Improvement of direct determination of Cu and Mn in seawater by GFAAS and total elimination of the saline matrix with the use of hydrofluoric acid

Hydrofluoric acid, added to seawater, can assist in the removal of chloride in the drying step by precipitating fluoride salts, thus suppressing the chloride interference effects induced on the atomization signals of Cu and Mn. By adding HF to seawater before the analysis, MgF₂ and CaF₂ are precipitated at the bottom of the sampling flask, without precipitating Cu and Mn, and are consequently not introduced into the graphite furnace. Because sodium salts are eliminated at the pretreatment step, the whole seawater matrix is eliminated before the atomization of Cu or Mn. Therefore, the analyzed volume of seawater can be increased by using the multi-injection procedure without degradation of the limit of detection and risks of spectral interferences. The limit of detection obtained for Cu and Mn are 0.05 and 0.01 μg L⁻¹, respectively, for a 50 μL analyzed seawater volume.     

The impact of flow injection on modern chemical analysis: has it fulfilled our expectations? And where are we going?

Presenting a condensation of the opening lecture of the 12th ICFIA conference, this communication presents a view of the impact that flow injection analysis (FIA) has had on modern analytical chemistry, evaluated both within the academic community and outside it, i.e. in “industry”. The ensuing developments of FIA, encompassing sequential injection analysis (SIA) and bead injection lab-on-valve (BI-LOV), are described and their individual features discussed. Finally, some recent results of the activities from the author’s own research group are briefly mentioned.     

燃烧催化剂中LaAlO3作为第2载体的研究

在载体堇青石表面涂覆一层LaAlO3作为第二载体，用浸渍法制备负载型LaMnO3、LaCoO3等钙钛矿型燃烧催化剂时，发现能促进LaMnO3等活性相的生长，从而提高了二甲苯完全氧化的催化活性；对于负载型LaCo3O3催化剂，可避免因用γ－Al2O35作第二载体而生成的低活性CoAl2O4类尖晶石相，因而有利于提高催化剂的耐热性。     

Interactions between terminally substituted amino acids in an aqueous and a non-aqueous environment. Enthalpic interaction coefficients in water and in N,N-dimethylformamide at 25°C

Enthalpies of dilution of the N-acetyl amides of glycine, L-alanine, L-valine, L-leucine, and L-phenylalanine, dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent have been measured at 25°C. The results obtained have been analyzed to give the enthalpic interaction (or virial) coefficients of the solutes and these are compared with information previously obtained in aqueous systems. There are marked differences in the interaction properties in the two solvents and, while the additivity approach of Savage and Wood is applicable to the solutes in water it is not suitable for representing the interactions in DMF. A correlation is presented between the enthalpic second virial coefficients in DMF and the propensity of side-chains to be in proximity in globular proteins.     

Information content of data and variables and types of weighting in least-squares regression methods

Algorithms are given for evaluating the relative amount of useful information related to a particular parameter which is carried by individual data points and intervals of the variables. The algorithms provide an efficient means of using the information contained in a set of data. Applications to the optimization of weighting in regression methods are described. Several informational and combined informational-statistical types of weighting are studied as a means of improving the accuracy and precision of the parameters obtained by non-linear regression.     

THE EFEFCT OF MAGNETIC FIELD ON POLYMERIZATION OF STYRENE IN THE PRESENCE OF POLYVINYL NAPHTHALENE AND POLYVINYL BENZOPHENONE

In the process of bulk photopolymerization of styrene initiated by AIBN decomposition polyvinyl benzophenone (PVB) can supply an effective cage for triplet-triplet energy transfer between PVB macromolecules and small molecules of AIBN to influence the molecular weight of polystyrene in weak magnetic field (less than 0.035T), that was different from the case of polyvinyl naphthalene (PVN) which supplied cages for this system only in the stronger magnetic field (more than 0.2 T) studies. It was found that in the same conditions, PVN could exert more tremendous influences on the bulk photopolymerizatiou system of styrene than PVB because in the stronger magnetic field the triplet PVN had much longer life time than PVB.     

To what extent can an uncertainty calculation be general?

 It is argued that results of uncertainty calculations in chemical analysis should be taken into consideration with some caution owing to their limited generality. The issue of the uncertainty in uncertainty estimation is discussed in two aspects. The first is due to the differences between procedure-oriented and result-oriented uncertainty assessments, and the second is due to the differences between the theoretical calculation of uncertainty and its quantication using the validation (experimental) data. It is shown that the uncertainty calculation for instrumental analytical methods using a regression calibration curve is result-oriented and meaningful only until the next calibration. A scheme for evaluation of the uncertainty in uncertainty calculation by statistical analysis of experimental data is given and illustrated with examples from the author's practice. Some recommendations for the design of corresponding experiments are formulated.     

Synthesis of 3-amino-5-nitrobenzaldehyde oxime and its conversion into 3,4-bis(3-amino-5-nitrophenyl)furoxan and isomeric 3(4)-(3-amino-5-nitrophenyl)-4(3)-nitrofuroxans

The oxime of the hitherto unknown 3-amino-5-nitrobenzaldehyde was synthesized by the reaction of 3-amino-5-nitrobenzaldehyde phenylhydrazone with excess of (NH₂OH)₂·H₂SO₄. The oxime obtained was used as the starting compound for the synthesis of novel diaryl- and arylnitrofuroxans. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 12, pp. 2232–2235, December, 1997.     

Quantitative aspects of gradient HPLC of copolymers from styrene and ethyl methacrylate

Summary Prerequisite of quantitative evaluation in chromatography is equivalence of sample composition and detector signal. This includes complete retention and proper elution of all sample constituents. In polymer HPLC, complete retention requires a poor starting eluent, a sufficiently active column, and a low ratio of injection volume to column volume. On small pore columns, insufficient retention caused the polymer to elute either in the interstitial volume (sample exclusion), together with the sample solvent, or immediately after the solvent plug.Stat-copoly(styrene/ethyl methacrylate) samples are more difficultly retained thanstat-copoly(styrene/acrylonitrile) specimes. With the former copolymer it could be shown that incomplete retention did not cause sample demixing. In order to gain complete retention, non-exclusion HPLC of polymers should be performed with columns whose solvent volume is at least 50 times as large as the injection volume. This consequence is of practical importance in chromatographic cross-fractionation where rather large volumes of SEC eluate are injected into the apparatus for gradient HPLC.     

Advances in two-dimensional GC with glass capillary columns

A versatile two-dimensional gas chromatograph is described, consisting of 2 separate ovens, one intermediate trap, an auxiliary inlet, and the necessary hardware to effect off-line switching according to the principle of Deans. The unit has been designed for use with high resolution glass capillary columns. The performance of individual instrumental components was critically evaluated. Results showed that low dead volume glass to metal connections were required in the manifold and detector lines to minimize extra-column effects. The mass of the intermediate trap must be low to allow rapid heating. Operational parameters are discussed and examples of some applications are shown.