Study on the stability of noradrenaline and on the determination of its acidity constants

Noradrenaline is a catecholamine which has been largely recognised to play a very important role in biological systems. In view of the neurotransmitter's alleged importance, this work aimed at showing the influence of time on its spectral behaviour using different analytical methods and determining its acidity constants through spectrophotometric titration and by the so-called point-by-point analysis, where the samples are freshly prepared for each pH value investigated at the instant required. Because the catecholamines are light-sensitive and likely to react with the oxygen in the surrounding air, both methods used preclude its incidence onto the samples being analysed under the presence of a nitrogen atmosphere maintained over the solutions. The constants obtained through point-by-point analysis were log beta1 = 30.71+/-0.16, log beta2 = 22.00+/-0.15 and log beta3 = 11.69+/-0.16.     

Substituted m-phenylene bridges as strong ferromagnetic couplers for Cu(II)-bridge-Cu(II) magnetic interactions: new perspectives

Based on a combined theoretical-experimental study, we propose that substituted m-phenylene ligands (m-N-Phi-N) can act as tuneable strong ferromagnetic couplers connecting Cu(II) ions; a new complex presenting that bridge with J close to +15 cm(-1) has been suggested and synthesized.     

Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose hydrolysate for xylitol production byCandida guilliermondii

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - In order to remove or reduce the concentrations of toxic substances present in the sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose hydrolysate for xyloseto-xylitol...     

Ascorbic acid as a potential masking agent in the tanning process. Olated chromium complexes involving ligating ascorbate and bridging sulfate groups

Two polynuclear complexes, a dimer and a tetramer, involving sulfate and hydroxo bridges and ligating ascorbate were isolated from aqueous solutions. Structural formulae are proposed on the basis of microanalytical and thermal analysis results, i.r., ¹³C-n.m.r., mass spectral data and magnetic measurements.     

Determination of propazine by differential pulse polarography in micellar and emulsified media

An electroanalytical study of the herbicide propazine's reduction process in micellar solutions and oil-in-water emulsions is reported. The anionic surfactant sodium pentanesulphonate was chosen as the most suitable. The differential pulse polarograms of micellar solutions had two reduction peaks below pH 2.0, whereas only one peak was obtained above pH 2.O. Ethyl acetate was chosen as the organic solvent to form propazine emulsions. Unlike in micellar solutions, the DPP polarograms of propazine emulsions showed only one peak even at pH < 2.0, suggesting that propazine hydrolysis was hindered in the emulsified medium. The limiting current is diffusion-controlled and the electrode process is irreversible. Propazine can be determined by differential pulse polarography over the 1.0 × 10^–1 – 1.0 × 10^–1moll^–1 and 1.0 × 10^–15 – 4.0 × 10^–1 moll^–1 concentration ranges and the limit of detection was 2.8 × 10^–1 moll^–1. Of the potential interferents simazine, methoprotryne and terbutryn (alls-triazines), thiram (a dithiocarbamate), dinoseb (nitrophenolic), and heptachlor (chlorinated cyclo-diene herbicide), only the first two were significant (10% error for equimolar concentrations). The method was applied to the determination of propazine in spiked drinking water. At a concentration level of 2.0 × 10^–1 moll^–1 a recovery of 94 ± 6% was obtained, after tenfold concentration on Sep-Pak.     

Spectrophotometric determination of samarium(III) with chrome azurol S in the presence of cetylpyridinium chloride

A sensitive, simple method for the determination of trace amounts of samarium by spectrophotometry is described based on the formation of the samarium-chrome azurol S (CAS) complex in micellar medium. The molar absorptivities of the complexes at pH 7.5 at 505 nm were 3.6x10(4) and 1.4x10(5) l mol(-1) cm(-1) for water media and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), respectively. Beer's law is obeyed from 0.05-2 mg l(-1) of samarium at 505 nm as Sm-CAS-CPC complex. Optimal conditions such as reagent amounts, and pH for the samarium determination were reported. The effects of foreign ions were also investigated. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of samarium contents in synthetic samples.     

Effect of ionic strength on the formal potential of the glass electrode in various saline media

We examined the variation with ionic strength (I, adjusted with KCl, KNO₃, KBr, NaCl or NaClO₄) of the formal potential (E_const) for glass electrodes exhibiting a Nernstian response (i.e. E_cell=E_const−s log [H⁺]). For this purpose, we investigated the different factors included in the formal potential, so we obtained reported values for the liquid junction potential as a function of ionic strength and determined the logarithm of the activity coefficient for the proton in various saline media, using Pitzer equations.     

Theoretical study of ribonucleotide reductase mechanism-based inhibition by 2'-azido-2'-deoxyribonucleoside 5'-diphosphates

2'-azido-2'-deoxyribonucleoside 5'-diphosphates are mechanism-based inhibitors of Ribonucleotide Reductase. Considerable effort has been made to elucidate their mechanism of inhibition, which is still controversial and not fully understood. Previous studies have detected the formation of a radical intermediate when the inhibitors interact with the enzyme, and several authors have proposed possible structures for this radical. We have conducted a theoretical study of the possible reactions involved, which allowed us to identify the structure of the new radical among the several proposals. A new reactional path is also proposed that is the most kinetically favored to yield this radical and ultimately inactivate the enzyme. The energetic involved in this mechanism, both for radical formation and radical decay, as well as the calculated Hyperfine Coupling Constants for the radical intermediate, are in agreement with the correspondent experimental values. This mechanistic alternative is fully coherent with remaining experimental data.     

Surface Characterization of Sepiolite by Inverse Gas Chromatography

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was applied to characterize the surface of sepiolite. The adsorption thermodynamic parameters (the standard enthalpy (ΔH ⁰), entropy (ΔS ⁰) and free energy of adsorption (ΔG ⁰)), the dispersive component of the surface energy (γ _S ^d ), and the acid/base character of sepiolite surface were estimated by using the retention time of different non-polar and polar probes at infinite dilution region. The specific free energy of adsorption (ΔG ^sp ), the specific enthalpy of adsorption (ΔH ^sp ), and the specific entropy of adsorption (ΔS ^sp ) of polar probes on sepiolite were determined. ΔH ^sp were correlated with the donor and modified acceptor numbers of the probes to quantify the acidic K _A and the basic K _D parameters of the sepiolite surface. The values obtained for the parameters K _A and K _D indicated an acidic character for sepiolite surface.     

Principal component analysis of the effects of wavefunction modification on the electrostatic potential of indole

The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) of the indole molecule was calculated in a three‐dimensional grid in which the molecule was centered at the origin. To evaluate the dependence of MEP on the type of calculation, semiempirical, ab initio, and density functional theory methods with different basis sets were employed. The data matrix generated by these calculations was analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). The appearance of outliers and the effect of wavefunction modifications such as the introduction of electron correlations and diffuse functions were highlighted by the use of PCA. The spatial localization of such effects around the molecule was possible from the loadings values associated with the graphical analysis of the grid points. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005