Improved Stress Estimation with Machine Learning and Ultrasonic Guided Waves

Experimental Mechanics - Due to the acoustoelastic effect, ultrasonic guided waves have been used to estimate mechanical stress in a cheap and nondestructive fashion. Machine learning has been...     

Highly enantioselective borane reduction of heteroaryl and heterocyclic ketoxime ethers catalyzed by novel spiroborate ester derived from diphenylvalinol: application to the synthesis of nicotine analogues

An asymmetric synthesis for the preparation of nonracemic amines bearing heterocyclic and heteroaromatic rings is described. A variety of important enantiopure thionyl and arylalkyl primary amines were afforded by the borane-mediated enantioselective reduction of O-benzyl ketoximes using 10% of catalyst 10 derived from ( S)-diphenylvalinol and ethylene glycol with excellent enantioselectivity, in up to 99% ee. The optimal condition for the first asymmetric reduction of 3- and 4-pyridyl-derived O-benzyl ketoxime ethers was achieved using 30% of catalytic loading in dioxane at 10 degrees C. ( S)- N-ethylnornicotine ( 3) was also successfully synthesized from the TIPS-protected ( S)-2-amino-2-pyridylethanol in 97% ee.     

Electron transfer dissociation in the hexapole collision cell of a hybrid quadrupole-hexapole Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer

Electron transfer dissociation (ETD) of proteins is demonstrated in a hybrid quadrupole-hexapole Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (Qh-FTICRMS). Analyte ions are selected in the mass analyzing quadrupole, accumulated in the hexapole linear ion trap, reacted with fluoranthene reagent anions, and then analyzed via an FTICR mass analyzer. The hexapole trap allows for a broad fragment ion mass range and a high ion storage capacity. Using a 3 T FTICRMS, resolutions of 60 000 were achieved with mass accuracies averaging below 1.4 ppm. The high resolution, high mass accuracy ETD spectra provided by FTICR obviates the need for proton transfer reaction (PTR) charge state reduction of ETD product ions when analyzing proteins or large peptides. This is demonstrated with the ETD of ubiquitin and apomyoglobin yielding sequence coverages of 37 and 20%, respectively. We believe this represents the first reported successful combination of ETD and a FTICRMS.     

Gated trapped ion mobility spectrometry coupled to fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Analysis of molecules by ion mobility spectrometry coupled with mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) provides chemical information on the three dimensional structure and mass of the molecules. The coupling of ion mobility to trapping mass spectrometers has historically been challenging due to the large differences in analysis time between the two devices. In this paper we present a modification of the trapped ion mobility (TIMS) analysis scheme termed “Gated TIMS” that allows efficient coupling to a Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) analyzer. Analyses of standard compounds and the influence of source conditions on the TIMS distributions produced by ion mobility spectra of labile ubiquitin protein ions are presented. Ion mobility resolving powers up to 100 are observed. Measured collisional cross sections of ubiquitin ions are in excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement to previous measurements. Gated TIMS FT-ICR produces results comparable to those acquired using TIMS/time-of-flight MS instrument platforms as well as numerous drift tube IMS-MS studies published in the literature.     

Magnetic ionic liquids as non-conventional extraction solvents for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

This work describes the applicability of magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) in the analytical determination of a group of heavy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Three different MILs, namely, benzyltrioctylammonium bromotrichloroferrate (III) (MIL A), methoxybenzyltrioctylammonium bromotrichloroferrate (III) (MIL B), and 1,12-di(3-benzylbenzimidazolium) dodecane bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)]imide bromotrichloroferrate (III) (MIL C), were designed to exhibit hydrophobic properties, and their performance examined in a microextraction method for hydrophobic analytes. The magnet-assisted approach with these MILs was performed in combination with high performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection. The study of the extraction performance showed that MIL A was the most suitable solvent for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and under optimum conditions the fast extraction step required ∼20 μL of MIL A for 10 mL of aqueous sample, 24 mmol L⁻¹ NaOH, high ionic strength content of NaCl (25% (w/v)), 500 μL of acetone as dispersive solvent, and 5 min of vortex. The desorption step required the aid of an external magnetic field with a strong NdFeB magnet (the separation requires few seconds), two back-extraction steps for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons retained in the MIL droplet with n-hexane, evaporation and reconstitution with acetonitrile. The overall method presented limits of detection down to 5 ng L⁻¹, relative recoveries ranging from 91.5 to 119%, and inter-day reproducibility values (expressed as relative standard derivation) lower than 16.4% for a spiked level of 0.4 μg L⁻¹ (n = 9). The method was also applied for the analysis of real samples, including tap water, wastewater, and tea infusion.     

Focused microwave-assisted micellar extraction combined with solid-phase microextraction--gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to determine chlorophenols in wood samples

This work describes the utilization of the focused microwave-assisted micellar extraction in combination with the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) to determine chlorophenols in wood samples. The influence of the nature of the surfactant in the extraction process, the optimization of the variables of the focused-microwave system, and the effect of the ageing time of the samples in the extraction efficiency of the method, have been assessed in this study. The overall method using the non-ionic surfactant POLE as extracting medium allows us to determine chlorophenols in wood samples achieving an average extraction efficiency of 104.1%, limits of detection ranging from 2 to 120 ng g⁻¹, and intermediate precision values ranging between 3.5 and 13.2%. The proposed method is also characterized by short analysis times (around 5 min for the microwaves extraction step) and by avoiding the use of organic solvents.     

Multi-triphenylamine-substituted porphyrin-fullerene conjugates as charge stabilizing "antenna-reaction center" mimics

A new concept of charge stabilization via delocalization of the pi-cation radical species over the donor macrocycle substituents in a relatively simple donor-acceptor bearing multimodular conjugates is reported. The newly synthesized multimodular systems were composed of three covalently linked triphenylamine entities at the meso position of the porphyrin ring and one fulleropyrrolidine at the fourth meso position. The triphenylamine entities were expected to act as energy transferring antenna units and to enhance the electron donating ability of both free-base and zinc(II) porphyrin derivatives of these pentads. Appreciable electronic interactions between the meso-substituted triphenylamine entities and the porphyrin pi-system were observed, and as a consequence, these moieties acted together as an electron-donor while the fullerene moiety acted as an electron-acceptor in the multimodular conjugates. In agreement with the spectral and electrochemical results, the computational studies performed by the DFT B3LYP/3-21G(*) method revealed delocalization of the frontier highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) over the triphenylamine entities in addition to the porphyrin macrocycle. Free-energy calculations suggested that the light-induced processes from the singlet excited state of porphyrins are exothermic in the investigated multimodular conjugates. The occurrence of photoinduced charge-separation and charge-recombination processes was confirmed by the combination of time-resolved fluorescence and nanosecond transient absorption spectral measurements. Charge-separated states, on the order of a few microseconds, were observed as a result of the delocalization of the pi-cation radical species over the porphyrin macrocycle and the meso-substituted triphenylamine entities. The present study successfully demonstrates a novel approach of charge-stabilization in donor-acceptor multimodular conjugates.