Capillary electrochromatographic separation of enantiomers under aqueous mobile phases on a covalently bonded cellulose derivative chiral stationary phase

A chemically bonded cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phase (CSP) was prepared by a radical polymerization reaction. The prepared CSP was packed into fused-silica capillaries with inner diameter of 75 microm to perform enantiomer separations in CEC. The electrochromatographic behavior of the CSP was investigated. On the prepared CSP, high EOF could be generated under acidic mobile phases, which represented an advantage for the separation of acidic enantiomers. Several neutral, acidic, and basic enantiomers were resolved on the prepared CSP under aqueous mobile phases. The column efficiencies were between 20,000 and 100,000 plates/m, which were much higher than those of HPLC. In addition, it was observed that the separation of some enantiomers benefited from the adoption of THF as mobile phase modifier.     

Newly designed flow field-flow fractionation channel for macromolecules and particles in the submicrometer and micrometer range

The flow field-flow fractionation (FIFFF) technique is a promising method for separating and analysing particles and large size macromolecules from a few nanometers to approximately 50 μm. A new fractionation channel is described featuring well defined flow conditions even for low channel heights with convenient assembling and operations features. The application of the new flow field-flow fractionation channel is proved by the analysis of pigments and other small particles of technical interest in the submicrometer range. The experimental results including multimodal size distributions are presented and discussed.     

Matrix separation of palladium and iridium by the cellulose anion exchanger Cellex T and the subsequent determination of palladium at theμg/g-level

The preconcentration and separation of palladium and iridium from base metals is studied with cellulose (Cellex T) and styrene-divinylbenzene (Varion AT 400) anion exchangers. In spite of lower capacity of Cellex T to chloride complexes of Pd and Ir, it allowed to get a higher preconcentration factor. Yields of 92–99% are achieved for Pd and 96–97% for Ir from the solutions containing great excess of base and heavy metals. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry is used for the final measurements. The procedure has been applied to the determination of palladium in natural samples.     

Performance of hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation in protein separation

Since hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation (HF FIFFF) utilizes a cylindrical channel made of a hollow-fiber membrane, which is inexpensive and simple in channel assembly and thus disposable, interests are increasing as a potential separation device in cells, proteins, and macromolecules. In this study, performance of HF FIFFF of proteins is described by examining the influence of flow rate conditions and length of fiber (polyacrylonitrile or PAN in this work) on sample recovery as well as experimental plate heights. The interfiber reproducibility in terms of separation time and recovery was also studied. Experiments showed that sample recovery was consistent regardless of the length of fiber when the effective field strength (equivalent to the mean flow velocity at the fiber wall) and the channel void time were adjusted to be equivalent for channels of various fiber lengths. This supported that the majority of sample loss in HF FIFFF separation of apoferritin and their aggregates may occur before the migration process. It is finally demonstrated that HF FIFFF can be applied for characterizing the reduction in Stokes' size of low density lipoproteins from blood plasma samples obtained from patients having coronary artery disease and from healthy donors.     

Chemical separation and inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometric determination of seventeen trace metals in thorium oxide matrix using a novel extractant – Cyanex-923

Comprehensive studies have been carried out on the extraction behaviour of thorium matrix vis-a-vis 17 trace metallic elements using a novel extractant viz. Cyanex-923. The near total extraction of thorium and quantitative separation of these metals has been established using inductively coupled argon plasma–atomic emission spectrometry (ICP–AES). The recovery of few representative elements has been confirmed by radio-active tracer studies. The studies carried out here have enabled determination of μg/l amounts of all analyte elements with a precision of better than 1% RSD with prior chemical separation from as low as 1 g thorium sample in just five chemical extractions.     

Improved quantification limits in chiral capillary electrochromatography by peak compression effects

The peak compression effect has been applied to improve quantification limits in chiral capillary electrochromatography (CEC). A stationary phase based on the chiral selector vancomycin (Chirobiotic V) was used for separations of the enantiomers of mianserin. By adding solvents with a low dielectric constant, e.g. 2-propanol or tetrahydrofuran, to the sample solution, peak compression could be induced. The plate numbers for the minor enantiomer increased from approximately 100,000 to 1.4-1.6 million plates/m, when the composition of the mobile phase was adjusted so that the analyte eluted within either one of two system zones originating from the sample solution. A 10-fold improvement in the quantification limit for the minor enantiomer was obtained compared to elution under non-focused conditions.     

A membrane separation technique for optimizing sample preparation of MALDI-TOF MS detection

Here, we report a new method based on the combination of membrane separation technology and nanomaterial to rapid detection of peptides and protein with MALDI-TOF MS. This method shows advantages as it can inhibit the heterogeneous of sample spot and enhance the target molecular signal intensity.     

The microenvironment in polymer solids with added plasticizers. An attempt to measure the size and distribution of free volume in poly(methyl methacrylate) solids

Various amounts of n-alkylbenzenes (C_n: C₆H₅-C_nH_2n+1 (n = 3-16)) were doped into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films, and the emission and thermal properties of each film were measured in detail together with their solid-state ¹³C NMR spectra. The aim of the present work was to estimate the size distribution of free volume in amorphous regions of polymer solids heavily doped with plasticizers by using C_n as models of a plasticizer. The excimer fluorescence yields of C_n in PMMA were found to depend on both the amount of C_n and the length of the alkyl chains of C_n, although the fluorescence spectra of all of the C_ns in dilute fluid solution were almost the same. The quantitative analysis showed: (1) C_n with n ? 12 induces a phase separation in PMMA, in which almost all of the C_n molecules are in a separated phase, and thus they cannot penetrate regions in which PMMA chains are aggregated. This means that C_n with n ? 12 cannot enlarge the space between PMMA chains. (2) Smaller C_n (n < 11) can enter free volumes between PMMA chains that correspond to their molecular size, but they can enlarge them only to a limited extent. Thus, the amount by which plasticization can increase the free volume of PMMA is limited by the size of the dopant and the inherent free volume of the polymer matrix. (3) The efficiency of excimer formation was found to reveal the maximum amount of C_n that could fit in the free volume of PMMA. Thus our fluorescence measurements showed that PMMA solids that were plasticized to their limit had a free volume that was larger than the volume occupied by all the conformers of C₅ and smaller than the volume occupied by almost all the conformers of C₁₂. In conclusion, we were able to obtain information on plasticization and to demonstrate a method of monitoring microenvironments in polymer solids after they have been doped with plasticizers.     

变温红外光谱研究多嵌段聚氨脂脲的微相分离行为

用傅里叶变换红外光谱方法研究了热处理对由聚环氧丙烷聚醚多元醇、３．５－二乙基甲苯二胺和４，４－二苯基甲烷二异氰酸酯组成的多嵌段聚氨酯脲（ＳＰＵＵ）的微相分离行为的影响．从室温逐步升温到３１０℃的过程中，氨基甲酸酯键（ＵＴ）之间形成的氢键大量解离，而脲键（ＵＡ）之间形成的、具有平面状双分叉结构的氢键在１３０～２００℃范围却大量生成；从３１０℃缓慢冷却到室温后，部分游离的ＵＴ重新形成氢键，而硬段之间形成的ＵＡ氢键的含量又有所增加．结果表明：高温热处理可以有效地提高ＳＰＵＵ的微相分离程度．     

Modification of silica gel with diethylamino group by novel reaction and its characterization

1,3,5,7-Tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (H₄) was deposited on silica gel at 80°C by utilizing a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, where it was catalytically polymerized to form a surface coating of polymethylsiloxane (PMS). Treated silica gel (PMS-Si) increased in weight up to a plateau level, and there was no further increase with increasing reaction time. The film of PMS was partially cross linked; typical values of crosslinking ratio and film thickness were 2% and 0.6 nm, respectively. An anionic ion exchanger containing diethylamino groups was synthesized from PMS-Si by hydrosilylation of allyl glycidyl ether followed by treatment with diethylamine. Its structure was confirmed by¹³C and²⁹Si CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy and FT-IR spectrophotometry. Characterization of silica gel (DEA-Si) modified with diethylamino group was evaluated by a packing of the column for liquid chromatography. As a mixture of five nucleotides was completely separated, it was recognized that DEA-Si was operated by ion exchange action. Because the surface of the silica gel was covered with hydrophobic PMS, the peak heights and retention times did not change after washing of the column with alkaline solution.