Enzymatic kinetic of cellulose hydrolysis

The ethanol effect on the Trichoderma reesei cellulases was studied to quantify and clarify this inhibition type. To determine inhibition parameters of crude cellulase and purified exoglucanase Cel7A, integrated Michaelis-Menten equations were used assuming the presence of two inhibitors: cellobiose as the reaction product and ethanol as a possible bioproduct of cellulose fermentation. It was found that hydrolysis of cellulose by crude enzyme follows a model that considers noncompetitive inhibition by ethanol, whereas Cel7A is very slightly competitively inhibited. Crude cellulase is much more inhibited (K _iul=K _icl=151.9 mM) than exoglucanase Cel7A (K _icl=1.6 × 10¹⁵ mM). Also, calculated inhibition constants showed that cellobiose inhibition is more potent than ethanol inhibition both for the crude enzyme as well as exoglucanase Cel7A.     

Study of migration of active components of phosphorescent oxygen sensors for food packaging applications

A study of migration of the active components of oxygen sensors into food is presented. Six types of sensors, based on different oxygen sensitive dyes (two metalloporphyrins and one ruthenium dye), polymers (polystyrene and polysulfone) and support materials, were exposed to a number of standard ‘food simulants’ recommended by FDA/EU guidelines and then assayed for migration or sensor components and changes in oxygen calibration. Both metalloporphyrin sensor dyes leached only in olive oil and in 95% ethanol (used as a positive control), at maximum levels of 19.22 μg/dm² for PtOEPK and 113.96 μg/dm² for PtTFPP. The RuDPP dye showed maximum leaching in 95% ethanol (25.19 μg/dm²) while also migrating in an acidic aqueous simulant. Planar supports such as polyester tended to enhance the stability of the sensor. Migration of the styrene monomer from the polystyrene encapsulation medium was concluded to be low enough to be insignificant. Migration of sensor components was shown to correlate with the changes in sensor response to oxygen. Based on these results, sensor combinations were ranked on the basis of their resistance to leaching and their general stability, safety and suitability for use on a large scale in packaged foods and related food applications was proven.     

Planar potentiometric sensors based on Au and Ag microelectrodes and conducting polymers for flow-cell analysis

Back-side contact Au and Ag microelectrodes were used as transducers to construct planar all-solid-state electrodes suitable for flow-through analysis. The microsensors were based on plasticized PVC potassium-selective membranes containing ion-electron conducting polymer—polypyrrole doped with di(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate. The proposed technique allowed simple construction of microsensors in one step, by membrane solution casting directly on the surface of the planar metallic transducers. The performance of the microsensors based on Au and Ag transducers were determined and compared with planar sensors based on internal electrolyte immobilized in polyHEMA. The addition of the polypyrrole to the membrane composition did not influence on the selectivity, reproducibility and long-term stability of the microsensors but improved their standard potential stability in time in comparison with coated-wire type sensors. Moreover, all-solid-state microsensors based on Au transducers exhibited better signal stability than Ag based sensors.     

Luminescent dendrimers as ligands for metal ions

Suitably designed luminescent dendrimers can play a role of ligands for luminescent and non-luminescent metal ions. This combination leads to species capable of exhibiting interesting and unusual properties, including (i) shielding excited states from quenching processes, (ii) light harvesting, (iii) conversion of incident UV light into visible or infrared emission, and (iv) metal ions sensing with signal amplification.     

压电晶体传感器的研究进展

本文简要介绍了压电晶体传感器的基本原理,以及基于质量、粘度、电导率变化的溶液分析法。重点介绍了电化学石英晶体微天平（EQCM）、压电生物传感器;对具有很大发展潜力和重要应用价值的串联式压电传感器（SPQC）、串联式表面声波电导传感器（SAW）、液隔电极式压电传感器（ESPS）等也作了简要说明。     

采用一体化燃煤添加剂的燃烧中固硫作用研究

针对五个不同煤种 ,研制出与之相匹配的催化燃烧及固硫一体化添加剂 ,采用高温定硫仪对其燃烧固硫效果进行了评价 ,考察了温度、Ca S摩尔比等影响因素 ,并着重讨论了一体化添加剂中催化燃烧组分的协同固硫作用。结果表明 ,一体化添加剂中的金属催化组分对CaO固硫具有较大的协同促进作用 ,固硫作用适宜的Ca S摩尔比因而可适当降低 ,一体化添加剂在燃烧固硫方面比传统单一组分固硫剂更具优越性 ,从而使催化燃烧和燃烧固硫两个过程有机地结合在一起。     

Molecularly-Imprinted Materials for Potentiometric Transduction: Application to the Antibiotic Enrofloxacin

Enrofloxacin (ENR) is an antimicrobial used both in humans and in food producing species. Its control is required in farmed species and their surroundings in order to reduce the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Thus, a new biomimetic sensor enrofloxacin is presented. An artificial host was imprinted in specific polymers. These were dispersed in 2-nitrophenyloctyl ether and entrapped in a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix. The potentiometric sensors exhibited a near-Nernstian response. Slopes expressing mV/Δlog([ENR]/M) varied within 48–63. The detection limits ranged from 0.28 to 1.01 µg mL^?1. Sensors were independent from the pH of test solutions within 4–7. Good selectivity was observed toward potassium, calcium, barium, magnesium, glycine, ascorbic acid, creatinine, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline. In flowing media, the biomimetic sensors presented good reproducibility (RSD of ± 0.7%), fast response, good sensitivity (47 mV/Δlog([ENR]/M), wide linear range (1.0 × 10^?5–1.0 × 10^?3 M), low detection limit (0.9 µg mL^?1), and a stable baseline for a 5 × 10^?2 M acetate buffer (pH 4.7) carrier. The sensors were used to analyze fish samples. The method offered the advantages of simplicity, accuracy, and automation feasibility. The sensing membrane may contribute to the development of small devices allowing in vivo measurements of enrofloxacin or parent-drugs.     

Optical Gas Sensor Fabrication Based on Porphyrin-Anchored Electrostatic Self-Assembly onto Tapered Optical Fibers

Tapered optical fibers with nano-assembled coatings of thicknesses of order tens of nanometres were used for the detection of ammonia gas. The film coating was composed of alternate layers of tetrakis-(4-sulfophenyl) porphine (TSPP) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), which were deposited using the electrostatic self-assembly process (ESA). Exposure of a PAH/TSPP nano-assembled non-adiabatic tapered optical fiber with a waist diameter of 10 µm to ammonia induced significant optical changes in the transmission spectrum of the optical fiber. The fiber optic sensor showed a linear sensitivity to the concentration of ammonia in the range of 10–100 ppm, with response and recovery times less than 100 and 240 sec, respectively. The 3σ limit of detection (LOD) was estimated to be ca. 2 ppm.     

Construction of Strontium PVC-Membrane Sensor Based on Salicylaldehyde Thiosemicarbazone

Abstract

This work introduces a unique ionophore for the selective determination of Sr²⁺ ions. The ionophore, salicylaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (ST), presented a high affinity toward the strontium cations. The demonstrated characteristics of the sensor included a linear dynamic range between 1.0 × 10^?6 and 1.0 × 10^?2 M with a near Nernstian slope of 29.4±0.5 mV per decade, a detection limit of 4.8 × 10^?7 M, and a very good selectivity for Sr²⁺ over other cations in a wide pH range (2.8–10.4). The sensor possessed the advantages of short conditioning time, fast response time (< 10 s), and, especially, good selectivity toward the transition and heavy metal ions as well as some mono, di, and trivalent cations. Concerning the electrode lifetime, no considerable potential divergence was noticed for at least 10 weeks. The developed sensor was successfully used as an indicator electrode in the Sr²⁺ titration with EDTA from binary mixtures, and the Sr²⁺ monitoring in mixtures of three and five different ions.