Analysis of 60 PCB congeners in drinkable water samples at 10–50 pg/L level

In this paper, an analytical method used to determine the presence of 60 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in water as a means to evaluate the quality of drinking water from public wells in the Brescia area is presented and discussed. In this area, PCBs were produced until 1984 leading to contamination of air, irrigation water, surrounding lands and consequently soil products, animals and fish. As contamination of the environment is still present in several sites, it appeared advisable to check the purity of drinking water. The limits of detection for the various congeners vary from 10 to 20 pg/L, for lower chlorinated congeners, up to 50 pg/L, for the higher chlorinated ones. To reach these limits, it is critical to minimize the blank sample contributions. This goal was achieved by checking all the solvents used in the procedure and by washing the glassware. The water used for the blank was pre-extracted. The action and the procedure used, respectively, to compensate and flag the incidence of the blank for each analytical result are also presented.     

Evidence for the quantum birth of our universe

We present evidence for a nonsingular origin of the Universe with intial conditions determined by quantum physics and relativistic gravity. In particular, we establish that the present temperature of the microwave background and the present density of the Universe agree well with our predictions from these intial conditions, after evolution to the present age using the Einstein-Friedmann equation. Remarkably, the quantum origin for the Universe naturally allows its evolution at exactly the critical density. We also discuss the consequences of these results to some fundamental aspects of quantum physics in the early Universe.     

Mechanistic insight into the activity of tyrosinase from variable-temperature studies in an aqueous/organic solvent

The activity of mushroom tyrosinase towards a representative series of phenolic and diphenolic substrates structurally related to tyrosine has been investigated in a mixed solvent of 34.4% methanol-glycerol (7:1, v/v) and 65.6% (v/v) aqueous 50 mM Hepes buffer at pH 6.8 at various temperatures. The kinetic activation parameters controlling the enzymatic reactions and the thermodynamic parameters associated with the process of substrate binding to the enzyme active species have been deduced from the temperature variation of the kcat and KM parameters. The activation free energy is dominated by the enthalpic term, the value of which lies in the relatively narrow range of 61+/-9 kJ mol(-1) irrespective of substrate or reaction type (monophenolase or diphenolase). The activation entropies are small and generally negative and contribute no more than 10% to the activation free energy. The substrate binding parameters are characterized by large and negative enthalpy and entropy contributions, which are typically dictated by polar protein-substrate interactions. The substrate 4-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid exhibits a strikingly anomalous temperature dependence of the enzymatic oxidation rate, with deltaH(double dagger) approximately = 150 kJ mol(-1) and deltaS(double dagger) approximately = 280 J K(-1) mol(-1), due to the fact that it can competitively bind to the enzyme through the phenol group, like the other substrates, or the carboxylate group, like carboxylic acid inhibitors. A kinetic model that takes into account the dual substrate/inhibitor nature of this compound enables rationalization of this anomalous behavior.     

Enantio-differentiating catalytic oxidation by a biomimetic trinuclear copper complex containing L-histidine residues

The trinuclear complex [Cu3PHI]6+, derived from a ligand containing two chiral L-histidine residues, performs the catalytic oxidation of L- and D-Dopa with remarkable enantio-differentiation; this depends on the anchoring effect provided by the copper center which is not participating in the catalytic reaction and recognizes the chirality of the substrate.     

Electroanalytical Determination of Some Phenolic Acids by High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography at Gold Electrodes

The electrochemical and amperometric behavior of a gold electrode was investigated towards the oxidation of several common phenolic acids in neutral phosphate solutions. Au electrodes show an appreciable stability and reproducibility of the amperometric signals by using a constant applied potential of 1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Separations of selected phenolic acids using a reverse phase C₁₈ analytical column with a mobile phase containing 10 mM NaH₂PO₄ plus 10 mM Na₂HPO₄ (pH 7) and methanol as organic modifier, are achieved isocratically in less than 30 min. The detection limits at the level of nmol/L and linear ranges of four‐five orders of magnitude are generally achieved. The proposed chromatographic strategy coupled with the electrochemical detection at the Au electrode was successful tested for the quantitative determination of phenolic acids in beer, red wine and brandy with good sensitivity and recovery.     

A new dinuclear heme-copper complex derived from functionalized protoporphyrin IX

A new biomimetic model for the heterodinuclear heme/copper center of respiratory oxidases is described. It is derived from iron(III) protoporphyrin IX by covalent attachment of a Gly-L-His-OMe residue to one propionic acid substituent and an amino-bis(benzimidazole) residue to the other propionic acid substituent of the porphyrin ring, yielding the Fe(III) complex 1, and subsequent addition of a copper(II) or copper(I) ion, according to needs. The fully oxidized Fe(III)/Cu(II) complex, 2, binds azide more strongly than 1, and likely contains azide bound as a bridging ligand between Fe(III) and Cu(II). The two metal centers also cooperate in the reaction with hydrogen peroxide, as the peroxide adducts obtained at low temperature for 1 and 2 display different optical features. Support to this interpretation comes from the investigation of the peroxidase activity of the complexes, where the activation of hydrogen peroxide has been studied through the phenol coupling reaction of p-cresol. Here the presence of Cu(II) improves the catalytic performance of complex 2 with respect to 1 at acidic pH, where the positive charge of the Cu(II) ion is useful to promote O-O bond cleavage of the iron-bound hydroperoxide, but it depresses the activity at basic pH because it can stabilize an intramolecular hydroxo bridge between Fe(III) and Cu(II). The reactivity to dioxygen of the reduced complexes has been studied at low temperature starting from the carbonyl adducts of the Fe(II) complex, 3, and Fe(II)/Cu(I) complex, 4. Also in this case the adducts derived from the Fe(II) and Fe(II)/Cu(I) complexes, that we formulate as Fe(III)-superoxo and Fe(III)/Cu(II)-peroxo exhibit slightly different spectral properties, showing that the copper center participates in a weak interaction with the dioxygen moiety.     

DFT calculation of 1J(119Sn,13C) and 2J(119Sn,1H) coupling constants in di- and trimethyltin(IV) compounds

We have tested several computational protocols, at the nonrelativistic DFT level of theory, for the calculation of 1J(119Sn, 13C) and 2J(119Sn, 1H) spin-spin coupling constants in di- and trimethyltin(IV) derivatives with various ligands. Quite a good agreement with experimental data has been found with several hybrid functionals and a double-zeta basis set for a set of molecules comprising tetra-, penta-, and hexa-coordinated tin(IV). Then, some of the protocols have been applied to the calculation of the 2J(119Sn, 1H) of the aquodimethyltin(IV) ion and dimethyltin(IV) complex with D-ribonic acid and to the calculation of 1J(119Sn, 13C) and 2J(119Sn, 1H) of the dimethyltin(IV)-glycylglycine and glycylhistidine complexes in water solutions. Solvent effects have been considered in these cases by including explicit water molecules and/or the solvent reaction field, resulting in a good agreement with experimental data. The proposed protocols constitute a helpful tool for the structural determination of di- and triorganotin(IV) derivatives.