Solid phase extraction for the speciation and preconcentration of inorganic selenium in water samples: A review

Selenium is an essential element for the normal cellular function of living organisms. However, selenium is toxic at concentrations of only three to five times higher than the essential concentration. The inorganic forms (mainly selenite and selenate) present in environmental water generally exhibit higher toxicity (up to 40 times) than organic forms. Therefore, the determination of low levels of different inorganic selenium species in water is an analytical challenge. Solid-phase extraction has been used as a separation and/or preconcentration technique prior to the determination of selenium species due to the need for accurate measurements for Se species in water at extremely low levels. The present paper provides a critical review of the published methods for inorganic selenium speciation in water samples using solid phase extraction as a preconcentration procedure. On the basis of more than 75 references, the different speciation strategies used for this task have been highlighted and classified. The solid-phase extraction sorbents and the performance and analytical characteristics of the developed methods for Se speciation are also discussed.     

Slurry Sampling Electrothermal Vaporization Combined with ICP-AES for Direct Analysis of Environmental Samples

In this article, a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) slurry was used as a chemical modifier for direct determination of trace elements in environmental samples by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ETV-ICP-AES) with slurry sampling. The vaporization behaviors of the analytes in slurry and solution were comparatively studied in the presence of PTFE. The main influence factors for this method were examined. Under the optimum operating conditions, the precision of this method was better than 7% with the detection limits varying from 1.7 ng mL^?1 (Cu) to 203 ng mL^?1 (Zn). The proposed method has been applied to the direct determination of the trace elements in camphor tree leaves and standard reference material (the combined sample of branch and leaf of shrub, GBW 07603) with satisfactory results.     

Automated PCB Analysis,Quantitation and Reporting

Abstract

Sample analysis from a variety of matrices was performed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Average relative response factors were calculated for each polychlorinated biphenyl homologue (tri-to deca-chlorobiphenyl) using in-house calibration standard solutions. Sample quantitation using RRFs provided homologue specific results. A series of software macros were used to automate the interpretation of spectral data and the selection of possible PCB congener peaks.     

Influence of environmental factors on corrosion damage of aircraft structure

Corrosion is one of the important structural integrity concerns of aging aircraft, and it is estimated that a significant portion of airframe maintenance budgets is directed towards corrosion-related problems for both military and commercial aircraft. In order to better understand how environmental factors influence the corrosion damage initiation and propagation on aircraft structure and to predict pre-corrosion test pieces of fatigue life and structural integrity of an effective approach, this paper uses the cellular automaton (CA) method to character the effect of electrolyte concentrations, dissolution probabilities, and temperature on the corrosion damage of a metal structure exposed to an aggressive environment, and the procedure for applying the local rules between the cells of the CA to simulate the corrosion damage evolution is formulated. The simulation results show that the different electrolyte concentrations, dissolution probabilities and temperature, the laws of the dissolution current with time are investigated and they obey the time power function.     

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Nonasulfated Tetrahyaluronan with a Paramagnetic Tag for Studying Its Complex with Interleukin‐10

Implants and artificial biomaterials containing sulfated hyaluronans have been shown to improve the healing of injured skin and bones. It is hypothesized that these effects are mediated by the binding of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to growth factors and cytokines, resulting in the sequestering of proteins to the wound healing site and in modulated protein activity. Given that no direct synthetic access to sulfated oligohyaluronans has been available, little is known about their protein binding and the structure of the resulting protein complexes. Here, the chemoenzymatic preparation of oligohyaluronans on the gram scale is described. Oligohyaluronans are converted into anomeric azides at the reducing end, enabling the attachment of analytical labels through an anomeric ligation reaction. A nonasulfated tetrahyaluronan–ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid derivative has been produced and used as a paramagnetic tag for the elucidation of the complex of this ligand with interleukin‐10 using paramagnetic relaxation enhancement NMR analysis. The metal ion position is resolved with 1.0 Å, enabling a refined structural model of the complex.     

Significance of chemical enhancement effects in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals of aniline and aminobiphenyl isomers

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering is a useful technique for detecting low levels of aromatic amines as environmental contaminants because it can be used to detect and distinguish among their isomers based on their distinctive SERS spectra. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of measuring the concentrations of aminobiphenyls (ABPs) including 4-ABP, 3-ABP, and 2-ABP down to the levels of about 5, 50, and 250 μg/mL, respectively. The SERS signal intensities of ABPs are dependent on the pH values of the samples and colloidal media. The optimal sample pH values were found to be 6.86, 7.83, and 7.36, for 2-ABP, 3-ABP, and 4-ABP, respectively, whereas the optimum silver colloidal pH ranges from 5.0 to 6.5. A detailed analysis of the different vibrational modes of aniline and the ABP isomers was carried out using computational modeling based on the density functional theory (DFT). Compared to aniline, the ABPs produced greater SERS enhancement of the intensities for the biphenyl ring-breathing mode. The SERS signal for the NH₂ wagging band shows the order of enhancement as given by 4-ABP > 2-ABP > 3-ABP, which correlates well with the HOMO-LUMO energy gap based on the DFT modeling of the amines adsorbed on the silver cluster.     

Drug Design of “Undruggable” Targets

Drug innovation is not only reflected in the discovery of new chemotypes of active compounds against existing targets but also more dependent on the innovation of drug targets. Currently, a number of attractive and validated targets could not be targeted pharmacologically. Some have been described as “undruggable”. In this review, we summarized the current situation of “undruggable” targets, and the design strategies for “undruggable” targets, hoping to provide references for the development of innovative drugs.     

Dynamic stress intensity factors of two 3D rectangular cracks in a transversely isotropic elastic material under a time-harmonic elastic P-wave

The dynamic stress intensity factors (DSIFs) of two 3D rectangular cracks in a transversely isotropic elastic material under an incident harmonic stress wave are investigated by generalized Almansi’s theorem and the Schmidt method in the present paper. Using 2D Fourier transform and defining the jumps of displacement components across the crack surface as the unknown functions, three pairs of dual integral equations are derived. To solve the dual integral equations, the jumps of the displacement components across the crack surfaces are expanded in a series of Jacobi polynomials. Numerical examples are provided to show the effects of the geometric shape of the rectangular crack, the characteristics of the harmonic wave and the distance between two rectangular cracks on the DSIFs of the transversely isotropic elastic material.     

TOC／TN仪快速测定环境水样中的总氮

采用TOC／TN法测定了环境水样中的总氮。结果表明：其线性范围为0-20mg/L时,具有良好的线性关系，精密度RSD小于2％，对方法的回收率作了试验，所得结果在85．3％—99．1％之间。