Study of a glassy carbon electrode in amperometric detection using d.c., normal and differential pulse techniques

The results of a comparative study on d.c., normal pulse and differential pulse techniques applied to anodic amperometric detection at a glassy carbon electrode in a voltammetric flow-through cell are presented. The important aspects examined are response time, linearity, limit of detection and selectivity. It is shown that the d.c. mode is the most favourable as long as no adsorption of oxidation products takes place. If strong adsorption occurs, normal pulse detection is recommended, although the limit of detection is somewhat larger.     

Determination of total sulphur in coal by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry

A precise x-ray fluorescence method for the determination of sulphur in coat. The sample is mixed with calcium oxide and active carbon and is gradually heated to 900°C. After coding, lithium tetraborate and lead oxide are added and a prepared. The Pb M_α line is used as an internal standard for the KK_α line. The results for coal have a relative standard deviation of approximately 1% and exhibit.     

Electrospray tandem mass spectrometric analysis of zeaxanthin and its oxidation products

Carotenoids have been implicated in protection of the eye from light-mediated photo-toxicity caused by free radicals. Under conditions of normal oxidative stress the carotenoids serve as protective antioxidants; however, when the oxidative stress exceeds the antioxidant capacity, carotenoids can be oxidized into numerous cleavage products. The determination and identification of oxidized carotenoids in biological samples remains a major challenge due to the small sample size and low stability of these compounds. We investigated the reaction of various zeaxanthin cleavage products with O-ethyl hydroxylamine to evaluate their levels in a biological sample. For this, a sensitive and specific electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) was developed, avoiding the classical lower sensitive and specific HPLC-UV and fluorescence absorption methods. Protonated molecules [M + H](+) of carotenoids upon collision-induced dissociation produced a number of structurally characteristic product ions. A series of complicated clusters of product ions differing in 14 (CH(2))and 26 (C(2)H(2))Da was characteristic of the polyene chain of intact carotenoids. All carotenoid ethyl oximes of zeaxanthin cleavage products were characterized by the losses of 60 and 61 Da in their MS/MS spectra. Through the application of the LC/MS/MS method, we identified two oxime derivatives of 3-hydroxy-beta-ionone and 3-hydroxy-14'-apocarotenal with protonated molecules at m/z 252 and m/z 370 respectively, in a human eye sample.     

On the loss of cadmium, antimony and silver during dry ashing of biological material

Summary The loss of cadmium, antimony and silver during dry ashing of marine weeds, mussels and shrimps was studied with the aid of radioactive tracers. Except for antimony all biological material was labelled by uptake of the radioactive tracers by the organisms while still alive. At an ashing temperature of 500° C and below no significant loss by volatilization of these elements occurs. The results obtained at higher temperatures with cadmium show that the behaviour of this element may depend on the composition of the organic material. Retention on the wall of quartz crucibles did not cause serious losses.

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Über den Verlust an Cadmium, Antimon und Silber bei der Trockenveraschung von biologischem Material

Zusammenfassung Mit Hilfe radioaktiver Tracer wurden die Verluste an Cadmium, Antimon und Silber bei der Trockenveraschung von Seetang, Muscheln und Krabben untersucht. Mit Ausnahme von Antimon wurden alle Materialien mit den Tracern durch Aufnahme im lebenden Zustand markiert. Bei Veraschungstemperaturen von 500° C und darunter konnten keine signifikanten Verluste durch Verflüchtigung der Elemente festgestellt werden. Das Verhalten von Cadmium bei höheren Temperaturen kann von der Zusammensetzung des organischen Materials abhängen. Verluste durch Haften an der Wand des Quarztiegels waren unbedeutend.