Characterization of three agave species by gas chromatography and solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Steam distillation (SD) extraction-solid-phase microextraction coupled to GC-MS was developed for the determination of terpenes and Bligh-Dyer extraction-derivatization coupled with GC for the determination of fatty acids such as ethyl esters were used. It was found that the three different Agave species have the same profile of fatty acids; the quantity of these compounds is different in each Agave variety. On the other hand, different terpenes were identified in the three Agave plants studied: nine in A. salmiana, eight in A. angustifolia and 32 in A. tequilana Weber var. azul.     

Event selection criteria in nucleus-nucleus collisions

Several event selection criteria in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions are analysed in the framework of the dual parton model. First, central and semicentral collisions are compared. We conclude that semicentral processes are more appropriate to observe high energy density events, where the formation of a quark-gluon plasma could take place. Secondly, the dependence of the achieved energy density on the degree of centrality of the collision is studied. We analyse the implications of our results for future experiments at CERN.     

Soft multihadron production from partonic structure and fragmentation functions

We describe a two-chain model for soft multiparticle production in hadronic collisions. The model is formulated in a parton framework and is consistent with the dual topological scheme for the Pomeron. The sole inputs are valence quark structure functions in the colliding hadrons and parton fragmentation functions, both of which are known from “hard” processes. Our model, which contains no adjustable parameters, reproduces the shape, the energy dependence, and the normalization of inclusive spectra both in the central region and in the fragmentation region. The model provides a natural explanation for the ratio of πp topp cross sections.     

Behaviour of the proton-proton total cross section at ISR energies in the reggeon calculus

We study the behaviour of σ^pp_T at ISR energies in the Reggeon calculus with a bare triple Pomeron coupling non vanishing at q² = 0. The parameters are determined from elastic and inclusive data. A sizable increase of σ_T with s can only be obtained when the bare Pomeron intercept is such that the renormalized Pomeron singularity is above one, in the forward direction.     

Determination of terpenes in tequila by solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Solid phase microextraction and capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used for the determination of seven terpenes in tequila. The method was selected based on the following parameters: coating selection (PA, PDMS, CW/DVB, and PDMS/DVB), extraction temperature, addition of salt, and extraction time profile. The extraction conditions were: PDMS/DVB fiber, Headspace, 100% NaCl, 25 degrees C extraction temperature, 30 min extraction time and stirring at 1200 rpm. The calibration curves (50-1000 ng/ml) for the terpenes followed linear relationships with correlation coefficients (r) greater than 0.99, except for trans,trans-farnesol (r = 0.98). RSD values were smaller than 10% confirmed that the technique was precise. Samples from 18 different trade brands of "Aged" tequila analyzed with the developed method showed the same terpenes in different concentrations. The analytical procedure used is selective, robust (more than 100 analyses with the same fiber), fast and of low-cost.