Determination of vitamin A (retinol) in infant formula and adult nutritionals by liquid chromatography: First Action 2011.15

During the "Standards Development and International Harmonization: AOAC INTERNATIONAL Mid-Year Meeting," held on June 29, 2011, an Expert Review Panel (ERP) reviewed the method for the "Determination of Vitamins A (Retinol) and E (alpha-Tocopherol) in Foods by Liquid Chromatography: Collaborative Study," published by Jonathan W. DeVries and Karlene R. Silvera in J. AOAC Int. in 2002. After evaluation of the original validation data, an ERP agreed in June 2011 that the method meets standard method performance requirements (SMPRs) for vitamin A, as articulated by the Stakeholder Panel on Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals. The ERP granted the method First Action status, applicable to determining vitamin A in ready-to-eat infant and adult nutritional formula. In an effort to achieve Final Action status, it was recommended that additional information be generated for different types of infant and adult nutritional formula matrixes at varied concentration levels as indicated in the vitamin A (retinol) SMPR. Existing AOAC LC methods are suited for specific vitamin A analytical applications. The original method differs from existing methods in that it can be used to assay samples in all nine sectors of the food matrix. One sector of the food matrix was powdered infant formula and gave support for the First Action approval for vitamin A in infant and adult nutritional formula. In this method, standards and test samples are saponified in basic ethanol-water solution, neutralized, and diluted, converting fats to fatty acids and retinol esters to retinol. Retinol is quantitated by an LC method, using UV detection at 313 or 328 nm for retinol. Vitamin concentration is calculated by comparison of the peak heights or peak areas of retinol in test samples with those of standards.     

Wigner lattice of ripplopolarons in a multielectron bubble in helium

The properties of ripplonic polarons in a multielectron bubble in liquid helium are investigated on the basis of a path-integral variational method. We find that the two-dimensional electron gas can form deep dimples in the helium surface, or ripplopolarons, to solidify as a Wigner crystal. We derive the experimental conditions of temperature, pressure and number of electrons in the bubble for this phase to be realized. This predicted state is distinct from the usual Wigner lattice of electrons: it melts by dissociation of the ripplopolarons when the electrons shed their localizing dimple as the pressure on the multielectron bubble drops below a critical value. Received 20 February 2003 Published online 11 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Also at: TU Eindhoven, Eindhoven, The Netherlands e-mail: devreese@uia.ua.ac.be     

Determination of traces of Ni in Li(2)CO(3)/Na(2)CO(3) melts by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A graphite furnace atomic absorption method is described for the determination of traces of Ni in 52 mole percent (mol.%) Li₂CO₃ and 48 mol.% Na₂CO₃ melts after dissolution of the sample in dilute nitric acid. Maximum pyrolysis and optimum atomisation temperatures for the analyte were determined in the presence of the Li and Na matrix constituents. Pre-pyrolysed ascorbic acid (typical amount of 5 μg) has been used as chemical modifier for effectively suppressing the chemical and spectral interferences of the Li/Na matrix, thus that the analysis can be conducted using acid-matched standard solutions. The results of the Ni analysis in synthetic sample solutions by calibration graph against acid-matched standards well agree with those obtained by the method of standard additions. Recoveries ranged from 99 to 101% and the relative standard deviation is around 3% at the 20 μg L⁻¹ level. Moreover, the use of the chemical modifier leads to an improvement of the lifetime of the graphite tube. The Ni detection limit (3σ) in Li/Na carbonate melts for the proposed method is similar to that obtained in aqueous solution, i.e. 5 × 10⁻⁸ g analyte per gram of (Li_0.52Na_0.48) ₂CO₃ melt. This method is successfully applied to the determination of nickel in real carbonate melt samples.     

Roton softening in the solid hydrogens

We present a theory of the roton excitations in high-density J = 0 solid hydrogen. We have calculated dispersion relations and density of states as a function of the density of the solids for both hcp and fcc structures. Increasing the density of the rotationally symmetric fcc solid leads to roton softening. When the X₅ roton energy becomes imaginary symmetry breaking of the ground state occurs, resulting in an orientationally ordered solid.