Selective wet air oxidation of diluted aqueous ammonia solutions over co-precipitated transition metal-aluminium catalysts

Catalytic wet air oxidation of ammonia over a co-precipitated transition metal-aluminium catalyst was investigated. Copper-aluminium (Cu-Al-O) catalyst exhibited the highest activity and N₂ selectivity among those prepared from Co, Fe, Mn, and Ni. 50% of 1500 ppm of ammonia could be removed from wastewater of pH 12 at 503 K under 2.0 MPa of air by using 4.0 g of catalyst without formation of toxic nitrogen containing compounds. Cu and Al ions were not found in solution after the reaction. It has been found that the catalytic performance of Cu-Al-O catalyst was strongly dependent on the preparation methods. The co-precipitated Cu-Al-O catalysts showed high N₂ selectivity. The presence of CuO is concluded to promote the reaction and CuAl₂O₄ in bulk phase is needed to stabilize the catalyst.     

Adsorptive Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry for Quantification of Alprazolam

A simple and highly sensitive electrochemical sensor was developed for adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry of alprazolam. Based on an electrochemically pretreated glassy carbon electrode, the sensor demonstrated good adsorption and electrochemical reduction of alprazolam. The morphology of the glassy carbon electrode and the electrochemically pretreated glassy carbon electrode were characterized by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The electrochemical behaviors of alprazolam were determined by cyclic voltammetry, and the analytical measurements were studied by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry. Optimized operational conditions included the concentration and deposition time of sulfuric acid in the electrochemical pretreatment, preconcentration potential, and preconcentration time. Under optimal conditions, the developed alprazolam sensor displayed a quantification limit of 0.1 mg L⁻¹, a detection limit of 0.03 mg L⁻¹, a sensitivity of 67 µA mg⁻¹ L cm⁻² and two linear ranges: 0.1 to 4 and 4 to 20 mg L⁻¹. Sensor selectivity was excellent, and repeatability (%RSD < 4.24%) and recovery (82.0 ± 0.2 to 109.0 ± 0.3%) were good. The results of determining alprazolam in beverages with the developed system were in good agreement with results from the gas chromatography–mass spectrometric method.     

Anthocyanin Profile,Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory,and Antimicrobial against Foodborne Pathogens Activities of Purple Rice Cultivars in Northern Thailand

Five glutinous purple rice cultivars and non-glutinous purple rice cultivated in different altitudes in the north of Thailand were collected. The samples were extracted using ethanol and determined for anthocyanins using HPLC. The total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities against foodborne pathogens were investigated. The highland glutinous cultivar named Khao’ Gam Luem-Phua (KGLP) extract had significantly high levels of cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, peonidin 3-O-glucoside, delphinidin 3-O-glucoside, TPC, and TFC, as well as exerting a potent antioxidant activity through ABTS assay (524.26 ± 4.63 VCEAC, mg l-ascorbic-ascorbic/g extract), lipid peroxidation (IC₅₀ = 19.70 ± 0.31 µg/mL), superoxide anions (IC₅₀ = 11.20 ± 0.25 µg/mL), nitric oxide (IC₅₀ = 17.12 ± 0.56 µg/mL), a suppression effect on nitric oxide (IC₅₀ = 18.32 ± 0.82 µg/mL), and an inducible nitric oxide synthase production (IC₅₀ = 23.43 ± 1.21 µg/mL) in combined lipopolysaccharide-interferon-γ-activated RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells. Additionally, KGLP also exhibited antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella Enteritidis, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. These results indicate that Thai glutinous purple rice cultivated on the highland could be a potent natural source of antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and antimicrobial agents for use as a natural active pharmaceutical ingredient in functional food and nutraceutical products.     

Multifunctional bacterial cellulose-gelatin containing mangosteen extract films with improved antibacterial and anticancer properties

Cellulose - In this study, we developed green composites made of homogenized-bacterial cellulose, that is, gelatin containing different concentrations of mangosteen extract using tannin as a...     

Pre-capillary derivatisation and capillary zone electrophoresis for amino acids analysis in beverages

A simple and rapid method for the simultaneous analysis of amino acids has been developed. Amino acids were derivatised based on pre-capillary derivatisation with 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonate (NQS) in basic medium (pH 10.0) and developed reaction at 70 degrees C. Their derivatives were analysed by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The parameters affecting CZE separation were investigated including buffer (pH, type and concentration), organic modifier and separation voltage. The optimum condition was 70 mmol L(-1) borate (pH 10.0) containing 10% acetonitrile, separation voltage of 12 kV, and sample injection (0.5 psi, 5s) and on-capillary detection at 240 nm. The separation of seven amino acids was achieved within 17 min. The detection limit was 1.0 mg L(-1) for all studied amino acids. The calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 1.0-100.0 mg L(-1). The repeatability, intra-day and inter-day analysis were < or = 1.0% and < or = 2.0% for migration time and < or = 5.0% and 6.0% for peak area. The proposed method has been applied to several beverage samples with only a simple dilution and filtration treatment of sample before derivatisation and analysed by CZE.     

Enhancement of DNA hybridization under acoustic streaming with three-piezoelectric-transducer system

Recently, we have demonstrated that DNA hybridization using acoustic streaming induced by two piezoelectric transducers provides higher DNA hybridization efficiency than the conventional method. In this work, we refine acoustic streaming system for DNA hybridization by inserting an additional piezoelectric transducer and redesigning the locations of the transducers. The Comsol? Multiphysics was used to design and simulate the velocity field generated by the piezoelectric agitation. The simulated velocity vector followed a spiral vortex flow field with an average direction outward from the center of the transducers. These vortices caused the lower signal intensity in the middle of the microarray for the two-piezoelectric disk design. On the contrary, the problem almost disappeared in the three-piezoelectric-disk system. The optimum condition for controlling the piezoelectric was obtained from the dye experiments with different activation settings for the transducers. The best setting was to activate the side disks and middle disk alternatively with 1 second activating time and 3 second non-activating time for both sets of transducers. DNA hybridization using microarrays for the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from the optimized process yielded a three-fold enhancement of the signal compared to the conventional method. Moreover, a greater number of spots passed quality control in the optimized device, which could greatly improve biological interpretation of DNA hybridization data.     

Field-amplified sample injection and in-capillary derivatization for capillary electrophoretic analysis of metal ions in local wines

In-capillary derivatization and field-amplified sample injection (FASI) coupled to capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) was evaluated for the analysis of metals (Co(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), and Fe(II)) using 2-(5-Nitro-2-Pyridylazo)-5-(N-Propyl-N-Sulfopropylamino)Phenol (Nitro-PAPS) as the derivatizing agent. For FASI, the optimum conditions were water as sample solvent, 1 s hydrodynamic injection (0.1 psi) of a water plug, 5 s of electrokinetic introduction (10 kV) of the sample. The in-capillary derivatization was successfully achieved with zone-passing strategy in order tandem injection of Nitro-PAPS reagent (0.5 psi, 7 s), a small water plug (0.1 psi, 1 s), and metal ion introduction (10 kV, 5 s). The solution of 45 mmol L^− 1 borate pH 9.7 and 1.0 × 10^− 5 mol L^− 1 Nitro-PAPS containing 20% acetonitrile was used as the running buffer. The limit of detection obtained by the proposed method was lower than those from pre-capillary derivatization about 3–28 times. The recovery of the method was comparable to pre-capillary derivatization method. In-capillary derivatization-FASI-CZE was applied to analysis of metals in wine samples. The results were compared with those obtained by CZE with pre-capillary derivatization method and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS).     

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography with amperometric detection and off-line solid-phase extraction for analysis of carbamate insecticides

Six selected primary carbamate insecticides, methomyl, carbaryl, carbofuran, propoxur, isoprocarb, and promecarb, were hydrolyzed in alkaline solution, resulting in electroactive derivatives detectable at a platinum (Pt) electrode poised at +0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl (3 M NaCl). The Pt electrode was inserted into a small electrochemical cell and positioned close to the capillary outlet as an end-column detector to detect the carbamate derivatives after electrophoretic separation. Based on their predicted pK_a values and aqueous solubilities, micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) was optimized for baseline separation of the derivatives using 20 mM borate, pH 10.2 containing 20 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate as a running buffer. When combined with solid-phase extraction (SPE) on octadecyl silica, a preconcentration factor of 100-fold achieved detection to 0.5 μM methomyl and to 0.01 μM for the remaining five pesticides, significantly below the level regulated by government agencies of most countries. The SPE-MEKC method when applied to the separation and analysis of spiked river water and soil samples, yielded results with excellent reproducibility, recovery and selectivity.     

Development of HPLC Method for Catechins and Related Compounds Determination and Standardization in Miang (Traditional Lanna Fermented Tea Leaf in Northern Thailand)

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for catechins and related compounds in Miang (traditional Lanna fermented tea leaf) was developed to overcome the matrices during the fermentation process. We investigated a variety of columns and elution conditions to determine seven catechins, namely (+)-catechin, (−)-gallocatechin, (−)-epigallocatechin, (−)-epicatechin, (−)-epigallocatechin gallate, (−)-gallocatechin gallate, (−)-epicatechin gallate, as well as gallic acid and caffeine, resulting in the development of reproducible systems for analyses that overcome sample matrices. Among the three reversed-phase columns, column C (deactivated, with extra dense bonding, double endcapped monomeric C18, high-purity silica at 3.0 mm × 250 mm and a 5 µm particle size) significantly improved the separation between Miang catechins in the presence of acid in the mobile phase within a shorter analysis time. The validation method showed effective linearity, precision, accuracy, and limits of detection and quantitation. The validated system was adequate for the qualitative and quantitative measurement of seven active catechins, including gallic acid and caffeine in Miang, during the fermentation process and standardization of Miang extracts. The latter contain catechins and related compounds that are further developed into natural active pharmaceutical ingredients (natural APIs) for cosmeceutical and nutraceutical products.