A Review of Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction

Stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) is an extraction technique for enrichment of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds from aqueous and gaseous media. After exposure to a sample, the stir bar, which is covered in a layer of a polysiloxane is subsequently removed and the sorbed compounds are then either thermally desorbed, and analysed by GC-MS or desorbed by means of a liquid, for improved selectivity or for interfacing to an LC system.The technique has been applied successfully to trace analysis in environmental, biomedical and food applications. Applications of SBSE to environmental, foodstuffs and pharmaceutical and biomedical samples are given.     

Experimental search for radiative decays of the pentaquark baryon Θ+(1540)

The data on the reactions K ⁺Xe → K ⁰ γX and K ⁺Xe → K ⁺ γX, obtained with the bubble chamber DIANA, have been analyzed for possible radiative decays of the Θ⁺(1540) baryon: Θ⁺ → K ⁰ pγ and Θ⁺ → K ⁺ nγ. No signals have been observed, and we derive the upper limits Γ(Θ⁺ → K ⁰ pγ)/Γ(Θ⁺ → K ⁰ p) < 0.032 and Γ(Θ⁺ → K ⁺ nγ)/Γ(Θ⁺ → K ⁺ nγ) < 0.041 which, using our previous measurement of Γ(Θ⁺ → KN) = 0.39 ± 0.10 MeV, translate to Γ(Θ⁺ → K ⁰ pγ) < 8 keV and Γ(Θ⁺ → K ⁺ nγ) < 11 keV at 90% confidence level. We have also measured the cross sections of K ⁺-induced reactions involving emission of a neutral pion: σ(K ⁺ n → K ⁰ pπ ⁰) = 68 ± 18 µb and σ(K ⁺ N → K ⁺ Nπ ⁰) = 30 ± 8 µb for incident K ⁺ momentum of 640 MeV.     

Kaonic atoms measurements at the DAΦNE accelerator

Radioactive ⁵⁷Mn⁺(T _1/2?= 1.5 min) ions have been implanted at the ISOLDE facility at CERN with 60 keV energy to fluences <10¹²/cm² into p-type Si_1???x Ge _x (x < 0.1) single crystals held at 300–600 K. The implantation and annealing processes result in the majority of the implanted Mn ions occupying substitutional lattice sites. In the subsequent ⁵⁷Mn nuclear β ^???-decay to the 14.4 keV Mössbauer state of ⁵⁷Fe (T _1/2?= 100 ns), an average recoil energy of 40 eV is imparted to the ⁵⁷Fe daughter atoms which results in a large fraction being expelled into tetrahedral interstitial sites and the creation of a vacancy. The remainder occupies substitutional sites. This technique of recoil production of ^57m Fe_I thus allows for the study of the diffusion characteristics of interstitial Fe. From the temperature dependent line broadening, the activation energies have been determined and decrease with increasing Ge concentration which contributes significantly to the increase of the jump frequency. A similar result has been obtained in n-type SiGe but there the values for the activation energies were much higher.     

Commissioning of the J-PET detector in view of the positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) is the first PET device built from plastic scintillators. It is a multi-purpose detector designed for medical imaging and for studies of properties of positronium atoms in porous matter and in living organisms. In this article we report on the commissioning of the J-PET detector in view of studies of positronium decays. We present results of analysis of the positron lifetime measured in the porous polymer. The obtained results prove that J-PET is capable of performing simultaneous imaging of the density distribution of annihilation points as well as positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy.     

Self-assembly and magnetic properties of a double-propeller octanuclear copper(II) complex with a meso-helicate-type metallacryptand core

An octanuclear copper(II) complex possessing a dimer-of-tetramers structure self-assembles from a binuclear oxamatocopper(II) metallacryptand of the meso-helicate type; its magnetic behaviour is consistent with its unique double-propeller molecular topology.     

Fluorescent probes for sensing processes in polymers

Fluorescence spectroscopy is an important analytical technique that has been widely used in a variety of applications, such as biomedicine, biology, and science of materials, because it presents some properties which makes it unique, that is, extraordinary sensitivity and selectivity, short delay time (<10(-9) s), and it is neither invasive nor destructive, so it can be used for in situ measurements. Generally, intrinsic fluorescence of many materials, like polymers, is unspecific so it is not useful to analyse their properties or to be correlated to changes in their microenvironment. The incorporation of additives with fluorescent groups would be necessary. When the fluorescence emission of these molecules is sensitive to changes of properties, such as polarity, fluidity, order, molecular mobility, pH, or electric potential, they can be used for detecting such changes in their microenvironment, and they are called fluorescent probes. As long as these probes can follow processes of practical interest, they can be employed as sensors, if the information given by the measure of fluorescence adequately reflects the changes in the system. In addition, a sensor must fulfil some other requirements in order to make them of practical use, the most important being that the material support in which the sensor molecule is inserted. This support should permit a rapid detection of the process and should allow easy processing in a variety of forms. Polymers are well-known systems in which estimation of local parameters are possible by means of fluorimetric techniques. It allows the study of dynamic processes of interest, such as polymerization kinetics and mechanisms, thermal transitions, photodegradation, swelling morphology changes, and so forth.     

Spatiotemporal clustering and temporal order in the excitable BZ reaction

The prototype experimental example of "spontaneous" pattern formation in an unstirred chemical medium is the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction: target patterns of outward-moving concentric rings are readily observed when the reaction is run in a thin layer in a Petri dish. In many experimental runs, new target centers appeared to form closer to pre-existing target centers than expected in a randomized model. Here we describe a simple direct test for the presence of temporal order in the spatiotemporal dynamics of target nucleation, and apply this test to detect significant temporal order in target formation in the ferroin-catalyzed BZ reaction. We also describe how mixing heterogeneity can generate temporal order, even in the absence of heterogeneous physical nucleating centers.     

Novel dialkylaminoalkyl- and dialkylaminoalcoxy-benzophenones as polymerization photoinitiators. II. Photocalorimetric study on photoinitiated polymerization of butyl and lauryl acrylates

A photocalorimetric study of butyl and lauryl acrylates (BA and LA) polymerization photoinitiated by several benzophenone derivatives is reported. Molecular weight measurements and end-chain group analysis of the samples are also described and the results are compared with those obtained by dilatometric technique. The role played by the long methylene chain in lauryl acrylate is discussed     

Laser induced mixing and microstructures in GeAl thin multilayer films

A study of the laser mixing of four-layered thin films of Ge/Al has been made. We combine Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to perform depth profile and microstructure analysis. The results show that the mixing is interfacially initiated and that the surface layer (Ge) and the layer at the film-substrate interface (Al) remain partially unmixed. The degree of mixing does not depend critically on the as-grown layer configuration but does depend on the nature of the substrate. The mixing process is well simulated in the frame of the classical diffusion theory and the estimated average temperatures are close to that of the eutectic. The mixed layer is found to be amorphous and the calculated cooling rates are in the 10⁹ Ks^–1 range.