Ion chromatography-mass spectrometry: A review of recent technologies and applications in forensic and environmental explosives analysis

The development and application of ion chromatography (IC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) is discussed herein for the quantitative determination of low-order explosives-related ionic species in environmental and forensic sample types. Issues relating to environmental explosives contamination and the need for more confirmatory IC-MS based applications in forensic science are examined. In particular, the compatibility of a range of IC separation modes with MS detection is summarised along with the analytical challenges that have been overcome to facilitate determinations at the ng–μg L⁻¹ level. Observed trends in coupling IC to inductively coupled plasma and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry form a particular focus. This review also includes a discussion of the relative performance of reported IC-MS methods in comparison to orthogonal ion separation-based, spectrometric and spectroscopic approaches to confirmatory detection of low-order explosives. Finally, some promising areas for future research are highlighted and discussed with respect to potential IC-MS applications.     

Tripartite entanglement of fermionic system in accelerated frames

The dynamics of tripartite entanglement of fermionic system in noninertial frames through linear contraction criterion when one or two observers are accelerated is investigated. In one observer accelerated case the entanglement measurement is not invariant with respect to the partial realignment of different subsystems and for two observers accelerated case it is invariant. It is shown that the acceleration of the frame does not generate entanglement in any bipartite subsystems. Unlike the bipartite states, the genuine tripartite entanglement does not completely vanish in both one observer accelerated and two observers accelerated cases even in the limit of infinite acceleration. The degradation of tripartite entanglement is fast when two observers are accelerated than when one observer is accelerated. It is shown that tripartite entanglement is a better resource for quantum information processing than the bipartite entanglement in noninertial frames.     

Fixed point theorems and best approximation in convex metric spaces

Results regarding best approximation and best Simultaneous approximation on convex metric spaces are Obtained. Existence of fixed points for an ultimately nonexpansive semigroup of mappings is also shown. This work is supported by NSRDB grant No. M.SC.SC. (5)/QAU/90.     

Investigation of Fatty Acid Composition of Ammi majus Seed Oil by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

The Ammi majus seeds oil constituents of methyl ester derivatives of fatty acids were analyzed using Gas Chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer. The results obtained containing the saturated as well as unsaturated fatty acids of majus seeds oils. A total of 18 different components were identified and quantified. Methyl ester of linoleic acid was found in high concentration 9.00%, among the identified analytes of interest. In addition methyl ester of Oleic acid 5.60%, Palmitic acid 3.98% Linolenic acids 1.42% were found. Concentration of the rest of identified fatty acids analytes were less than 1%. Thus from the results it is apparent that due to the presence of high percentage of valuable analytes concentrations detected in the fatty acid of A. majus, has increased its importance for the consumption in the pharmaceuticals as well as its applications in the new formulations for various skin diseases to prevent and cure from different infections.     

Recent trends in the determination of biogenic amines in fermented beverages – A review

Biogenic amines (BA) are generally considered as a food hazard, even though there is not a threshold for these biomolecules in the European legislation, except for histamine in fishery products. These compounds are formed during the storage and processing of certain foods through microbiological activity, and when present in high concentrations, could have toxicological effects, causing health problems in consumers, especially to sensitive persons. This fact, in addition to the economical concern involved, makes it necessary to control the amounts of biogenic amines in foods. For all these reasons, literature on biogenic amines in different food products, especially in fermented beverages, is extensive. This review provides an overview of the most recent trends in the determination of biogenic amines in fermented beverages focusing on novelty, improvement and optimization of analytical methods. Hence, the different sample treatment procedures (including derivatization), the most important analytical techniques and the most frequent applications are described and discussed. Although biogenic amines have been determined in wine and other fermented beverages for decades, new advancements and technical possibilities have allowed to increase the accuracy and sensitivity of analytical methods, in order to overcome the challenges posed by the complex matrices and their high intrinsic variability. Thus, the different purposes of BA determination (food safety, production process or food microbiology research) and the most widely employed analytical techniques have been reviewed.     

Synthesis and anti-bacterial activities of some novel Schiff bases derived from aminophenazone

A series of 1,5-dimethyl-2-phenyl-1,2-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one-containing Schiff bases were synthesized, characterized and screened for their antibacterial activities. The structures of the synthesized compounds were established by spectroscopic (FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, MS) and elemental analyses. The anti-bacterial activities (with MIC values) of compounds were evaluated. The anti-bacterial screening results reveal that among the six compounds screened, four compounds showed moderate to good anti-bacterial activity. Among the tested compounds, the most effective compounds against four bacterial strains, viz. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium and Streptococcus pyogenes, are [(2-chlorobenzylidene)amino]-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenyl-1,2-dihydropyrazol-3-one (4) and [(1,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-ylimino)methyl]benzonitrile (5) with MIC values of 6.25 μg/mL.     

Effect of light intensity and wavelengths on photodegradation reactions of riboflavin in aqueous solution

A study of the effect of light intensity and wavelengths on photodegradation reactions of riboflavin (RF) solutions in the presence of phosphate buffer using three UV and visible radiation sources has been made. The rates and magnitude of the two major photodegradation reactions of riboflavin in phosphate buffer (i.e., photoaddition and photoreduction) depend on light intensity as well as the wavelengths of irradiation. Photoaddition is facilitated by UV radiation and yields cyclodehydroriboflavin (CDRF) whereas photoreduction results from normal photolysis yielding lumichrome (LC) and lumiflavin (LF). The ratios of the photoproducts of the two reactions at 2.0 M phosphate concentration, CDRF/RF (0.09-0.22) and CDRF/LC (0.54-1.75), vary with the radiation source and are higher with UV radiation than those of the visible radiation. On the contrary, the ratios of LF/LC (0.15-0.25) increase on changing the radiation source from UV to visible. The rate is much faster with UV radiation causing 25% degradation of a 10(-5) M riboflavin solution in 7.5 min compared to that of visible radiations in 150-330 min.