Phospholipids and oxophospholipids in atherosclerotic plaques at different stages of plaque development

We identified and quantified the hydroperoxides, hydroxides, epoxides, isoprostanes, and core aldehydes of the major phospholipids as the main components of the oxophospholipids (a total of 5–25 pmol/μmol phosphatidylcholine) in a comparative study of human atheroma from selected stages of lesion development. The developmental stages examined included fatty streak, fibrous plaque, necrotic core, and calcified tissue. The lipid analyses were performed by normal-phase HPLC with on-line electrospray MS using conventional total lipid extracts. There was great variability in the proportions of the various oxidation products and a lack of a general trend. Specifically, the early oxidation products (hydroperoxides and epoxides) of the glycerophosphocholines were found at the advanced stages of the plaques in nearly the same relative abundance as the more advanced oxidation products (core aldehydes and acids). The anticipated linear accumulation of the more stable oxidation products with progressive development of the atherosclerotic plaque was not apparent. It is therefore suggested that lipid infiltration and/or local peroxidation is a continuous process characterized by the formation and destruction of both early and advanced products of lipid oxidation at all times. The process of lipid deposition appears to have been subject to both enzymatic and chemical modification of the normal tissue lipids. Clearly, the appearance of new and disproportionate old lipid species excludes randomness in any accumulation of oxidized LDL lipids in atheroma.     

Measurement of fat content of food with single-sided NMR

Fat content is one of the important parameters of quality control in many food products. Several techniques are used to determine the amount of fat in a given product. In this work, the applicability of a portable dedicated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyzer to measure the fat content in a packaged product without destruction of the material was examined. Two different low-field NMR methods, namely, a ratio method and a relaxation time method, were applied and discussed. The processed NMR signal was linearly correlated with the fat content obtained by reference methods. The linear correlation allowed the application of single-sided NMR for fat measurements. In memoriam     

BASF NanoSelect? Technology: Innovative Supported Pd- and Pt-based Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation Reactions

An innovative BASF catalyst manufacturing technology (NanoSelect?) is introduced which allows production of heterogeneous catalysts with excellent control over metal crystallite sizes. NanoSelect? technology enabled the development of Pd catalysts which are lead-free Lindlar catalyst replacements in alkyne-to-cis-alkene hydrogenations. NanoSelect? Pt catalysts showed excellent chemoselectivity in substituted nitro-arene hydrogenation reactions without build-up of hydroxylamine intermediates. All NanoSelect? produced catalysts show markedly higher activity per gram of metal leading to ten-fold less use of precious metal.     

Interaction of 1-allyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride and carbon black and its influence on carbon black filled rubbers

The interactions of the ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride (AMIMCl) with different grades of carbon black have been investigated using rheological measurements, differential scanning calorimetry and Raman spectroscopy. We could prove strong attractive interactions of AMIMCl with the carbon black surface, which result, for example, in the formation of an AMIMCl–carbon black–bucky gel and in an increased glass transition temperature of the ionic liquid in the presence of carbon black. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the AMIMCl is preferably attached to the edges of graphitic crystals at the carbon black surface, which have the highest adsorption energies. A surface treatment of different grades of carbon black with AMIMCl led to significant changes of the mechanical and electrical properties of different rubber compounds filled with carbon black, which can be attributed to a decreased filler–polymer interaction and a local plasticising effect of the AMIMCl at the carbon black surface.     

Hochselektive Stofftrennungen mit Carriermembranen — Stand der Entwicklung und Erwartungen

Membrane processes are able to separate liquid mixtures as well as mixtures of gases or vapours according to the sizes, solubilities, rates of diffusion or charges of the components. A separation is also possible using membranes in which the transport is coupled to a specific chemical reaction between the permeand and the membrane (facilitated or carrier mediated transport). This paper discusses aspects related to carrier‐mediated separation processes such as the transport mechanisms, the choice of appropriate carriers, the incorporation of carriers in the polymeric membrane material, the coating of porous support membranes with thin selective layers of the carrier‐polymer and, finally, the choice of appropriate parameters for the separation process. The separation of gas mixtures by carrier‐membranes appears very promising from a technical point of view. Experimental membrane samples often show excellent separation factors, but they have not met the permeability requirements for an economic use so far.     

A simple method for the objective characterisation of fabric softness. Part 1: Influence of bleaching,dyeing and crosslinking of wool*

A simple method for the characterisation of fabric softness using a conventional tensile tester and a special measurement device has been developed. The method is demonstrated to be especially useful in detecting changes in softness of a given substrate due to different treatments. The results obtained, particularly hysteresis at 75% of the maximum extension, provide a good correlation with subjective ranking for samples that are subjectively distinguishable; they also differentiate well between samples which seem subjectively indistinguishable. Screening tests were carried out, mainly on wool fabrics, to find the effect of different treatments such as oxidative (alkaline and acidic) and reductive (Blankit IN) bleaching, dyeing with acid and a 1:2 metal complex, chrome and (mono and bi)reactive dyes, the effect of the antisetting agent Basolan AS (BASF) and of crosslinking with Irgasol HTW (CGY) on fabric softness.     

Volatile lactones from streptomycetes arise via the antimycin biosynthetic pathway

The volatiles released by several streptomycetes were collected by using a closed-loop stripping apparatus (CLSA) and analysed by GC-MS. The obtained headspace extracts of various species contained blastmycinone, a known degradation product of the fungicidal antibiotic, antimycin A(3b), and several unknown derivatives. The suggested structures of these compounds, based on their mass spectra and GC retention indices, were confirmed by comparison to synthetic reference samples. Additional compounds found in the headspace extracts were butenolides formed from the blastmycinones by elimination of the carboxylic acid moiety. Analysis of a gene knockout mutant in the antimycin biosynthetic gene cluster demonstrated that all blastmycinones and butenolides are formed via the antimycin biosynthetic pathway. The structural variation of the blastmycinones identified here is much larger than within the known antimycins, thus suggesting that several antimycin derivatives remain to be discovered.     

Identification of intensity ratio break points from photon arrival trajectories in ratiometric single molecule spectroscopy

We describe a statistical method to analyze dual-channel photon arrival trajectories from single molecule spectroscopy model-free to identify break points in the intensity ratio. Photons are binned with a short bin size to calculate the logarithm of the intensity ratio for each bin. Stochastic photon counting noise leads to a near-normal distribution of this logarithm and the standard student t-test is used to find statistically significant changes in this quantity. In stochastic simulations we determine the significance threshold for the t-test's p-value at a given level of confidence. We test the method's sensitivity and accuracy indicating that the analysis reliably locates break points with significant changes in the intensity ratio with little or no error in realistic trajectories with large numbers of small change points, while still identifying a large fraction of the frequent break points with small intensity changes. Based on these results we present an approach to estimate confidence intervals for the identified break point locations and recommend a bin size to choose for the analysis. The method proves powerful and reliable in the analysis of simulated and actual data of single molecule reorientation in a glassy matrix.     

An Engineering Approach for Estimating the Formation of Nitric Oxide from Fuel‐Nitrogen

Explicit approximate equations for estimating the conversion factor of fuel‐nitrogen into nitric oxide are presented. They depend on the fuel‐nitrogen mole fraction, the initial nitric oxide mole fraction, and the kinetics‐equilibrium mole fraction of nitric oxide. This last parameter expresses a limiting value of fuel‐nitrogen conversion; it includes the complex nitrogen chemistry and depends thus on combustion conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the kinetics‐equilibrium mole fraction for fuel‐lean and high‐temperature conditions can be well estimated by the chemical‐equilibrium mole fraction, but for lower temperatures the kinetics‐equilibrium mole fraction has to be described by other correlations.     

采用新型焊接电弧提高焊接生产的经济效益和焊缝质量

通过在传统的短路过渡电弧和射流过渡电弧的基础上进行创新,发展新型的焊接电弧,可以显著地提高电弧焊接在金属连接中的优越性。两种新的焊接电弧,forceArc~杂志焊接电弧和coldArc~焊接电弧可以在一个焊接电源上实现,对焊接生产具有现实意义。了解和掌握这些新型电弧的工艺特点,可以有效地将其应用到生产中,以此提高焊接产品的质量和焊接生产的经济效益。新型焊接电弧的出现使现有的有关焊前焊接接头准备的标准和规定,特别是有关坡口角度和焊接位置,需要重新考虑。新型焊接电弧可以应用于各种金属加工工业中的焊接生产,是对弧焊工艺的一个创新。