Mössbauer effect of iodine at pressures to 30 GPa

We report the first high pressure¹²⁹I Mössbauer measurements with elemental iodine at pressures to 30 GPa. A 20 mg/cm^{2 129}I₂ absorber was mounted in a diamond anvil cell with an effective diameter of 0.21 mm. The source used was Mg₃ ^129mTeO₆. Experiments were performed mainly at 4 K and the pressure was monitored by the ruby fluorescence method. With increasing pressure we observe a gradual decrease in ¦e²qQ¦ and an increase in IS and values of the low pressure, molecular phase; at 16 GPa a new phase (HP1) is detected characterized by a change in sign of e²qQ and a smaller value of ¦e²qQ¦, and a substantial increase in . At 24 GPa a new phase (HP2) is formed that is characterized by a smaller value of . In general the population of the molecular phase decreases from 1.0 near 15 GPa to a value of 0.4 at 30 GPa. The fraction of the high pressure phase (HP1 + HP2) increases at the expense of the molecular phase and that of the HP2 at the expense of the HP1 phase. These observations are discussed in relation to the onset of a metallic phase near 16 GPa and recent x-ray diffraction studies.Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy.     

Treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma with extracorporeal photopheresis induces Fas-ligand expression on treated T cells,but does not suppress the expression of co-stimulatory molecules on monocytes

Following extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), lymphocytes become apoptotic and upregulate class I MHC antigenic peptides. Conversely, ECP treated monocytes demonstrate activation markers and have an increased avidity for the phagocytosis of apoptotic T cells. Processing of apoptotic T cells by monocytes, following ECP, is thought to induce an immunomodulatory response, which targets untreated, but clonal T cells. Recently we detected apoptotic lymphocytes immediately post ECP. Although enhanced CD95 (Fas) expression has been observed 24 h post ECP, CD95 and Fas-ligand (Fas-L) expression have not been determined at this very early apoptotic stage. Exposure of monocytes to UV has previously suppressed expression of the co-stimulatory molecules required for the presentation of processed antigens to T cells. Our data demonstrate no increase in CD95 or Fas-L expression on T cells tested immediately following ECP. However, the number of T cells expressing Fas-L significantly increased 24 h post ECP (P<0.005). The expression of the co-stimulatory molecules, CD54, CD80 and CD86, remained unaltered on monocytes treated by ECP. Although the mechanism responsible for early induction of lymphocyte apoptosis remains unclear, the later apoptosis involves Fas-L expression. The maintenance of co-stimulatory molecules, on treated monocytes, indicates that they retain the ability to induce an immunomodulatory response.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of benzodiazepines in human plasma

A simple and sensitive method for determination of benzodiazepines in plasma has been developed using high-performance liquid chromatography in a reverse-phase mode. The method is illustrated by application to plasma samples containing diazepam and N-desmethyldiazepam at concentrations which would be encountered during therapy, with limits of detection of 10 ng/ml and 2 ng/ml for diazepam and N-desmethyldiazepam, respectively.     

Effect of ionic additives on the elution of sodium aryl sulfonates in supercritical fluid chromatography

Addition of a small amount of polar solvent (i.e., modifier) to CO2 in packed column supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has shown major improvements in both polar analyte solubility and interaction of the polar analyte with the stationary phase. Recently, the addition of an ionic component (i.e., additive) to the primary modifier by one of us has been shown to extend even further the application of SFC to polar analytes. In this work, the effect of various ionic additives on the elution of ionic compounds, such as sodium 4-dodecylbenzene sulfonate and sodium 4-octylbenene sulfonate, has been studied. The additives were lithium acetate, ammonium acetate, tetramethylammonium acetate, tetrabutylammonium acetate, and ammonium chloride dissolved in methanol. Three stationary phases with different degrees of deactivation were considered: conventional cyanopropyl, deltabond cyanopropyl, and bare silica. The effect of additive concentration and additive functionality on analyte retention was investigated. Sodium 4-dodecylbenzene sulfonate was successfully eluted using all the additives with good peak shape under isocratic/isobaric/isothermal conditions. Different additives, however, yielded different retention times and in some cases different peak shapes.     

Polymer-additive extraction via pressurized fluids and organic solvents of variously cross-linked poly(methylmethacrylates)

Variously cross-linked poly(methylmethacrylates) (PMMAs) are synthesized with three additives incorporated at theoretically 1000 microg of the additive per gram of prepared polymer. The additives are Irganox 1010, Irganox 1076, and Irgafos 168. The in-house" synthesized polyacrylates are then subjected to supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) to determine if additive recovery is a function of percent cross-linking. Although considerable work in this regard has been performed with non-cross-linked polyolefins, the literature is lacking regarding polyacrylates. Some additive degradation apparently occurs during the synthesis, as judged by the increased complexity of the extract high-performance liquid chromatographic trace and the low percent recoveries observed especially for the Irganoxes. For low polymer cross-linking (1%), it appears that both PMMA synthetic reproducibility and readily observed polymer swelling during SFE are serious issues that adversely affect additive percent recovery and precision of results. Higher percent cross-linking yields more consistent analytical data than low percent cross-linking, even though the amount of additive extracted in all PMMA samples (regardless of cross-linking percentage) is essentially the same whether the extraction is via SFE or liquid-solid extraction with methylene chloride. Results for comparably cross-linked poly(ethylmethacrylate) and poly(butylmethacrylate) are similar to PMMA.     

Toward a total synthesis of peloruside A: enantioselective preparation of the C8-C19 region

An efficient synthetic sequence toward the C8-C19 region of peloruside A has been developed. The route is highlighted by a selective electrophilic cyclization reaction, a single-step epoxide ring-opening/methylation sequence, and a stereoselective Mukaiyama aldol reaction. [reaction: see text]