The contributions of Henri Victor Regnault in the context of organic chemistry of the first half of the nineteenth century

A very little known aspect of the scientific career of Regnault is his contribution to the emerging organic chemistry in the first half of the nineteenth century. The purpose of this article is not only to describe two of his most important researches in this field, as were the discovery of two series of halogenated derivates of certain organic compounds and the precise identification of some of the then recently discovered alkaloids, but also the main features that identified his research method. With the involvement in these subjects, Regnault unintentionally positioned himself in the midst of some of the polemics about the classification of organic compounds that characterized this age of science.

Performance characteristics of high performance liquid chromatography, first order derivative UV spectrophotometry and bioassay for fluconazole determination in capsules

The bioassay, first order derivative UV spectrophotometry and chromatographic methods for assaying fluconazole capsules were compared. They have shown great advantages over the earlier published methods. Using the first order derivative, the UV spectrophotometry method does not suffer interference of excipients. Validation parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection and limit of quantitation were determined. All methods were linear and reliable within acceptable limits for antibiotic pharmaceutical preparations being accurate, precise and reproducible. The application of each method as a routine analysis should be investigated considering cost, simplicity, equipment, solvents, speed, and application to large or small workloads.

AVOIDING FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOKS’ MISREPRESENTATIONS IN THE TEACHING OF SPONTANEOUS REACTIONS

This paper summarizes the misrepresentations related to Gibbs energy in general chemistry textbooks. These misrepresentations arise from a problem in the terminology textbooks use. Thus, after reviewing the proper definition of each of the terms analyzed, we present two problems to exemplify the correct treatment of the quantities involved, which may help in the discussion and clarification of the misleading conventions and assumptions reported in this study.

First report of black rot of Colocasia esculenta caused by Ceratocystis fimbriata in Brazil

Ceratocystis fimbriata was found sporulating in gray to black discolored areas on edible corms of Colocasia esculenta found in supermarkets in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Rondônia and the Distrito Federal. In most cases the corms were grown in the state of São Paulo. The black rot appeared to occur post-harvest. Sequences of rDNA indicated that the Colocasia sp. isolates belong to the Latin American clade of the C. fimbriata complex, but the isolates were more aggressive than isolates from Ficus carica and Mangifera indica, in pseudopetioles of C. esculenta.

First report of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3 on tomato in Brazil

Fusarium wilt, caused by three races of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, is one of the most important diseases of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Races 1 and 2 are distributed worldwide whereas race 3 has a more limited geographic distribution with no report thus far in Brazil. Seven F. oxysporum isolates were obtained from wilted tomato plants of race 1 and 2-resistant hybrids 'Carmen' and 'Alambra' in Venda Nova do Imigrante (State of Espírito Santo), Brazil. Virulence assays were performed using a set of the race differential cultivars: 'Ponderosa' (susceptible to all races), 'IPA-5' (resistant to race 1), 'Floradade' (resistant to races 1 and 2) and 'BHRS-2,3' (resistant to race 3). All isolates were highly virulent to 'Ponderosa', 'IPA-5' and 'Floradade' and were able to infect only a few plants of 'BHRS-2,3'. An additional virulence test was conducted including the same set of cultivars plus Lycopersicon pennellii 'LA 716'. Identical results were obtained with L. pennellii displaying an extreme (immune-like) resistant response. These results indicated that all seven isolates could be classified as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3. This new Fusarium wilt might became an economically important disease since race 3-resistant cultivars adapted to Brazil are not yet available.