Conductance of tetraalkylammonium salts in propylene carbonate at 25°C

Conductance measurements of 12 quaternary ammonium salts in propylene carbonate (PC) have been made at 25°C. The cations were either tetramethylammonium, tetraethylammonium, or tetra-n-butylammonium, and the concentrations of salt varied from about 2×10^–4 to 5×10^–3 M. The data were analyzed by the equation of Pitts. The results showed that the benzoate, nitrobenzoate, and pentachlorophenolate salts are completely dissociated. The nitrophenolate, chlorophenolate, methylsulfonate, and nitrate salts are only slightly associated (K _A from 2.5 to 6.5), while the acetate, phenylacetate, and nitrophenolate salts display somewhat more extensive association, with ionpair association constants from 17 to 45. Limiting molar conductances for the anions were derived. The factors affecting ionic mobilities in this dipolar aprotic solvent are discussed.On leave 1973–1975 from the University of Gdask, Poland.     

Coupling Microdroplet Microreactors with Mass Spectrometry: Reading the Contents of Single Droplets Online

Fully integrated : Mass spectrometry has been integrated into a detection scheme for microdroplets that are created within microfluidic channels (see picture, scale bar 200 μm). This technique allows droplets to be identified based on the compounds they contain, and combines fluorescence screening with MS analysis. These experiments indicate how similar approaches can be applied to the ambitious goals of on‐chip protein evolution and chemical synthesis.

     

Detection, quantification, and identification of dermorphin in equine plasma and urine by LC–MS/MS for doping control

Dermorphin is a unique opioid peptide that is 30–40 times more potent than morphine. It was misused and went undetected in horse racing until 2011 when intelligence obtained from a few North American race tracks suggested its use. To prevent such misuse, a reliable analytical method became necessary for detection and identification of dermorphin in post-race horse samples. This paper describes the first liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method for such a purpose. Equine plasma and urine samples were pre-treated with ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid and urea prior to solid-phase extraction (SPE) on Oasis MCX cartridges. Resulting eluates were dried under vacuum and analyzed by LC–MS/MS for dermorphin. The matrix effect, SPE efficiency, intra-day and inter-day accuracy and precision, and stability of the analyte were assessed. The limit of detection was 10 pg/mL in plasma and 20 pg/mL in urine, and the limit of confirmation was 20 pg/mL in plasma and 50 pg/mL in urine. Dermorphin in plasma is stable at ambient temperature, but its diastereomer is unstable. With isotopically labeled dermorphin as an internal standard, the quantification range was 20–10,000 pg/mL in plasma and 50–20,000 pg/mL in urine. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy was from 91 % to 100 % for the low, intermediate, and high concentrations. The intra-day and inter-day coefficients of variation were less than 12 %. The method differentiates dermorphin from its diastereomer. This method is very specific for identification of dermorphin in equine plasma and urine, as assessed by BLAST search and targeted SEQUEST search, and by MS/MS spectrum library search. The method has been successfully applied to analysis of samples collected following dermorphin administration to research horses and of official post-race samples.

Synthesis and Characterization of a Thiophene Copolymer for Photovoltaic Application

A soluble thiophene copolymer having polar and non polar side groups was synthesized and its photovoltaics performance was investigated. The synthesized copolymer was characterized using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and optical spectroscopy. Dye sensitized solar cells were fabricated using this copolymer as sensitizer. An open-circuit voltage of 0.50V, a short-circuit current density of 1.195 mA/cm² and an overall power conversion efficiency of 0.3% were measured.     

Interfacing Formate Dehydrogenase with Metal Oxides for the Reversible Electrocatalysis and Solar‐Driven Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

The integration of enzymes with synthetic materials allows efficient electrocatalysis and production of solar fuels. Here, we couple formate dehydrogenase ( FDH ) from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough (DvH) to metal oxides for catalytic CO₂ reduction and report an in‐depth study of the resulting enzyme–material interface. Protein film voltammetry (PFV) demonstrates the stable binding of FDH on metal‐oxide electrodes and reveals the reversible and selective reduction of CO₂ to formate. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR‐IR) spectroscopy confirm a high binding affinity for FDH to the TiO₂ surface. Adsorption of FDH on dye‐sensitized TiO₂ allows for visible‐light‐driven CO₂ reduction to formate in the absence of a soluble redox mediator with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 11±1 s^?1. The strong coupling of the enzyme to the semiconductor gives rise to a new benchmark in the selective photoreduction of aqueous CO₂ to formate.     

ToF-SIMS imaging and depth profiling of HeLa cells treated with bromodeoxyuridine

Time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry 2D images and molecular depth profiles of human HeLa cells treated with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) were acquired in the dual beam mode (Bi(3) (+) analysis beam, C(60) (+) etching beam). Several preparation protocols were investigated and were compared to a simple wash-and-dry method. The feasibility of using C(60) to clean the samples prior to imaging with Bi was also investigated quantitatively by calibrating full depth profiles of the cells using atomic force microscopy. BrdU was used as a marker for the cell nucleus, facilitating identification and localization of sub-cellular features during depth profiling. Results show that C(60) can be used to remove the surface contamination and to access different layers within the cells for 2D imaging. For a 1 nA, 10 keV C(60) (+) beam incident at 45° and rastered over a 500 × 500 μm(2) area, ~1 nm of biological material was sputtered every second. Our results show that HeLa cells were completely removed after etching with 1.3×10(15) C(60) (+) ions per cm(2), giving an average etching rate of 3.9 nm for every 10(13) C(60) per cm(2) at 10 keV and 45° incidence.     

Splitting multiple bonds: A comparison of methodologies on the accuracy of bond dissociation energies

A benchmarking of different quantum chemical methodologies for the splitting of multiply bonded systems is presented, with an emphasis on quantitative reproduction of experimentally determined dissociation energies. New benchmark full configuration interaction (FCI) calculations are presented for nitrogen and acetylene, and comparisons are made between various methods with both the FCI results and with experiment in an effort to understand qualitatively and quantitatively how well these different methods cope with the bond‐breaking process. It is found that the multireference methods fare well, but are sometimes slowly convergent with respect to the size of the basis set, and in particular the angular momenta of the polarization functions. Single‐reference (SR) wavefunction‐based methods perform poorly against full CI, while CCSD(T) is reasonably accurate for comparison with experiment. Density functional theory with hybrid functionals have very quick basis‐set convergence, and offer reliable estimates of bond dissociation energies. Spin‐restricted SR wavefunctions are found to be poor for such systems, while unrestricted wavefunctions give reasonably good energies, but with severe spin contamination. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Determination of Fucose Concentration in a Lectin-Based Displacement Microfluidic Assay

We compare three different methods to quantify the monosaccharide fucose in solutions using the displacement of a large glycoprotein, lactoferrin. Two microfluidic analysis methods, namely fluorescence detection of (labeled) lactoferrin as it is displaced by unlabeled fucose and the displacement of (unlabeled) lactoferrin in SPR, provide fast responses and continuous data during the experiment, theoretically providing significant information regarding the interaction kinetics between the saccharide groups and binding sites. For comparison, we also performed a static displacement ELISA. The stationary binding site in all cases was immobilized S2-AAL, a monovalent polypeptide based on Aleuria aurantia lectin. Although all three assays showed a similar dynamic range, the microfluidic assays with fluorescent or SPR detection show an advantage in short analysis times. Furthermore, the microfluidic displacement assays provide a possibility to develop a one-step analytical platform.