A novel organic-inorganic hybrid monolithic column prepared in-situ in a microchip and its application for the determination of 2-amino-4-chlorophenol in chlorzoxazone tablets.

γ-Alumina nanoparticles (γ-Al2O3) were introduced to the conventional poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (MAA-co-EGDMA) monolith to prepare a novel organic-inorganic hybrid monolith, poly(MAA-co-EGDMA)-Al2O3 monolith. The polymerization was induced in-situ with UV irradiation in an ultraviolet transparent polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microfluidic chip. The monolith-based solid phase microextraction system was used for the on-line determination of 2-amino-4-chlorophenol (ACP) in chlorzoxazone tablets coupled with an optical fiber spectrophotometer. Several parameters affecting the adsorption/desorption, including sample pH value, sample flow rate, sampling time, eluent flow rate, and eluting time, were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method were calculated to be 2.8 and 9.1 µg L(-1), respectively, with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 3.1%.

Microwave plasma torch-atomic emission spectrometry for the on-line determination of rare earth elements based on flow injection preconcentration by TiO2-graphene composite.

In this work, we synthesized TiO(2)-graphene composite as a novel preconcentration material. It was enclosed in a microcolumn in the on-line flow injection system to adsorb trace light (La), medium (Tb), and heavy (Ho) rare earth elements (REEs) prior to their determinations by microwave plasma torch-atomic emission spectrometry (MPT-AES). Various experimental parameters, such as sample loading time, sample flow rate, sample pH, eluent flow rate, eluent concentration, and interfering ions, were investigated systematically. Under the optimum conditions, the detection limits (three times of standard deviations of blank by 7 reiterations) of La, Tb, and Ho were found to be 2.2, 1.6, and 2.8 µg L(-1), with enrichment factors of 17.1, 11.1, and 10.2, respectively. Relative standard deviations for the determination of the target REEs were 3.6%, 1.3%, and 1.4%, respectively (n=7). The developed method was validated by the analysis of La, Tb, and Ho in certified reference material (GBW07313, marine sediment) and high purity REE oxide samples.

Highly oriented tunable wrinkling in polymer bilayer films confined with a soft mold induced by water vapor.

The authors report the formation of highly oriented wrinkling on the surface of the bilayer [polystyrene (PS)/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP)] confined by a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold in a water vapor environment. When PVP is subjected to water vapor, the polymer loses its mechanical rigidity and changes to a viscous state, which leads to a dramatic change in Young's modulus. This change generates the amount of strain in the bilayer to induce the wrinkling. With a shape-controlled mold, they can get the ordered wrinkles perfectly perpendicular or leaned 45 degrees to the channel orientation of the mold because the orientation of the resultant force changes with the process of water diffusion which drives the surface to form the wrinkling. Additionally, they can get much smaller wrinkles than the stripe spacing of PDMS mold about one order. The wrinkle period changes with the power index of about 0.5 for various values of the multiplication product of the film thicknesses of the two layers, namely, lambda approximately (h(PS)h(PVP))(1/2).