Pre-concentration of phenolic compounds in water samples by novel liquid–liquid microextraction and determination by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Pre-concentration and determination of 8 phenolic compounds in water samples has been achieved by in situ derivatization and using a new liquid–liquid microextraction coupled GC–MS system. Microextraction efficiency factors have been investigated and optimized: 9 μL 1-undecanol microdrop exposed for 15 min floated on surface of a 10 mL water sample at 55 °C, stirred at 1200 rpm, low pH level and saturated salt conditions. Chromatographic problems associated with free phenols have been overcome by simultaneous in situ derivatization utilizing 40 μL of acetic anhydride and 0.5% (w/v) K₂CO₃. Under the selected conditions, pre-concentration factor of 235–1174, limit of detection of 0.005–0.68 μg/L (S/N = 3) and linearity range of 0.02–300 μg/L have been obtained. A reasonable repeatability (RSD ≤ 10.4%, n = 5) with satisfactory linearity (0.9995 ≥ r² ≥ 0.9975) of results illustrated a good performance of the present method. The relative recovery of different natural water samples was higher than 84%.     

Comparison of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Yarrowia lipolytica</Emphasis> Lipase Immobilization Yield of Entrapment,Adsorption, and Covalent Bond Techniques

The purpose of this study was to immobilize lipase from Yarrowia lipolytica using three methods including inclusion, adsorption, and covalent bond to study enzyme leaching, storage, and catalytic properties. Sodium alginate and chitosan were the polymers selected to immobilize lipase by inclusion. The beads of each polymer were dried by freeze drying and fluidization. The results show that chitosan was more adapted to the inclusion of lipase. Even though freeze dried, bead activity was low compared to that of fluidized beads. The freeze-drying process seems to produce suitable beads for storage at 4 and 20 degrees C. The immobilization by adsorption was carried out on both celite and silica gel. Maximum immobilization yield of 76% was obtained with celite followed by 43% in silica gel. The enzyme adsorbed on the two supports exhibited greater stability at a certain temperature (50 degrees C) and in no polar solvents (Isooctane, n-heptane, and n-hexane). In addition, the lipase immobilized by covalent bond retained residual activity equitable to 70%. It was demonstrated that the enzyme immobilized by covalent bond showed greater activity (80%) after 5 months of storage.     

Laser-induced fluorescence detection of lead atoms in a laser-induced plasma: An experimental analytical optimization study

The combination of the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) techniques was investigated to improve the limit of detection (LoD) of trace elements in solid matrices. The influence of the main experimental parameters on the LIF signal, namely the ablation fluence, the excitation energy, and the inter-pulse delay, was studied experimentally and a discussion of the results was presented. For illustrative purpose we considered detection of lead in brass samples. The plasma was produced by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and then re-excited by a nanosecond Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) laser. The experiments were performed in air at atmospheric pressure. We found out that the optimal conditions were obtained for our experimental set-up using relatively weak ablation fluence of 2–3 J/cm² and an inter-pulse delay of about 5–10 μs. Also, a few tens of microjoules was typically required to maximize the LIF signal. Using the LIBS–LIFS technique, a single-shot LoD for lead of about 1.5 part per million (ppm) was obtained while a value of 0.2 ppm was obtained after accumulating over 100 shots. These values represent an improvement of about two orders of magnitude with respect to LIBS.     

Ring Closing Metathesis Using Chiral Template Consisting of Hard and Soft Parts

Summary: Macrocyclic compounds having 18-, 19-, 22-, and 23-membered rings were prepared quantitatively by ring closing metathesis of diene substrates consisting of a rigid o- or m-phthalate group and flexible but geometrically regulated 2,4-pentanediol tethers. From the p-phthalate analogues, the ring closing metathesis and the cyclic dimmer formation were observed to give 24-membered ring (70% yield) and 40-membered ring (65% yield) respectively.     

Measurement under high pressure of the nonlinearity parameter B/A in glycerol at various temperatures

An experimental study of some assorted glycerol properties is carried out in order to determine, under high static pressure, the glycerol nonlinearity parameter B/A against temperature by a modified isentropic method. The static pressure and temperature ranges exploited in this experimental investigation, of various glycerol properties, are extended respectively from 0.1 to 100 MPa and from 10 to 100 °C. The static pressure step of two consecutive measurements is 10 MPa and the temperature step is 10 °C. The measured values show that, in glycerol, the density ρ₀ and the infinitesimal ultrasonic wave velocity c₀ increase monotonically with the imposed static pressure and decrease monotonically with temperature. The present investigation shows that the nonlinearity parameter B/A is a function of the imposed static pressure and temperature. The accuracy of the measured B/A values is estimated at about ±2%.     

On the role of the indenyl effect in controlling intramolecular hydride transfer in iron carbonyl complexes

Density functional theory reveals multiple pathways for intramolecular hydride transfer in the cyclopentadienyl and indenyl species (η⁵-C₅H₅)Fe(CO)₃H and (η⁵-C₉H₇)Fe(CO)₃H. The ability of the indenyl ligand to undergo facile η⁵- to η³-‘ring slippage’ stabilises the isomer where the hydride is bonded directly to the metal, which opens up a low-energy pathway for hydride transfer from CO to metal.     

Spectre de A(\̄gW) pour des domaines bornés faiblement pseudoconvexes réguliers

If Ω is a weakly pseudoconvex domain in a Stein manifold, then the spectrum of the Frechet Algebra $\text{A}{}^{\mathrm{\infty }}\text{(}\text{}\text{?}\text{gW)}$ is isomorphic to $\text{}\text{?}\text{gW, A}{}^{\mathrm{\infty }}\text{(}\text{}\text{?}\text{gW)}$ denotes the space of holomorphic functions smooth up to the boundary. The spectrum of the uniform algebra $\text{A(}\text{}\text{?}\text{gW)}$ is also isomorphic to -Ω. As a corollary we prove an approximation theorem for plurisubharmonic functions in $\text{Ω}$ continuous in -Ω.