Quantitative trace analysis of eight chloramphenicol isomers in urine by chiral liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic with, apart from its human medicinal use, veterinary abuse in all major food-producing animals. Chloramphenicol occurs in four stereoisomers (all para-nitro substituted) and furthermore four meta-nitro analogs of chloramphenicol exist. In this paper these are referred to as eight chloramphenicol isomers. According to EU regulations an analytical method should be able to discriminate the analyte from interfering substances that might be present in the sample, including isomers. For the first time a quantitative method for the analysis of trace levels of eight chloramphenicol isomers in urine by chiral liquid chromatography in combination with tandem mass spectrometric detection is reported. The separation of the isomers on the analytical column, the clean-up of urine and the selectivity of the monitored product ions turned out to be critical parameters. To obtain reproducible retention isocratic elution on a chiral AGP column was applied. For urine samples matrix compounds present in the final extract caused decreased retention of the isomers on the chiral stationary phase and a lack of chromatographic resolution. Therefore an extended clean-up procedure that combines solid phase extraction and liquid-liquid extraction had to be developed. The final method was fully validated and showed satisfactory performance for all isomers with decision limits (CCα) ranging from 0.005 to 0.03 μg L(-1) and within-laboratory reproducibility of all isomers below 20% at the minimum required performance limit level of 0.3 μg L(-1).     

Selective solvation effects in phase separation in aqueous mixtures

Selective solvation can be crucial in phase separation in polar binary mixtures (water–oil) with a small amount of hydrophilic ions or hydrophobic particles. They are preferentially attracted to one of the solvent components, leading to a number of intriguing effects coupled to phase separation. For example, if cations and anions interact differently with the two components, an electric double layer emerges at a liquid–liquid interface. The main aim of this paper is to show that a strongly hydrophilic (hydrophobic) solute induces precipitation of water-rich (oil-rich) domains above a critical solute density n_p outside the solvent coexistence curve.     

Ultrafast Electron Transfer from Photoexcited CdSe Quantum Dots to Methylviologen

The ultrafast charge separation at the quantum dot (QD)/molecular acceptor interface was investigated in terms of acceptor concentration and the size of the QD. Time‐resolved experiments revealed that the electron transfer (ET) from the photoexcited QD to the molecular acceptor methylviologen (MV²⁺) occurs on the fs time scale for large acceptor concentrations and that the ET rate is strongly reduced for low concentrations. The increase in the acceptor concentration is accompanied with a growth in the overlap of donor and acceptor wavefunctions, resulting in a faster reaction until the MV²⁺ concentration reaches a saturation limit of 0.3–0.4 MV²⁺ nm^?2. Moreover, we found significant QD size dependence of the ET reaction, which is explained by a change of the free energy (ΔG).     

Combination of MOFs and zeolites for mixed-matrix membranes

Mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared by combinations of two different kinds of porous fillers [metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) HKUST-1 and ZIF-8, and zeolite silicalite-1] and polysulfone. In the search for filler synergy, the MMMs were applied to the separation of CO(2)/N(2), CO(2)/CH(4), O(2)/N(2), and H(2)/CH(4) mixtures and we found important selectivity improvements with the HKUST-1-silicalite-1 system (CO(2)/CH(4) and CO(2)/N(2) separation factors of 22.4 and 38.0 with CO(2) permeabilities of 8.9 and 8.4 Barrer, respectively).     

Functional mixed metal-organic frameworks with metalloligands

Immobilization of functional sites within metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is very important for their ability to recognize small molecules and thus for their functional properties. The metalloligand approach has enabled us to rationally immobilize a variety of different functional sites such as open metal sites, catalytic active metal sites, photoactive metal sites, chiral pore environments, and pores of tunable sizes and curvatures into mixed metal-organic frameworks (M'MOFs). In this Minireview, we highlight some important functional M'MOFs with metalloligands for gas storage and separation, enantioselective separation, heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis, sensing, and as photoactive and nanoscale drug delivery and biomedical imaging materials.     

Separation of nitrophenols. Equilibriums in bi- and tri-phasic systems

The paper presents experimental data obtained in the study of liquid–liquid partition equilibriums in biphasic system in order to optimize the process of transport through bulk liquid membranes (triphasic partition systems). The partition equilibriums of some nitrophenols using chloroform as extraction solvent and membranary solvent, respectively, were studied. The influence of the pH on the partition equilibriums was investigated. The repartition constants and the pK_a values of the studied nitrophenols were calculated. Nitrophenols were transferred in triphasic system from a feed phase with pH 2, through a chloroform liquid membrane, into a receiving phase with pH 12, with efficiencies over 90%.     

Separation work analysis of cohesive law and consistently coupled cohesive law

An appropriate coupled cohesive law for predicting the mixed mode failure is established by combining normal separation and tangential separation of surfaces in the cohesive zone model(CZM) and the cohesive element method.The Xu-Needleman exponential cohesive law with the fully shear failure mechanism is one of the most popular models.Based on the proposed consistently coupled rule/principle,the Xu-Needleman law with the fully shear failure mechanism is proved to be a non-consistently coupled cohesive la...     

On an inverse problem of reconstructing a subdiffusion process from nonlocal data

We consider a problem of modeling the thermal diffusion process in a closed metal wire wrapped around a thin sheet of insulation material. The layer of insulation is assumed to be slightly permeable. Therefore, the temperature value from one side affects the diffusion process on the other side. For this reason, the standard heat equation is modified, and a third term with an involution is added. Modeling of this process leads to the consideration of an inverse problem for a one‐dimensional fractional evolution equation with involution and with periodic boundary conditions with respect to a space variable. This equation interpolates heat equation. Such equations are also called nonlocal subdiffusion equations or nonlocal heat equations. The inverse problem consists in the restoration (simultaneously with the solution) of the unknown right‐hand side of the equation, which depends only on the spatial variable. The conditions for overdefinition are initial and final states. Existence and uniqueness results for the given problem are obtained via the method of separation of variables.     

一种低原子序数元素EDX RF的多次导-样条小波解析方法研究

能量色散X射线荧光（EDXRF）光谱分析待测元素的信息主要反映在能谱的特征峰峰位以及特征峰净峰面积中。对于特征峰的准确检测是EDXRF光谱分析的关键。特征X射线之间的能量在低原子序数元素中相差很小,在实际测量过程中由其他一些因素干扰会导致EDXRF光谱中特征峰产生严重重叠,以EDXRF光谱中低序列元素的重叠峰作为研究对象,提出一种四次导数结合三样条小波变换处理低序列元素重叠峰的新方法。通过数学模型模拟重叠峰检测了该方法的可行性,并仿真了实测X荧光光谱数据进行检测得到良好的效果,通过使用了CIT-3000SY X 荧光元素录井仪实测T铅黄铜数据和混合轻元素数据荧光光谱作为验证。首先,介绍导数法以及三样条小波法分解重叠的原理。导数法阶数越高信号越畸形但可以有效提高重峰分离度,而三样条小波变换对低分离度重峰处理较为无力但能有效的保持峰型。通过Tsallis峰信号模拟重叠峰,模拟出3个峰信号,第1个峰和第2个峰的分离度R=0.33,第2个峰和第3个峰的分离度R=0.67,导数处理后信号任仍具有一部分重叠,但是导数处理后不仅保留了信号的峰位值,且出现了分离度变大的现象,而三样条小波对低分离度重叠峰的分解较为无力,但是对于分离度较大的重叠峰具有较好的效果,信号通过四次导增加分离度再进行三样条小波变换,通过调节样条小波分解层次的次数,然后对分解出的高频信号采取适当的系数进行放大,最后进行信号重构。实验实现了对模拟信号的分解。验证了此方法针对重叠峰分解具有可行性。实验采用分解4层的三样条小波变换以及放大6倍的高频信号。然后,处理仿真K元素的重叠光谱,实现了重叠峰的分解,通过仿真实验表明新方法能准确的识别峰位,结果表明只有1%之内的误差,证明了新方法对X荧光光谱重叠峰分解的适用性。最后用此方法对CIT-3000SY X荧光元素录井仪实测T铅黄铜元素数据以及混合轻元素数据X荧光光谱进行处理,实现了对重叠峰的分解,且分解后的峰位误差控制在1%之内,具有较高的准确率。实验结果证明：四次导数结合三样条小波变换能有效分离重叠峰,并且在处理X荧光光谱的重叠峰分解上具有实用性。