Analysis of the pungent principles of ginger and grains of paradise by high-performance liquid chromatography using electrochemical detection

Summary The pungent principles of ginger and grains of paradise are examined using a reversed-phase HPLC column. An electrochemical detector is used to selectively detect the phenolic gingerols and shogaols. The retention indices of the compounds are compared using methanowater and acetonitrile-water as eluents.Presented at the 14th International Symposium on Chromatography London, September, 1982     

Voltamperometric determination of kinetin with a carbon paste modified electrode

The electrochemical behaviour of kinetin (6-furfurylaminopurine) on a carbon paste modified with OV-17 silicone electrode, is studied. The determination of kinetin is possible working in square wave voltammetric techniques, reaching limits of determination of 38.7 ng ml⁻¹. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine the cytokinin in extracts of apples (previously spiked with kinetin) and the obtained results were in accordance with the results obtained with HPLC-UV.     

Electrochemical Reduction of Monochlorinated Hydrocarbons at a Hydrophobic Zn/PTFE Composite‐Electroplated Zn Electrode in a Water‐Acetonitrile Mixture

Composite‐electroplating of zinc particles with polytetrafluoroethylene at a zinc substrate resulted in a working electrode which could be used at high negative potentials (to ?2.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl) without significant hydrogen evolution. The electrodes were characterized by SEM and CV and were used to detect organochloride compounds in a water‐acetonitrile mixture, by potential step methods.     

Degradation of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution by dual-pulse ultrasound enhanced electrochemical process

The present work reports a novel dual-pulse ultrasound enhanced electrochemical degradation (US-ECD) process that synchronizes alternatively ultrasound pulses and potential pulses to degrade nitrobenzene in aqueous solution with a high percentage degradation and low energy consumption. In comparison to the test results generated from the conventional US-ECD and original electrochemical degradation (ECD) process, the dual-pulse US-ECD process increased degradation percentages to nitrobenzene by 2% and 17%, respectively, while energy used in the pulse process was only about 46.5% of that was used in the conventional US-ECD process. Test results demonstrated a superior performance of the dual-pulse US-ECD process over those of other conventional ones. Impacts of pulse mode, initial pH value, cell voltage, supporting electrolyte concentration and ultrasonic power on the process performances were investigated. With operation conditions optimized in the study at pH = 3.0, cell voltage = 10 V, ultrasonic power = 48.84 W, electrolyte concentration = 0.1 M and an experiment running time of 30 min, the percentage degradation of nitrobenzene could reach 80% (US pulse time = 50 ms and ECD pulse time = 50 ms). This process provided a reliable and effective technical approach to degrade nitrobenzene in aqueous solution and significantly reduced energy consumption in comparison to the conventional US-ECD or original ECD treatment.     

Electrochemical reactors for NO decomposition. Basic aspects and a future

The electrochemical reduction of nitric oxide in the presence of the excess oxygen was reviewed. It was shown that the selectivity and activity of the cathodes is strongly dependent on the composition and on the microstructure of the cathode material. A concept of electrochemical reactor with multilayer electro-catalytic electrode was proposed and successfully designed in Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Nagoya, Japan. The typical values of current efficiency in such electrochemical reactors are of the order of 10–20% at gas composition: 1,000 ppm NO and 2% O₂ balanced in He and at gas flow rate 50 ml/min. The value of current efficiency depends on the functional multi-layer electrode composition, structure, and operating temperature. Such electrochemical reactors show the value of NO/O₂ selectivity (ν _sel) higher than 5 (ν _sel > 5) at intermediate temperature and up to ν _sel = 25 at low temperature operation. It was shown that multilayer electro-catalytic electrode should consist at list from three main functional layers: cathode, electro-catalytic electrode, covering layer, in order to operate as an electrode with high selectivity.     

AC susceptibility of magnetic markers in suspension for liquid phase immunoassay

AC susceptibility of magnetic markers in solution was studied for biosensor applications. First, frequency dependence of the susceptibility was measured, and size distribution of the markers was estimated by analyzing the experimental result with the so-called singular value decomposition (SVD) method. The size distribution estimated with the magnetic measurement agreed with that obtained from conventional optical measurement. Next, susceptibility measurement was applied to the liquid-phase immunoassay without bound/free (B/F) separation. We performed the detection of biotin-coated polymer beads in suspension using avidin-coated magnetic markers. Changes of the susceptibility and the size distribution caused by the binding reaction were shown.     

Improvement of corrosion resistance of AA6061 alloy by tapioca starch in seawater

This study examines the use of tapioca starch for improvement of corrosion resistance of AA6061 alloy in seawater. Gravimetric, potentiodynamic polarization, linear polarization resistance and electrochemical impedance measurements were employed to study the corrosion behavior of AA6061 alloy in seawater. The electrochemical measurements for AA6061 alloy in seawater showed that the presence of tapioca starch significantly decreases the corrosion rates, corrosion current densities (i_corr), and double layer capacitance (C_dl), simultaneously increases the values of polarization resistance (R_p). The inhibition efficiencies increase with increasing of tapioca starch concentration. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm fits well with the experimental data. The nature of adsorption of tapioca starch on the metal surface has also been examined. The analysis of SEM and EDS confirmed the formation of precipitates of tapioca starch on the metal surface, which reduced the overall corrosion reaction.     

Energy dependence of electron mobility in metallic nanowires

We study the electron drift mobility in a metallic nanowire (at low temperature) as a function of both electron energy and electrochemical potential from considerations relative to energy-dependent conductance and carrier spatial density. In fact, a mathematical expression for the electron mobility, when electronic energy equals Fermi energy (resonant states), valid for negative values of the electrochemical potential is derived.     

Fabrication and electrochemistry study of multi-thiol coronary molecule monolayers

Single-component monolayer of novel multi-thiol coronary molecule and two-component mixed monolayer composed of coronary molecule and n-alkanethiol on gold substrates are described. The assembly of monolayers is characterized by ellipsometry, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope. The electrochemical properties of the single- and two-component monolayers are evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiments. Coronary molecule with multi-thiol groups has the ability to form stable monolayer via the interaction of mercapto groups and Au surface. Electrochemical impedance measurements indicate that 89.9% of the gold surface is blocked by the coronary molecule, which is attributed to the special spatial structure of the coronary molecule. The uncovered site on gold surface in coronary molecule monolayer could be occupied by the second suitable molecule. The mixed monolayer prepared by stepwise assembly of coronary molecule and n-alkanethiol has complete compact packing and few defects.     

The effect of heat treatment on the electrochemical corrosion behavior of reactive plasma-sprayed TiN coatings

The effect of heat treatment on the corrosion behavior of reactive plasma sprayed TiN coatings in simulated seawater was investigated by electrochemical methods such as the corrosion potential-time curve (E_corr − t), potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and SEM, etc. The results showed that the corrosion potential of TiN coatings increased after heat treatment; the corrosion current of the TiN coatings after heat treatment (be hereafter referred to as HT-TiN) was 13.3% of the untreated coatings (be hereafter referred to as UT-TiN), and the polarization resistance of HT-TiN was 20 times of UT-TiN, which indicated that the heat treatment had significantly increased the corrosion resistance of the coatings. The corrosion behavior of the coatings was mainly local corrosion, and the local corrosion behavior mainly took place at the microdefects (crack and pores) of the coatings. The porosity of the coatings was reduced after heat treatment. The reason was that TiN reacted with O₂ to form TiO₂ and Ti₃O during the heat treating, and volume expansion took place, which led to denser microstructure. The corrosion resistance of the coatings was therefore increased.