Variable low-mass filtering using an electrodynamic ion funnel

An adjustable low-mass filter has been developed for an electrospray ionization (ESI) source to block ions associated with unwanted background species from entering the mass spectrometer. The low-mass filter is made by using an adjustable potential energy barrier from the conductance-limiting plate of an electrodynamic ion funnel, which prohibits species with higher ion mobilities from exiting the ESI source. We show that this arrangement provides a linear voltage adjustment for low-mass filtering from m/z 0 to 500. Mass filtering above m/z 500 is also performed; however, higher-mass species are attenuated. The mass filter was tested with a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis of a bovine serum albumin (BSA) tryptic digest and resulted in the ability to block low-mass, background species, which accounted for 40-70% of the total ion current immediately behind the ESI source during peak elution and detection.     

A Structural Investigation of La2(GeO4)O and Alkaline-Earth-Doped La9.33(GeO4)6O2

The structures of the oxyorthogermanate La₂(GeO₄)O and the apatite-structured La_9.33(GeO₄)₆O₂ have been refined from powder neutron diffraction data. La₂(GeO₄)O crystallizes in a monoclinic unit cell (P2₁/c) and is cation stoichiometric in contrast to previous reports. La_9.33(GeO₄)₆O₂ crystallizes in a hexagonal unit cell (P6₃/m) and the powder diffraction data show anisotropic peak broadening that is observed in electron diffraction patterns as incommensurate diffuse spots at hkq reciprocal planes (with q=1.6-1.7) and can be attributed to a correlated disorder in the “apatite channels”. This compound was doped up to a nominal composition close to M₂La₈(GeO₄)₆O₂ with M=Ca, Sr, Ba. The dopant ions preferentially occupy the 4f sites as the number of La vacancies decreases. The measured ionic conductivity of La_9.33(GeO₄)₆O₂ is about 3 orders of magnitude larger than for La₂(GeO₄)O at high temperatures and decreases with increasing dopant content from the highest value of about 0.16 S cm⁻¹ at 1160 K.     

Small-angle neutron scattering study on microstructure of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) in water

By employing small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we investigated the microstructures of, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) (NE) in deuterated water D₂O, as related to macroscopic behaviors of fluidity, turbidity and synerisis. SANS revealed following results: (i) microphase separation occurs at around above 17 °C in a temperature range of transparent sol below 30 °C. In the microdomain appeared in the transparent sol state, both block chains of PNIPA and PEG are swollen by water; (ii) for the NE solution of polymer concentration W_p > 3.5% (w/v), corresponding to opaque gel above 30 °C, a percolated structure, i.e., network-like domain is formed by NE as a result of macrophase separation due to dehydration of the PNIPA chains. As the temperature increases toward 40 °C, the network domain is squeezed along a direction parallel to the NE interface, which leads to increase of the interfacial thickness given by swollen PEG chains and to the macroscopic synerisis behavior.     

Synthesis, Electrical Properties, and Powder Neutron Crystal Structure Refinement of Pb1−xBixPt2O4 Compounds (0≤x≤0.3)

Substitution of Pb for Bi in the recently characterized mixed-valence lead-platinum oxide PbPt₂O₄ was attempted and a Pb_1−xBi_xPt₂O₄ solid solution was obtained for 0≤x≤0.3. Powder X-ray diffraction study showed that all substituted compounds crystallize with similar triclinic unit cell and PbPt₂O₄ lattice parameters. The structural model of Pb_0.7Bi_0.3Pt₂O₄ was refined from powder X-ray diffraction data using the Rietveld method and the results indicate the same crystal structure than PbPt₂O₄ with one mixed Pb/Bi atomic site. Neutron diffraction realized on the two limit compositions of the solid solution (x=0 and 0.3) allowed to confirm the PbPt₂O₄ and Pb_0.7Bi_0.3Pt₂O₄ stoichiometries. Mean oxidation degree of Pt atoms in the [PtO₄] infinite chains decreases from +3 for PbPt₂O₄ to +2.7 for Pb_0.7Bi_0.3Pt₂O₄. Conductivity measurements show a metallic behavior for all the compositions except the limit composition x=0.3 for which a semiconducting behavior appears.     

Three-dimensional aromaticity in deltahedral boranes and carboranes

Methods derived from topology and graph theory indicate that the deltahedral boranes B _n H _n ^2– and the corresponding carboranes C₂B_n–2H _n (6 n 12) may be regarded as three-dimensional delocalized aromatic systems in which surface bonding and core bonding correspond to -bonding and -bonding, respectively, in planar polygonal two-dimensional hydrocarbons CinnH _n ^(n–6)+ (n=5/7). The two extreme types of topologies which may be used to model core bonding in deltahedral boranes and carboranes are the deltahedral (D _n ) topology based on the skeleton of the underlying deltahedron and the complete (K _n ) topology based on the corresponding complete graph. Analyses of the Hoffmann-Lipscomb LCAO extended Hückel computations, the Armstrong—Perkins—Stewart self-consistent molecular orbital computations, and SCF MOab initio GAUSSIAN-82 computations on B₆H₆ ^2– indicate that the approximation of the atomic orbitals by the sum of the molecular orbitals, as is typical in modernab initio computations, leads to significantly weaker apparent core bonding approximated more closely by deltahedral (D _n ) topology than by complete (K _n ) topology.This work was presented at the Workshop The Modern Problems of Heteroorganic Chemistry sponsored by the A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (May 8–13, 1993).Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1353–1360, August, 1993.     

A Background and noise elimination method for quantitative calibration of near infrared spectra

A new hybrid algorithm is proposed to eliminate the varying background and noise simultaneously for multivariate calibration of near infrared (NIR) spectral signals. The method is based on the use of multi-resolution, which is one of the main advantages provided by wavelet transform. The signals are firstly split into different frequency components, which keep the same data points of the original signals. In conjunction with a modified uninformative variable elimination (mUVE) criterion, the new method can be used to remove the low-frequency varying background and the high-frequency noise simultaneously. The method is successfully applied to simulated spectral data set and experimental NIR spectral data, resulting in more parsimonious multivariate models with higher precision. In addition, the proposed strategy can be applied to other spectral signals as well.     

Characterization and determination of 28 elements in fly ashes collected in a thermal power plant in Argentina using different instrumental techniques

Different techniques were selected for comprehensive characterization of seven samples of fly ashes collected from the electrostatic precipitator of the San Nicolás thermal power plant (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Particle size was measured using laser based particle size analyzer. X-ray diffraction powder (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the mineral phase present in the matrix consisting basically of aluminosilicates and large amounts of amorphous material. The predominant crystalline phases were mullite and quartz. Major and minors elements (Al, Ca, Cl, Fe, K, Mg, Na, S, Si and Ti) were detected by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). Trace elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, V and Zn) content was quantified by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). Different acid mixtures and digestion procedures were compared for subsequent ICP OES measurements of the dissolved samples. The digestion procedures used were: i) a mixture of FH + HNO₃ + HClO₄ (open system digestion); ii) a mixture of FH + HNO₃ (MW-assisted digestion); iii) a mixture of HF and aqua regia (MW-assisted digestion). Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was employed for the determination of As, Ba, Co, Cr, Ce, Cs, Eu, Fe, Gd, Hf, La, Lu, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U and Yb. The validation of the procedure was performed by the analysis of two certified materials namely, i) NIST 1633b, coal fly ash and ii) GBW07105, rock. Mean elements content spanned from 41870 μg g^− 1 for Fe to 1.14 μg g^− 1 for Lu. The study showed that Fe (41870 μg g^− 1) ? V (1137 μg g^− 1) > Ni (269 μg g^− 1) > Mn (169 μg g^− 1) are the main components. An enrichment, with respect to crustal average, in many elements was observed especially for As, V and Sb that deserve particular interest from the environmental and human health point of view.     

Hyphenation of column liquid chromatography and Raman spectroscopy via a liquid-core waveguide: chemometrical elimination of spectral eluent background

In column liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to conventional Raman spectroscopy (RS) removal of the spectral background of the eluent is often demanding, because of the strong signals of the organic modifier. A new chemometrical method is proposed, called the eluent background subtraction (EBS) method, which can correct for small shape and intensity differences of the eluent spectra. The variations in the eluent spectra are modelled using principal component analysis (PCA). The PCA loading vectors are subsequently used for eluent background correction of the elution spectra of the analyte. The loading vectors are fitted under these spectra by an asymmetric least-squares method. This method was successfully applied under various experimental conditions and performed much better than conventional background correction methods. Analyte detectability was improved by (weighted) averaging of all elution spectra and smoothing via a p-spline function.     

Characteristic lengths and the structure of salt free polyelectrolyte solutions. A small angle neutron scattering study

We have studied salt free semi dilute polyelectrolyte solutions by small angle neutron scattering. Specific labelling associated with an extrapolation method has allowed the separation of the form factor of a single polyelectrolyte chainS ₁(q) and the structure factorS ₂(q). Two lengths are deduced from these two factors: the persistence lengthb _t which characterizes the electrostatic interactions along the chain by a fitting ofS ₁(q) with calculation of the scattering function for a wormlike chain, and fromS ₂(q),q _m ^–1 which characterizes the interactions between chains. These two lengths vary in the same way with the concentration of polyions (b _t C _p ^–1/2 ,q _m ^–1 C _p ^–1/2 ) and a constant relation exists between them: only one length is then necessary to describe the structure of polyelectrolyte soltuion on this semidilute concentration range.Laboratoire Commun CEA-CNRS.     

THERMAL NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS—AN IMPORTANT ANALYTICAL TOOL

ABSTRACT

This review is intended to present an introduction to the use of thermal neutron activation analysis (TNAA) as an analytical technique for the determination of elements in almost all kinds of matrices. This method of analysis is generally multi-element and experimental conditions can be designed to be nondestructive to the sample. This review will focus on thermal neutron activation as this technique allows determination of approximately two-thirds of the elements on the periodic chart. There are also more and wider spread facilities in the United States that offer these services. The available facilities are located across the United States and are generally accessible to everyone. The review will also detail the advantages and disadvantages of TNAA compared to other common spectroscopic methods. An outline of the general procedure for performing the analysis of the elements using activation analysis is presented to emphasize the ease of using this technique. The outline is divided into sections that give the general procedure, how to choose the correct nuclear reaction and reaction product, and the main sources of errors that can affect the results of the study. These sources of error are subdivided into general types of errors. The general types of errors are divided into those related to pre-chemistry, problems associated with the irradiation of the samples, errors associated with the use of nuclear constants (cross sections, half-lives, transition probabilities, etc.), the choice of the correct reaction and reaction product, and those associated with the counting of the irradiated samples. The general theory of activation analysis is presented and summarizes the derivation of the equations used and the development of the comparator method of analysis. The comparator method is used to simplify the method by irradiating samples along with standards. This reduces the need for using the nuclear constants and thus reducing errors. The use of radiochemical separations to isolate analytes of choice from the radioactive matrix is also described. Some current literature is also included to give a feel for current applications of the use of thermal neutron activation analyses. The summary also describes some of the different matrices that have been used for analyses.