Survey analysis and chemical characterization of solid inhomogeneous samples using a general homogenization procedure including acid digestion, drying, grinding and briquetting together with X-ray fluorescence.

A survey analysis and chemical characterization methodology for inhomogeneous solid waste samples of relatively large samples (typically up to 100g) using X-ray fluorescence following a general homogenization procedure is presented. By using a combination of acid digestion and grinding various materials can be homogenized e.g. pure metals, alloys, salts, ores, plastics, organics. In the homogenization step, solid material is fully or partly digested in a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid in an open vessel. The resulting mixture is then dried, grinded, and finally pressed to a wax briquette. The briquette is analyzed using wave-length dispersive X-ray fluorescence with fundamental parameters evaluation. The recovery of 55 elements were tested by preparing samples with known compositions using different alloys, pure metals or elements, oxides, salts and solutions of dissolved compounds. It was found that the methodology was applicable to 49 elements including Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Ta, W, Re, Ir, Pt, Au, Tl, Pb, Bi, and Th, that all had recoveries >0.8. 6 elements were lost by volatilization, including Br, I, Os, and Hg that were completely lost, and S and Ge that were partly lost. Since all lanthanides are chemically similar to La and Ce, all actinides are chemically similar to Th, and Hf is chemically similar to Zr, it is likely that the method is applicable to 77 elements. By using an internal standard such as strontium, added as strontium nitrate, samples containing relatively high concentrations of elements not measured by XRF (hydrogen to fluorine), e.g. samples containing plastics, can be analyzed.

Two-dimensional capillary electrophoresis using tangentially connected capillaries.

A novel type of fused silica capillary system is described where channels with circular cross-sections are tangentially in contact with each other and connected through a small opening at the contact area. Since the channels are not crossing each other in the same plane, the capillaries can easily be filled with different solutions, i.e. different solutions will be in contact with each other at the contact point. The system has been used to perform different types of two-dimensional separations and the complete system is fully automated where a high voltage switch is used to control the location of the high voltage in the system. Using two model compounds it is demonstrated that a type of two-dimensional separation can be performed using capillary zone electrophoresis at two different pH values. It is also shown that a compound with acid/base properties can be concentrated using a dynamic pH junction mechanism when transferred from the first separation to the second separation. In addition, the system has been used to perform a comprehensive two-dimensional capillary electrophoresis separation of tryptic digest of bovine serum albumin using capillary zone electrophoresis followed by micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

Microfluidic gradient-generating device for pharmacological profiling.

We describe an on-chip microfluidic gradient-generating device that generates concentration gradients spanning nearly 5 orders of magnitude starting from a single concentration. The exiting stream of drugs held at different concentrations remains laminar in a recording chamber and can be presented as 24 discrete solutions to a cell-based sensor. The high-performance characteristics of the device are demonstrated by pharmacological screening of voltage-gated K+ channels (hERG) and ligand-gated GABA(A) receptors using scanning-probe patch-clamp measurements. Multiple data point dose-response curves and IC50 and EC50 values were rapidly obtained, typically in less than 30 min, through its combined functionality of gradient generation and open-volume laminar flow. The device facilitates rapid pharmacological profiling of ion channel and GPCR effectors and enables the acquisition of large numbers of data points with minute sample consumption and handling.

A chemical waveform synthesizer.

Algorithms and methods were developed to synthesize complex chemical waveforms in open volumes by using a scanning-probe microfluidic platform. Time-dependent variations and oscillations of one or several chemical species around the scanning probe, such as formation of sine waves, damped oscillations, and generation of more complex patterns, are demonstrated. Furthermore, we show that intricate bursting and chaotic calcium oscillations found in biological microdomains can be reproduced and that a biological cell can be used as a probe to study receptor functionalities as a function of exposure to time-dependent variations of receptor activators and inhibitors. Thus, the method allows for studies of biologically important oscillatory reactions. More generally, the system allows for detailed studies of complex time-varying chemical and physical phenomena in solution or at solution/surface interfaces.

A microfluidics approach to the problem of creating separate solution environments accessible from macroscopic volumes.

We report on a microfluidic device that generates separate solution environments in macroscopic volumes. Spatially distinct patterns are created by emitting fluids from 16 different sources (closely spaced microchannels) into a solution-filled macroscopic chamber. The fluid in neighboring microchannels couples viscously in the macroscopic container, generating one single interdigitated stream. Scanning nanoelectrode amperometry was used for characterizing the concentration landscape and the diffusion zones between solutions running in parallel at different coordinates in the stream. These experiments were complemented by finite element simulations of the Navier-Stokes and mass transport equations to describe the velocity distributions and the diffusion behavior. For in channel flow velocities of 50 mm.s(-1), patterns could persist on the order of millimeters to centimeters in the open volume. The most narrow diffusion zones with widths less than 10 microm (5-95% concentration change) were found some tens of micrometers out in the macroscopic container. We demonstrate that a 14-microm-diameter nearly spherical object (biological cell) attached to a micropipet can be moved from one solution environment to another by a lateral displacement of only 8 microm. The device is suitable for applications where the solution environment around a microscopic or nanoscopic sensor needs to be changed multiple times, i.e., in order to build layered structures, for obtaining binding isotherms, and kinetic information, for example, on ion channels, enzymes, and receptors as well as in applications where different loci on an object need to be exposed to different environments or where complex solution environments need to be created for studies of interfacial chemistry between two streaming layers.

Analysis of the performance of a flow reactor for use with microcolumn HPLC.

Postcolumn derivatization reactions can be used to improve detector sensitivity or selectivity. The advantages of capillary chromatography for trace analysis could be augmented if there were postcolumn reactors suitable for microchromatographic systems. However, postcolumn derivatization is a challenge because of the small peak volumes associated with capillary columns. We have developed a postcolumn flow reactor from microchannels formed in fluorinated ethylene propylene and 50-microm fused-silica tubing for use with capillary HPLC analyses. Theoretical and experimental evidence show that the reactor, which operates in the Taylor dispersion regime, enables contact of analyte and derivatization streams purely by diffusion. Reactor lengths as short as 2 cm allow formation of copper(II)-peptide complexes that are detected electrochemically at a carbon fiber microelectrode. The reactor has been used with 100-microm-i.d. columns with insignificant effects (i.e., <3%) on peak band spreading. Theoretical calculations indicate that even smaller i.d. columns can be used with little effect on chromatographic resolution.

Miniaturized electrochemical flow cells.

Several novel types of miniaturized electrochemical flow cells are described. The flow cells are fabricated in fluorinated ethylene propylene using a novel technique where channels with inner diameters down to 13 microm are integrated with electrodes. The channel is formed by shrinking and simultaneous melting of a heat shrink/melt tubing around a channel template (a tungsten wire) and electrodes followed by removal of the channel template. The technique allows incorporation of different electrode materials of different sizes. The electrode configuration consists of one or two working electrodes inside the channel and a counter electrode located in the channel outlet reservoir. Electrode configurations with different channel and working electrode sizes, different electrode materials including carbon fibers, glassy carbon rods, poly(tetrafluoroethylene)/carbon composite material, and platinum wires, and different arrangements have been assembled. Hydrodynamic voltammograms in dual-electrode (generator-collector) experiments indicate good potential control for cells with 25-microm channels, while there is some iR drop in cells with 13-microm channels. Cells prepared with a cylindrical working electrode tangent and perpendicular to a flow channel show a flow rate dependence consistent with thin-layer cell behavior. Electrode areas can be made in the range of 10(-10)-10(-8) m2.

Capillary zone electrophoresis in laboratory-made fluorinated ethylene propylene capillaries.

Capillaries made of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) with an inner diameter of 50 microm have been employed in capillary zone electrophoresis with UV-Vis absorbance detection. The capillaries were made in the laboratory with a recently developed technique using fluoropolymer heat shrink/melt tubing and a tungsten wire as a template for the channel. An electroosmotic flow was obtained in the channels and it is shown that an FEP capillary is more effective for a cationic test solute than a fused-silica capillary. The compatibility of FEP capillaries with optical detection is evaluated briefly.

Fabrication of microchannel structures in fluorinated ethylene propylene.

A new technique for fabrication of channel structures with diameters down to 13 microm in fluorinated ethylene propylene (also known as poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene), FEP) is described. The technique is based on the unique property of a dual-layer fluoropolymer tubing consisting of an outer layer of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) and an inner layer of FEP. When heated (>350 degrees C), the outer PTFE layer shrinks while the inner FEP layer melts, resulting in filling of all empty space inside the tubing with FEP. The channel structures are formed using tungsten wires as templates that are pulled out after completion of the shrinking and melting process. While several analytical devices have been reproducibly prepared and shown to function, this report describes a single example. A microreactor coupled to an electrochemical flow cell detects the biuret complex of the natively electroinactive peptide des-Tyr-Leu-enkephalin.