Ytterbium fluoride nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes: preparation, characterization and application for simultaneous electrochemical determination of ascorbic acid, dopamine and uric acid

A novel modified glassy carbon electrode with ytterbium fluoride nanoparticles (YFNPs)-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was fabricated and then successfully used for the simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA). YFNPs were successfully coated on the MWCNTs via the intermediate of noncovalent hydrophobic interactions of the MWCNTs surface with sodium dodecyl sulfate. The YFNPs and immobilization of YFNPs on MWCNTs were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The particle size of YFNPs was measured to be around 45 nm. The catalytic peak currents for AA, DA and UA were linearly dependent on their concentrations in the range of 2.0–600.0, 2.0–560.0 and 1.8–640.0 μM, respectively, with the corresponding detection limits of 0.77, 0.22 and 0.17 μM. The modified electrode provided good sensitivity and stability, and was successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of AA, DA and UA in human blood serum and urine samples.     

Quantum vibrational partition function in the non-extensive Tsallis framework

The quantum vibrational partition function has been obtained in the Tsallis statistics framework for the entropic index, q, between 1 and 2. The effect of non-extensivity on the population of states and thermodynamic properties have been studied and compared with their corresponding values obtained in the Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) statistics. Our results show that the non-extensive partition function of harmonic oscillator at any temperature is larger than its corresponding values for an extensive system and that their differences increase with temperature and entropic index. Also, the number of accessible states increases with q but, compared to the BG statistics, the occupation number decreases for low energy levels while the population of the higher energy levels increases. The internal energy and heat capacity have also been obtained for the non-extensive harmonic oscillator system. Results indicate that the heat capacity is greater than its corresponding value in the extensive (BG) system at low temperatures but that this trend is reversed at higher temperatures.     

A simple and effective approach to the synthesis of alkynyl selenides from terminal alkynes

Alkynyl selenides were prepared under very mild conditions by reacting terminal alkynes with respective diorganic diselenides in the presence of potassium t-butoxide.The advantages of this protocol include the use of readily available substrates and reagent and good yield of the products.     

Synthesis of 9-CD3-9-cis-retinal cofactor of isorhodopsin

We report the synthesis of 9-CD₃-9-cis-retinal via a six-step procedure from β-ionone. The steps involve an initial deuteration of the methyl ketone of β-ionone followed by two consecutive Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons (HWE) coupling reactions and their corresponding DIBAL reductions. A final oxidation of the allylic alcohol of the retinol leads to the target compound. This deuterium labeled retinoid is an important cofactor for studying protein-retinoid interactions in isorhodopsin.     

Switchable Hydrophilicity Solvent-Based Homogenous Liquid–Liquid Microextraction (SHS-HLLME) Combined with GC-FID for the Quantification of Methadone and Tramadol

In this work, a new method based on homogeneous liquid-phase microextraction was developed for the determination of methadone and tramadol. Dipropylamine was used as extraction solvent with switchable hydrophilicity that can be miscible/immiscible upon the addition or removal of CO₂ as a reagent. The effects of operational parameters of the extraction such as volume of acceptor phase, volume of donor phase, pH of donor phase, and ionic strength of solution were investigated. Under optimal conditions, the preconcentration factors, the detection limits and the linearity of the method were achieved in the ranges of 135–138, 1.2 and 4–1000 µg L^?1, respectively. Finally, the proposed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of methadone and tramadol in urine samples. In urine sample, the preconcentration factors were 118 and 122 for methadone and tramadol, respectively. Additionally, calibration curves were found to be linear in the concentration range of 8–1000 µg L^?1 with the r² values better than 0.998. In addition, limits of detection and quantification were 2.4 and 8 µg L^?1, respectively, for both analytes.     

A novel optical sensor for uranium determination

A metal ion indicator, Alizarin Red S, was tested for its potential use in uranium selective optode membrane. The water-soluble indicator was lipophilized in the form of an ion pair with tetraoctylammonium bromide, and subsequently immobilized on a triacetyl cellulose membrane. The membrane responds to uranium ions, giving a color change from yellow to violet in acetate buffer pH 5. This optode has a linear range of (1.70-18.7) × 10⁻⁵ M of UO₂²⁺ ions with a limit of detection of 5 × 10⁻⁶ M. The response time of optode was within 6 min depending on the concentration of UO₂²⁺ ions. The sensor can readily be regenerated with hydrochloric acid solution (0.01 M). The optode is fully reversible.     

Screening of hepatitis B virus DNA in the serum sample by a new sensitive electrochemical genosensor-based Pd-Al LDH substrate

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Screening for hepatitis B is one of the most severe liver virus infections in the world, and due to the effect of early detection and treatment of...     

How OH and O– groups affect electronic structure of meta-substituted and para-substituted phenols and phenolates

Structural Chemistry - An application of two independent quantum chemistry-based concepts, a substituent effect stabilization energy (SESE) and a charge of the substituent active region (cSAR), for...     

Pd(II) salen complex covalently anchored to multi‐walled carbon nanotubes as a heterogeneous and reusable precatalyst for Mizoroki–Heck and Hiyama cross‐coupling reactions

A Pd(II) salen complex anchored to multi‐walled carbon nanotubes showed excellent catalytic activity and stability for the Mizoroki–Heck and Hiyama cross‐couplings of aryl halides with olefins and phenylsiloxanes. Furthermore, the heterogeneous catalyst could be reused up to four times with the catalytic activity being recovered easily after simple manipulations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.