Determination of lincomycin and tylosin residues in honey by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A simple and rapid analytical method was developed for the determination of lincomycin and tylosin residues in honey as part of field studies examining the efficacy and target animal safety of these antibiotics to control American foulbrood disease in honey bees. Residues of the antibiotics were determined using liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS). Honey samples were diluted and injected directly into the LC/MS/MS system without additional cleanup by solid-phase extraction or liquid-liquid partitioning. A six-port valve system was utilized to selectively route eluant from the LC column into the mass spectrometer only during a relatively short portion of the chromatographic run corresponding to the elution of the analytes of interest. Minimal contamination of the MS source chamber was observed despite the analysis of large numbers of samples. Using internal standard quantitation, excellent accuracy and precision were obtained with no apparent matrix-to-matrix variation. Based on the analysis of fortified replicates, the mean percent deviation from the theoretical concentration and the percent relative standard deviation were both less than 10% for tylosin over an analytical range of 10-1000 microg/kg. Slightly higher mean percent deviations and relative standard deviations were observed for the analysis of lincomycin in fortified replicate samples. The method detection limits were determined to be 5 and 2 microg/kg for lincomycin and tylosin, respectively.     

EP morphisms

The concept of an EP matrix is extended to a morphism of a category C with involution. It is shown that an EP morphism has a group inverse iff it has a Moore-Penrose inverse, and in this case the inverses are identical. On the other hand, if a morphism has a Moore-Penrose inverse that is a group inverse, then C is a full subcategory of a category in which φ is EP. Also, if C is an additive category with involution 1 and with 1-biproduct factorization, then a morphism of φ of C is EP iff there is a 1-biproduct J ⊕ K and an invertible morphism θ : J → J such that φ is congruent to a morphism of the form

$\text{θ 0}\text{0 0}\text{: J⊕K → J⊕K.}$

In particular, a square matrix over a principal-ideal domain with involution is EP iff it is congruent to a matrix of the form dg(θ, 0) with θ invertible.     

Thermal analysis and X-ray studies of chiral ferroelectric liquid crystalline materials and their binary mixtures

Summary Thermal properties of a homologous series of ferroelectric liquid crystals S-(-)-[4-(2-n-alkoxy-propionyloxy)]biphenyl-4'-[n-alkoxy-(3,5-dimethyl)]benzoate have been investigated by polarizing optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The mesophases were identified and confirmed by X-ray too. Three binary mixtures were prepared from the individual homologues. In one of the mixtures (Mix1), the ferroelectric SmC* phase has broadened and became enantiotropic. This mesophase remained monotropic in the other two mixtures (Mix2, Mix3). The chiral nematic N* phase did not appear in Mix1, but remained monotropic for the other two mixtures. Two molecular parameters, the layer spacing and the average intermolecular distance have been calculated from the X-ray results for the homologues and their mixtures. An intercalated tail-to-tail packing of molecules was found both in the single compounds and their mixtures resulting in the layer spacing about half of the molecular length of the single compounds.     

Analytical Detectors Based on Microplasma Spectrometry

Miniaturizing all dimensions of apparatus, such as electronics and computers, is the current trend followed by scientists in various fields. The idea of Lab-on-a-Chip has significantly expanded and found its broad applications in analytical chemistry. Microplasmas can act as a sample excitation source and are the miniaturized versions of full-sized plasmas. These can be created in various forms, such as direct current, microwave induced, capacitively coupled and inductively coupled plasmas. Scaling down the size would reduce the amount of gases, liquids and consumables required, as well as the sample analysis time, which in turn would decrease the operating costs. Therefore, several research groups are involved in the development of microplasmas for utilisation in analytical instruments.     

Multiply charged ions in the mass spectra of aromatics

The prominence of multiply charged molecular and fragment ions upon electron-impact in the mass spectrometer is proposed as an experimental, empirical indication of aromatic character. The effects of electron withdrawing and donating substituents on the production of multiply charged ions are considered and appearance potentials are noted for several species.     

Poly[tris(diorganophosphinato)alanes]

Poly[tris(diorganophosphinato)alanes], [Al(OPRR′O)₃]_n, were synthesized in which the organic moieties (R,R′) contained from one to eighteen carbon atoms. Polymeric properties depended upon the organic moieties; polymers were fusible, tractable, and flexible when the organic moieties contained six or more carbon atoms. Soluble polymers were prepared by using mixtures of symmetrical and unsymmetrical phosphinates. One polymer, poly{bis[n-butyl(benzyl)phosphinato]di-n-octylphosphinatoalane}, exhibited a degree of polymerization greater than 1000 and an exceptionally high intrinsic viscosity of 37 dl/g. The properties of the different polymers are discussed, and feasible structures are proposed.