Three‐phase solvent bar liquid‐phase microextraction combined with high‐performance liquid chromatography to determine sarcosine in human urine

Sarcosine is a potential prostate cancer marker. In this study, we developed a method of three‐phase solvent bar liquid‐phase microextraction combined with high‐performance liquid chromatography to determine sarcosine after derivatization with 4‐dimethylarminoazobenzene‐4‐sulfonyl chloride from human urine. The effects of different extraction conditions on extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under optimum experimental conditions, a calibration graph exhibited linearity over the range of 0.05–25 μmol/L with a correlation coefficient (r²) of 0.9990. The enrichment factor was 168, and the detection limit was 0.02 μmol/L. The method was successfully used to analyze sarcosine in human urine and non‐invasive detection, and good spiked recoveries ranging from 90.5 to 93.6% were obtained. The proposed method exhibited high sensitivity, high enrichment factor, good precision, and a simple setup. It may contribute to the early accurate diagnosis and the progression monitoring of prostatic carcinoma.     

Failure of hypoellipticity for the canonical solution to $${\bar\partial_b}$$ on some nilpotent Lie groups

In this paper we show that Kohn’s solution to the \({\bar\partial_b}\) problem fails to be hypoelliptic on some class of high codimension submanifolds of \({\mathbb{C}^n}\). The examples presented here carry a Lie group structure which generalize the one-dimensional Heisenberg group.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of ligand-induced backbone conformational changes in the binding site of the periplasmic lysine-, arginine-, ornithine-binding protein

The periplasmic lysine-, arginine-, ornithine-binding protein (LAOBP) traps its ligands by a large hinge bending movement between two globular domains. The overall geometry of the binding site remains largely unchanged between the open (unliganded) and closed (liganded) forms, with only a small number of residues exhibiting limited movement of their side chains. However, in the case of the ornithine-bound structure, the backbone peptide bond between Asp11 and Thr12 undergoes a large rotation. Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the origin and mechanism of this backbone movement. Simulations allowing flexibility of a limited region and of the whole binding site, with and without bound ligands, suggest that this conformational change is induced by the binding of ornithine, leading to the stabilisation of an energetically favourable alternative conformation.     

Twist‐dependent stacking energy of base‐pair steps in B‐DNA geometry: A density functional theory approach

Stacking energy of all the 10 unique DNA base‐pair steps (bp step) are calculated using density functional theory within the ultrasoft pseudopotential plane wave method and local density approximation for the exchange‐correlation functional. We have studied the dependence of stacking energy on twist angle, an aspect found difficult to explain using classical theory. We have found that the twist angle for different bp steps at stacking energy minimum matches extremely well with the values of average twist obtained from B‐DNA crystal structure data. This indicates that the use of a proper quantum chemical method to calculate the π‐π electronic interactions may explain stacking energy without incorporating hydrophobic interaction through solvent or effect of backbone through pseudobond. From the twist angle‐dependent stacking energy profile, we have also generated the probability distributions of twist for all the bp steps and calculated the variance of the distribution. Our calculated variances show similar trend to that of the experimental data for which sufficient numbers of data are available. The TA, AT, and CG doublets show large variances among the 10 possible bp steps, indicating their maximum flexibility. This might be the case of unusual deformation observed at the TATA‐box while binding to TBP protein. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008     

聚酰亚胺固相萃取搅拌棒的制备及其在环境水中酚类的分析应用

利用相转换法制备了聚酰亚胺吸附萃取搅拌棒,用5种有机酚作为评价标样,并与现有商品化吸附萃取搅拌棒进行比较。优化了萃取搅拌速度、溶液离子强度、萃取温度、萃取时间以及热解析温度和时间。在最佳实验条件下,100 mL 样品,30% NaCl,在25℃下,经活化5 min 后的聚酰亚胺吸附搅拌棒萃取30 min (800 r/ min),然后300℃热解析4 min,使目标物脱附,再进行色谱分析。目标物在大于两个数量级浓度范围内具有良好的线性(R≥0.9995),定量限(LOQ,S/ N=10)为0.028~0.123μg/ L,重复性为1.6%~9.7%。将SBSE 与气相色谱-质谱联用,对海水、自来水和污水中的酚类进行定性与定量分析,结果表明,聚酰亚胺吸附萃取搅拌棒具有良好的选择性,最高热解析温度350℃,在分析水中痕量极性化合物领域具有广阔应用前景。     

ICE Concentration Linked with Extractive Stirrer (ICECLES)

Trace and ultra-trace analysis can be difficult to achieve, especially for polar, more volatile, and/or thermally unstable analytes. A novel technique, coined ICE Concentration Linked with Extractive Stirrer (ICECLES), may help address this problem. The implementation of ICECLES described here combines stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) with freeze concentration (FC), where an aqueous solution is frozen during SBSE in order to concentrate analytes into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coated stir bar. Five test probe molecules with a range of log K_ows (2-butanol, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, dimethyl trisulfide and bromobenzene) were prepared from aqueous solutions using ICECLES. Thermal desorption gas–chromatography mass–spectrometry was then used to quantify these analytes. Parameters affecting the performance of ICECLES (e.g., freeze rate) were evaluated, with extraction at lower speeds resulting in higher extraction efficiencies, whereas the freeze rate and initial analyte concentration only had a minor effect. ICECLES produced much higher extraction efficiencies than SBSE alone, with signal enhancements of up to 474× SBSE. ICECLES also provided excellent reproducibility and lower LODs than SBSE for all compounds tested. ICECLES performed well when used to analyze multiple triazine pesticides and breakdown products in environmental surface waters. Overall, the ICECLES technique was excellent at preparing aqueous samples for trace analysis and shows promise as a novel analytical sample preparation technology.     

Development of a carbon‐nanoparticle‐coated stirrer for stir bar sorptive extraction by a simple carbon deposition in flame

Stir bar sorptive extraction is an environmentally friendly microextraction technique based on a stir bar with various sorbents. A commercial stirrer is a good support, but it has not been used in stir bar sorptive extraction due to difficult modification. A stirrer was modified with carbon nanoparticles by a simple carbon deposition process in flame and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry. A three‐dimensional porous coating was formed with carbon nanoparticles. In combination with high‐performance liquid chromatography, the stir bar was evaluated using five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as model analytes. Conditions including extraction time and temperature, ionic strength, and desorption solvent were investigated by a factor‐by‐factor optimization method. The established method exhibited good linearity (0.01–10 μg/L) and low limits of quantification (0.01 μg/L). It was applied to detect model analytes in environmental water samples. No analyte was detected in river water, and five analytes were quantified in rain water. The recoveries of five analytes in two samples with spiked at 2 μg/L were in the range of 92.2–106% and 93.4–108%, respectively. The results indicated that the carbon nanoparticle‐coated stirrer was an efficient stir bar for extraction analysis of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.     

Sol–gel coating of poly(ethylene glycol)‐grafted multiwalled carbon nanotubes for stir bar sorptive extraction and its application to the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water

Poly(ethylene glycol) grafted onto carboxyl‐terminated multi‐walled carbon nanotubes were prepared by the sol–gel technique as a stationary phase for stir bars. The analytical methodology included stir bar sorptive extraction with micellar desorption followed by liquid chromatography. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were used as the model compounds to evaluate the extraction performance. The extraction efficiency, for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from water samples, was optimized based on a chemometrics approach. The effect of the experimental parameters on the extraction response was investigated and the optimum extraction conditions were selected. Under the optimum conditions, the proposed method showed a good linearity within the different ranges for different analytes (e.g. 0.05–500 ng/mL for phenanthrene), a square of the correlation coefficient was higher than 0.999, and an appropriate limit of detection in the range of 0.013–0.072 ng/mL. The recoveries in all cases were above 94%, with relative standard deviations below 2.4%.     

Combination of sorption properties of polydimethylsiloxane and solid‐phase extraction sorbents in a single composite material for the passive sampling of polar and apolar pesticides in water

Passive sampling techniques have been developed as an alternative method for in situ integrative monitoring of trace levels of neutral pesticides in environmental waters. The objective of this work was to develop a new receiving phase for pesticides with a wide range of polarities in a single step. We describe the development of three new composite silicone rubbers, combining polydimethylsiloxane mechanical and sorption properties with solid‐phase extraction sorbents, prepared as a receiving phase for passive sampling. A composite silicone rubber composed of polydimethylsiloxane/poly(divinylbenzene‐co‐N‐vinylpyrrolidone) was selected by batch experiments for its high sorption properties for pesticides with octanol‐water partition coefficients ranging from 2.3 to 5.5. We named this composite material “Polar/Apolar Composite Silicone Rubber”. A structural study by scanning electron microscopy confirmed the homogeneous dispersion of the sorbent particles and the encapsulation of particles within the polydimethylsiloxane matrix. We also demonstrate that this composite material is resistant to common solvents used for the back‐extraction of analytes and has a maximal resistance temperature of 350°C. Therefore, the characteristics of the “Polar/Apolar Composite Silicone Rubber” meet most of the criteria for use as a receiving phase for the passive sampling of pesticides.