Analyst Blog

Terephthalate as a probe for photochemically generated hydroxyl radical

Terephthalate picks up an OH radical to form fluorescent hydroxyterephthalate

Sarah E. Page, William A. Arnold and Kristopher McNeill, J. Environ. Monit., 2010, 12, 1658
DOI: 10.1039/c0em00160k

A sensitive probe to monitor hydroxyl radicals in water has been developed by a team of Swiss and US scientists.
Current hydroxyl radical probes, such as benzoic acid, often have limited sensitivity, require long irradiation times or high concentrations of the probe, which can affect the sample.  Now Kristopher McNeill at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and colleagues at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis have discovered that terephthalate is a more sensitive probe for hydroxyl radicals in aquatic environments.

Read Rachel Cooper’s full news article at Highlights in Chemical Technology.

Vitamin D and its metabolites have an important role in our body's health

US researchers have developed a nanotechnology-based test to detect the important vitamin D metabolite calcitriol, the deficiency of which is an indicator of kidney failure.

Competitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering assay for the 1,25-dihydroxy metabolite of vitamin D3

Eric J. Dufek, Brian Ehlert, Michael C. Granger, Tanya M. Sandrock, Samuel L. Legge, Mark G. Herrmann, A. Wayne Meikle and Marc D. Porter, Analyst, 2010
DOI: 10.1039/c0an00354a

Marc Porter and colleagues at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City have developed a test based on the use of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) combined with gold nanoparticles. This new technique requires a much smaller sample volume and has no radioactive waste compared to previous approaches.

“This paper is a very nice example of the use of SERS for the detection of metabolites in clinically relevant samples,” comments Karen Faulds, at the Centre of Molecular Nanometrology in Strathclyde, UK.

Read Rebecca Brodie’s news story at Highlights in Chemical Biology or peruse the article in full in Analyst.