A highly sensitive and rapid assay for protein determination in human urine and penicillin using a Rayleigh light-scattering technique with benzeneazo-8-acetylamino-1-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid sodium salt.

A simple and sensitive method was conducted for the determination of trace amounts of proteins with benzeneazo-8-acetylamino-1-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid sodium salt (azophloxine, AP) using a Rayleigh light-scattering (RLS) technique. At pH 2.60 and in the presence of an emulsifier OP microemulsion, the RLS of AP can be greatly enhanced by proteins, owing to the interaction between AP and protein. The enhanced intensity is proportional to the concentration of proteins. Four proteins, including bovine serum albumin (BSA), human serum albumin (HSA), lysozyme (Lys) and gamma globulin (gamma-G) have been tested. For example, the linear range of BSA was 0 - 0.06 microg mL(-1) with detection limits of 2.38 ng mL(-1). The method was applied to the analysis of protein in human urine and penicillin samples with satisfactory results. The relative standard deviation was in all instances less than 4.0%, and the recovery was in the range of 97.5 - 104%.     

Polarographic determination of pilocarpine using the catalysed pre-wave of nickel(II)

On the basis of a detailed study of the pilocarpine-induced nickel(II) pre-wave using various polarographic techniques, an electrode process mechanism is proposed in which the formation of a catalytic complex between aquo-nickel(II) and veronalate-nickel(II) on the one hand and unprotonated pilocarpine adsorbed on the electrode surface on the other is followed by the reduction of nickel(II) in the complex and the release of the catalytic ligand. The pre-peak recorded by differential-pulse polarography in the system 1 × 10^?3 M Ni(II)-1 × 10^?2 M sodium veronal, nitric acid (pH 8.5) (with ionic strength maintained at 0.2 with sodium nitrate) can be used for quantitative determination of pilocarpine at concentrations in the range 2.5 × 10^?7-8 × 10^?6 M.     

Numerical Study of Pore Sizes Distribution in Gels

We introduce a new numerical technique for the calculation of the pore size distribution in two-dimensional disordered systems. Our method is based on a triangulation technique which allows a closer measurement of pores surface without any morphological hypothesis.In this work, we focus our calculations in simulated gels. Such materials are modeled in two different conditions: by means of the Diffusion-Limited and Reaction-Limited Cluster-cluster Aggregation algorithms, DLCA and RLCA, respectively. In both situations, when the particles concentration decreases, the average pores size increases. The more compact cluster in RLCA, compared with DLCA, is consistent with the pore size distribution we have calculated. The simulated mean pore size is quantitatively in agreement with experimental data from literature.     

Parallel and multiplexed bead-based assays and encoding strategies

Advances in high throughput screening (HTS), together with the rapid progress in combinatorial chemistry, genomic and proteomic sciences have dramatically stimulated the development of a variety tools to enable the drug discovery process to become more efficient. Major future challenges in HTS include obtaining high density and good quality data based on assays that are rapid, reliable, inexpensive, sensitive, simple and miniaturised. This paper reviews the development and role of bead-based assays for HTS including DNA and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assays, particularly from a multiplex perspective and evaluating the recent advances in bead-based arrays. The encoding strategies that are commonly used in bead-based assays are highlighted, while the importance of magnetic beads in genomic and proteomic purifications is discussed. In conclusion, bead-based assays offer a powerful promising approach for many aspects of drug discovery.     

Optical Properties of Model Compounds of Polyaniline

The UV and visible spectra of six model compounds were studied. These compounds can be considered as models of polyaniline in the reduced, cation radical, partially oxidized and oxidized forms. After treatment of a mixture of equal molar quantities of the reduced form (DPPD) and the oxidized form (QDIM) with acid, the following reaction was observed: DPPD(I)+QDIM(III)+2H⁺=2DPPD⁺(II) After similar treatment of the partially oxidized form (V) with acid, the radical cation salt formed. The UV and visible spectra of polyaniline in the reduced form, oxidized form and conductive form are similar to the spectra of DPPD, QDIM and DPPD⁺ or radical cation salt of V respectively. We propose that the polyaniline synthesized by chemical oxidation of aniline consists of oxidized and reduced repeat units. Upon protonation a redox reaction (or electron rearrangement) occurs and forms delocalized radical cations (polarons) in the polymer chain which are highly conductive.     

Gold(III) complexes with imidazole,benzoxazole, purine and pyrimidine derivatives

Summary The synthesis and characterization of Au^III complexes with several heterocyclic ligands are reported. The compounds have general formula [AuX₃(L)], where L =N-methylimidazole (N-MeIz),N-ethylimidazole (N-EtIz),N-propylimidazole (N-PrIz), benzoxazole (BO), 2-methylbenzoxazole (2-MeBO), 2,5-dimethylbenzoxazole (2,5-diMeBO), 2-amino-pyrimidine (2-APm), 4(6) -hydroxy-pyrimidine [4(6)-hydrPm] or hypoxanthine (Hypox) and X = Cl or Br. Elemental analysis, conductivity measurements and spectral studies were used for the characterization of the complexes. A square-planar geometry withN-bonded heterocyclic ligands is suggested.     

Selenium speciation by coupling vesicle mediated HPLC with off-line ETAAS and on-line focused microwave digestion HG-AAS detection

A novel High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method for the separation of selenium species with specific detection by off-line Electrothermal Atomization Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (ETAAS) or on-line focused microwave digestion (MW) Hydride Generation Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (HG-AAS) is described. Vesicular mobile phases of the cationic surfactant didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) have been evaluated for the liquid chromatographic separation of inorganic selenium (selenite and selenate) and different selenoaminoacids (selenocystine, selenomethionine and selenoethionine) on a C(18) reversed-phase column modified by DDAB molecules. The effects of different parameters (pH, buffer and vesicle concentrations) of the mobile phase on the retention times have been determined. The detection limit for selenium with the proposed off-line HPLC-ETAAS method has been found to be 5 microg/L of Se. The detection limit using HPLC-"on line" focused microwave digestion-HG-AAS has been found to be 1 microg/L of Se, with a precision (repeatability) better than +/- 5%. The latter proved to be an exceptional on-line real-time chromatographic detector for selenium speciation purposes.     

Iron(III)-catalyzed Prins-type cyclization using homopropargylic alcohol: a method for the synthesis of 2-alkyl-4-halo-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans

[reaction: see text] A new Prins-type cyclization between homopropargylic alcohol and aldehydes in the presence of FeX(3) to obtain 2-alkyl-4-halo-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans in good yield is described. Osmium-catalyzed cis dihydroxylation provided direct access to trans-2-alkyl-3-hydroxy-tetrahydro-pyran-4-ones. Anhydrous ferric halides are also shown to be excellent catalysts for the standard Prins cyclization using homoallylic alcohol. Isolation of an intermediate acetal provides substantiation of a proposed mechanism.     

Simultaneous determination of neodymium, erbium and holmium in rare earth mixtures with 2-phenyltrifluoroacetone and octylphenol poly(ethyleneglycol) ether by third-derivative spectrophotometry

The complexes of the rare earth metals with 2-phenyltrifluoroacetone in the presence of TX-100 are reported. The characteristic absorbances of neodymium, holmium and erbium complexes can be increased by factors of 8.5, 31 and 15 respectively, compared to those of the cholrides. The third-derivative spectra have been used to eliminate the interference of cerium, and the sensitivities are increased again by factors of 7.4, 5.5 and 6.5. A method for the direct determination of neodymium, erbium and holmium in rare earth mixtures is proposed.     

Synthesis of 4-aryl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-pyrimido[4,5-b][1,4]-diazepin-6-ones from 4,5-diamino-1H-pyrimidin-6-ones and 1-aryl-3-(dimethylamino)-1-propanones

The reaction of 1-aryl-3-(dimethylamino)-1-propanones 1 with one equivalent of 4,5-diamino-1H-pyrimidin-6-ones 2 , in acidic medium, leads to the formation of 4-aryl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-pyrimido[4,5-b]-[1,4]diazepin-6-ones 3 . The structure elucidation of the products is based on detail nmr analysis of experiments such as ¹³C, ¹H and DEPT including selective ¹³C{¹H} decoupling experiments.