Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry: direct toxicological screening and analysis of illicit Ecstasy tablets

Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) was used as a simple and rapid way to analyze drug tablets and powders without sample preparation. Experiments were performed with a home-made DESI source coupled to a triple-quadrupole linear-ion trap (QqQ(LIT)) mass spectrometer. Twenty-one commercial drugs as well as some illicit Ecstasy tablets and powders were analyzed. MS spectra almost exclusively showed the protonated or deprotonated ion of the drug after directing the pneumatically assisted electrospray onto the tablet's surface. With some tablets, inhomogeneity of the surface resulted in different spectra depending on the spot analyzed, thus showing that DESI could be used for imaging. Directly triggered MS/MS spectra were used for confirmatory analysis, with analysis times often below 10 s per tablet. For illicit Ecstasy tablets, DESI-MS, GC/MS and LC/MS analyses provided similar qualitative results for the main analytes. With MS/MS spectra library comparison or exact mass measurements, this technique could become very powerful for the rapid analysis of unknown tablets and shows the great potential of desorption techniques as an alternative to solution-based analysis.     

Adsorption of the first row of transition metals on the perfect and defective MgO(1 0 0) surface

We present DFT calculations for adsorption of the first row of transition metal atoms on a MgO(1 0 0) surface and on a surface exhibiting defects. Some atoms exhibit a high adsorption energy on the defect (e.g. Co, Ni and Cu), but others (Ca, Sc) rather adsorb on a clean surface and another set is indifferent to the presence of defect. The adsorption becomes energetically unfavorable when the σ anti-bonding orbitals become populated; this is worse on a defective surface than on a terrace. The π back-donation to the surface contributes to favor the adsorption on the center.     

Development and validation of an LC–MS method for the simultaneous determination of sulfadiazine,trimethoprim, and N4-acetyl-sulfadiazine in muscle plus skin of cultured fish

An analytical method for the determination of both sulfadiazine (SDZ) and trimethoprim (TMP), and also N⁴-acetyl-sulfadiazine (AcSDZ), the main metabolite of SDZ, in fish muscle plus skin has been developed and validated. Dapsone was used as internal standard. The method involves extraction of the analytes from fish tissue by pressurized liquid extraction using water as extractant. Sample cleanup was carried out by solid phase extraction using Abselut Nexus cartridges. Target analytes were quantitatively determined by liquid–chromatography mass spectrometry using single ion monitoring. The developed method was validated according to the European Union requirements (decision 2002/657/EC). The limit of detection for SDZ and AcSDZ was 3.0 and 2.5 µg kg^?1 for TMP. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 10 µg kg^?1 for SDZ and AcSDZ and 7.5 µg kg^?1 for TMP. The recovery experiments carried out included the concentration levels of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 times the MRLs for SDZ and TMP. Concentration levels for AcSDZ were the same as SDZ. The values obtained were higher than 92.0% with coefficient of variation (CV, %) below 8.6%. The precision of the method, calculated as CV (%), ranged from 0.2 to 6.8% and from 0.8 to 8.9% for intra–day and inter–day analysis, respectively. Decision limit (CC_α) was calculated as 104.3, 53.7 and 105.3 µg kg^?1 for SDZ, TMP and AcSDZ, respectively. Detection capability (CC_β) was calculated as 110.0, 58.8 and 109.7 µg kg^?1 for SDZ, TMP and AcSDZ, respectively. “Matrix effect” and “relative matrix effect” were also evaluated. The method was used for the analysis of fish samples purchased from local markets.     

On Thermodynamical Relation Between Rotating Charged BTZ Black Holes and Effective String Theory

In this paper we study the first law of thermodynamics for the （2＋1）-dimensional rotating charged BTZ black hole considering a pair of thermodynamical systems constructed with the two horizons of this solution. We show that these two systems are similar to the right and left movers of string theory and that the temperature associated with the black hole is the harmonic mean of the temperatures associated with these two systems.     

Liquid transport due to light scattering

Using experiments and theory, we show that light scattering by inhomogeneities in the index of refraction of a fluid can drive a large-scale flow. The experiment uses a near-critical, phase-separated liquid, which experiences large fluctuations in its index of refraction. A laser beam traversing the liquid produces a interface deformation on the scale of the experimental setup and can cause a liquid jet to form. We demonstrate that the deformation is produced by a scattering-induced flow by obtaining good agreements between the measured deformations and those calculated assuming this mechanism.     

Effect of excess methanol addition on the morphology of sonogel-derived silica

Sonochemical processing techniques may be used to create fully miscible sols without the initial addition of a solvent. However, by intentionally adding excess alcohol to a sol produced by sonication, it is possible to manipulate the porosity of the resulting sonogel. Sonogels of systematically varied methanol content were prepared using a two-step process with subsequent drying at 60°C. The as-prepared sol with no excess methanol produced a purely microporous solid. The addition of excess methanol to the sol resulted in the formation of mixed microporosity and mesoporosity as revealed by nitrogen gas adsorption and transmission electron microscopy.     

Three-dimensional effects on line-of-sight visualization measurements of supersonic and hypersonic flow over cylinders

Flow visualization experiments were performed for supersonic and hypersonic nitrogen test gas flows over a cylinder. The results were used to quantify the influence of three-dimensional effects on optical line-of-sight visualization measurements. Images of cylindrical models of varying aspect ratios (length to diameter) were taken. Shock stand-off distance measurements for the models were compared with a two-dimensional approximation and numerical simulations. For aspect ratios of two and above, the two-dimensional approximation was acceptable within experimental uncertainty. The measured shock stand-off decreased by less than 5% from an asymptotic value for an infinite length cylinder. For smaller aspect ratios, a correction factor for the shock stand-off needs to be applied if comparisons between the two-dimensional approximation and experimental measurements are to be drawn. An estimate of this correction factor has been derived from an empirical fit to the available data.