Efficient electrospray ionization from polymer microchannels using integrated hydrophobic membranes

A simple process for realizing stable and reliable electrospray ionization (ESI) tips in polymer microfluidic systems is described. The process is based on the addition of a thin hydrophobic membrane at the microchannel exit to constrain lateral dispersion of the Taylor cone formed during ESI. Using this approach, ESI chips are shown to exhibit well-defined Taylor cones at flow rates as low as 80 nL min(-1) through optical imaging. Furthermore, stable electrospray current has been measured for flow rates as low as 10 nL min(-1) over several hours of continuous operation. Characterization of the electrospray process by optical and electrical monitoring of fabricated ESI chips is reported, together with mass spectrometry validation using myoglobin as a model protein. The novel process offers the potential for low-cost, direct interfacing of disposable polymer microfluidic separation platforms to mass spectrometry.     

Systematic error in tin ore assay by Mössbauer spectrometry

Non-destructive tin ore analysis is described for SnO₂ by Mössbauer spectrometry. The systematic error is discussed.     

RESTRICTED LIE ALGEBRAS WITH MAXIMAL 0-PIM

In this paper it is shown that the projective cover of the trivial irreducible module of a finite-dimensional solvable restricted Lie algebra is induced from the one dimensional trivial module of a maximal torus. As a consequence, the number of the isomorphism classes of irreducible modules with a fixed p-character for a finite-dimensional solvable restricted Lie algebra L is bounded above by p ^MT(L), where MT(L) denotes the maximal dimension of a torus in L. Finally, it is proved that in characteristic p > 3 the projective cover of the trivial irreducible L-module is induced from the one-dimensional trivial module of a torus of maximal dimension, only if L is solvable.     

Microfluidic technologies for MALDI-MS in proteomics

The field of microfluidics continues to offer great promise as an enabling technology for advanced analytical tools. For biomolecular analysis, there is often a critical need to couple on-chip microfluidic sample manipulation with back-end MS. Though interfacing microfluidics to MS has been most often reported through the use of direct ESI-MS, there are compelling reasons for coupling microfluidics to MALDI-MS as an alternative to ESI-MS for both online and offline analysis. The intent of this review is to provide a summary of recent developments in the integration of microfluidic systems with MALDI-MS, with an emphasis on applications in proteomics. Key points are summarized, followed by a review of relevant technologies and a discussion of outlook for the field.     

Integration of polymeric membranes with microfluidic networks for bioanalytical applications.

The concept of microfluidics has significantly influenced the design and the implementation of modern bioanalytical systems due to the fact that these miniaturized devices can handle and manipulate samples in a much more efficient way than conventional instruments. In an analogy to the development of microelectronics, increasingly sophisticated devices with greater functionalities have become one of the major goals being pursued in the area of micrototal analysis systems. The incorporation of polymeric membranes into microfluidic networks has therefore been employed in an effort to enhance the functionalities of these microfabricated devices. These commercially available membranes are porous, flexible, mechanically robust and compatible with plastic microfluidic networks. The large surface area-to-volume ratio of porous membrane media is particularly important for achieving rapid buffer exchange during microdialysis and obtaining ultrahigh concentration of adsorbed enzymes for various biochemical reactions. Furthermore, the membrane pore diameter in the sub-microm range eliminates the constraints of diffusional mass-transfer resistance for performing chiral separation using adsorbed protein as the chiral stationary phase. A review on the recent advancement in the integration of polymeric membranes with microfluidic networks is presented for their widespread applications in bioanalytical chemistry.