Estimation of the Density of Hypoelliptic Diffusion Processes with Application to an Extended Itô's Formula

We prove a uniform bound for the density, p _t (x), of the solution at time t(0, 1] of a 1-dimensional stochastic differential equation, under hypoellipticity conditions. A similar bound is obtained for an expression involving the distributional derivative (with respect to x) of p _t (x). These results are applied to extend the Itô formula to the composition of a function (satisfying slight regularity conditions) with a hypoelliptic diffusion process in the spirit of the work of Föllmer et al. ⁽⁵⁾     

Spectrophotometric determination of phenylephrine hydrochloride in pharmaceuticals by flow injection analysis exploiting the reaction with potassium ferricyanide and 4-aminoantipyrine

This paper presents a method for the determination of phenylephrine hydrochloride in pharmaceuticals by spectrophotometric flow injection analysis exploiting the reaction with potassium ferricyanide and 4-aminoantipyrine, which leads to the formation of a condensation product with strong absorptivity at 500 nm. The linear dynamic range was between 0.95 and 9 mg/L, with a limit of detection of 0.2 mg/L and a sampling throughput of 120 samples per hour. The method was applied to eyewashes and nasal decongestant liquid medicines.     

Determination of traces of iron in indium phosphide by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry combined with solvent extraction

An electrothermal atomic absorption (ETAAS) method for the determination of traces of iron (0.1-1.0 microgram g-1) in Fe-doped indium phosphide (InP) has been developed. In order to overcome the indium matrix-effect and to achieve a useful detection limit, a preliminary solvent-extraction of Fe(III) with acetylacetone (HAA) is necessary. After sample dissolution with hydrochloric acid (1 + 1) the digest is evaporated to dryness, Fe(II) is oxidized to Fe(III) with nitric acid, the residue is dissolved in 0.01 mol L-1 HCl and the iron is extracted at pH 2.0 with 0.5 mol L-1 HAA in toluene. The organic phase is injected into the graphite furnace and the iron is directly evaluated by external organic standard calibration. The limit of detection (3SB) resulting from further in-situ preconcentration is 0.03 microgram g-1. When the method was applied to the analysis of real samples containing 0.2-0.7 microgram g-1 Fe, the RSD was in the range 8-21%. Results were compared with those independently obtained on the decomposed sample solution with inductively coupled atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The detection limit of the ICP-AES method, that needs matrix-matched standards, is 0.20 microgram g-1.     

The use of nonendcapped C18 columns in the cleanup of clenbuterol and a new adrenergic agonist from bovine liver by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis

More specific official methodology is needed to survey the illegal use of clenbuterol in animal production plus the synthesis of new compounds that currently elude routine analytical methods. The identification of a new adrenergic agonist, N1-(2-(4-amino-3,5-dichlorophenyl)-2-hydroxyethyl)-N1-isopropyl-propanamide (known as compound A) in animal feed has prompted studies to verify if the existing cleanup procedures developed for clenbuterol are really effective. This study considers the ion-exchange mechanism on cyanopropyl (CN), sulfonic cation exchange (SCX), mixed phase (MPH) (C8 + SCX), and nonendcapped C18 (C18NE) solid-phase extraction (SPE) columns. Results indicate that compound A (by contrast with clenbuterol) is not efficiently retained on the CN, SCX, and MPH SPE columns (recovery <10%). This finding thus leads to the development of a gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry procedure based on C18NE SPE that is able to purify both agonists from bovine livers spiked at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 ppb with a mean recovery of 93% for clenbuterol and 92% for compound A.     

Capillary zone electrophoresis of humic acids from the American continent

A multicomponent background electrolyte (BGE) was developed and its composition optimized using artificial neural networks (ANN). The optimal BGE composition was found to be 90 mM boric acid, 115 mM Tris, and 0.75 mM EDTA (pH 8.4). A separation voltage of 20 kV, 20 degrees C and detection at 210 nm were used. The method was applied to characterize several humic acids originating from various countries of the American continent: soil (Argentina), peat (Brazil), leonardite (Guatemala and Mexico) and coal (United States). Comparison with humic acids of International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) standard samples was also done. Well reproducible electropherograms showing a relatively high number of peaks were obtained. Characterization of the samples by elemental analysis and UV spectrophotometry was also done. In spite of the very different origins, the similarities between humic acids are high and by matrix assisted desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF)-mass spectrometry it was shown that most of the m/z patterns are the same in all humic acids. This means that humic acids of different origin have the same structural units or that they contain the same components.     

Are metal alkoxides linear owing to electrostatic repulsion?

Density functional theory calculations on [LnCp2APh] (Ln = La, Lu; Cp = eta 5-C5H5; A = O, S; Ph = C6H5) suggest that the linearity of the Ln-O-C vectors arises largely as a result of electrostatic repulsion between the alpha carbon and the trivalent metal centre.     

Evidence of surface reconstructions and incorporation of oxygen into the oxide framework on the hydroxylated La2O3(001) surface

By performing first-principles Molecular Dynamics simulations at 300 K, we show that water dissociates on the A-La2O3(001) surface giving rise to one exclusive type of hydroxyl-group, which is associated with a surface reconstruction, incorporating an additional oxygen ion into the oxide subsurface, yielding a surface structure that is oxygen rich.