Effects of medium and chemical modification on thermal characteristics of Β-lactoglobulin

The thermal properties of -lactoglobulin (-LG) were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) under different medium conditions.pH, neutral salts, protein perturbants, and polyols all affected the DSC characteristics of -LG. Acylation with fatty acids also changed the thermal properties, particularly peak width at half-height. The results suggest that the structural stability of -LG is controlled by non-covalent forces, particularly electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. Disulfide bonds did not contribute to the thermal response of -LG. Fatty N-acyl-amino acids caused marked increases in thermal stability and decreases in denaturation enthalpy, and additional peaks were observed in the presence of some palmitoyl derivatives.Contribution No. 2310, Centre for Food and Animal Research.We thank D. Raymond for her excellent technical assistance.     

Ga^3＋的新萃取体系的界面特性和胶团化作用研究

研究了Ｇａ~（３＋）协萃体系（Ｇａ~（３＋）－Ｄ_２ＥＨＰＡ－Ｈ_２ＭＰＡ－正十二烷－Ｈ_２ＳＯ_４）的界面吸附和胶团形成热力学，发现该萃取体系中［Ｈ_２ＭＰＡ］影响Ｄ_２ＥＨＰＡ和Ｈ_２ＭＰＡ的界面吸附性质。在中、高［Ｈ_２ＭＰＡ］范围内Ｄ_２ＥＨＰＡ与Ｈ_２ＭＰＡ的界面吸附行为相反，Ｄ_２ＥＨＰＡ的存在也影响Ｈ_２ＭＰＡ的界面吸附行为。研究了界面张力与各因素关系的数学模型，并获得某些胶团形成和界面吸附特性的物化参数。     

Liquid-liquid equilibria for mixtures of (ethylene carbonate + aromatic hydrocarbon + cyclohexane)

Liquid-liquid equilibrium data for mixtures of (ethylene carbonate + benzene + cyclohexane) at temperatures 303.15 and 313.15 K and (ethylene carbonate + BTX + cyclohexane) at temperature 313.15 K are reported, where the BTX is benzene, toluene and m-xylene. The compositions of liquid phases at equilibrium were determined by gas liquid chromatography. The selectivity factors and partition coefficients of ethylene carbonate for the extraction of benzene, toluene and m-xylene from (ethylene carbonate + BTX + cyclohexane) are calculated and presented. The obtained results are compared with the selectivity factors and partition coefficients of ethylene carbonate for the extraction of benzene from (ethylene carbonate + benzene + cyclohexane). The liquid-liquid equilibrium data were correlated with the UNIQUAC and NRTL activity coefficient models. The phase diagrams for the studied mixtures are presented and the correlated tie line results have been compared with the experimental data. The comparisons indicate the applicability of the UNIQUAC and NRTL activity coefficients model for liquid-liquid equilibrium calculations of the studied mixtures. The tie line data of the studied mixtures also were correlated using the Hand method.     

分散固相萃取结合气相色谱-高分辨质谱快速筛查酱油中多种氯丙醇

建立了酱油中1，3-二氯-2-丙醇、2，3-二氯-1-丙醇、3-氯-1，2-丙二醇和2-氯-1，3-丙二醇的分散固相萃取-气相色谱-高分辨质谱快速筛查检测方法。样品采用乙酸乙酯提取，提取液浓缩后经N-丙基乙二胺净化，气相色谱-高分辨质谱测定，内标法定量。结果表明，该方法对于酱油中4种氯丙醇的定量限为0.5~10 μg/kg。在3个浓度水平下的加标回收率为78%~103%；相对标准偏差均不大于8.8%。该方法快速、简便、准确、灵敏，可作为酱油中4种氯丙醇的有效检测方法。     

煤中氯在亚临界水条件下的变迁

运用半连续反应装置对山西吴家坪煤和四川华蓥山煤中氯在亚临界水条件下的脱除规律及形态变化进行了研究。考察了反应温度和压力对氯脱除率的影响；同时还运用化学提取法对原煤及残渣中氯的形态进行了研究。研究结果表明,随着反应温度的升高，煤中氯的脱除率也增加，在410℃、15MPa、60min、水流量为580mL/h时，吴家坪煤中氯的脱除率为84.6%，华蓥山煤中氯的脱除率为72.4%。吴家坪煤中氯在15MPa时的脱除率最大。华蓥山煤中氯主要以有机氯的形态存在，而吴家坪煤中氯有8%为离子可交换态的无机氯，其余为有机结合的氯；在亚临界水萃取煤的过程中，离子交换态结合的有机氯比共价键结合的有机氯更容易挥发,有机氯要首先转化为无机氯然后再逸出。     

Rapid quantification of HIV protease inhibitors in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

HIV protease inhibitors are important antiretroviral drugs which have substantially reduced the morbidity and mortality associated with HIV-1 infection. Recent data have shown relationships between plasma concentrations of the protease inhibitors and clinical response, which makes therapeutic drug monitoring valuable. We have developed and validated an assay, using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), for the routine quantification of the six licensed protease inhibitors (amprenavir, indinavir, lopinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir and saquinavir) and the pharmacologically active nelfinavir metabolite M8 in plasma. The sample pretreatment consisted of protein precipitation with a mixture of methanol and acetronitrile using only 100 microl of plasma. Chromatographic separation was performed on an Inertsil ODS3 column (50 x 2.0 mm i.d., particle size 5 microm), with a quick stepwise gradient using an acetate buffer (pH 5) and methanol, at a flow rate of 0.5 ml min(-1). The analytical run time was 5.5 min. The use of a 96-well plate autosampler allowed batch sizes up to 150 patient samples. The triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer was operated in the positive ion mode and multiple reaction monitoring was used for drug quantification. The method was validated over the concentration ranges 0.01-10 microg ml(-1) for indinavir and saquinavir, 0.1-10 microg ml(-1) for amprenavir, 0.05-10 microg ml(-1) for nelfinavir and ritonavir, 0.1-20 microg ml(-1) for lopinavir and 0.01-5 microg ml(-1) for M8. Saquinavir-d(5) and indinavir-d(6) were used as internal standards. The coefficients of variation were always <10% for both intra-day and inter-day precisions for each compound. Mean accuracies were also between the designated limits (+/-15%). The validated concentration ranges proved to be adequate in daily practice. This robust and fast LC/MS/MS assay is now successfully applied for routine therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacokinetic studies in our hospital.     

Solid Phase Extraction and Simultaneous Spectrophotometric Determination of Trace Amounts of Copper and Iron Using Mixture of Ligands

 A novel sensitive and simple method for rapid and selective extraction, preconcentration and determination of iron (as its bathophenanthroline complex) and copper (as its neocuproine complex) using octadecyl silica cartridges and dual wavelength spectrophotometry is presented. The dual wavelength method (533 nm for the iron-bathophenanthroline and 454 nm for the copper-neocuproine as the analytical wavelength) is used to eliminate spectral interferences. Extraction efficiency and the influence of flow rates of sample solution and eluent, pH, amount of neocuproine, bathophenanthroline and hydroxylamine hydrochloride, type and least amount of eluent for elution of iron and copper complexes from cartridge, break-through volume and limit of detection are evaluated. The effects of various cationic and anionic interferences on percent recovery of iron and copper are also studied. Extraction efficiencies >95% are obtained by elution of cartridges with minimal amount of organic solvent. Iron and copper were determined in the range of 3–100 ng mL⁻¹. The limits of detection are 0.98 and 1.13 ng mL⁻¹ for iron and copper, respectively. The proposed method is applied successfully to the determination of both analytes in river, tap and well water samples. Author for correspondence. E-mail: yyamini@modares.ac.ir Received September 18, 2002; accepted December 12, 2002 Published online May 5, 2003     

Supercritical fluid extraction of flumetralin in tobacco

Summary This work evaluates the level of Flumetralin residues in real tobacco samples. Conventional extraction methods were compared with SFE methods in both static and dynamic modes using CO₂ and CO₂ with modifier. Additionally, in the dynamic SFE mode, different collection approaches, such as collection at room temperature without solvent, collection at room temperature in the presence of solvent (hexane) and collection in an ice bath, without solvent, were studied. SFE showed itself to be a promising extraction technique for pesticide residues in tobacco samples.     

Relative stability of major types of beta-turns as a function of amino acid composition: a study based on Ab initio energetic and natural abundance data

Folding properties of small globular proteins are determined by their amino acid sequence (primary structure). This holds both for local (secondary structure) and for global conformational features of linear polypeptides and proteins composed from natural amino acid derivatives. It thus provides the rational basis of structure prediction algorithms. The shortest secondary structure element, the beta-turn, most typically adopts either a type I or a type II form, depending on the amino acid composition. Herein we investigate the sequence-dependent folding stability of both major types of beta-turns using simple dipeptide models (-Xxx-Yyy-). Gas-phase ab initio properties of 16 carefully selected and suitably protected dipeptide models (for example Val-Ser, Ala-Gly, Ser-Ser) were studied. For each backbone fold most probable side-chain conformers were considered. Fully optimized 321G RHF molecular structures were employed in medium level [B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)//RHF/3-21G] energy calculations to estimate relative populations of the different backbone conformers. Our results show that the preference for beta-turn forms as calculated by quantum mechanics and observed in Xray determined proteins correlates significantly.     

Synthesis of nitro and amino derivatives of benzothiacrown ethers

The condensation reaction of 1,2-bis(2-haloethoxy)-4-nitrobenzenes with acyclic α,ω-(oxa)alkanedithiols in the presence of alkali metal carbonates produced a series of nitrobenzodithiacrown ethers with macrocycles of different size. The structures of three ethers were established by X-ray diffraction. A new method was developed for the synthesis of nitrobenzomonothia-15-crown-5 ether. Nitro derivatives of benzodithiacrown ethers were tested as reagents for extraction of palladium(II), platinum(IV), and rhodium(III) from hydrochloric acid solutions. Extraction of Pd^II salts was found to be highly selective compared to that of Pt^IV and Rh^III salts. Benzodithia-15-crown-5 ether is the most efficient extractant for palladium(II). Reduction of nitrobenzothiacrown ethers with hydrazine hydrate in the presence of a platinum catalyst afforded their amino derivatives. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 958–966, May, 2007.