The way to ultrafast, high-throughput enantioseparations of bioactive compounds in liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography

Until less than 10 years ago, chiral separations were carried out with columns packed with 5 or 3 μm fully porous particles (FPPs). Times to resolve enantiomeric mixtures were easily larger than 30 min, or so. Pushed especially by stringent requirements from medicinal and pharmaceutical industries, during the last years the field of chiral separations by liquid chromatography has undergone what can be defined a “true revolution”. With the purpose of developing ever faster and efficient method of separations, indeed, very efficient particle formats, such as superficially porous particles (SPPs) or sub-2 μm FPPs, have been functionalized with chiral selectors and employed in ultrafast applications. Thanks to the use of short column (1–2 cm long), packed with these extremely efficient chiral stationary phases (CSPs), operated at very high flow rates (5–8 mL/min), resolution of racemates could be accomplished in very short time, in many cases less than 1 s in normal-, reversed-phase and HILIC conditions. These CSPs have been found to be particularly promising also to carry out high-throughput separations under supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) conditions. The most important results that have been recently achieved in terms of ultrafast, high-throughput enantioseparations both in liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography with particular attention to the very important field of bioactive chiral compounds will be reviewed in this manuscript. Attention will be focused not only on the latest introduced CSPs and their applications, but also on instrumental modifications which are required in some cases in order to fully exploit the intrinsic potential of new generation chiral columns

The composition of PM1 and PM2.5 samples, metals and their water soluble fractions in the Bologna area (Italy)

Abstract In this study the metal composition of PM 1 and PM 2.5 samples collected in the surroundings of a municipal incinerator located in a suburban–farming area, less than 10 km away from Northeast of Bologna (Italy) was investigated. Seven out of eight monitoring stations were installed in a domain of 8x9 km 2 around the incinerator plant; the eighth station was placed inside the urban area of Bologna. The coordinates of four monitoring stations were selected on the basis of a preliminary study by using a dispersion model. Eleven metals (Al, Sb, As, Cd, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cu, V, Zn) were quantified in both the filter acid–digests and in the water extracts. The PM 2.5 collected in all the sites of the domain were highly correlated with exception of the urban site. The daily average metal concentrations in summer were 1.84% and 1.14% for PM 2.5 and PM 1 respectively, indicating that fine particles are less enriched in metals. Fe, Al and Zn were the most abundant elements, and they represented about the 80% of the total amount of the analyzed ones. The average water soluble metal compositions were 0.71% and 0.41% for PM 2.5 and PM 1 respectively. In the sites of the suburban–farming studied area the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis revealed differences between water soluble metal compositions in PM 1 and PM 2.5 . The urban sites were characterized by lower total and soluble metals contents than the other PM 2.5 stations installed around the incinerator plant. However, no noticeable difference in the concentrations of metals in the particulate matter between the sites chosen as maxima of incinerator emissions and the control sites was observed

Current Developments of Analytical Methodologies for Aflatoxins' Determination in Food during the Last Decade (2013-2022), with a Particular Focus on Nuts and Nut Products.

peer reviewedThis review aims to provide a clear overview of the most important analytical development in aflatoxins analysis during the last decade (2013-2022) with a particular focus on nuts and nuts-related products. Aflatoxins (AFs), a group of mycotoxins produced mainly by certain strains of the genus Aspergillus fungi, are known to impose a serious threat to human health. Indeed, AFs are considered carcinogenic to humans, group 1, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Since these toxins can be found in different food commodities, food control organizations worldwide impose maximum levels of AFs for commodities affected by this threat. Thus, they represent a cumbersome issue in terms of quality control, analytical result reliability, and economical losses. It is, therefore, mandatory for food industries to perform analysis on potentially contaminated commodities before the trade. A full perspective of the whole analytical workflow, considering each crucial step during AFs investigation, namely sampling, sample preparation, separation, and detection, will be presented to the reader, focusing on the main challenges related to the topic. A discussion will be primarily held regarding sample preparation methodologies such as partitioning, solid phase extraction (SPE), and immunoaffinity (IA) related methods. This will be followed by an overview of the leading analytical techniques for the detection of aflatoxins, in particular liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to a fluorescence detector (FLD) and/or mass spectrometry (MS). Moreover, the focus on the analytical procedure will not be specific only to traditional methodologies, such as LC, but also to new direct approaches based on imaging and the ability to detect AFs, reducing the need for sample preparation and separative techniques

Comparative transcriptomic profiling of peach and nectarine cultivars reveals cultivar-specific responses to chilled postharvest storage

Introduction: Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch,) and nectarine fruits (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var nectarine), are characterized by a rapid deterioration at room temperature. Therefore, cold storage is widely used to delay fruit post-harvest ripening and extend fruit commercial life. Physiological disorders, collectively known as chilling injury, can develop typically after 3 weeks of low-temperature storage and affect fruit quality. Methods: A comparative transcriptomic analysis was performed to identify regulatory pathways that develop before chilling injury symptoms are detectable using next generation sequencing on the fruits of two contrasting cultivars, one peach (Sagittaria) and one nectarine, (Big Top), over 14 days of postharvest cold storage. Results: There was a progressive increase in the number of differentially expressed genes between time points (DEGs) in both cultivars. More (1264) time point DEGs were identified in ‘Big Top’ compared to ‘Sagittaria’ (746 DEGs). Both cultivars showed a downregulation of pathways related to photosynthesis, and an upregulation of pathways related to amino sugars, nucleotide sugar metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction with ethylene pathways being most affected. Expression patterns of ethylene related genes (including biosynthesis, signaling and ERF transcription factors) correlated with genes involved in cell wall modification, membrane composition, pathogen and stress response, which are all involved later during storage in development of chilling injury. Discussion: Overall, the results show that common pathways are activated in the fruit of ‘Big Top’ nectarine and ‘Sagittaria’ peach in response to cold storage but include also differences that are cultivar-specific responses

Educare alla Sostenibilità: Esperienze di Campus Sostenibile e di Educazione alla sostenibilità nelle scuole medie superiori

Passare da una cultura consumista ad una della sostenibilità, adottando politiche eco-compatibili, è oggi una necessità stringente ed una sfida globale, ma anche una straordinaria opportunità di innovazione. Porre la sostenibilità come colonna portante della ricerca, ma anche per la formazione e le procedure amministrative all’interno dell’Università e delle scuole è una esigenza inderogabile e quasi un obbligo per le università. Portare agli studenti i concetti di sostenibilità e proporre ad essi opportunità di attuare tali principi nel corso del loro curriculum significa dotarli di strumenti competitivi, portare il concetto della sostenibilità alle loro famiglie e quindi diffondere il paradigma della sostenibilità nella societa

Thermodynamic Insights into the Separation of Carotenoids in Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography

The retention mechanism of four major carotenoids, two xanthophylls (i.e., lutein and zeaxanthin) and two carotenes (i.e., lycopene and -carotene),was investigated in reversed-phase liquid chromatography with the aimof thermodynamic analysis.The experimental variables considered in this study were the composition ofmobile phase (MP) and the temperature.Chromatographic elutions were undertaken under linear, isocratic conditions by using a C18 stationary phase, four different MP compositions (by varying the ratio methanol/acetonitrile from 66.5/28.5 to 47.5/47.5 v/v), and column temperatures in the range 283–313 K. TraditionalVan’tHoff analysis has been used to estimate changes of standard enthalpy (Δ∘) andGibbs free energy (Δ∘) associated with the solute transfer from the mobile to the stationary phase at eachmobile phase composition.The thermodynamic quantities have been correlated to the structure of investigated carotenoids and their interaction with the octadecyl silica stationary phase

Fourier analysis of multicomponent chromatograms. Theory of nonconstant peak width models

Power spectrum (PS) based analysis of multicomponent chromatograms is extended to chromatograms containing peak of different width. For Poissonian chromatograms the PS is derived both for cases where peak width and retention time are indipendent of one another and for cases of linear peak broadening. Computer generated chromatograms were used to test the derived model equations. The results obtained by simulation are explored on the basis of the theoretically derived equations, and the relevance of the results in handling practical cases is emphasized