Electrochemical detection of tryptophan metabolites following high-performance liquid chromatography.

Electrochemical detection of tryptophan metabolites following separation on a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography column was compared with other means of detection. Of 29 compounds studied, 26 could be detected at a sensitivity comparable to that of fluorescence derivatisation procedures. Response was linear over a wide range of concentrations and selectivity was shown to be superior to ultraviolet detection when analysing urine. Additionally, it was possible to control selectivity so that only those tryptophan metabolites from the tryptophan hydroxylase pathway were detected. This is of particular value in the study of distrubances of serotonin metabolism and is unique to this type of detector.     

A ferrocene based palladacyclic precatalyst for the Suzuki cross-coupling of aryl chlorides

Addition of palladium acetate to 2-(dicyclohexylphosphino)-phenylferrocene gave palladacycle 16 that is a very effective precatalyst for the Suzuki cross-coupling of aryl chlorides at room temperature (1 mol% 16) or 60 degrees C (> or = 0.01 mol% 16).     

The synthesis of diene and of vinyl copolymers containing predetermined quantities of polynuclear hydrocarbon or heterocyclic adducts—IV. Copolymers of butadiene or isoprene,anthracene and a linking agent

Evidence is given that, when solutions of diene monomers and anthracene in tetrahydrofuran are reacted with alkali metal and subsequently titrated with linking agents such as alkyl dihalides, copolymers are formed; they contain the 9,10-dihydroanthracene adduct and the diene in the same proportion as in the original solution. The structures of these copolymers have been elucidated by NMR spectroscopy and the mechanism of formation is discussed.     

Characterization of the metal composition of metallothionein isoforms using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with atomic absorption spectrophotometric detection

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was used to separate metallothionein (MT) isoforms and on-line atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) detection was used to quantitatively determine their metal content. With this coupled system (HPLC-AAS), it was possible to determine the zinc, cadmium and copper content of individual horse kidney MT isoforms. When rabbit liver MT and the purified isoforms (MT-1 and MT-2) were subjected to RP-HPLC and the zinc-containing peaks of the MT sample to MT-1 or MT-2. HPLC-AAS was used to identify zinc-induced MT in heat-treated cytosol from turkey hen liver, thereby demonstrating its application to the analysis of crude tissue extracts. A standard curve was established using turkey liver MT for the quantitative determination of the zinc content of MT isoforms. There was excellent linear correlation between the micrograms of zinc bound to MT injected onto the column (ranging from 0.34 to 3.43 micrograms of MT-bond zinc) and the integrated peak area of the atomic absorbance for zinc. Using this standard curve, it was possible to quantitate the amount of MT-bound zinc in cytosol extracts of cultured turkey embryo hepatocytes exposed to varying levels of supplemental zinc in the culture medium.     

The synthesis of diene and of vinyl copolymers containing predetermined quantities of polynuclear hydrocarbon or heterocyclic adducts—VI. Copolymers of butadiene,acenaphthylene or phenanthrene,and a linking agent

Reactions of tetrahydrofuran solutions of butadiene and acenaphthylene with alkali metal produce dianionic species which give quantitative yields of copolymers when subsequently titrated with alkyl dibromides. These polymers, however, crosslink on standing; this has been correlated with the presence of a proportion of 1,5-dihydroacenaphthylene adduct in the product.Similar reactions involving phenanthrene are not quantitative and yield materials containing only a small proportion of the phenanthrene added. The low efficiency has been attributed to the low electron affinity of phenanthrene and to the ability of its dianion to react with alkyl halides by electron transfer rather than metathetically.