenium standard. The optimum H₂ flow was 2.9 mL min^–1. The selenium content in serum was determined after a 50-fold dilution with 0.16 M HNO₃ and quantified by using addition calibration and gallium as an internal standard. The method detection limit was 0.10 g L^–1 for ⁷⁶Se and ⁷⁸Se and 0.13 g L^–1 for ⁷⁷Se. Human serum samples from a case-control study investigating if selenium was associated with risk of colorectal adenoma were analyzed. The average selenium concentration for the control group (n=768) was 137.1 g L^–1 and the range was 73.4–305.5 g L^–1. The within-batch repeatability (a batch is ten samples) estimated from 182 replicate analyses was 6.3% coefficient of variation (CV), whereas the between-batch repeatability was 7.4% CV estimated from 361 replicates between batches. The method accuracy was evaluated by analysis of a human serum certified reference material (Seronorm Serum level II, Sero A/S, Norway). There was a fairly good agreement between the measured average of 145±3 g L^–1 (n=36) and the certified value of 136±9 g L^–1. In addition the method was successfully applied for analysis of zinc serum concentrations without further optimization. For the Seronorm certified reference material a value of 911±75 g L^–1 (n=31) for zinc was obtained, which corresponds well to the certified zinc value of 920±60 g L^–1.     

Determination of various deformation processes in impact-modified PMMA at strain rates up to 105%/min

The deformation processes in impact-modified PMMA, which deforms homogeneously, were determined by means of the stress/strain experiment (, ) with simultaneous lateral strain measurement (_lat) in a wide range of strain rates () up to 10⁵%/min (impact stress). The elastic, plastic cavitation and plastic shear processes were determined as a function of strain. Therefore we calculated the elastic strain ( _el), the elastic volume expansion ( _{vol el}), the cavitation strain ( _cav), which is identical with the plastic volume expansion ( _{vol pl}), the shear strain ( _sh) and the energy densities (W_el, W_cav, W_sh) related to these three processes.For strains of 3 % onward it was found that plastic shear processes and plastic cavitation processes are responsible for a partial loss of elastically stored energy. Both plastic processes turn out to be mostly anelastic deformations, their amount depending strongly on the strain rate. The contributions of the processes to the total deformation of the unmodified PMMA in its strain range are similar to those of the impact-modified PMMA, and the high impact strength is caused by a shift of the catastrophic rupture to very high strains.     

Excess Molar Volumes and Liquid–Liquid Equilibria of the Ionic Liquid 1-Methyl-3Octyl-Imidazolium Tetrafluoroborate Mixed with Butan-1-ol and Pentan-1-ol

Experimental densities were measured for the system 1-methyl-3-octyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate [OMIM][BF₄] + butan-1-ol, + pentan-1-ol at 298.15 K and ambient pressure using a vibrating tube densimeter, taking into account the influence of the viscosity correction. Excess molar volumes V^E have been determined. V^E is quite small and negative in the alcohol-rich range of the mixture composition and positive in the alcohol-poor range. LLE data of [OMIM][BF₄] + pentan-1-ol have been measured using a laser light scattering cell for detecting cloud points at different compositions in the temperature range of 282–292 K. A miscibility gap with an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) of 292 K has been found.     

Kristallstruktur und Konformation eines linearen Pentapyrrols

The crystal structure of the pentapyrrin1 was determined by X-ray diffraction methodes at two temperatures (298K and 97K). It is the first structure determination of a linear polypyrrole with more than four pyrrole rings. In the crystal, the molecule is located on a crystallographic two-fold axis, which passes through the central pyrrole ring. It assumes a helical overall-conformation, which is stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The acidic proton at the nitrogen atom of the central pyrrolic ring is disordered, being observed with half occupancy at two symmetry-equivalent positions off the crystallographic diad. Attempts to remove the disorder by cooling to 97K were unsuccessful, since no indication for a phase transition was detected.

     

Analysis of post-translational modification and characterization of the domain structure of dynamin A from Dictyostelium discoideum

The post-translational modifications of the 96 kDa protein dynamin A from Dictyostelium discoideum were analyzed using Q-TOF mass spectrometry. The accurate molecular mass of the intact protein revealed a covalent modification causing an additional mass of 42 Da. The modification could be identified as N-terminal acetylation by tandem mass spectrometry. Extracted ion chromatograms for the a(1) and b(1) ion of the tryptic T1 peptide were used to detect the acetylated peptide within 54 nanoelectrospray ionization tandem mass spectra. Owing to the accurate molecular mass of the intact protein, additional covalent modifications could be excluded. In addition to the covalent modification, the domain structure of dynamin A was determined by applying a combination of limited proteolysis, sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, automated tandem mass spectrometry and protein database searching.     

Chiral capillary electrophoresis: facts and fiction on the reproducibility of resolution with randomly substituted cyclodextrins

Comparative enantioseparation of the enantiomers of 1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diyl hydrogen phosphate was performed with cyclodextrin (CD)-modified capillary electrophoresis (CE). Two single isomers, beta-CD, heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-beta-CD (TM-beta-CD), and heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-CD (DM-beta-CD) of 98% purity as well as heptakis(2,3-di-O-acetyl)-beta-CD were used and compared in terms of resolution power to randomly methylated and corresponding acetylated beta-CDs, which were synthesized in our laboratory. The methylated ones were characterized by means of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-(MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. By testing defined mixtures of single isomers and comparing their resolution power to randomly substituted CDs of similar degree of substitution we could show, that a simple characterization by the average molecular degree of substitution (DS) is not sufficient. In order to get reproducible results, a clearly defined substitution pattern is necessary, which is not given using randomly substituted CDs. Taken together, a validation of a chiral separation with "undefined" CD derivatives is almost impossible.     

Diaminocarbene- and Fischer-carbene complexes of palladium and nickel by oxidative insertion: preparation, structure, and catalytic activity

Oxidative insertion of [Pd(PPh3)4] or [Ni(cod)2]/PPh3 into the C-Cl bond of various 2-chloroimidazolinium- and other -amidinium salts affords metal-diaminocarbene complexes in good to excellent yields. This procedure is complementary to existing methodology in which the central metal does not change its oxidation state, and therefore allows to incorporate carbene fragments that are difficult to access otherwise. The preparation of a variety of achiral as well as enantiomerically pure, chiral metal-NHC complexes (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) and metal complexes with acyclic diaminocarbene ligands illustrates this aspect. Furthermore it is shown that oxidative insertion also paves a way to prototype Fischer carbenes of Pd(II). Since the required starting materials are readily available from urea- or thiourea derivatives, this novel approach allows for substantial structural variations of the ligand backbone. The catalytic performance of the resulting library of nickel- and palladium-carbene complexes has been evaluated by applications to prototype Suzuki-, Heck-, and Kumada-Corriu cross-coupling reactions as well as Buchwald-Hartwig aminations. It was found that even Fischer carbenes show appreciable catalytic activity. Moreover, representative examples of all types of neutral and cationic metal-carbene complexes formed in this study have been characterized by X-ray crystallography.     

An Efficient Strategy to Orthogonally Protected (R)- and (S)-alpha-Methyl(alkyl)serine-Containing Peptides via a Novel Azlactone/Oxazoline Interconversion Reaction

A novel strategy for the synthesis of (R)- and (S)-alpha-methyl(alkyl)serine-containing peptides is presented. Using (S)-phenylalanine cyclohexylamide 6 as chiral auxiliary, the optically pure azlactones (R)- and (S)-2 were synthesized via a novel azlactone/oxazoline interconversion reaction (Figures 3 and 6). These azlactones constitute fully protected and activated synthetic equivalents of (R)- and (S)-alpha-methylserine and can be directly incorporated into peptides without further protective group manipulations. Like other alpha,alpha-dialkylated glycines, optically pure alpha-alkylserines can be used to stabilize beta-turn and alpha-helical conformations in short peptides.     

Preparation,structure and catalytic properties of a binuclear Pd(0) complex with bridging silylene ligands

In contrast to the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) 1, the homologous N-heterocyclic silylene (NHS) 4 acts as a bridging ligand to Pd(0), giving rise to the dinuclear complex 5 which is catalytically active in Suzuki reactions.