PTV-LV-GC/MS/MS as screening and complementary method to HRMS for the monitoring of dioxin levels in food and feed

Recent developments in trapping efficiency inside ion trap mass spectrometer permitted to lower instrument detection limit (IDL). An IDL of 200 fg μl⁻¹ injected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 5:1 for tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was obtained by gas chromatography coupled to a quadrupole ion storage mass spectrometer in tandem mode (GC/MS/MS). Coupling large volume programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV-LV) injection to GC/MS/MS provides an alternative and complementary method to classical splitless-GC injection connected to high-resolution mass spectrometry (splitless-GC/HRMS) method for dioxin monitoring in food and feed.

An injection volume of 10 μl was found to be the best compromise between the sensitivity requirements and the robustness required for a high throughput method. PTV-LV-GC/MS/MS and Splitless-GC/HRMS were compared by performing analysis on five different matrices such as beef fat, yolk eggs, milk powder, animal feed and serum samples covering a concentration range of two orders of magnitude (i.e. 0.2–25 ng WHO-TEQ kg⁻¹). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out. Fisher tests pointed out that the method effect for all the 2,3,7,8 congeners was not significant, indicating that the null hypothesis (H₀: μ₁=μ₂=…=μ_n) was not rejected. Moreover, the interaction effects between methods and matrices were not significant for most of the 2,3,7,8 congeners. However, three congeners (2,3,7,8-TCDF; 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDD and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD) were characterized by P-values lower than the significance level (=0.05). In toxic equivalence (TEQ), the study showed that no significant bias was observed between the two methods. Consequently, PTV-LV-GC/MS/MS is an attractive technique and can be used as a cost effective complementary method to HRMS for dioxin levels monitoring in food and feed.     

Homo and block copolymers of tert-butyl methacrylate by atom transfer radical polymerization

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of tert-butyl methacrylate (tBMA) was investigated using cuprous bromide with different ligands, solvents, deactivators, etc. The polymerization in bulk and diphenyl ether solvent system performed using Cu(I)Br complexed with N, N, N′, N″, N″-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (PMDETA) catalyst in conjunction with 2-bromopropionitrile as an initiator at room temperature showed a curvature in the first-order kinetic plot. The controlled polymerization in methanol solution resulted in slower rate of polymerization and lower molecular weights. Well-defined diblock copolymers of PSt-b-PtBMA synthesized by polystyrene bromo macroinitiator (PSt-Br) with Cu(I)Cl/PMDETA catalyst system yielded predetermined molecular weights and lower polydispersities. Otherwise, the Cu(I)Br/PMDETA catalytic system showed an inefficient polymerization of tert-butyl methacrylate with lower molecular weights and higher polydispersities. Subsequent hydrolysis of the homopolymer refluxed in dioxane with addition of HCl afforded well-defined poly(methacrylic acid).     

邻二甲苯…Ar, N2, NH3(ND3)范德华复合物的共振双光子电离光谱

在超声分子束中，使用双光子共振电离光谱技术和飞行时间质谱技术研究了复合物邻二甲苯…Ar．N2，NH3(ND3)．通过理论计算及同位素光谱效应．合理地归属了这些复合物的光谱．并由此获得这些复合物分子问各种模式的振动频率．     

Kinetics of the mediatory reduction ofgem-dichlorocyclopropanes

The effect of the nature of organic electron transfer agents and of Pt^II, Pd^II, Rh^II, Co^II, Ni^II, Cu^II, Cr^III, Mn^II, Ti^III, V^III, Zn^II, and Ag^I metal ions on the kinetics of the homogeneous reduction ofgem-dichlorocyclopropanes has been studied. Pt^II, Pd^II, Rh^III, Co^II, and Ni^II ions accelerate this process, V^III and Ag^I ions exert practically no effect on the reduction rate, and the rest of the metal ions exhibit inhibitor properties.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1407–1410, August, 1993.     

Infrared and ab initio studies of hydrogen bonding and proton transfer in the complexes formed by pyrazoles

The results of experimental studies and quantum mechanical calculations of vibrational spectra and structure of hydrogen bonded complexes formed by pyrazole (P) and 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (DMP) are presented. IR spectra of pyrazoles in solutions, gas phase, and solid state have been investigated in wide range of concentrations and temperatures. It has been found that in the gas phase both P and DMP reveal the equilibrium between monomers, dimers, and trimers. In solutions the equilibrium between monomers and trimers dominates, no bands, which can be attributed to dimers were detected. DMP retains the trimer structure in solid state, while in the case of pyrazole P, formation of the crystal provides another type of association. Geometrical and spectral characteristics of dimers and trimers, obtained by ab initio calculations, are presented and compared with experimental data.

IR spectra of solutions containing P and DMP with a number of acids (acetic and trifluoroacetic acids, pentachlorophenol, HBr) have been studied in parallel with ab initio calculations. It has been found that pentachlorophenol forms with pyrazoles complexes with one strong hydrogen bond O–HN, while NH pyrazole group remains unbonded. With carboxylic acids DMP forms 1:1 cyclic complexes with two hydrogen bonds. In the case of acetic acid, the complex in CH₂Cl₂ solution reveals molecular structure with OHN and C=OHN bonds, in accordance with results of the calculations. For trifluoroacetic acid, the calculations predict the molecular structure to be energetically more stable in the case of the isolated binary complex (in gas phase), while the experimental spectrum of CH₂Cl₂ solution gives an evidence of the proton transfer with formation of the cyclic ionic pair with two NH⁺O⁻ bonds. The agreement with experimental results can be improved by taking into account the influence of environment in the framework of Onsager or Tomasi models. The shape of proton potential function of the complexes and medium effect on its parameters, resulted from experimental data and calculations, are discussed. It has been found that the number of potential minima and their relative depth depend strongly on the method of calculations and the basic set. Under excess of trifluoroacetic acid, the formation of 2:1 acid–DMP complex has been detected. Spectral characteristics and results of calculations point to the cyclic structure of this complex, which includes homoconjugated bis-trifluoroacetate anion and DMPH⁺ cation. With HBr both studied pyrazoles were found to form ionic complexes including one or two pyrazole molecules per one acid molecule and correspondingly monocation or homoconjugated cation BHB⁺.     

A mass spectrometric analysis of CF4/O2 plasmas: Effect of oxygen concentration and plasma power

A quadrupole mass analyzer was used to detect the neutral products extracted downstream from a CF₄/O₂ RF discharge at 80 mtorr. mtorr. Stable discharge products were investigated as a junction of plasma power, residence time, oxygen concentration, and plasma voltage standing-wave ratio. In general, as plasma power increased from 10 to 200 W, production of CO increased while the measured mole fractions of CO₂ and COF₂ stabilized. The ratio of' CO to CO, decreases! at low plasma powers as the oxygen concentration increased. ,4n increase in the relative conversion of CF₄ to oxygenated products occurred at both low plasma powers and low oxygen concentrations. Chemical mechanisms are suggested to account for these results.     

Dimethyl carbonate as a novel methylating reagent for fatty acids in analytical pyrolysis

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) was investigated as a mild, harmless and odorless reagent for pyrolytic methylation of fatty acids. Soybean oil was selected as test material for its high content of (poly)unsaturated fatty acids. Pyrolyses were performed at 500, 700 and 900 degrees C by means of a heated platinum filament pyrolyser on-line and off-line to the GC-MS apparatus. Methyl esters of palmitic, linoleic, oleic and stearic acid were formed as prominent products from off-line pyrolysis of soybean oil in the presence of DMC and zeolite 13X. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were not observed at important levels in the absence of zeolite, while on-line Py-GC-MS experiments resulted principally in the formation of free fatty acids and hydrocarbons. The FAME profiles obtained from the DMC/zeolite off-line pyrolysis were compared to those resulting from tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) thermochemolysis and BF3-methanol procedure. The observed differences between pyrolysis and methanolysis methods were principally attributed to the thermal degradation of unsaturated fatty acids. The effectiveness of the DMC/zeolite pyrolytic methylation was further demonstrated by the analysis of tripalmitine and soybean seeds.     

Phase transfer catalytic system with the third liquid phase

Phase transfer catalysis, a technique to bring the reactants in two immiscible phases together by adding a phase transfer agent, has been employed in the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals in the last few decades. The third liquid phase (catalytic phase) may be formed when phase transfer catalysts (PTC), cannot be dissolved in either organic or aqueous phase. The third phase catalytic systems have the following three advantages, that is, (1) high activity (2) repeated use and (3) separation between the organic phase and the aqueous phase. It is expected that simple new processes can be constructed by applying these three advantages.     

A comparative study on the photochemistry of two bipyridyl derivatives: [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diamine and [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diol.

The two isoelectronic bipyridyl derivatives, [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diamine and [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diol, are experimentally known to undergo very different excited-state double-proton-transfer processes, which result in fluorescence quantum yields that differ by four orders of magnitude. Herein, density functional theory (DFT), time-dependent DFT (TDDFT), and complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) calculations are used to study the double-proton-transfer processes in the ground and first singlet pi-->pi* excited state. The quantum-chemistry calculations indicate 1) the existence of only one energy minimum in the ground electronic state corresponding to reactants (thus avoiding the possibility of a fast fluorescent relaxation process from the photoproducts region), 2) an endoergic process of the complete double proton transfer, and 3) the presence of a conical intersection in the excited intermediate region of [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diamine. These facts explain the very low fluorescence quantum yield in [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diamine compared to [2,2'-bipyridyl]-3,3'-diol.     

Novel methods for the synthesis of 5-substituted-3-carboxy-2,5- and 4,5-dihydrothiophenes and 5-substituted 2- and 3-sulfolenes

Various approaches to the syntheses of 5-substituted-3-carbomethoxy-2,5-dihydrothiophenes and their product sulfolenes, required as synthetic precursors for tangutorine, are described. An efficient route to 3,5-disubstituted-4,5-dihydrothiophenes and hence 3,5-disubstituted-2-sulfolenes by radical chemistry is also described.