Direct characterization of bitter acids in a crude hop extract by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

The applicability of on-line coupling of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to atmospheric pressure ionization tandem mass spectrometry for the separation and characterization of hop acids mixture from the crude extract of Humulus lupulus was investigated. The solvent system consisting of acetonitrile-aqueous formic acid was used to give proper separation of the six main hop bitter acids within 30 min. Further structural information about the components was acquired by collision-induced dissociation (CID). On the basis of analyses of the fragmentation patterns of the major alpha- and beta-bitter acids respectively, identification of the minor ones was performed using selected reaction monitoring (SRM) with a group of qualitatively relevant selected precursor-product ion transitions for each bitter acid in a single high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) run. Using this technique, six minor hop acids, including "adprelupulone" observed for the first time in natural resources, were detected along with the six major acids. This hyphenated techniques provides potency for rapid qualitative determination of analogs and homologs in mixtures. (C) 2004 American Society for Mass Spectrometry.

On the propagation rate of the chemical waves observed during the course of CO oxidation on a Ag/Pt(110) composite surface

We have analyzed the propagation rate of the chemical waves observed during the course of CO oxidation on a Ag/Pt(I 10) composite surface that were reported in our previous papers [Surf Interface Anal. 2001, 32, 179; J. Phys. Chem. B 2002, 106, 5645]. In all cases, the propagation rate v can be adequately fitted as v = v(0) + D-0/d, in which v(0) and D-0 are constants, and d is the distance between the reaction front of the chemical wave and the boundary from which the chemical wave originates. We propose that the surface species responsible for the formation of the chemical wave comes from two paths: the adsorption of molecules in the gas phase on the surface and the migration from the adjacent surface with different catalytic activity. v(0) corresponds to the contribution from the surface species due to the adsorption, and D-0/d to that of the surface species that migrates from the adjacent surface. The rate equation clearly suggests that the observed chemical wave results from the coupling between adjacent surfaces with different catalytic activities during the course of heterogeneous catalysis. These results, together with our previous reports, provide a good fundamental understanding of spillover, an important phenomenon in heterogeneous catalysis.

State-to-state dynamics of elementary chemical reactions using Rydberg H-atom translational spectroscopy

In this review, a few examples of state-to-state dynamics studies of both unimolecular and bimolecular reactions using the H-atom Rydberg tagging TOF technique were presented. From the H2O photodissociation at 157 nm, a direction dissociation example is provided, while photodissociation of H2O at 121.6 has provided an excellent dynamical case of complicated, yet direct dissociation process through conical intersections. The studies of the O(D-1) + H-2 --> OH+H reaction has also been reviewed here. A prototype example of state-to-state dynamics of pure insertion chemical reaction is provided. Effect of the reagent rotational excitation and the isotope effect on the dynamics of this reaction have also been investigated. The detailed mechanism for abstraction channel in this reaction has also been closely studied. The experimental investigations of the simplest chemical reaction, the H-3 system, have also been described here. Through extensive collaborations between theory and experiment, the mechanism for forward scattering product at high collision energies for the H+HD reaction was clarified, which is attributed to a slow down mechanism on the top of a quantized barrier transition state. Oscillations in the product quantum state resolved different cross sections have also been observed in the H+D-2 reaction, and were attributed to the interference of adiabatic transition state pathways from detailed theoretical analysis. The results reviewed here clearly show the significant advances we have made in the studies of the state-to-state molecular reaction dynamics.