The limulus G test has been used as a quantitative analysis of (1→3)-β-D-glucans, including schizophyllan (SPG) and curdlan. The present work extended the limulus G test to detect polynucleotide/SPG complexes. The complex showed an extremely sensitive response to the test, compared with SPG itself. The minimum concentration of the complex to show the response is almost 10-times as small as that of SPG itself, indicating the possibility to detect (1→3)-β-D-glucans or/and polynucleotides on the pico gram/ml scale.

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The recombinant human thyroid hormone receptor (TR) was expressed as an in-frame fusion with ten consecutive histidine residues using a bacterial system; then the receptor was immobilized on an Au-electrode with Ni(II)-mediated chemisorption using the histidine tag and thiol-modified nitrilotriacetic acid. The receptor-modified electrode could rapidly detect ligand binding to hTR without any separation procedures, and showed a good response in a concentration-dependent manner. The sensitivity of this biosensor based on ligand-receptor interactions was comparable to those of conventional competitive ligand binding assays using radio-labeled ligands. Our results strongly suggest that our new biosensor can be applied to the identification of new ligands for hTR.

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The light-dependent composition change of light harvesting bacteriochlorophyll(BChl)s in the present culture of a green sulfur photosynthetic bacterium Chlorobium (Chl.) vibrioforme f. sp. thiosulfatophilum strain NCIB 8327 was investigated by visible absorption spectroscopy and HPLC analyses. When the culture was repeatedly grown in liquid media under a low light condition, both the Soret and Q_y absorption bands of the in vivo spectrum were shifted to longer wavelengths. Analysis of the extracted pigments by HPLC revealed that the ratio of the amount of BChl-c to that of BChl-d molecules gradually increased during repeated cultivation. In contrast, when the culture grown under a low light intensity was transferred to a high light condition and continued to be grown, the absorption bands were shifted to shorter wavelengths and the ratio of BChls-c/d decreased finally to the almost original value. Colonies were prepared on solid agar media from the liquid culture containing both BChls-c and d, which was grown under a low light intensity. Each colony obtained was found to contain either BChl-c or d, but not both of them. Two types of cells isolated in this study were derived from the same clone, judged from their genetic analyses. The variation of pigment composition in our liquid culture observed here could be ascribed to the difference of growth rates between two substrains containing BChl-c and BChl-d, respectively, depending on light conditions.

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We first measured the effects of trace levels of an endocrine disruptor, tributyltin (TBT), on the secretion response from nerve cells using a microfabricated biosensor designed for the continuous measurement of L-glutamate and hydrogen peroxide. We observed higher and long-lasting glutamate and hydrogen peroxide concentrations from the cells when cultured rat cortical neurons were exposed to TBT. Glutamate and hydrogen peroxide release was induced even when we reduced the TBT concentration to 10 nM. This concentration is about two orders of magnitude lower than the concentration that induced apoptosis-like cell death. We also report on the effects of NMDA and non-NMDA receptor antagonists, which can help us to understand the mechanism of TBT neurotoxicity.

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A sensitive and selective method for the determination of procaine hydrochloride with a Nafion-modified glassy carbon electrode has been developed. The voltammetric behavior of procaine hydrochloride on the Nafion-modified electrode indicated that the modified electrode not only increased the sensitivity of the determination of procaine hydrochloride, but also catalyzed the electrode process. Procaine hydrochloride was accumulated in Britton-Robinson buffer (pH 2.09) at a potential of -0.2 V (vs. SCE) for 180 s, and was then determined by differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry. The effect of various parameters, such as the pH of the medium, the mass of drop-coated Nafion, the accumulation potential, the accumulation time and the scan rate, were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, a linear calibration graph was obtained in the concentration range of 6.0 × 10^-8 to 6.0 × 10^-6 mol l^-1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9987. The relative standard deviation was 4.18% for eight successive determinations of 1.0 × 10^-7 mol l^-1 procaine hydrochloride, and the detection limit (three times signal to noise) was 7.0 × 10^-9 mol l^-1. A study of interfering substances was also performed, and the method was applied to the direct determinations of procaine hydrochloride in the injection solution of procaine hydrochloride and in rabbit serum.

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The utility of the collision-induced dissociation (CID) of two different forms of precursor cations generated by the fast atom bombardment (FAB) ionization of N-arachidonylethanolamine (anandamide) and a series of endocannabinoid-like compounds, such as N-oleoylethanolamine, N-palmitoylethanolamine, N-stearoylethanolamine, N-linoleoylethanolamine, N-oleoylpropanolamine, and N-palmitoylpropanolamine, as a method of providing general information on their characterizations was examined. The CID spectra of lithium-adduct [M+Li]⁺ ions of the amines with unsaturated hydrocarbon chains were rich in structurally informative charge-site-remote (CSR) fragmentation patterns that provide information on the locations of double bonds in hydrocarbon chains. On the other hand, the CID reactions of [M+H]⁺ ions produced acylium ions that are derived from the cleavage of amide bonds, thus providing information on the size of the hydrocarbon chains, although CSR fragmentations were not observed. These compounds without derivatization were analyzed using gas chromatography/chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (GC/CI-MS) with a polyethylene glycol phased column with fused silica capillary pre-tubing. Identifiable molecular-related [M+H]⁺ ions were observed.

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The alkaloids in processed aconite tuber of Aconitum Carmiechaeli were studied, and five novel alkaloids in extract from processed aconite tuber were found. The first step involved the use of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and then multi-stage tandem mass spectrometry (MSⁿ) was used to provide structural information. Based on their MSⁿ spectra, the structures of the five novel compounds were elucidated to be C3,C8-difatty acid esters of mesaconitine, aconitine and 10-hydroxyaconitine.

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A simultaneous analytical method was examined for carbofuran and its derivative pesticides in water. Since carbofuran derivatives are hydrolyzed to carbofuran in water, the liquid-liquid extraction method was used to obtain an accurate concentration value. Moreover, since these compounds are easily decomposed at the GC/MS injection port, temperature programmable inlet on-column injection was used. By combining the two methods, a sensitive analytical method was established without hydrolysis and thermal decomposition. As a result of recovery experiments using distilled water, river water and tap water, acceptable recovery rates and favorable reproducibility were obtained. This method was used in a field investigation to determine carbofuran and its derivative pesticides in river water taken from three points of the Y river over a period of one year. Carbofuran, benfuracarb, and carbosulfan were detected and corresponded to the period when these pesticides were used in the area. Although benfuracarb and carbosulfan using traditional methods are believed to easily hydrolyze and thermally decompose during the analytical process, by using our method they can be detected.

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A home-made system hyphenating capillary electrophoresis with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (CE-ICP-MS) for cadmium speciation of protein-binding and free cadmium ions in solution is presented. The CE-ICP-MS interface consisted of an acrylic block with an internal volume ca. 20 μL in which a platinum electrode, a capillary column, and a connection to an ICP nebulizer were inserted. A make-up electrolyte solution containing 50 mmol L^-1 Tris-HCl buffer solution (pH 9.0) was continuously flowed through the interface to the ICP nebulizer. The separation of free Cd ions, Cd-cysteine, and Cd bounded to metallothionein (MT) isoforms from rabbit liver was carried out by capillary electrophoresis, and the analytes were detected by ICP-MS. The feasibility to isolate metallothionein compounds extracted from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC7942 was demonstrated. The Cd binding proteins were induced in Synechococcus PCC7942 and further analyzed by CE ICP-MS.

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A concentrated sulfuric acid dissolution technique and a GC method are described for the estimation of tributyl phosphate, tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, tris(chloropropyl) phosphate, tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate, triphenyl phosphate and tris(butoxyethyl) phosphate in soft polyurethane foam. A soft polyurethane foam sample containing organophosphoric acid triesters was dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid. The solution was added to water, where only the polyurethane was separated out. The pH of the solution was adjusted, and organophosphoric acid triesters were extracted with toluene. After purification, the compounds were determined by GC. The detection limits of the organophosphoric acid triesters were 0.3 - 0.9 μg g^-1 . The recoveries of the organophosphoric acid triesters from a 0.05 g sample of soft polyurethane foam were 80.0 - 90.0%, when the spiked amounts were 0.25 - 1 μg. The compounds were detected from soft polyurethane foam at the level of 0.4 - 23.3 μg g^-1 .

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A simple and sensitive method for the separation and preconcentration of gold, palladium and platinum has been established prior to their atomic absorption spectrometric determinations. Analytes from 0.5 mol dm^-3 KI in a 2 mol dm^-3 HCl solution were recovered using an Amberlite XAD-7 column as halogeno complexes. The effects of some analytical parameters, including reagent amounts, sample volume and flow rates, on the quantitative recoveries of gold, palladium and platinum were investigated. The influences of some diverse ions were also studied. The proposed method has been applied for the preconcentration and separation of analytes from pure copper and anodic slime samples with satisfactory results (recoveries >95%, relative standard deviations < 9.0%, relative error ≤5%).

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A direct sampling with organic solvent extracts for simultaneous multi-element determination implemented with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) associated with a flow injection liquid-liquid extraction (FI-LLE) sample preconcentration method was studied. The “robustness” of the plasma discharge with tributyl phosphate (TBP) loading was diagnosed by using the Mg II 279.55 nm and Mg I 285.21 nm lines intensity ratio. A FI-LLE preconcentration system for rare earth elements (REEs)-nitrate-TBP was established by using a laboratory-designed phase separator. For these elements, an average sensitivity enhancement factor of 64 was obtained with respect to ICP-AES sampling with aqueous solutions. The precision of the method was characterized by a relative standard deviation (%RSD) of 1.8 - 5.2%. A throughput of 27 samples per hour can be achieved with an organic solvent consumption of less than 200 μl per determination. Good results were obtained for the analysis of standard reference materials.

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A systematic study of the efficiency of protons, Ni, Pd and Th as chemical modifiers for the determination of cadmium by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) using fast temperature programs was made for platform atomization. A comparison was made in terms of the salt type, absorbance-time profiles and elimination of the sodium chloride interference. The results were adapted to develop a method for the ETAAS determination of cadmium in biological and environmental samples. The highest sensitivity to determine cadmium in biological and environmental samples was obtained using nickel (together with protons) as a chemical modifier. The accuracy of the method was tested by the determination of cadmium in different certified reference materials. The best detection limit and the characteristic mass of Cd were found to be 0.03 ng mL^-1 and 0.35 pg, respectively.

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The retention behavior and mechanism of methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, buthyl and isobuthyl benzoates have been studied at different eluent compositions of aqueous mixtures with water-soluble organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, 1- propanol, 2-propanol, acetonitrile (AN), 1,4-dioxane and tetrahydrofuran (THF)) in RPLC. The retention of the solutes is discussed based on the solvent composition, solvent polarity (E_T^N value), preferential solvation, hydrogen bonding and solvent clusters of the eluents. The smaller E_T^N values and the larger preferential solvation of the mixed solvent eluted the solutes faster. The IR spectra of HDO suggested that the solvents, except for methanol and ethanol, break the hydrogen bonding between water molecules, resulting in fast elution of the solutes. Based upon the results, we chose an optimum solvent composition for the separation of benzoates and applied it to the determination of the benzoates in clove.

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In this paper, a novel flow-injection chemiluminescence (CL) system for the determination of formaldehyde is described. It is based on a strong enhance effect of formaldehyde on the weak CL emission of the reaction between potassium bromate and rhodamine 6G in a sulfuric acid medium. A possible mechanism for this CL reaction is proposed. A CL calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.8 - 200 μg l^-1 and the detection limit was 0.3 μg l^-1 (3σ). The relative standard deviation was less than 3% for 10 μg l^-1 formaldehyde (n = 11). The method has been applied to determine formaldehyde in the air samples.

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A detector for the simultaneous determination of choline (Ch) and acetylcholine (ACh) based on a sensitive trienzyme chemiluminometric biosensor in a single line flow injection (FI) system is described. Immobilized choline oxidase (ChOx), immobilized peroxidase (POx), immobilized acetylcholinesterase, and coimmobilized ChOx/POx were packed, in turn, in a transparent ETFE tube (1 mm i.d., 75 cm) and the tube was placed in front of a photomultipier tube as a flow cell. Two-peak response was obtained by one injection of the sample solution. The first and second peaks were dependent on the concentrations of Ch and ACh, respectively. The influence of some experimental parameters such as flow rate, amounts of immobilized enzymes on the behavior of the sensor was studied in order to optimize the sensitivity, sample throughput and resolution. Calibration curves were linear at 1 - 1000 nM for Ch and 3 - 3000 nM for ACh. The sample throughput was 25/h without carryover. The FI system was applied to the simultaneous determination of Ch and ACh in rabbit brain tissue homogenates.

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A bead-injection system is proposed for total mercury determination in river-water samples. The procedure is based on the introduction of a defined quantity of a resin suspension in the flow system. The selected beads are packed inside of a flow cell and the formed resin mini-column constitutes the optical path. The sample volume is then selected, and its passage by the mini-column allows retention of the mercury ions on the surfaces of the beads. The introduction of a spectrophotometric reagent in the flow system leads to the formation of a colored Hg-dithizone complex on the surface of the bead, which is spectrophotometricaly monitored. The spent beads are directed to waste, allowing the system to become ready to process another sample. The proposed system handles about 20 measurements per hour, consuming 1000 μl of the sample, 1 mg of Chelex 100 resin and 1.25 μg of Dithizone per determination. When 1000 μl of the sample is injected, a linear analytical curve is obtained (A = 0.0052[Hg] + 0.1028, from 0 up to 30 μg l^-1, R² = 0.995); the detection limit is estimated to be 0.9 μg l^-1. The results are precise, r.s.d. < 9%; spiked sample recoveries within 91.2 and 109% are found.

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A concentration detection limit of 100 fM was achieved for the fluorescein ion by improving the experimental setup used for Hadamard transform capillary electrophoresis. Two argon-ion lasers, a gating laser for sample injection and a probe laser for the excitation of analyte molecules, were employed for the efficient photodegradation of analyte molecules in laser-induced fluorescence detection using an optically gated sample-injection method. In addition, a dichroic mirror, located in the pathway of the probe laser was used to exclude the other lines of the argon-ion laser. Using a Hadamard matrix on the order of 2046, the concentration limit of detection for fluorescein ion was determined to be 100 fM at S/N = 3, in which the average number of molecules in a single injection volume was calculated to be 27. The influences of the output power in both the gating and probe lasers on the sensitivity are also discussed.

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A highly sensitive and selective method based on alkaline digestion for the simultaneous determination of bisphenol A (BPA) and 4-nonylphenol (NP) was developed. The method consists of digestion of the matrix with ethanolic KOH, extraction with diethyl ether under a mild alkaline condition, cleaning with successive aminopropyl (NH₂) cartridges and derivatization followed by a GC-MS analysis. The assay accuracies, expressed as recoveries, were 82 - 113% for BPA and 89 - 97% for NP. The limits of detection of BPA and NP were 0.09 ng/g and 0.50 ng/g, respectively. The procedure will be reliable for the trace analysis of BPA and NP in human milk, since alkaline digestion can diminish their documented association with protein.

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This study describes a simple new method for the adsorption of gold nanoparticles on a glassy carbon (GC) electrode. By electrochemically oxidizing the GC electrode and immersing it into a gold colloidal solution, one could induce the adhesion of the gold nanoparticles. The image of the field emission scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the nanoparticles were evenly distributed over the surface. A 2-aminoethanethiol self-assembled monolayer was formed on the surfaces of the adsorbed gold nanoparticles and a reductive desorption wave was observed during the reduction of the adsorbed 2-aminoethanethiol.

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A novel modified glassy carbon electrode containing Ni(Me₂(CH₃CO)₂[14]tetraenoN₄) complex was used as an electrocatalytic sensor for the determination of L-ascorbic acid in pH = 6.6. The peak potential shifted to negative by 205 mV compared with that for a bare electrode in cyclic voltammograms. The calibration curve was linear up to 6.2 × 10^-3 M with a detection limit 3.1 × 10^-7 M and an RSD% better than 2.47%. This newly modified electrode was applied to commercial pharmaceutical tablets, injections and foods. The obtained results were identical to those obtained by the classical 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol method.

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A simple, precise and rapid RP-HPLC method was developed for the determination of repaglinide in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The method was carried out on a Shim-pack, RP-C18 column using a mixture of methanol: 0.1% v/v triethylamine (pH adjusted to 7 with orthophosphoric acid) and detection was done at 235 nm using nimesulide as internal standard. The linearity range was 0.1 to 0.5 μg/ml. The intra-day and inter-day precision were in the range of 0.48 to 1.01 and 0.15 to 1.15, respectively.

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Carbon disulfide (CS₂) was determined at trace levels by its induction effect on the reaction of triiodide with azide in acidic media. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by the decreased absorbance of triiodide over a period of 30 - 180 s from the initiation of the reaction at 350 nm, with calibration linear range of 0.020 - 1.870 μg/ml CS₂. The limit of detection is 0.013 μg/ml CS₂. A carbon-active column was used for sample solution clean up. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of trace carbon disulfide in natural water.

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A multicommutated flow procedure for simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of nonstructural carbohydrates and reducing sugar in forage materials is proposed. Determination of both analytes was based on the neucroine method after acid hydrolysis of nonstructural carbohydrates. Results for both analytes presented the following features: no significant difference at 90% confidence level when compared with reference method, linear response between 0.2 to 0.8% (w/v) (r = 0.999); relative standard deviations of < 2.0% (n = 10), and sampling rate of 32 determinations per hour.

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A simple, rapid, low cost and accurate determination using flow injection spectrophotometry with a home made flow cell detector, in combination with green LED and photodiode, had been developed for nitrite based on the Griess-Saltzman reaction, measuring the absorbance at 525 nm. The proposed system is able to monitor nitrite in freshwater samples at a throughput of 60 samples per hour with a relative standard deviation (%RSD) of less than 2.4% and a detection limit of <7 μg dm^-3. The calibration graph was linear between 0.010 - 1.0 mg dm^-3.

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