Rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the quantitation of epirubicin and identification of metabolites in biological samples

A highly sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method has been developed for the determination of epirubicin in serum and cell specimens using daunorubicin as an internal standard. Using atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI), the epirubicin metabolites were readily distinguishable by their fragmentation pattern in the mass spectrometer. Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode was employed for quantitation of epirubicin and the metabolites. Following extraction, chromatography was performed on a C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of water-acetonitrile-formic acid, pH 3.2, with a flow rate of 200 μl/min. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) of this method in serum were determined to be 1.0 and 2.5 ng/ml, respectively. Linearity of the method was verified over the concentration range of 2.5-2000 ng/ml, with a high correlation coefficient (R² ≥ 0.998). For the extraction procedure, an aliquot of 500 μl serum, spiked with internal standard, was extracted using a chloroform-2-isopropanol (2:1, v/v) mixture. The method has been applied to the analysis of epirubicin in cancer cell samples and the identification of known and unknown metabolites in clinical trial patient serum samples.     

Solubility of gases in liquids. 18. High-precision determination of Henry fugacities for argon in liquid water at 2 to 40°C

The solubility of argon in pure liquid water was measured at ca. 100 kPa and from 2 to 40°C using an analytical method characterized by an imprecision of about ±0.05%. From the experimental results, Henry fugacities H _2,1 (T,P _s,1 ) (also known as Henry's Law constants or Henry coefficients) at the vapor pressure P _s,1 of water as well as Ostwald coefficients L _2,1 at infinite dilution were obtained. Measurements were made at roughly 0.5°C and/or 1° intervals between 2 and 8°C (region I), and at 5°C intervals above 10°C (region II). A difference plot lnH _2,1 /T suggests an unusual temperature dependence in region I, i.e., between 2 and 8°C. Because of this, the data were treated separately in two parts corresponding to these two regions. Our results are compared with the recent high-precision data of Krause and Benson (Henry fugacities), and with calorimetrically determined quantities (enthalpies and heat capacities of solution). Finally, experimental results are compared with values calculated via scaled particle theory.Communicated in part at the 2^nd International Symposium on Solubility Phenomena in Newark, New Jersey, August 12–15, 1986, and at the 4^th ISSP in Troy, New York, July 20–August 3, 1990.     

Ab Initio High Pressure Investigations of InI

The high pressure behaviour of InI is studied by DFT‐calculations and compared with experimental data. The existence of a 5s² electron pair in In⁺ represents an unfavourable bonding situation for high symmetry structures because of effective closed shell repulsion. Since cations with a ns² electron pair are highly polarizable and the electronic situation is more favourable in the low symmetry structure InI prefers a TlI‐type structure at ambient pressure. A pressure induced transition to the more densely packed high symmetry CsCl‐type structure takes place at about 19 GPa according to our calculations. At ambient pressure the interactions are predominantly ionic. However with increasing pressure the distances between In⁺ cations in the TlI‐type structure diminish drastically, mainly due to the changing space requirement of the lone electron pair. Apart from ionic interactions further bonding interactions between the In⁺ cations occur. At elevated pressure the electron localization function (ELF) as well as the band structure diagrams suggest metallic bonding between the In⁺ within the zigzag chain, i. e. increasing bonding interactions between the In⁺ cations due to the electron pair and its s‐p‐mixing. At ambient pressure In‐In interactions are rather weak and the space requirement of the lone electron pair mainly determines the characteristic arrangement of the ions. At elevated pressure the In‐In interactions become stronger and stabilise themselves additionally the specific structural arrangement.     

Conductance of aqueous NaCl solutions at pressures up to 2000 atm

Electrical conductance measurements are reported for aqueous NaCl solutions at 25°C as a function of concentration up to 0.02M and pressures up to 2000 atm. The data were analyzed with the Fuoss-Hsia-Fernandez-Prini (FHFP) equation. The standard error of fit, , varies from 0.04 at 1 atm to 0.10 at 2000 atm. The increase of with pressure arises from increasing non-randomness in the distribution of errors about the FHFP equation suggesting that modifications in the theory are necessary. The pressure dependence of _O for NaCl and KCl is nearly identical.Contribution of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, New Series     

High-Pressure Synthesis and Crystal Structure of B2S3

Two new high-pressure phases of binary boron-sulfur compounds, B₂S₃-II and B₂S₃-III, were synthesized at 3-6.2 GPa. A single crystal of B₂S₃-III was grown and the structure was determined (tetragonal, space group I4₁/a, a=16.086(2) Å, c=30.488(4) Å; V=7888(1) ų, Z=100, R=3.0% and R_w=2.8% for 3047 observed data [I>3.00σ(I)]. The structure of B₂S₃-III consists of two kinds of macrotetrahedra built up from 20 and 34 BS₄-tetrahedra. These macrotetrahedra connect each other to form an interpenetrating zincblende-type structure by sharing BS₄-tetrahedra at the corners of those. B₂S₃-III is anticipated having a rather disordered structure. From the UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectrum, the optical band gap of B₂S₃-III was estimated to be 3.7 eV.     

Hydrogen analysis in solid samples by utilizing He metastable atoms induced by TEA CO2 laser plasma in He gas at 1 atm

A TEA CO₂ laser (350 mJ–1.5 J, 10.6 μm, 200 ns, 10 Hz) was focused onto a metal sub-target under He as host gas at 1 atmospheric pressure with a small amount of impurity gas, such as water and ethanol vapors. It was found that the TEA CO₂ laser with the help of the metal sub-target is favorable for generating a strong, large volume helium gas breakdown plasma at 1 atmospheric pressure, in which the helium metastable-excited state was then produced overwhelmingly. While the metal sub-target itself was never ablated. The helium metastable-excited state produced after the strong helium gas breakdown plasma was considered to play an important role in exciting the atoms. This was confirmed by the specific characteristics of the detected H emission, namely the strong intensity with low background, narrow spectral width, and the long lifetime. This technique can be used for gas and solid samples analysis. For nonmetal solid analysis, a metal mesh was introduced in front of the nonmetal sample surface to help initiation of the helium gas breakdown plasma. For metal sample, analysis can be carried out by combining the TEA CO₂ laser and an Nd–YAG laser where the Nd–YAG laser is used to ablate the metal sample. The ablated atoms from the metal sample are then sent into the region of helium gas breakdown plasma induced by the TEA CO₂ laser to be excited through the helium metastable-excited state. This technique can be extended to the analysis of other elements, not limited only to hydrogen, such as halogens.     

Microwave and RF surface wave sustained discharges as plasma sources for plasma chemistry and plasma processing

The surface wave produced plasma belongs to a class of RF and microwave induced plasmas. It results from the propagation of an electromagnetic wave which uses the plasma column it sustains and the plasma tube as its sole propagating media. This type of plasma offers several advantages compared to the positive column plasma of dc discharges or to other RF and microwave produced plasmas. Surface wave plasmas require no internal electrodes, and they can be applied over an extremely broad range of wave frequencies (27 MHz to 10 GHz demonstrated) and gas pressures (about 10^–4 Torr to a few times the atmospheric pressures). Using the surface wave plasma technique, a large variety of plasma column diameters have been created (0.5–150 mm demonstrated) and no limitation on plasma column length (column up to 6 m long demonstrated) has been found. The surface wave produced plasma is used in elemental analysis and to sustain emission in lasing media. This article is intended as a guide for potential users of surface wave plasmas in the field of plasma processing and plasma chemistry.     

Dielectric studies under high pressure on strongly polar liquid crystals exhibiting monolayer smectic A phase

Dielectric studies have been performed at elevated pressures on two compounds of a homologous series possessing a strongly polar terminal group and three phenyl rings in their molecular structure. This is the first high pressure dielectric study on such systems that exhibit a monolayer smectic A phase. Also notable is the fact that these compounds show a dual frequency response, a promising feature for fast liquid crystal display devices. The low frequency relaxation recorded in the nematic and smectic A phases is attributed to the reorientation of the molecules about the short axis. The temperature and pressure dependence of the relaxation frequency of this mode as well as the involved activation parameters are discussed. At a given relative temperature the relaxation frequency decreases as the pressure is increased. However, the parameter that characterizes the temperature dependences of the relaxation frequency, viz., the activation enthalpy, has a very weak dependence on pressure. In contrast, the activation volume shows a linear decrease with temperature.     

Apparent molar volumes of aqueous calcium chloride to 250°C, 400 bars,and from molalities of 0.242 to 6.150

Relative densities of CaCl ₂ (aq) with 0.22ml(mol-kg^–1)6.150 were measured with vibrating- tube densimeters between 25 and 250°C and near 70 and 400 bars. Apparent molar volumes V calculated from the measured density differences were represented with the Pitzer ioninteraction treatment, with appropriate expressions chosen for the temperature and pressure dependence of the virial coefficients of the model. It was found that the partial molar volume at infinite dilution V ^o , and the second and third virial coefficients B ^V and C ^V , were necessary to represent V near the estimated experimental uncertainty. The ionic-strength dependent ^(1)v term in the B ^V coefficient was included in the fit. The representation for V has been integrated with respect to pressure to establish the pressure dependence of excess free energies over the temperature range studied. The volumetric data indicate that the logarithm of the mean ionic activity coefficient, ln ±(CaCl ₂ ), increases by a maximum of 0.3 at 400 bars, 250°C, and 6 mol-kg^–1 as compared with its value at saturation pressure.