Extraction and quantitation of furanic compounds dissolved in oils

There is often a need to calculate isotopic uranium activities from total uranium mass or gamma spectrometry measurement data. This calculation is based on a model of the relationship of the²³⁴U activity to that of²³⁵U since both are enriched together in the normal gaseous diffusion enrichment process. This paper presents equations for calculating these activities that have been developed from several sources of data. These equations have been used for several characterization studies and have produced very good results when compared to results from actual isotopic uranium analyses. However, because the variability in the model causes significant uncertainty in the calculated results, alpha-spectrometry is recommended for critical applications.     

Stochastic description of a reaction scheme with autocatalysis and saturation law

We apply the master equation and non-linear Fokker-Planck techniques to a model with autocatalysis and (Michaelis-Menten, Langmuir-Hinshelwood) saturation law and the minimal set of reactive steps for a well posed problem is given.     

Development and validation of a capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of phenothiazines in human urine in the low nanogram per milliliter concentration range using field-amplified sample injection

A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method with ultraviolet-visible detection has been established and validated for the determination of five phenothiazines: thiazinamium methylsulfate, promazine hydrochloride, chlorpromazine hydrochloride, thioridazine hydrochloride, and promethazine hydrochloride in human urine. Optimum separation was obtained on a 64.5 cm x 75 microm bubble cell capillary using a buffer containing 150 mM tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and 25% acetonitrile at pH 8.2, with temperature and voltage of 25 degrees C and 20 kV, respectively. Naphazoline hydrochloride was used as an internal standard. Field-amplified sample injection (FASI) has been applied to improve the sensitivity of the detection. Considering the influence of parameters affecting the on-line preconcentration (nature of preinjection plug, sample solvent composition, injection times, and injection voltage) and due to the significant interactions among them, in this paper we propose for the first time the application of a multivariate approach to carry out the study. The optimized conditions were as follows: preinjection plug of water for 7 s at 50 mbar, electrokinetic injection for 40 s at 6.2 kV, and 32 microm of H3PO4 in the sample solvent. Also, a solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure is developed to obtain low detection limits and an adequate selectivity for urine samples. The combination of SPE and FASI-CZE-UV allows adequate linearities and recoveries, low detection limits (from 2 to 5 ng/mL), and satisfactory precisions (3.0-7.2% for an intermediate RSD %).     

Development of an HPLC method with electrochemical detection of femtomoles of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine in the presence of uric acid

A selective method based on high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) was developed to enable simultaneous detection of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua) and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo), products of DNA oxidative damage, in the presence of uric acid (UA), a strong interferent in their electrochemical detection. The method developed consists of HPLC isocratic elution with amperometric detection on a glassy carbon electrode, enabling a detection limit for 8-oxoGua and 8-oxodGuo lower than 1 nM in standard mixtures. Detection of low concentrations up to 25 nM of 8-oxoGua and 8-oxodGuo in the presence of UA in a 10⁴-fold higher concentration was achieved after one-step solid phase extraction (SPE). The method was tested with urine samples and it was possible to detect and quantify the presence of 8-oxoGua, and to confirm that UA was eliminated after uricase degradation and SPE. The LOD found in urine samples was about 80 nM, a value higher than in standard mixtures, due to the increase of background current in the urine matrix. The results presented here contribute to the development of a methodological approach to simultaneous determination of 8-oxoGua and 8-oxodGuo in urine samples.     

Conversion of sugarcane bagasse to carboxylic acids using a mixed culture of mesophilic microorganisms

Using the MixAlco process, biomass can be converted into carboxylic acids, which can be chemically converted into mixed alcohol fuels. This study focused on the use of countercurrent fermentation to anaerobically convert sugarcane bagasse and chicken manure to mixed carboxylic acids using a mixed culture of mesophilic microorganisms from terrestrial and marine sources. Bagasse was pretreated with lime to increase digestibility. The continuum particle distribution model (CPDM) simulated continuous fermentors based on data collected from batch experiments. This model saves considerable time in determining optimum operating conditions. For an 80% bagasse/20% chicken manure fermentation with terrestrial inoculum at a volatile solids loading rate (VSLR) of 7.36 g/(L of liquid·d) and a liquid residence time (LRT) of 8.88 d, total carboxylic acid productivity, total acid selectivity, and yield were 2.49 g/(L of liquid·d), 0.581 g of total acid/g of VS digested, and 0.338 g of total acid/g of VS fed, respectively, at a concentration of 18.7 g of total acid/L. At the same VSLR and LRT, fermentation with marine inoculum gave higher total acid productivity, total acid selectivity, and yield than fermentation with terrestrial inoculum. For an 80% bagasse/20% chicken manure fermentation with marine inoculum at a VSLR of 3.83 g/(L of liquid·d) and an LRT of 12.1 d, total carboxylic acid productivity, total acid selectivity, and yield were 1.38 g/(L of liquid·d), 0.667 g of total acid/g of VS digested, and 0.359 g of total acid/g of VS fed, respectively, at a concentration of 16.2 g of total acid/L.     

Corrosion Protection by Self-Assembly

The inhibition effect and properties of adsorption layers formed by molecule series ,-diphosphono-alkane on iron surface are investigated. A significant difference is obtained in inhibition effect between compounds having alkyl chains with odd and even numbers of carbon atoms; better protection can be achieved by use of diphosphonates containing odd numbers of methylene groups. The best corrosion inhibition could be attained with 1,7-diphosphono-heptane (1,7-DPH). It is found that a certain threshold concentration of the diphosphonate (c > 4 × 10^–4 M) is necessary to ensure sufficient inhibition. The influence of solution concentration on inhibition effect can be interpreted with the layer formation properties and the surfactant nature of molecules. A significant effect of the diphosphonate is appeared on the kinetic of anodic iron dissolution process. Diphosphonates act as anodic inhibitors, the inhibitor layer formation results in a passivation of the metal surface. Well-ordered self-assembled layer with high corrosion protection effect is obtained in aqueous solution of ,-diphosphonic acids. The self-assembly process takes a longer time, few days are necessary to reach the optimal organization of adsorbed organic layer. It is found that aqueous conditions are preferred for the protective layer formation. It is supposed that with simple chemical surface modification, i.e. with immersion of iron into the solution of alkane-diphosphonates, a new surface pre-treatment could be developed.     

Detection of conformational and net charge differences in DNA-protein complexes by quantitative electrophoresis on polyacrylamide-agarose copolymer gels

The Galactosidase repressor (GalR) of Escherichia coli modulates the expression of the gal operon by binding to two DNA operators, OE and O1. The OE and O1 elements are 16 bp pallindromic DNA sequences, differing in four of the base pairs. OE and O1 DNA fragments, both free and complexed with repressor, were analyzed by "quantitative gel electrophoresis". By the criteria of that method, applied to the linear Ferguson plots of both DNA fragments and the linear ranges of those of the DNA-GalR complexes, it was shown that the apparent size of DNA increases upon repressor binding. Moreover, this size increase is greater for the complex with the O1 operator than for the complex with the OE operator in the case that GalR is located in the center of a 155 bp DNA fragment. This is not the case when GalR is located in a peripheral position. By contrast with their size differences, the centrally located GalR-O1 and GalR-OE complexes appear to possess indistinguishable net surface charge densities as judged from the intercepts with the mobility axis. The larger size of the complex with centrally located O1 fragment, as compared with that bearing the OE fragment, is interpreted as being due to bending of the DNA-protein complex, since an authentically bent fragment of a plasmid with bent upstream activator sequence also exhibits a larger slope of the Ferguson plot, and thus the larger size, than predicted on the basis of its DNA chain length (bp).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Temperature induced structural changes of Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes and their thermal decomposition

The paper discusses the structural changes of some Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes during the heating and their influence upon the decomposition stoichiometry. The influence of the interactions inside of coordination polyhedra, bonding and stereochemical properties of the counter ions or molecules are discussed in this connection as well. The expressive influence of the plasticity or rigidity of the Cu(II) and Ni(II) coordination polyhedra, respectively, is emphasized.

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Zusammenfassung Es werden wÄrmebedingte StrukturverÄnderungen einiger Cu(II) bzw. Ni(II)-Komplexe sowie deren Einflu\ auf die Stöchiometrie der Zersetzung beschrieben. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auch ebenso der Einflu\ von Wechselwirkungen innerhalb des Koordinationspolyeders sowie von Bindungs- und stereochemischen Eigenschaften der Gegenionen oder -moleküle beleuchtet. Es wird der ausdrucksvolle Einflu\ der PlastizitÄt und HÄrte von Cu(II)- und Ni(II)-Koordinationspolyedern hervorgehoben.