Kinetic studies of the urease-catalyzed hydrolysis of urea in a buffer-free system

The kinetics of urea hydrolysis catalyzed by urease, mainly in the absence of buffers by use of the self-buffer effect of the products, was investigated. The effect of pH, temperature, and concentration of enzyme, substrate, product, salt ions, and buffers on the kinetic behavior of urease was examined. A kinetic model of a modified Michaelis-Menten form, incorporating substrate and product inhibition, pH dependence, and temperature effect, was developed to describe the reaction rate. Experimental data indicated that urease in a buffer-free solution was less susceptible to the inhibition of substrate product. The Michaelis constant keeps almost constant with the variation of pH and temperature, and increases with the addition of buffers and salts. The data also suggested that the noncompetitive pattern of the product inhibition, which is not significantly affected by temperature, increases gently with increasing pH. A Monod form rate expression was proposed to analyze the pH effect on the maximum rate. The proposed kinetic model was also examined by the long-time experiments in which pH, substrate, and product concentration varied obviously during the reaction course.     

Development and application of a simple routine method for the determination of selenium in serum by octopole reaction system ICPMS

The aim of the study was to develop an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) method for robust and simple routine determination of selenium in serum. Polyatomic interferences on ⁷⁶Se, ⁷⁷Se, and ⁷⁸Se were removed by applying an octopole reaction system ICPMS with the reaction cell pressurized with H₂ gas. We developed a novel simple optimization routine for the H₂ gas flow based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculation of the selenium signal measured in a single selenium standard. The optimum H₂ flow was 2.9 mL min^–1. The selenium content in serum was determined after a 50-fold dilution with 0.16 M HNO₃ and quantified by using addition calibration and gallium as an internal standard. The method detection limit was 0.10 g L^–1 for ⁷⁶Se and ⁷⁸Se and 0.13 g L^–1 for ⁷⁷Se. Human serum samples from a case-control study investigating if selenium was associated with risk of colorectal adenoma were analyzed. The average selenium concentration for the control group (n=768) was 137.1 g L^–1 and the range was 73.4–305.5 g L^–1. The within-batch repeatability (a batch is ten samples) estimated from 182 replicate analyses was 6.3% coefficient of variation (CV), whereas the between-batch repeatability was 7.4% CV estimated from 361 replicates between batches. The method accuracy was evaluated by analysis of a human serum certified reference material (Seronorm Serum level II, Sero A/S, Norway). There was a fairly good agreement between the measured average of 145±3 g L^–1 (n=36) and the certified value of 136±9 g L^–1. In addition the method was successfully applied for analysis of zinc serum concentrations without further optimization. For the Seronorm certified reference material a value of 911±75 g L^–1 (n=31) for zinc was obtained, which corresponds well to the certified zinc value of 920±60 g L^–1.     

Thermodynamics of Binary and Ternary Copper-, Cadmium,and Indium-Containing Semiconducting Phases: An Electrochemical Study

Optimum compositions of ion-selective membranes in quasi-binary systems CuCl-CdCl₂, LiCl-CdCl₂, and In₂S₃-InCl₃ are selected by a method of coulometric titration in cells with solid electrolytes. Transport numbers for ions are close to unity for the optimum compositions; transport numbers for electrons are vanishingly small ( ≺10⁻³ to 10⁻⁴); the electroconductivity is equal to ≈ 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at 200°C; the diffusion coefficients for the current-producing component are on the order of 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁷ cm² s⁻¹. When using a solid electrolyte of the composition CuCl-CdCl₂, which contains 30 mol % CdCl₂, methods of emf and electroconduction reveal that the region of homogeneity of copper(I) selenide falls in the region of compositions Cu_1.33Se-Cu_2.67Se.__________Translated from Elektrokhimiya, Vol. 41, No. 6, 2005, pp. 721–727.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Leushina, Kolesnikova, Makhanova, Zlomanov.Published on the basis of a report delivered at the VII Meeting on Fundamental Problems in Solid-State Ionics (Chernogolovka-2004).     

Thermodegradation kinetics of a hybrid inorganic-organic epoxy system

Lifetime of the epoxy system formed by diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, DGEBA/4,4′-diaminediphenylmethane, DDM, modified with the silsesquioxane, glycidylisobutyl-POSS, was calculated from thermogravimetric analysis. The activation energy of the decomposition of this system was evaluated by the integral method developed by Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (E = 88.9 ± 2.1 kJ mol⁻¹) and by Coats and Redfern method (E = 85.2 ± 1.5 kJ mol⁻¹). The kinetic parameters have been used to estimate the lifetime of the system POSS/DGEBA/DDM. The obtained results by two different ways are similar.     

Artificial red cells with crosslinked hemoglobin membranes

Artificial cells containing concentrated hemoglobin (Hb) solution were prepared by interfacial polymerization of Hb with glutaraldehyde (GA) in liquid membrane capsules (LMC). A solution containing 30% of Hb was emulsified in mineral oil as red cell-size microdroplets, and this emulsion was dispersed in an aqueous phase containing glutaraldehyde to form LMC. The LMC were semipermeable templates that held the microdroplets of Hb in suspension while GA diffused through the oil to the microdroplet surfaces. The GA crosslinked Hb at the surface of each microdroplet to form an artificial red-cell membrane encapsulating Hb solution. A water-soluble surfactant was used to eject the cells from the LMC and suspend them in saline. Several surfactants were evaluated. Cell size was controlled by agitation speed during preparation of the original emulsion. Cells of 2.52 = ±1.69 μm were prepared. The encapsulated Hb retained capacity to bind and release O₂. The cells had aP ₅₀ of 8.9 torr (1200 Pa) and a capacity of 0.55 cc O₂/g of total Hb, indicating that the crosslinked portion of the Hb did not contribute to O₂ transport.     

蛋白芯片法同时检测食品中克伦特罗与莱克多巴胺的残留量

建立了食品中克伦特罗和莱克多巴胺残留含量同时检测的微阵列蛋白芯片法。结果显示:克伦特罗的线性范围为0.07～1.2 ng/g;莱克多巴胺的线性范围为0.05～0.8 ng/g。猪肉、猪肝中上述两种物质的加标回收率为74%～132%,相对标准偏差均小于10%。将所建立的方法与HPLC-MS方法进行对比,两者检测结果一致。该方法简单、快速、通量高,可用于实际样品中克伦特罗和莱克多巴胺残留量的检测。     

超临界流体技术在制备药物输送系统中的应用

超临界流体技术以其特有的优点成为引人注目的制备药物细微粒子及控制释放的药物输送系统的方法。本文介绍了超临界流体沉淀技术的概念、进展及相关的应用。     

Correlation between excess adsorption data measured for solvent mixture/adsorbent systems and RM values obtained for different solutes chromatographed in binary mobile phases

This paper concerns the application of excess adsorption isotherms, measured for solvent mixture/adsorbent systems, to the characterization of TLC data. For this purpose the excess adsorption isotherms for three liquid mixtures: cyclohexane/ benzene, benzene/acetone, and carbon tetrachloride/ethyl acetate on silica gel at 20°C have been measured. These mixtures have been used as binary mobile phases in TLC measurements. It has been shown for a given solute in binary mobile phase that the quantity R_M is a simple function of the excess adsorption. Parameters of this function have been used to characterize chromatographic systems with binary mobile phases.     

Synthesis and neel temperature determination of ferrites from the CuO−ZnO−Fe2O3 system

Conditions were established and individual and mixed ferrites with the general formula Cu_xZn_1?xFe₂O₄ (x=0; 0.1; 0.2; 0.3; 0.4; 0.5; 0.6; 0.7; 0.8; 1.0) were synthesized from the CuO?ZnO?Fe₂O₃ system. X-ray phase analysis, Mössbauer spectroscopy and microscopic examinations revealed that the obtained ferrites are monophase samples. A magnetic device was attached to the Q-Derivatograph (MOM, Hungary) and successfully used for sample investigation in a magnetic field, and in particular for Curie (Neel) temperature determination. The ferrite composition and the thermal treatment conditions were shown to correlate with the Neel temperature of the synthesized ferrites.     

有机-无机纳米复合材料光谱与电子性质研究进展

有机-无机纳米复合材料的研究在当前纳米科学技术的发展中占有重要地位，开创了材料与催化科学研究的新纪元。自从10年前首次合成纳米孔无机材料MCM-41至今，该领域研究不断深入，已展现出广阔的应用前景。当客体有机分子分散于纳米孔道内部时，其分子性质将产生明显变化。本文结合作者近期研究成果，力图从实验与理论两方面阐明在纳米复合体系中客体分子性质变化的原因。