Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor – Page 6

Author Archive

Analytical methods for forensic science

25 Apr 2012

By definition, forensic science is the use of science to answer questions that are of interest to a legal system. Today the average person is far more familiar with forensics thanks to popular televisions series, books and films where the pivotal clue is usually discovered by the scientist. Forensic science has also been in the headlines a lot lately in the UK with the recent closure of the Forensic Science Service.

Specialties in forensics can include the analysis of blood, DNA, drugs, arson residues, documents, fibres, hair and explosives, just to name a few.

Analytical Methods presents an excellent forum for such work, and below is a sample of the high-quality work we have published in this area. These articles are free to access until the 30th May 2012 so make the most of this and take a look!

Development and validation of an analytical method for hydrocarbon residues using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Aree Choodum and Niamh Nic Daeid
Anal. Methods, 2011, 3, 1136-1142, DOI: 10.1039/C0AY00702A

A method based on time domain nuclear magnetic resonance for the forensic differentiation of latex gloves
Michele Mauri, Lucio Mauri, Valerio Causin and Roberto Simonutti
Anal. Methods, 2011, 3, 1802-1809, DOI: 10.1039/C1AY05131H

Crime scene investigation III: Exploring the effects of drugs of abuse and neurotransmitters on Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
Bethany A. J. Larkin, Meerna El-Sayed, Dale A. C. Brownson and Craig E. Banks
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 721-729, DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05762J

Comparison of extraction methods for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in sorbents used for human scent evidence collection
Paola A. Prada, Allison M. Curran and Kenneth G. Furton
Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 470-478, DOI: 10.1039/B9AY00239A

Separation and identification of anions using porous graphitic carbon and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry: Application to inorganic explosives and their post blast residues
Josh Cummins, Jason Hull, Kelley Kitts and John V. Goodpaster
Anal. Methods, 2011, 3, 1682-1687, DOI: 10.1039/C1AY05143A

Determination of some banned aromatic amines in waste water using micellar liquid chromatography
Sandeep-Kumar Mourya, Devasish Bose, Abhilasha Durgbanshi, Josep Esteve-Romero and Samuel Carda-Broch
Anal. Methods, 2011, 3, 2032-2040, DOI: 10.1039/C0AY00602E

Identification of fluid and substrate chemistry based on automatic pattern recognition of stains
Namwon Kim, Zhenguo Li, Cedric Hurth, Frederic Zenhausern, Shih-Fu Chang and Daniel Attinger
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 50-57, DOI: 10.1039/C1AY05338H

Optimization of micellar LC conditions for separation of opium alkaloids and their determination in pharmaceutical preparations
Artem U. Kulikov, Alexander P. Boichenko and Aleksey G. Verushkin
Anal. Methods, 2011, 3, 2749-2757, DOI: 10.1039/C1AY05389B

Multivariate analyses of UV-Vis absorption spectral data from cachaça wood extracts: a model to classify aged Brazilian cachaças according to the wood species used
Alexandre Ataide da Silva, Denis De Keukeleire, Daniel Rodrigues Cardoso and Douglas Wagner Franco
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 642-646, DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05670D

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy for rapid identification of different types of paper for forensic application
Arnab Sarkar, Suresh K. Aggarwal and D. Alamelu
Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 32-36, DOI: 10.1039/B9AY00145J

Polymers on the crime scene: How can analytical chemistry help to exploit the information from these mute witnesses?
Valerio Causin
Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 792-804, DOI: 10.1039/C0AY00115E

Crime scene investigation: The effect of drug contaminated bloodstains on bloodstain pattern analysis
Dale A. C. Brownson and Craig E. Banks
Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 1885-1889, DOI: 10.1039/C0AY00537A

Comments Off on Analytical methods for forensic science

HOT Article: Examining arsenic levels in rice

25 Apr 2012

There are a number of countries around the world that use groundwater that is rich in arsenic (As) to flood their rice fields. It is believed that this practice is responsible for the high levels of As found in rice, compared to other crops. The bioavailability and toxicity of As is determined by its speciation, therefore it is necessary to have an appropriate analytical tool to characterize As contaminated food. Pradeep Alava and Gijs Du Laing, along with their colleagues from Ghent University, Belgium, have been studying the sample preparation techniques used for assessing the levels of As in rice. They have looked at the affect of various methods on the speciation of the As removed from samples, including extraction, microwave extraction, and grinding.

Extensive grinding and pressurized extraction with water are key points for effective and species preserving extraction of arsenic from rice

Alava et al., Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article

This article will be free to access for 2 weeks, so click through here and take a look!

Extensive grinding and pressurized extraction with water are key points for effective and species preserving extraction of arsenic from rice
Pradeep Alava, Tom Van de Wiele, Filip Tack and Gijs Du Laing
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY25094B

Comments Off on HOT Article: Examining arsenic levels in rice

HOT Article: Identifying works of art

19 Apr 2012

In the following paper, Tomasz Gierczak and colleagues from Warsaw University, Poland, present a simple, fast and reliable procedure for identifying the proteinaceous binders in works of art. The procedure consisted of an ammonia extraction in order to suppress any pigment interferences, acidic hydrolysis and finally quantification of underivatized amino acids using reversed phase liquid chromatography coupled with ESI-MS/MS. In this way, the composition of the amino acids of the proteins found in the paint binding media, such as eggs, casein and animal glues, was determined. The procedure was tested on paintings from the 13^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries. Click through here to read more.

Gierczak et al., Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article

Proteinaceous binders identification in the works of art using ion-pairing free reversed-phase liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry
Bartłomiej Witkowski , Magdalena Biesaga and Tomasz Gierczak
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05605D

Comments Off on HOT Article: Identifying works of art

HOT Article: Phosphopeptide enrichment and fractionation

12 Apr 2012

Protein phosphorylation is an important post-translational modification that plays a vital role in cellular processes. It is necessary to separate phosphopeptides from complex mixtures and enrich the samples before mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Xiuling Li, Xinmiao Liang and colleagues from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China, have developed a way to improve phosphopeptide enrichment efficiency, using a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) based material, cyclodextrin (CD) bonded silica (Click OEG-CD), which was synthesized and applied to phosphopeptide enrichment and fractionation.

$Phosphopeptide enrichment and fractionation by using Click OEG-CD matrix$

Li and Liang et al., Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article

Phosphopeptide enrichment and fractionation by using Click OEG-CD matrix
Yanyan Zhao, Xiuling Li, Jingyu Yan, Zhimou Guo and Xinmiao Liang
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05915K

This paper will be free to access for 2 weeks, click through to read the full article here.

Comments Off on HOT Article: Phosphopeptide enrichment and fractionation

HOT Article: Growth and formation of silver nanoparticles

10 Apr 2012

Simultaneous UV/Vis spectroscopy and surface enhanced Raman scattering of nanoparticle formation and aggregation in levitated droplets

Albrecht et al., Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article

In this HOT article Merwe Albrecht and co-workers from BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Germany, have studied the formation and growth of hydroxylamine reduced silver nanoparticles using simultaneous Raman and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Based on these results, a mechanism for the particle formation was proposed.

This paper will be free to access for 2 weeks, so click through and read the full article here.

Simultaneous UV/Vis spectroscopy and surface enhanced Raman scattering of nanoparticle formation and aggregation in levitated droplets
Jonas Schenk, Lisa Tröbs, Franziska Emmerling, Janina Kneipp, Ulrich Panne and Merwe Albrecht
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05744A

Comments Off on HOT Article: Growth and formation of silver nanoparticles

Symposium on Advances in Raman Spectroscopy in Pharmaceutical Analysis – Registration now open!

03 Apr 2012

FACSS in conjunction with JPAG, RSC MSG & the IRDG present a Joint Symposium
on “Advances in Raman Spectroscopy in Pharmaceutical Analysis” on 17 May 2012: London, UK.

Registration is now open!

Jointly organised with: Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS), the Joint Pharmaceutical Analysis Group (JPAG), the Royal Society of Chemistry Molecular Spectroscopy Group (MSG) and the Infrared & Raman Discussion Group (IRDG).

Raman spectroscopy has found favor in pharmaceutical analysis because it is nondestructive, requires minimal sample preparation, and gives clear spectra for identification. This 1-day symposium demonstrates a breadth of successful Raman applications spanning the R&D field, API development, scale-up, and manufacturing, as well as drug product formulation development, characterization, and product assay. Poster presentations, a student prize, and an exhibition of Raman instruments add to the value of the symposium.

Additional information about this symposium is available here.

This meeting represents one of the first “FACSS present” events. FACSS participation in this meeting is in support of several of the member organizations of FACSS and the charter of FACSS.

Programme topics include:
• The use of Raman in characterising amorphous and crystalline forms of APIs
• Moving PAT from laboratory to production and getting FDA approval
• Raman spectral imaging to characterise individual particles
• Removing the effects of packaging to identify raw materials with Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy [SORS]
• Reverse engineering studies with Raman imaging to defend patents
• Why transmission Raman spectroscopy is the future: case studies
• Comparison of NIR, Raman backscattering and transmission spectroscopy for the analysis of polymorphs
• Laboratory vs hand-held instruments: what you gain and what you lose
• Vendors’ showcase exhibition

Comments Off on Symposium on Advances in Raman Spectroscopy in Pharmaceutical Analysis – Registration now open!

Analytical Methods Issue 4 online!

02 Apr 2012

Issue 4 of Analytical Methods in now available online.

Analytical Methods, 2012, Issue 4, Outside front cover

Schneider et al, Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 901

On the front cover is an interesting picture from Rudolf Schneider of the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Germany. Together with colleagues, their paper is on the study of the influence of temperature deviations on assay parameters. They tested parameters such as signal variation coefficients, limit of detection and measurement ranges by testing for two anthropogenic markers, caffeine and carbamazepine, at a variety of temperatures.

Quality assurance in immunoassay performance-temperature effects
Julia Grandke, Ute Resch-Genger, Wolfram Bremser, Leif-Alexander Garbe and Rudolf J. Schneider
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 901-905
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05918E

Analytical Methods, 2012, Issue 4, Inside front cover

Jang et al., Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 913

On the inside front cover is some artwork from Jyongsik Jang and colleagues from Seoul National University, Korea. They have fabricated a new type of fluorescent boronic acid-modified polyacrylonitrile (B-PAN) nanoparticle that can be used for an enantioselective monosaccharide sensor. Using a fluorescent polymer nanomaterial for sensors offers advantages, such as low toxicity, environmental safety, diverse functionality, and easy surface modification.

Fluorescent boronic acid-modified polymer nanoparticles for enantioselective monosaccharide detection
Wan-Kyu Oh, Yoon Seon Jeong, Kyung Jin Lee and Jyongsik Jang
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 913-918
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05800F

These articles have been made free to access for 6 weeks so make the most of this and take a look!

This issue also features the following HOT articles:

Separation of dansyl-DL-amino acids by open tubular capillary chromatography based on tube radial distribution phenomenon of the ternary mixed carrier solvents
Yudai Kudo, Hyo Kan, Naoya Jinno, Masahiko Hashimoto and Kazuhiko Tsukagoshi
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 906-912
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05813H

Copper-promoted probe for nitric oxide based on o-phenylenediamine: Large blue-shift in absorption and fluorescence enhancement
Xiaolong Sun, Yufang Xu, Weiping Zhu, Chunsheng He, Lin Xu, Youjun Yang and Xuhong Qian
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 919-922
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY25039J

End point detection of precipitation titration by scanometry method without using indicator
Abdolkarim Abbaspour and Abdolreza Khajehzadeh
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 923-932
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05492B

Quantitative monitoring of the progress of organic reactions using multivariate image analysis-thin layer chromatography (MIA-TLC) method
Bahram Hemmateenejad, Morteza Akhond, Zahra Mohammadpour and N. Mobaraki
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 933-939
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY25023C

Rapid measurement of antioxidant activity in dark soy sauce by NIR spectroscopy combined with spectral intervals selection and nonlinear regression tools
Qin Ouyang, Jiewen Zhao, Quansheng Chen, Hao Lin and Zongbao Sun
Anal. Methods, 2012, 4, 940-946
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05766B

Comments Off on Analytical Methods Issue 4 online!

HOT Article: Colorimetric detection of chromium ion

02 Apr 2012

A colorimetric assay that detects Cr³⁺ has been developed by Aiguo Wu, from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, and colleagues. By using tripolyphosphate functionalized gold nanoparticles a colour change from red to violet was observed. The test showed excellent selectivity, even when samples contained many other ions. Real water samples were tested with good agreement on tested results by ICP-AES.

Colorimetric detection of Cr³⁺ using tripolyphosphate modified gold nanoparticles in aqueous solutions
Junwei Xin, Lijing Miao, Shougang Chen and Aiguo Wu
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY25061F

Comments Off on HOT Article: Colorimetric detection of chromium ion

Mouldy film (block)buster

30 Mar 2012

Old cinematic films that have been donated to archives such as the British Film Institute have often been stored for decades in attics, cupboards and sheds. These inappropriate storage conditions have led to fungal colonisation on films, resulting in damaged film and the production of spores. Not only is this destroying historical footage, it’s also posing a serious inhalation hazard to archivists that process and inspect the films.

Craig Banks and his team at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK have come up with a technique to detect mould on old film to help archivists decide how best to handle it. Using solid-phase micro-extraction coupled with gas chromatography mass spectrometry, the team detected microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) on old cine film. MVOCs are only produced when mould is actively growing. The team analysed sixteen fungal isolates found on the cine film and from these, detected over 150 volatile compounds. Three of the MVOCs (1-octen-3-ol, 3-octanone and 3-octanol) were present in all the fungal isolates tested, so detecting them in particular would indicate that mould is actively growing on the film.

Read the full story here in Chemistry World.

Link to journal article:

Identification of microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) emitted from fungal isolates found on cinematographic film
Gavin D. Bingley, Joanna Verran, Lindsey J. Munro and Craig E. Banks
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05826J

Comments Off on Mouldy film (block)buster

HOT Articles from Analytical Methods

30 Mar 2012

It’s been a busy year already with so many great articles, so here are some HOT articles from Analytical Methods that you might have missed this month!

Why not take a look, they will be free to read for 2 weeks.

On the stability of the silver/silver sulfate reference electrode
Matěj Velický, Kin Y. Tam and Robert A. W. Dryfe
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY00011C

Direct labeling rolling circle amplification as a straightforward signal amplification technique for biodetection formats
Lena Linck, Edda Reiß, Frank Bier and Ute Resch-Genger
Anal. Methods, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AY05760C

Comments Off on HOT Articles from Analytical Methods

Analytical Methods Blog