Design and Function of Pre‐organised Outer‐Sphere Amidopyridyl Extractants for Zinc(II) and Cobalt(II) Chlorometallates: The Role of C?H Hydrogen Bonds

Four new sterically hindered pyridines, L¹–L⁴‐containing amido substituents at the 2‐position act as efficient solvent extractants for [CoCl₄]^2? or [ZnCl₄]^2? from acidic chloride solutions through protonation of the pyridino N‐centre to form the neutral outer‐sphere complexes [(LH)₂MCl₄]. These ionophores show very high selectivity for chlorometallate anions over chloride ion and are readily stripped to liberate the free‐metal chlorides without the formation of inner‐sphere complexes [ML₂Cl₂]. Single‐crystal X‐ray structure determinations of [(L²H)₂CoCl₄] and [(L²H)₂ZnCl₄] (L²=2‐(4,6‐di‐tert‐butylpyridin‐2‐yl)‐N,N′‐dihexylmalonamide) coupled with ¹H NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations on L²H⁺ and other complexes of [ZnCl₄]^2? confirm that the pyridinium NH group does not address the outer co‐ordination sphere of the metallanion, but rather forms a hydrogen bond to the pendant amide groups and thus pre‐organizes the ligand to present both C? H and amido N? H hydrogen‐bond donors to the [MCl₄]^2? ions. The selectivity for chlorometallates over chloride ions shown by this class of extractants arises from their ability to present several polarized C? H units towards the charge‐diffuse ions [MCl₄]^2?, whereas the smaller, “harder” chloride anion prefers to be associated with the amido N? H hydrogen‐bond donors.     

Identification of disinfection by‐products of selected triazines in drinking water by LC‐Q‐ToF‐MS/MS and evaluation of their toxicity

During the development of an on‐line solid phase extraction‐liquid chromatography‐ultraviolet detection (SPE‐LC‐UV) analytical method for determination of eight selected triazines; ametryn, atrazine, cyanazine, metrybuzine, prometryn, propazin, simazine, and terbutryn, in drinking water, it was observed that the retention times of three of them (ametryn, prometryn, and terbutryn) in Milli‐Q water were different from those in chlorinated Milli‐Q water, indicating the formation of new products. The cause of this change was found in the oxidation of the molecules as a result of chlorination with sodium hypochlorite. Experiments performed at varying concentrations of triazines and hypochlorite showed that the extent of the reaction depended on their relative concentrations. At the maximum admissible level of 100 ng/l for individual pesticides in drinking water, no apparent transformation was observed in the absence or at low concentrations (0.05 mg/l) of hypochlorite; however, on increasing the concentration of hypochlorite to the level typically present in drinking water (0.9 mg/l) the transformation was complete. The reaction is quite fast; within 1 h the parent compound is completely degraded and after 22 h the concentrations of the by‐products are constant. Investigation of the by‐products by ultra performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole‐time of flight‐ tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐Q‐ToF‐MS/MS) has shown that all three triazines follow a similar transformation pathway, forming four new molecules whose structure have been elucidated. The acute toxicity of the new products was investigated using a standard method based on the bioluminescence inhibition of Vibrio fischeri, and the by‐products showed a higher toxicity than that of the parent compounds. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automated analysis of perfluorinated compounds in human hair and urine samples by turbulent flow chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are ubiquitous contaminants of humans and animals worldwide. PFCs are bioaccumulated because of their affinity for proteins. It has been shown they could have a variety of toxicological effects and cause damage to human health, emphasizing the need for sensitive and robust analytical methods to assess their bioaccumulation in humans. In this paper we report the development and validation of an analytical method for analysis of PFCs in the non-invasive human matrices hair and urine. The method is based on rapid and simple sample pre-treatment followed by online turbulent flow liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (TFC–LC–MS–MS) for analysis of 21 PFCs. The method was validated for both matrices. Percentage recovery was between 60 and 105 for most compounds in both matrices. Limits of quantification ranged from 0.1 to 9 ng mL⁻¹ in urine and from 0.04 to 13.4 in hair. The good performance of the method was proved by investigating the presence of selected PFCs in 24 hair and 30 urine samples from different donors living in Barcelona (NE Spain). The results were indicative of bioaccumulation of these compounds in both types of sample. PFOS and PFOA were most frequently detected in hair and PFBA in urine.     

Prediction of pKa values of nido-carboranes by density functional theory methods

A great parallel exists between metal complexes of cyclopentadienyl and arene ligands on one side and metal complexes of the nido derivatives of the icosahedral o-carborane clusters. With few exceptions, the metal complexation in the cluster can be viewed as the substitution of one or more bridging hydrogen atoms by the metal. Therefore, a necessary requirement for the complexation is the deprotonation of the nido cluster to generate a coordination site for that metal. The reaction to remove these protons, which most probably is one of the most commonly done processes in boron and metallaborane chemistry, is barely known, and no quantitative data are available on the magnitude of their pKa values. With the purpose of determining the acidity of nido-carboranes, a procedure to calculate the pKa values of nido boron clusters is presented in this paper for the first time. To this objective, some nido clusters have been selected and their geometry and NMR-spectroscopic properties have been studied, giving a good correlation between the theoretical and experimental data in both geometry distances and 11B NMR spectroscopy. Of notice is the result that proves that the singular carbon atom in the thermodynamic isomer of [C2B10H13]- is definitely part of the cluster and that its connection with the C2B3 face would be better defined by adding additional interactions with the two boron atoms nearest to the second cluster carbon. The pKa values of the nido species have been calculated by correlating experimental pK(a) values and calculated reaction Gibbs energies DeltaG(s). Some pKa values of importance are -4.6 and +13.5 for 7,8-[C2B9H13] (1) and 7,8-[C2B9H12]- (2), respectively.     

Recently developed GC/MS and LC/MS methods for determining NSAIDs in water samples

Pharmaceuticals have become major targets in environmental chemistry due to their presence in aquatic environments (following incomplete removal in wastewater treatment or point-source contaminations), threat to drinking water sources and concern about their possible effects to wildlife and humans. Recently several methods have been developed for the determination of drugs and their metabolites in the lower nanogram per litre range, most of them using solid-phase extraction (SPE) or solid-phase microextraction (SPME), derivatisation and finally gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ES/MS/MS). Due to the elevated polarity of non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drugs (NSAIDs), analytical techniques based on either liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after a previous derivatisation step are essential. The most advanced aspects of current GC-MS, GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS methodologies for NSAID analysis are presented.     

Hyperbolic stochastic differential equations: Absolute continuity of the LKW of the solution at a fixed point

LetW be the Wiener process onT=[0, 1]². Consider the stochastic integral equation $$\begin{gathered} X_\zeta = x_0 + \int_{R_\zeta } {a_1 (\zeta \prime )X(s\prime ,dt\prime )ds\prime + } \int_{R_\zeta } {a_2 (\zeta \prime )X(ds\prime ,t\prime )dt\prime } \hfill \\ + \int_{R_\zeta } {a_3 (X_{\zeta \prime , } \zeta \prime )W(ds\prime ,dt\prime ) + } \int_{R_\zeta } {a_4 (X_{\zeta \prime , } \zeta \prime )ds\prime ,dt\prime ,} \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ whereR _ζ =(s, t) ∈ T, andx ₀ ∈ ?. Under some assumptions on the coefficients a_i, the existence and uniqueness of a solution for this stochastic integral equation is already known (see [6]). In this paper we present some sufficient conditions for the law ofX _ζ to have a density.     

Skewness of Graphs with Small Cutsets

Graphs and Combinatorics - ?The skewness of a graph is the minimum number of edges that have to be removed to leave a planar subgraph. This is complementary, and computationally equivalent,...     

A fast and simple procedure for determination of perfluoroalkyl substances in food and feed: a method verification by an interlaboratory study

In this study, a simple, fast, and cheap sample preparation procedure for the analysis of three well-known representatives of perfluoroalkyl substances (perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoic acid, and perfluorooctane sulfonamide) was validated in accordance with Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. The method was based on extraction with methanol followed by a dispersive solid phase extraction cleanup step by addition of activated charcoal for fish tissue, fish feed, and milk samples. The novel analytical approach combined with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry makes it possible to achieve limits of quantification below 1 μg/kg (defined by Commission Recommendation 2010/161/EU). This method provides a high laboratory sample throughput: ten samples in 60 min. The validated procedure was successfully verified in an interlaboratory study.     

Initial electron back-scattered diffraction observations of cerium

The first electron back-scattered diffraction Kikuchi patterns and grain orientation maps were captured for pure n-phase (fcc) Ce. The sample preparation technique used for electron back-scattered diffraction orientation mapping of this surface-reactive metal included ion sputtering the surface using a scanning Auger microprobe followed by vacuum transfer of the sample from the scanning Auger microprobe to the scanning electron microscope. The effect of ion sputtering on the microstructure as well as preliminary electron back-scattered diffraction microstructural characterization is presented. Based on the sputtering data, the room-temperature diffusivity of O in n-Ce was estimated.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of Maillard compounds in store-brand and name-brand ultra-high-temperature-treated cows' milk

Furosine and furfural products of the Maillard reaction are used as specific indicators of the effect of heating treatments on milk quality. Their contents were measured in representative samples of store- and name-brand ultra-high-temperature-treated milks using RP-HPLC with UV detection. Furosine contents ranged from 40.32 to 50.67 and from 65.48 to 310.58 mg/100 g protein in name- and store-brand milks, respectively. Of the furfurals, only hydroxymethylfurfural was detected. The free hydroxymethylfurfural contents of store-brand milks ranged from 0.22 to 1.70 mg/100 g protein. Total hydroxymethylfurfural contents ranged from 0.29 to 0.41 and from 0.72 to 2.21 mg/100 g protein, for name- and store-brands, respectively.