Improving selectivity in gas chromatography by using chemically modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes as stationary phase

Amino-terminated alkyl MWCNTs (MWCNTs-R-NH₂), synthesized by chemical modification of the nanotube skeleton by nucleophilic substitution with 2,2′-(ethylenedioxy)diethylamine, were successfully used as stationary phases for gas chromatographic separation of esters and chloroaromatics. The presence of alkyl chains with polar embedded groups made the functionalized MWCNTs (f-MWCNTs) a mixed-mode GC separation material able to interact in different ways with the analytes. Compared with non-functionalized MWCNTs (nf-MWCNTs), MWCNTs-R-NH₂ had higher selectivity, enhanced resolution, and optimum retention behaviour, and they were proved to perform better than the commercial stationary phase Porapak QS (PQS), claimed to be suitable for similar applications. The so-prepared stationary phase was used for analysis of a synthetic mixture containing different classes of analytes, viz. esters, ketones, alcohols, alkanes, and aromatic hydrocarbons, and finally used for investigation of similar real matrices. In particular, the constituents of a commercial paint thinner were determined by direct injection of the sample, with good reproducibility (inter-day precision RSDs from 5 to 19%). Two unknown samples of commercial white spirit were also analysed for determination of the aromatic hydrocarbon content, and their composition was profiled on the basis of the different compounds identified.     

A 2DE approach for high-throughput antigen separation applicable to mAb production

A constantly increasing number of mABs are required for the validation of a large proportion of proteomic and protein-protein interaction data. The development of new robotic platforms has greatly enhanced the throughput of monoclonal antibody production; however, the availability of highly purified proteins to use as antigens currently represents the major bottleneck of the process. In this article, we describe a new 2DE approach to purify hundreds of proteins from cellular extracts in a very cost-effective and time-efficient way. The accuracy of the new purification method is shown to be comparable to high-resolution analytical 2DE. The effectiveness and the throughput of the method to purify proteins suitable for the development of mAbs are then assessed. Using this methodology, we were able to separate 447 proteins starting from 50 mg of proteins extracted from HT29 cells. Fractions containing more than 30 μg of protein constantly induced immunization in mice. Using a high-throughput process for monoclonal antibody production, we obtained an average of 3.5 mAbs for each protein. According to pilot experiments, we can predict that starting from an unfractionated cellular extract it is possible to obtain approximately 200 proteins usable for monoclonal antibody development. Our results indicate that the number of antigens available for monoclonal antibody production can be further increased by running parallel separations. The proposed methodology will then facilitate the high-throughput monoclonal antibody process providing a vast array of high quality antigens at very low cost.     

High-speed gas chromatography in doping control: fast-GC and fast-GC/MS determination of beta-adrenoceptor ligands and diuretics

In official doping controls, about 300 drugs and metabolites have to be screened for each sample. Moreover, the number of determinations to be routinely processed increases continuously as the number of both samples and potential illicit drugs keeps growing. As a consequence, increasingly specific, sensitive, and, above all, fast methods for doping controls are needed. The present study presents an efficient fast-GC/MS approach to the routine screening of two different classes of doping agents, namely beta-adrenoceptor ligands and diuretics (belonging to the S3, P2, and S5 groups of the WADA list of prohibited substances). Narrow bore columns (100 mm id) of different lengths and coated with apolar stationary phases were successfully used to separate the derivatized analytes; preliminary experiments (results not shown) showed better performances with OV-1701 for the separation of beta-adrenoceptor ligands. On the same stationary phase some diuretics required too high a temperature or a long isothermal time for elution, in which case a DB1-MS column was preferred. Two methods of sample preparation, derivatization, and analysis were used on aqueous standard mixtures of, respectively, (i) eight beta-adrenoceptor ligands, including five beta-antagonists (acebutolol, alprenolol, atenolol, metoprolol, pindolol) and three beta2-agonists (salbutamol, clenbuterol, terbutaline) and (ii) seventeen diuretic drugs (acetazolamide, althiazide, bendroflumethiazide, bumethanide, canrenone, chlorothiazide, chlortalidone, clopamide, ethacrinic acid, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, hydroflumethiazide, indapamide, indomethacine, spironolactone, triamterene, trichloromethiazide) and one masking agent (probenecid). The mixture of beta-adrenoceptor ligand derivatives was efficiently separated in about 5.6 min, while the one of 18 diuretics and masking agents required less than 5 min for analysis. Limits of detection were from 1 microg/L for pindolol, ethacrinic acid, furosemide, indomethacine, and trichloromethiazide, to 20 microg/L for terbutaline, salbutamol, and metoprolol, and 50 microg/L for clopamide; the instrumental repeatability proved to be excellent (area RSD% <2 for almost all analytes). For this work a quadrupole MS with inert ion source has been used, demonstrating that the quadrupole technology is perfectly adequate to provide precise integration of 400 ms-wide GC peaks.     

Synthesis and characterization of silver(I) coordination networks bearing flexible thioethers: anion versus ligand dominated structures

This report describes the synthesis and X-ray characterization of a series of L(n)AgX complexes wherein Ln = PhS(CH2)nSPh (n = 2, 4, 6, 10) and X = CF3SO3-, CF3COO-, CF3CF2COO-, CF3CF2CF2COO-, NO3-, and ClO4-. This study was undertaken in order to rationalize the structure of the coordination networks formed as a function of the anion coordinating strength and the ligand structure. The following complexes were examined: with L(2), CF3SO3- (1), CF3COO- (2), ClO4- (3); L4, CF3SO3- (4), CF3COO- (5), CF3CF2COO- (6), CF3CF2CF2COO- (7); L6, CF3COO-.H2O (8), CF3CF2COO- (9), CF3CF2CF2COO- (10); and L10, NO3- (11). The anions selected are classified in three groups of increasing coordinating strength: perchlorates, fluorosulfonates, and perfluorocarboxylates. Except in two cases, all complexes form 2D-coordination networks. The 2D-network in 1 (L2, CF3SO3-) is made up of Ag(I) and L2, while the anion is only a terminal co-ligand that completes the trigonal coordination around Ag(I). In 4 (L4, CF3SO3-), a 1D-coordination polymer, [Ag-L4-]infinity, is observed where the anions are coordinated to Ag(I) in a trigonal fashion. The perfluorocarboxylates form tetrameric units in a zigzag shape, but only with the L4 ligand. In these (6 and 7), the silver-silver distances are very short, especially those of the central bond, indicating the presence of weak Ag-Ag interactions. Dimers, with short silver-silver distances, are observed with ligands L2 and L6 and perfluorocarboxylates. In 8 (L6, CF3COO-.H2O), a 3D channel-like structure is built through water molecules that connect adjacent layers. An unusual stoichiometry is noted in 3 (L2, ClO4-, acetone); Ag:L is 4:2.5. In 11 (L10 and NO3-), the nitrate acts as a bidentate ligand and an [Ag-NO3-]infinity chain is formed. Adjacent chains are linked by the L10 ligands into a 2D-coordination network.     

Optimization of a comprehensive two-dimensional normal-phase and reversed-phase liquid chromatography system

The present investigation is based on the evaluation of the performance of a comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LCxLC) system during method optimization. The LCxLC set-up, operated in normal phase (NP) mode (adsorption) in the first dimension (1D) and reversed-phase (RP) mode in the second dimension (2D), is equipped with a 1D microbore silica column and a 2D monolithic C(18) column with a 10-port two position valve as the interface. A photodiode array detector is used after the 2D separation. A possible cause of peak distorsion because of the immiscibility of the mobile phases employed in the two dimensions is resolved. The optimization of the analytical run time and flow rate for both dimensions and the initial gradient in the 2D is carried out with various standard compounds. The potential and versatility of this LCxLC approach is demonstrated through the separation of 11 standard components, most of them allergens. The latter, which are characterized by a scattered distribution on the 2D space plane, underwent separation on both a hydrophobicity and polarity basis.     

Stereoselective synthesis of chiral 3-aryl-1-alkynes from bromoallenes and heterocuprates

The synthesis of chiral 3-aryl-1-alkynes 3 via cross-coupling of 3-alkyl- and 3,3-dialkyl-1-bromo-1,2-dienes 1 and arylbromocuprates (RCuBr)MgBr.LiBr 2 was examined. With phenylcopper reagents and its para-substituted derivatives, as well as with 2-naphthyl cuprates, the reaction gave compounds 3 with high regioselectivity and good yields on the chemically pure product. On the contrary, when ortho-substituted phenyl reagents and 1-naphthyl cuprates were used, the regioselectivity of the process was very dependent upon the steric requirements of the alkyl substituents on the bromoallenic substrate. When the steric bulk was increased, remarkable quantities of isomeric arylallenes 4 were also observed in the reaction mixtures. The high 1,3-anti stereoselectivity of the coupling process allowed us to obtain enantiomerically enriched 3-aryl-1-alkynes from optically active allenic substrates, thus indicating a simple pathway toward the synthesis of quaternary stereogenic centers characterized by an aryl group. A possible cross-coupling mechanism was also suggested to explain the regio- and stereochemical data. For the preparation of omega-functionalized 3-phenyl-1-alkynes, the reaction of 1-bromo-3-phenylpropadiene with Knochel reagents RCu(CN)ZnCl.2LiCl was also studied; this reaction led to the acetylenic compounds in high yields mainly when the R group (also omega-functionalized) on the copper reagent was primary.     

Chemical characterisation of oxidative degradation products of Δ-THC

The chemical analysis of a sample of Δ⁹-THC, which had been stored in an ethanol/propylene glycol solution for 5 years, resulted in the isolation of several hydroxylated Δ⁹-THC derivatives, the main of which were trans-cannabitriol monoethyl ether (4) and trans-propanediol ethers 7 and 8. cis-Cannabitriol monoethyl ether (5) and the oxidised derivatives 3 and 6 were detected in lesser amounts. The structure elucidation of the unprecedented cannabinoids 3, 5, 7 and 8 was achieved mainly by NMR techniques. Full NMR assignment of compounds 4 and 6 were also made. The detection of cannabitriol (6) and the corresponding solvent-adduct analogues (compounds 4-8) was in agreement with the decomposition mechanisms previously proposed for Δ⁹-THC. The isolation of the endoperoxide 3 represents indirect evidence of the existence of unstable precursors that were suspected to be intermediates in the non-enzymatic oxidation pathway of Δ⁹-THC. Both isomers of cannabitriol monoethyl ether exhibited weak affinity at either CB₁ (K_i=2.25, 6.30 μM) or CB₂ cannabinoid receptors (K_i=1.97, 3.13 μM), the trans isomer always being more potent than the cis isomer.     

The role of peptides and proteins in melanoidin formation

High‐molecular‐weight (HMW) coloured compounds called melanoidins are widely distributed, particularly in foods. It has been proposed that they originate through the Maillard reaction, a non‐enzymatic browning reaction, due to the interaction between protein or peptide amino groups and carbohydrates. The melanoidin structure is not definitively known, and they have been generally defined as HMW nitrogen‐containing brown polymers. In order to gain information on the nature of melanoidins, a simple in vitro model was chosen to investigate the products of the reactions between sugars and peptide/proteins. This approach would elucidate whether melanoidin formation is due to the binding of different sugar units to a peptide/protein or vice versa. With this aim, the reactivity of two different peptides, EPK177 and physalaemin, and a low‐molecular‐weight (LMW) protein, lysozyme, was tested towards different saccharides (glucose, maltotriose (MT), maltopentaose and dextran 1000) in aqueous solutions at different temperatures. The incubation mixtures were analysed at different reaction times by MALDI/MS. Furthermore, in order to verify the possible role of sugar pyrolysis products in melanoidin formation, the products arising from the thermal treatment at 200 °C of MT were incubated with lysozyme, and the reaction products were analysed by the same MS approach. The obtained results allowed the establishment of some general views: melanoidins cannot simply originate by reactions of sugar moieties with proteins. In fact, the reaction easily occurs, but it does not lead to any coloured product, as melanoidins have been described to be; melanoidins cannot originate from the thermal degradation products of glycated proteins. In fact, the thermal treatment of glycated lysozyme leads to a severe degradation of the protein with the formation of LMW species, far from the view of melanoidins as HMW compounds; experimental evidence has been gained on the melanoidin formation through reaction of intact protein with the pyrolysis products of MT. This hypothesis has been supported either from MALDI measurements or from spectroscopic data that show an absorption band in the range 300–600 nm, typical of melanoidins. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural, spectroscopic, electrochemical and computational studies of C,C′-diaryl-ortho-carboranes, 1-(4-XC6H4)-2-Ph-1,2-C2B10H10 (X = H, F, OMe, NMe2, NH2, OH and O−)

The influence of aryl ring substituents X (F, OMe, NMe₂, NH₂, OH and O⁻) on the physical and electronic structure of the ortho-carborane cage in a series of C,C′-diaryl-ortho-carboranes, 1-(4-XC₆H₄)-2-Ph-1,2-C₂B₁₀H₁₀ has been investigated by crystallographic, spectroscopic [nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), UV–vis], electrochemical and computational methods. The cage C1–C2 bond lengths in this carborane series show small variations with the electron-donating strength of the substituent X, but there is no evidence of a fully evolved quinoid form within the aryl substituents in the ground state. In the ¹¹B and ¹³C NMR spectra, the ‘antipodal’ shift at B12, and the C1 shift correlates with the Hammett σ _p value of the substituent X. The UV–visible absorption spectra of the cluster compounds show marked differences when compared with the spectra of the analogous substituted benzenes. These spectroscopic differences are attributed to variation in contributions from the cage orbitals to the unoccupied/virtual orbitals involved in the transitions responsible for the observed absorption bands. Electrochemical studies (cyclic and square-wave voltammetry) carried out on the diarylcarborane series reveal that one-electron reduction takes place at the cage in every case with the voltage required for reduction of the cage influenced by the electron-donating strength of the substituent X, affording a series of carborane radicals with formal [2n + 3] electron counts. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.