Electroanalytical sensors for nonconducting media based on electrodes supported on perfluorinated ion-exchange membranes

Electroanalytical sensors, suitable for the analysis and monitoring of electroactive analytes present in gaseous phase or low-conductive liquid media, and based on electrodes in close contact with perfluorinated ion-exchange polymers are reviewed. The basic operative mechanism of these sensors, in which ion-exchange polymers act as solid polymer electrolytes (SPE's), is thoroughly discussed, while stressing the fundamental reasons why their behavior differs from that of conventional membrane electrodes. The procedures for preparing composite working electrodes by coating one side of ion-exchange membranes with stable porous films of conductive materials are described, along with the most common strategies followed to assemble this type of sensors. Useful examples of measurements in electrolyte-free media of inorganic and organic electroactive species of interest mainly for environmental analysis are given. Future prospects for the development of these sensors are also discussed.     

Indium Mediated Conjugate Addition of Allyl Bromide to Nitroalkenes in DMF—H2O Media

Allylindium bromide prepared by metallic indium and allyl bromide was added to nitroalkenes to give conjugate addition compounds in moderate to good yields in an aqueous media.     

A Clean Synthesis of 1,4‐Diarylquinoline Derivatives Catalyzed by TEBAC in Aqueous Media

A series of 1,4‐diarylquinoline derivatives were synthesized by the reaction of arylmethylidenemalononitriles or 2‐cyano‐3‐aryl‐1‐acrylate and 3‐arylamino‐5,5‐dimethylcyclohex‐2‐enone in aqueous media at 100 °C catalyzed by TEBAC. Meanwhile, the water medium was chosen as green solvent.     

An Efficient and Practical Process for Pd/Cu Cocatalyzed Homocoupling Reaction of Terminal Alkynes Using Sodium Percarbonate as a Dual Reagent in Aqueous Media

A new process for the Pd/Cu co-catalyzed homocoupling reaction of terminal alkynes was developed. The reaction was carried out in aqueous media with sodium percarbonate as both a clean oxidant and a base. Meanwhile, a palladium complex immobilized on a synthetic PS-PEG400-PPh2 resin was used as the catalyst, which may be recovered by simple filtration and reused for several times with high activity.     

Highly selective and efficient separations of a wide range of acidic species in capillary electrophoresis employing non-aqueous media

Summary The novel application of CE using non-aqueous media has been studied for the separation of a range of acidic compound types. This enabled the first quantitative assay by CE employing non-aqueous media to be performed. Separation selectivity manipulation for closely related species was achieved through variation of organic solvent types and composition, ionic strength changes, alteration of pH^* values and the addition of cyclodextrin additives soluble in organic solvents. This offers a greater range of possibilities during method development than use of aqueous buffer. The generation of low operating currents permitted rapid, highly efficient and selective separations to be achieved by applying high field strengths across short capillaries. Optimised rinsing and capillary regenerating procedures were devised which allowed highly repeatable separations to be achieved with migration time repeatability below 1% RSD. Use of internal standards also allowed 1% RSD values to be obtained for injection precision. Routine operating effects were assessed and it was observed that stacking effects remain important in non-aqueous CE. Also, optimal separations are obtained when the samples are diluted in the pure solvent used to prepare the electrolyte. The application range of non-aqueous CE was appreciably extended to include acidic drugs, dyes, surfactants and preservatives.     

Random walk on a disordered directed Bethe lattice

The random walk of a particle on a directed Bethe lattice of constant coordinanceZ is examined in the case of random hopping rates. As a result, the higher the coordinance, the narrower the regions of anomalous drift and diffusion. The annealed and quenched mean square dispersions are calculated in all dynamical phases. In opposition to the one-dimensional (Z=2) case, the annealed and quenched mean quadratic dispersions are shown to be identical in all phases.We shall employ indifferently the expressions Bethe lattice or infinite Cayley tree to denote an infinite ramified lattice of constant coordinanceZ.^{(4, 5)}     

Multicolor particle systems with large threshold and range

In this paper we consider the Greenberg-Hastings and cyclic color models. These models exhibit (at least) three different types of behavior. Depending on the number of colors and the size of two parameters called the threshold and range, the Greenberg-Hastings model either dies out, or has equilibria that consist of debris or fire fronts. The phase diagram for the cyclic color models is more complicated. The main result of this paper, Theorem 1, proves that the debris phase exists for both systems.     

Sol-gel approach to in situ creation of high pH-resistant surface-bonded organic-inorganic hybrid zirconia coating for capillary microextraction (in-tube SPME)

A novel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel coating was developed for capillary microextraction (CME) (in-tube SPME). High degree of chemical inertness inherent in zirconia makes it very difficult to covalently bind a suitable organic ligand to its surface. In the present work, this problem was addressed from a sol-gel chemistry point of view. Principles of sol-gel chemistry were employed to chemically bind a hydroxy-terminated silicone polymer (polydimethyldiphenylsiloxane, PDMDPS) to a sol-gel zirconia network in the course of its evolution from a highly reactive alkoxide precursor undergoing controlled hydrolytic polycondensation reactions. A fused silica capillary was filled with a properly designed sol solution to allow for the sol-gel reactions to take place within the capillary for a predetermined period of time (typically 15-30 min). In the course of this process, a layer of the evolving hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel polymer got chemically anchored to the silanol groups on the capillary inner walls via condensation reaction. At the end of this in-capillary residence time, the unbonded part of the sol solution was expelled from the capillary under helium pressure, leaving behind a chemically bonded sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coating on the inner walls. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, and aldehydes were efficiently extracted and preconcentrated from dilute aqueous samples using sol-gel zirconia-PDMDPS coated capillaries followed by thermal desorption and GC analysis of the extracted solutes. The newly developed sol-gel hybrid zirconia coatings demonstrated excellent pH stability, and retained the extraction characteristics intact even after continuous rinsing with a 0.1 M NaOH solution for 24 h. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of a sol-gel zirconia-based hybrid organic-inorganic coating as an extraction medium in solid phase microextraction (SPME).     

Impact of biological factors on binding media identification in art objects: identification of animal glue in the presence of Aspergillus niger

The materials and especially organic materials used for creation of art objects can be utilized by various microorganisms for their growth and facilitate the microbial colonization of the object. An understanding of the chemical alterations in artefacts caused by the presence of microorganisms can be crucial for correct identification of the materials initially used for the artefact creation--nowadays an important step in restoration and/or art-historical investigation of the art object. The present article describes a model experiment in which we investigated the possible chemical alterations in animal glue films used as substrate for growth of the fungus Aspergillus niger. The sterilized animal glue solution was poured into Petri dishes, inoculated with Aspergillus niger, and subsequently incubated at 15 degrees C for 0, 7, 9, 14, and 28 days. After interruption of incubation, the content of the Petri dish was analyzed for amino acid composition by the GC-MS based method. It was found that the growth of Aspergillus niger on animal glue films did not cause significant changes in the amino acid composition of the film and had no impact on animal glue identification.     

Multiple scattering in random media I. Restricted two-body additive approximation

We present a microscopic theory of the problem of finding the properties of a particle interacting with potentials located at random sites. The sites are governed by a general probability distribution. The starting point is the multiple scattering equations for the amplitude k ₁|T |k ₂ in terms of the individual scattering amplitudes k ₁|T |k ₂. We work with quantitiesA defined by k ₁|T |k ₂=k ₁|T |k ₂exp[i(k ₁–k ₂)R ]. The theory is based on a splitting of the fundamental equation forA into equations for the mean A and the fluctuationsAA . Neglect of the fluctuations yields the quasicrystalline approximation. We rearrange the equation forAA to isolate the collective part of the fluctuations. We then make the simplest microscopic truncation which is thatAA is a restricted two-body additive function of the site positions. With the contribution of the collective fluctuations, this yields results forA that are accurate to ordert ⁴.Work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Contract No. NSF DMRWork supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Contract No. NSF DMR