Highly sensitive detection of proteins in serum becomes difficult in some cases during surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurements, because some ingredients in the serum hugely enhance non-specific reactions on the sensing chip of SPR. It is well recognized that the antibody against core protein p24 of HIV in serum is one of the most important proteins in the accurate diagnosis of infection with HIV. In this study, we could attain the accurate detection of anti p24 antibody in human serum by eliminating the serious effects of the ingredients in serum on the measurement of SPR by employing these procedures: 1) blocking the gold surface of the sensing chip with human serum and 2) heating the serum sample at 56°C for 30 min. Without these treatments, the signal of SPR was considerably suppressed on the measurement of the anti p24 antibody which contained human serum, making the accurate detection difficult. However, with introducing the above two treatments, the sensing of anti p24 antibody in human serum was improved, while a small non-specific reaction was still observed. By removing the non-specific reaction caused by the ingredients in the serum, we could accurately measure the antibody for p24 in human serum sample over the range from 1 to 20 μg/ml.

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A sensitive method for detecting 17β-estradiol (E2) and estriol (E3) in river water has been developed, based on the time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay by using a fluorescent europium chelate label, 4,4′-bis(1″,1″,1″,2″,2″,3″,3″-heptafluoro-4″,6″-hexanedion-6″-yl)-chlorosulfo-o-terphenyl (BHHCT)-Eu³⁺. In the E2 assay, microtiter plates were coated with the E2-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate. The anti-17β-estradiol antibody, the biotinylated goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody and the BHHCT-Eu³⁺ labeled streptavidin (SA)-BSA conjugate were used. In the E3 assay, the goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody was coated on a microtiter plate. The anti-estriol antibody and the BHHCT-Eu³⁺ labeled E3-BSA conjugate were used. The detection limits for E2 and E3 were 2.3 pg/ml and 4.3 pg/ml, respectively, and the analytical recoveries were 95 - 120%. Quantitative measurement of estrogens in river water was carried out for Kanda River (Tokyo, Japan) by using the method. The E2 and E3 levels were 32 pg/ml and 5.5 pg/ml, respectively. The detection limits of the present method are in the same orders of magnitude as those of ELISA for E2, and are 1 - 2 orders of magnitude better for E3.

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New polymeric membrane (PME) and coated graphite (CGE) copper(II)-selective electrodes based on 1-hydroxy-2-(prop-2′-enyl)-4-(prop-2′-enyloxy)-9,10-anthraquinone were prepared. The electrodes reveal linear emf-pCu²⁺ responses over wide concentration ranges (1.0 × 10^-5 - 1.0 × 10^-1 M with a slope of 27.3 mV decade^-1 for PME and 8.0 × 10^-8 - 5.0 × 10^-2 M with a slope of 29.1 mV decade^-1 for CGE) and very low limits of detection (8.0 × 10^-6 M for PME and 5.0 × 10^-8 M for CGE). The potentiometric response is independent of the pH of the test solution in the pH range 3.0 - 6.0. The proposed electrodes possess very good selectivities over a wide variety of other cations, including alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions, the selectivity coefficients for the CGE being much improved over those for the PME. The electrodes were used as indicator electrodes in the potentiometric titration of Cu²⁺ and in the recovery of copper ions from wastewater.

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Silver(I) adsorbed selectively onto a quartz plate modified with N-(2-pyridylmethyl)chitosan in an ammonium chloride buffer solution containing EDTA, and the frequency of the quartz plate increased. It was supposed that the increasing frequency was caused by the desorption of adsorbed water on the chitosan derivative, which was induced from the reaction of silver(I) with the chitosan derivative. The concentration of the buffer, pH, temperature, conductivity and eluent affected the frequency shift resulting from the adsorption of silver(I). The frequency decreased at a conductivity lower than 2.2 mS/cm, and increased with increasing conductivity above this value. The frequency shifts caused by the adsorption of silver(I) were proportional to the concentration over the range 10 - 80 nM of silver(I), and the correlation coefficient was 0.9969. The detection limit and the relative standard deviation at 50 nM for five times were 6 nM and 3.4%, respectively. The proposed method was simple while showing higher sensitivity and selectivity.

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The construction, performance characteristics, and application of a novel polymeric membrane coated on a graphite electrode with unique selectivity towards SCN^- are reported. The electrode was prepared by incorporating Ni(II)-2,2,4,9,9,11- hexamethyltetraazacyclotetradecanediene perchlorate into a plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane. The influences of membrane composition, pH and foreign ions were investigated. The electrode displays a near Nernstian slope (-57.8 mV decade^-1) over a wide concentration range of 1 × 10^-7 - 1 × 10^-1 M of SCN^- ion. The electrode has a detection limit of 4.8 × 10^-8 M (2.8 ng/cm³) SCN^- and shows response times of about 15 s and 120 s for low to high and high to low concentration sequences, respectively. The proposed sensor shows high selectivity towards SCN^- over several common organic and inorganic anions. The electrode revealed a great enhancement in selectivity coefficients and detection limit for SCN^-, in comparison with the previously reported electrodes. It was successfully applied to the direct determination of SCN^- in milk and biological samples, and as an indicator electrode in titration of Ag⁺ ions with thiocyanate.

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Alpha hydroxy acids, malic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, glycolic acid and lactic acid, were analyzed simultaneously using capillary electrophoresis with direct UV detection at 200 nm. The separation was carried out with uncoated fused-silica (50 cm × 50 μm i.d.), pressure injection at 15 psi s and operated at -15 kV potential. The separation buffers were prepared with 180 mM Na₂HPO₄, 1 mM cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and 15% (v/v) methanol and adjusted to pH 7.2 by phosphoric acid. Validation was performed for citric acid and malic acid. The obtained parameters were adequate and the limits of detection were 2.5 and 5 μg ml^-1 for citric acid and malic acid, respectively. AHAs from natural fruit juices (orange and grape) were determined and measured with this method.

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The capability of high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) has been investigated for enrichment and determination of metal ions at trace levels. Separation of selected divalent metal ions was performed using a small coiled column. A hexane solution of 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (EHPA) was employed as the stationary phase. Loaded divalent metal ions such as Ni, Co, Cu, and Zn were chromatographically eluted in the order of increasing extractability by passing a mobile phase buffered at a desired pH. Individual metal ions showed good linearity between concentrations and chromatographic peak areas of the absorbance, as detected by postcolumn reaction with 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol (PAR). Metal ions enriched into the stationary phase from a sample solution were separated into individual metal ions. The trace quantity of zinc in natural mineral water was determined by enrichment separation through an HSCCC column.

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An indirect polarimetric detection method for the determination of alcohols has been proposed in liquid chromatography (LC). Optically active mobile-phase additives, such as β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), could be used to visualize optically inactive alcohols in reversed-phase LC. The visualization of alcohols is based on a perturbation of the partition of β-CD caused by the alcohols. The detection limits of the present system at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 0.031, 0.019, 0.018, 0.013, 0.011, 0.008 and 0.008% (v/v) for ethanol, 2-propanol, 1-propanol, 2-methyl-2-propanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol and 1-butanol, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the determination of ethanol present in food and beverage samples.

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Gaseous monochlorobenzene was irradiated with KrF excimer laser (248 nm) under reduced pressure. The photodecomposition was an apparent first order reaction. When the system contained no additive gas, the photolysis was found to give benzene (conversion yield: 49%) in the gas phase and many unidentified products in the solid phase. On the other hand, in the presence of oxygen, carbon dioxide (10%), carbon monoxide (16%), hydrogen chloride (52%) and acetylene (2%) are produced and the peaks shown on the gas chromatogram of the solid phase were effectively suppressed.

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Ethopropazine hydrochloride (EPH) has been proposed as a sensitive reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of tungsten(VI). The method is based on the formation of a chloroform-soluble yellow-colored ternary complex by the interaction of EPH and thiocyanate with tungsten(V). The complex exhibits the absorption maximum at 404 nm with Sandell’s sensitivity value of 20.03 ng cm^-2. The complex obeyed Beer’s law in the concentration range of 1 - 15 μg ml^-1 with an optimum concentration range of 2.3 - 12.9 μg ml^-1. The effects of foreign ions in the determination of tungsten(VI) were investigated. The method has also been successfully applied to the analysis of alloy steels.

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A solid-phase extraction method for the preconcentration of Fe, Mn and Zn on a column containing Ambersorb 572 has been developed, and the determination of Fe, Mn and Zn in water using a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS) has been performed. The optimum preconcentration parameters of the procedure have been determined. The effect of the pH, complexing agent, amount of adsorbent, flow rate, concentration and volume of the elution solution and interfering ions on the recovery of the analytes were investigated. The recoveries of Fe, Mn and Zn were 99 ± 3%, 98 ± 3% and 99 ± 3% at the 95% confidence level, respectively, under the optimum conditions. Fe, Mn and Zn were preconcentrated up to 50, 100, 200, respectively. The limits of detection of Fe, Mn and Zn are 2.5, 0.68 and 0.24 μg l^-1, respectively. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was found to be 10.9, 13.1 and 21.5 mg g^-1 for Fe, Mn and Zn, respectively. The method has been applied to the determination of these metal ions in tap-water and river-water samples. The precision and the accuracy of the method is very good. The relative standard deviation and the relative error are lower than 4%.

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By applying an internal standardization, we could use a rapid coprecipitation technique using lanthanum phosphate as a coprecipitant for preconcentration of iron(III) and lead in their flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination. Indium as an internal standard was added to the initial sample solution together with lanthanum and phosphoric acid; the coprecipitation of iron(III) and lead was then carried out at pH about 3. After measuring the atomic absorbances of iron, lead, and indium in the final sample solution, we determined the contents of iron(III) and lead in the original sample solution by using the internal standardization with indium. In this method, complete collection of the precipitate was not required after the coprecipitation of iron(III), lead, and indium, because the ratio of the recovery of iron(III) or lead to that of indium was almost constant regardless of the recovery of the precipitate. This method was simple and rapid, and was available for the determination of 2 - 300 μg L^-1 of iron(III) and 5 - 400 μg L^-1 of lead in some water samples.

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The anion-selectivity of the surface of a polymer ultrathin film incorporating an amphiphilic ruthenium(II) polypyridine complex with diperchlorate was examined using X-ray absorption spectroscopy with the total electron-yield method. The adsorbed species on the film surface were found to depend on the chemical composition in water where the film was prepared. By combining the X-ray absorption spectra with a molecular-orbital calculation, the molar ratio (M_ClO4/M_Ru) between the ClO₄^- ions and the Ru head group on the film surface could be semi-quantitatively analyzed; it was 0.88 for a film prepared on fresh water, and 1.4 for one prepared on old water.

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