Arsenic speciation in aqueous samples using a selective As(III)/As(V) preconcentration in combination with an automatable cryotrapping hydride generation procedure for monomethylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid

Differentiation between As(III) and As(V) is accomplished using earlier developed selective preconcentration methods (carbamate and molybdate mediated (co)precipitation of As(III) and As(V) respectively) follewed by AAS detection of the (co)precipitates. Apart from this, separation of methylated arsenic species is performed by an automatable system comprising a continuous flow hydride generation unit in which monomethylarsonic acid (MMAA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA) are converted into their corresponding volatile methylarsines, monomethylarsine (MMA) and dimethylarsine (DMA) respectively. These species are cryogenically trapped in a Teflon-line stainless stell U-tube packed with a gas chromatographic solid-phase and subsequently separated by selective volatilization. A novel gas drying technique by means of a Perma Pure dryer was applied successfully prior to trapping. Detection is by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). MMAA and DMAA are determined with absolute limits of detection of 0.2 and 0.5 ng, respectively. Investigation of the behaviour of the methylarsines in the system was conducted with synthesized⁷³As labeled methylated arsenic species. It was found that MMA is taken through the system quantitatively whereas DMA is recovered for about 85%. The opumized system combined with selective As(III)/As(V) preconcentration has been tested out for arsenic speciation of sediment interstitial water from the Chemiehaven at Rotterdam. The obtained concentrations are 28.5, 26.8 and 0.60 ng·ml^–1 for As(III), As(V) and MMAA, respectively, whereas the DMAA concentration was below 0.16 ng·ml^–1.     

Measurement of five dipolar couplings from a single 3D NMR multiplet applied to the study of RNA dynamics

A new three-dimensional NMR experiment is described that yields five scalar or dipolar couplings from a single cross-peak between three spins. The method is based on the E.COSY principle and is demonstrated for the H1'-C1'-C2' fragment of ribose sugars in a uniformly 13C-enriched 24-nucleotide RNA stem-loop structure, for which a complete set of couplings was obtained for all nonmodified nucleotides. The values of the isotropic J couplings and the 13C1' and 13C2' chemical shifts define the sugar pucker. Once the sugar pucker is known, the five dipolar couplings between C1'-H1', C2'-H2', H1'-H2', C1'-H2', and C2'-H1', together with C1'-C2', C3'-H3', and C4'-H4' available from standard experiments, can be used to derive the five unknowns that define the local alignment tensor, thereby simultaneously providing information on relative orientation and dynamics of the ribose units. Data indicate rather uniform alignment for all stem nucleotides in the 24-nt stem-loop structure, with only a modest reduction in order for the terminal basepair, but significantly increased mobility in part of the loop region. The method is applicable to proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates, provided 13C enrichment is available.     

Evaluation of backbone proton positions and dynamics in a small protein by liquid crystal NMR spectroscopy

NMR measurements of a large set of protein backbone one-bond dipolar couplings have been carried out to refine the structure of the third IgG-binding domain of Protein G (GB3), previously solved by X-ray crystallography at a resolution of 1.1 A. Besides the commonly used bicelle, poly(ethylene glycol), and filamentous phage liquid crystalline media, dipolar couplings were also measured when the protein was aligned inside either positively or negatively charged stretched acrylamide gels. Refinement of the GB3 crystal structure against the (13)C(alpha)-(13)C' and (13)C'-(15)N dipolar couplings improves the agreement between experimental and predicted (15)N-(1)H(N) as well as (13)C(alpha)-(1)H(alpha) dipolar couplings. Evaluation of the peptide bond N-H orientations shows a weak anticorrelation between the deviation of the peptide bond torsion angle omega from 180 degrees and the angle between the N-H vector and the C'-N-C(alpha) plane. The slope of this correlation is -1, indicating that, on average, pyramidalization of the peptide N contributes to small deviations from peptide bond planarity ( = 179.3 +/- 3.1 degrees ) to the same degree as true twisting around the C'-N bond. Although hydrogens are commonly built onto crystal structures assuming the N-H vector orientation falls on the line bisecting the C'-N-C(alpha) angle, a better approximation adjusts the C(alpha)-C'-N-H torsion angle to -2 degrees. The (15)N-(1)H(N) dipolar data do not contradict the commonly accepted motional model where angular fluctuations of the N-H bond orthogonal to the peptide plane are larger than in-plane motions, but the amplitude of angular fluctuations orthogonal the C(alpha)(i-1)-N(i)-C(alpha)(i) plane exceeds that of in-plane motions by at most 10-15 degrees. Dipolar coupling analysis indicates that for most of the GB3 backbone, the amide order parameters, S, are highly homogeneous and vary by less than +/-7%. Evaluation of the H(alpha) proton positions indicates that the average C(alpha)-H(alpha) vector orientation deviates by less than 1 degrees from the direction that makes ideal tetrahedral angles with the C(alpha)-C(beta) and C(alpha)-N vectors.     

Long-range magnetization transfer between uncoupled nuclei by dipole-dipole cross-correlated relaxation: a precise probe of beta-sheet geometry in proteins

Interference between dipolar interactions in covalently linked (13)C-(1)H and nonlinked (1)H-(1)H pairs can be used to generate antiphase magnetization between noncoupled spins. The buildup rate of such antiphase terms is highly sensitive to local geometry, in particular the interproton distance and the (13)C-(1)H-(1)H internuclear angle. These rates have been measured for opposing C(alpha)H(alpha) pairs in antiparallel beta-sheets in the third Igg-binding domain of protein G (GB3) and in HIV protease, complexed with the inhibitor DMP323. For GB3, good agreement with the 1.1-A crystal structure is found. However, this agreement rapidly deteriorates with decreasing resolution of the corresponding X-ray structure. For HIV protease, two separate crystal structures that differ by less than 0.2 A from one another exhibit lower agreement in their predicted cross-correlated relaxation rates relative to one another than is found between experimental rates and the average of the rates predicted for the two structures. These data indicate that quantitative measurement of these cross-correlated relaxation rates can provide highly accurate structural information in macromolecules.     

THERMODYNAMIC AND PARTICLE-DYNAMIC STUDIES ON SYNTHESIS OF SILICA NANOPARTICLES USING MICROWAVE-INDUCED PLASMA CVD

1. Introduction1.1 Silica nanoparticles and synthesis methods Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles are widely used in industry asan active filler for polymer reinforcement, a rheologicaladditive in fluids, a free flow agent in powders, and anagent for chemical mechanical polishing during IC (inte-grated circuit) fabrication (Sniegowski & de Boer, 2000).Silica powder is also used for producing silicon carbide(Koc & Cattamanchi, 1998) or opaque silica aerosols (Leeet al., 1995). Many methods can …