Influence of metal loading and humic acid functional groups on the complexation behavior of trivalent lanthanides analyzed by CE-ICP-MS

The complexation behavior of Aldrich humic acid (AHA) and a modified humic acid (AHA-PB) with blocked phenolic hydroxyl groups for trivalent lanthanides (Ln) is compared, and their influence on the mobility of Ln(III) in an aquifer is analyzed. As speciation technique, capillary electrophoresis (CE) was hyphenated with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). For metal loading experiments 25 mg L⁻¹ of AHA and different concentrations (c_Ln(Eu+Gd) = 100–6000 μg L⁻¹) of Eu(III) and Gd(III) in 10 mM NaClO₄ at pH 5 were applied. By CE-ICP-MS, three Ln-fractions, assumed to be uncomplexed, weakly and strongly AHA-complexed metal can be detected. For the used Ln/AHA-ratios conservative complex stability constants log β_LnAHA decrease from 6.33 (100 μg L⁻¹ Ln³⁺) to 4.31 (6000 μg L⁻¹ Ln³⁺) with growing Ln-content. In order to verify the postulated weaker and stronger humic acid binding sites for trivalent Eu and Gd, a modified AHA with blocked functional groups was used. For these experiments 500 μg L⁻¹ Eu and 25 mg L⁻¹ AHA and AHA-PB in 10 mM NaClO₄ at pH-values ranging from 3 to 10 have been applied. With AHA-PB, where 84% of the phenolic OH-groups and 40% of the COOH-groups were blocked, Eu complexation was significantly lower, especially at the strong binding sites. The log β-values decrease from 6.11 (pH 10) to 5.61 at pH 3 (AHA) and for AHA-PB from 6.01 (pH 7) to 3.94 at pH 3. As a potential consequence, particularly humic acids with a high amount of strong binding sites (e.g. phenolic OH- and COOH-groups) can be responsible for a higher metal mobility in the aquifer due to the formation of dissolved negatively charged metal-humate species.     

The impact of blood on liver metabolite profiling – a combined metabolomic and proteomic approach

Metabolomics has entered the well‐established omic sciences as it is an indispensable information resource to achieve a global picture of biological systems. The aim of the present study was to estimate the influence of blood removal from mice liver as part of sample preparation for metabolomic and proteomic studies. For this purpose, perfused mice liver tissue (i.e. with blood removed) and unperfused mice liver tissue (i.e. containing blood) were compared by two‐dimensional gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC‐TOFMS) for the metabolomic part, and by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) for the proteomic part. Our data showed significant differences between the unperfused and perfused liver tissue samples. Furthermore, we also observed an overlap of blood and tissue metabolite profiles in our data, suggesting that the perfusion of liver tissue prior to analysis is beneficial for an accurate metabolic profile of this organ. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Single particle tracking in systems showing anomalous diffusion: the role of weak ergodicity breaking

Anomalous diffusion has been widely observed by single particle tracking microscopy in complex systems such as biological cells. The resulting time series are usually evaluated in terms of time averages. Often anomalous diffusion is connected with non-ergodic behaviour. In such cases the time averages remain random variables and hence irreproducible. Here we present a detailed analysis of the time averaged mean squared displacement for systems governed by anomalous diffusion, considering both unconfined and restricted (corralled) motion. We discuss the behaviour of the time averaged mean squared displacement for two prominent stochastic processes, namely, continuous time random walks and fractional Brownian motion. We also study the distribution of the time averaged mean squared displacement around its ensemble mean, and show that this distribution preserves typical process characteristics even for short time series. Recently, velocity correlation functions were suggested to distinguish between these processes. We here present analytical expressions for the velocity correlation functions. The knowledge of the results presented here is expected to be relevant for the correct interpretation of single particle trajectory data in complex systems.     

Templated dynamic cryptophane formation in water

Several dynamic hexaimine cryptophanes, that are built up from two triformylcyclotribenzylene cavitands and three diamino linkers and spontaneously assemble in water in the presence of a suitable templating guest, are reported. X-ray structure, kinetics and thermodynamics of assembly and molecular recognition properties are discussed.     

Franck-Condon matrix elements for bound-continuum vibrational transitions calculated by numerical integration and basis set expansion techniques

Franck-Condon factor distributions for bound-to-continuum transitions of one-dimensional vibrational states are calculated by a) using numerical integration, b) employing a finite number of square integrable harmonic oscillator functions. The methods are generally applicable to any kind of bound or repulsive potential involved. Results are presented and compared to model potential calculations previously reported by Krüger [1].     

Evidence for N2N3N45 super coster kronig processes in metallic Nb,Mo, Ru and Rh

The 4p photoelectron spectra of metallic Nb, Mo, Ru and Rh have been recorded. By use of a deconvolution procedure it is shown that the 4p_{$\text{1}\text{2}$} spin-orbit component has a linewidth which significantly exceeds that of the 4p_{$\text{3}\text{2}$} component. This suggests that N₂N₃N₄₅ super Coster Kronig processes give a considerable contribution to the decay rata of the 4p_{$\text{1}\text{2}$} hole state.     

Etude conformationnelle,par rmn du 13C,d'ethers d'enol renfermant un noyau aromatique

Two series of aromatic enol ethers deriving from 1-methoxy-1-phenyl ethylene and from 1-methoxy-1-phenyl 2-methyl propene have been studied by ¹³C NMR. Comparisons between the chemical shifts of these enol ethers and those of styrene on the one hand, and aliphatic enol ethers on the other, led us to conclude that the non-coplanarity of the phenyl ring with the double bond and/or the non-coplanarity of the OCH₃ group with the same double bond play a prominent role in determining the chemical shift values of the ethylenic carbons. Para-substitution on the phenyl ring induces chemical shift variation not only in the aromatic moiety itself but also in the ethylene part of the molecule. The significance of the observed Hammett correlation is discussed.