Volume 96, Issue 11

The use of Latin origin terms, relevant for sample characterization modalities, is described with a focus on samples under controlled conditions, samples within devices, and samples during physico-chemical evolution. The terms in vitro , in vivo , in situ , ab initio , in silico , post mortem , ex situ , posthumous , in vacuo , (in) operando , post facto , and ex post facto , as used in the scientific literature, are considered. Uses of the Latin origin terms in situ , extra situm , in operando , in vivo , in vacuo , in vitro , extra vivum , post facto and ex post facto , ab initiis , computatro , and post mortem are discussed. It is suggested that these terms are to be used without hyphenation and that all Latin derived terms are set in italic font.

Biochar is the solid carbonaceous product of biomass pyrolysis. The properties of biochar depend on the biomass feedstock as well as the pyrolysis temperature and time. Therefore, biochars with different properties and functionalities can be produced. Biochar research has been intensive in the past 15 years, focusing mainly on soil applications, wastewater treatment, and contaminant remediation. However, a formal definition of biochar and related terms is missing, which hinders the standardization of scientific results worldwide and the scaling-up of research at the industrial level. Furthermore, an official terminology may promote the development of a harmonized legal framework for biochar production and applications, both at regional and national levels. This glossary of terms consists of 178 scientifically sound definitions of the most commonly used terms in biochar research. The definitions of this glossary are interconnected, allowing the reader to further explore the synergies between terms. The distribution of terms reflects the multidisciplinarity of biochar research: chemistry, material science and engineering, and soil science are the main disciplines represented here. The list of terms is by no means exhaustive and the strategic objective of this effort is to develop a dynamic document in which more terms will be added in the future, and the existing ones will be refined, as biochar research evolves.

This document describes how the Nomenclature for Properties and Units (NPU) terminology can be applied to differentiate between cell subpopulations of the hematopoietic lineage. The clusters of differentiation molecules are included in the NPU syntax, together with its correct affiliations to indicate their presence or absence. This allows for identification and isolation of cell populations, subsets, and differentiation stages, which is essential for correct diagnosis and treatment of several malignancies and autoimmune diseases.

Cow’s milk proteins are encoded by highly polymorphic genes characterized by several mutations which result in different allelic variants. Each allelic variant has different possible effects on cheese-making properties and on human health. β-casein A1-A3-I-B, k-casein B and β-lactoglobulin B are supposed to influence milk cheese-making properties by increasing cheese or milk yield, by varying chemical parameters, by having small casein micelle size, and by influencing rennet coagulation time (RCT) and curd-firming rate (CFR). In addition, β-casein A1-B are also considered to be a risk factor for different health diseases such as ischemic heart disease (IHD), type 1 diabetes (T1D), decreased glutathione (GSH) concentration, and milk intolerance. An LC-MS method was applied to profile, for the first time, the main milk proteins genetic variants from Aosta Valley autochtonous cattle breeds. Analyses performed on milk collected from bovines of three cattle breeds (Red Pied – VRP, Black Pied – VNP and Chestnut – CAS), either from IAR experimental farm or from herds of dairy-producers in Aosta Valley region, showed quite high frequencies of β-casein A2 and A3/I, and low frequencies of β-casein A1. Moreover, low frequencies of β-casein B in VRP breed and high frequencies of the same variant in CAS, and VNP breeds have been found. As far as k-casein is concerned allelic variant B is the most diffused in VRP while allelic variant A in VNP and CAS breeds. Finally, β-lactoglobulin most diffused allelic variant for all breeds is B. Results suggest that Aosta Valley milk has good cheese-making properties and good frequencies of β-casein A2 which may be related to beneficial effects on human health. In light of these results, it is important to develop breeding programs which take into consideration milk proteins polymorphisms to further increase the milk suitability for cheese-making process and to decrease the presence of β-casein A1 and B in drinking milk which can be a risk factor for human health.

Ever since its invention, mass spectrometry has been seen as a remedy for all of the riddle that an analytical chemist was ever called to answer. Indeed, a good mass expert, provided with a good instrument and an updated library, would be able to answer to the question “what is it?” or “what does it have inside?”. In most of the cases, nevertheless, there is sometimes the need of using other type of techniques in order to avoid misunderstandings and wrong interpretations of the results. Therefore, the aim of this work is to compare real forensic cases where mass spectrometry played a fundamental role to obtain tangible and trustable answers, to other ones where this technique proved to be totally misleading. Those that will be shown, are real, concrete cases – slightly modified in order to make them unrecognisable.

Coffee is one of the most enjoyed beverages worldwide and whilst a wide array of secondary metabolites has been qualitatively and quantitatively characterised within the coffee bean, little is known about their distribution in different bean tissues. In this work, complementary mass spectrometry (MS) based approaches were utilised to determine the spatial metabolomic content of coffee beans, focusing on highlighting those which presented a regiospecific distribution and distinguished the different endosperm regions and the embryo. Preliminary exploration of the spatial metabolome of Coffea arabica coffee beans highlighted tissue-specific molecular features through an unsupervised statistical analysis. Then, the complementary information derived from higher resolution MS approaches resulted in the annotation of 13 metabolites which showed a specific enrichment in at least one tissue, and most of these were noted to be bioactive compounds or aroma/flavour precursors. Knowledge of the tissue distribution of these compounds could shed light on their biological role in plant physiology and bean development, but could also have relevant implications for their positive impact on human health due to coffee consumption as well as their possible effect on aroma and flavour upon roasting of green coffee beans.

The background and current studies in the area of fire investigation at the Turin Fire Department’s Forensic Laboratory. It is uncommon to find an investigation facility, and even less often within fire brigade headquarters, that uses GC-MS and GC-TOF extensively to look for accelerants. During 16 years of intense effort, the Turin Fire Department in Italy accomplished various research projects on the identification of flame accelerants and more in fire residues. This collaborative effort between academics and firefighters is unique. It is based on the perspectives of individuals who often fight fires before going on to investigation. The article will outline the study that was done, explain how advances in instrumentation have produced ever-better outcomes and the next steps in the foreseeable future.

Microwave-induced combustion was evaluated as a sample preparation method for several types of tea (black, green, lemon balm, boldo, and mint) for further determination of bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, and sulfur by ion chromatography. Parameters such as the sample mass efficiently decomposed and the most suitable absorbing solution (ultrapure water and 25, 50, 100, and 150 mmol L −1 NH 4 OH) were evaluated, considering the characteristics of the analytes and the determination technique used. The maximum sample mass possible to be decomposed was 900 mg of milled tea in the form of pellets, and the absorbing solution chosen was 100 mmol L −1 NH 4 OH, which provided suitable stabilization of the analytes (recoveries between 95 % and 103 %). To assess the accuracy of the proposed method, a certified reference material (BCR 060, aquatic plant) was analyzed. Agreements with the certified values ranged from 101 % to 107 %. The proposed method was used to analyze tea samples and the concentrations ranged from 549 to 2,549 mg kg −1 for chlorine, 223 to 828 mg kg −1 for fluorine, and 786 to 4,023 mg kg −1 for sulfur; bromine and iodine concentrations were below the limits of quantification (42 and 80 mg kg −1 , respectively) in all evaluated samples.

Risk assessment of pesticides has its roots in the same process for chemicals in general, both of which are relatively recent. Pesticides such as oxides of sulfur and some minerals were also used by early civilizations but the concepts of dose-response and risk as a probability were only documented in the literature (books) in the 1500s and 1600s, respectively. Formal use of toxic dose and safety factors for humans was developed as inorganic and organic pesticides entered the market after the 1930s, but only made use of simple hazard ratios to characterize danger. This approach continued until adoption of the concept of probability of exposure of humans to pesticides via dietary exposure, but not sensitivity of humans. It was in 1980s–90s that the use of probability was suggested as a way of characterizing variation in sensitivity of species in the environment as well as the exposures in environmental matrices. As we move into the future, risk assessment of agrochemicals will evolve to include new frameworks and approaches for dealing with conflicting data, such as Weight of Evidence.

The presence of an excessive amount of iodine, especially radioactive iodine, is dangerous to the environment. Amine solutions are the most common and technically mature class of chemical sorption used for the capture of the pollutants. The iodine vapor diffusion and release capabilities of the aromatic amine solutions have been investigated. The iodine diffusion and release experiments were examined by UV-visible spectroscopy. Many electronic spectrophotometric studies have been reported in the coordination chemistry field on complexes. Generally, these complexes were obtained by using different electron donors with various organic or metallic electron acceptors in polar and non-polar solvents. The absorption spectra of the donor, acceptors, and the resulted complexes were carried out in methanol in the region of 200–600 nm. The correlation between the spectral characteristics of molecular complexes of iodine with various aromatic amines and the ionization potentials of the donor molecules is discussed. The concentrations of the diffused iodine and the formed complex were calculated using mathematical models and calibration curves. The values of the formation constant ( k AD ), molar extinction coefficient ( ε AD ), and absorption band energy of complexes were estimated. The ionization potential of the donor I D was calculated from the complex band energies. The kinetic of the above association and reverse reactions was studied, and some kinetic parameters have been estimated.

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) exhibits a remarkable trait referred to as the ‘memory effect,’ demonstrating its capacity to reconstruct its layered structure from calcined oxides through hydrothermal treatment. Its uniqueness has garnered significant interest from researchers in both industrial and academic domains. Various methods have been utilized to synthesize LDH but most LDH studies still utilize alkali precipitants which might taint the final LDH product. Thus, in this study, layered double hydroxides involving MgAl/NiAl/ZnAl were synthesized via an alkali-free hydrothermal approach in which the formed precipitates of LDH were thermally destroyed via calcination at 450 °C before undergoing a rehydration treatment at 110 °C for 24 h to restore its original structure. Particularly, the physiochemical properties of MgAl/NiAl/ZnAl LDH have been undertaken by multiple techniques such as Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The resultant products exhibited exceptional crystallinity, accompanied by notably larger crystallite sizes and crystallinity index, particularly post-hydrothermal treatment. Among the fresh and calcined products studied, those subjected to HTM (4:1) treatment demonstrated the highest specific surface area and crystallinity surpassing both the fresh and calcined samples. In essence, this research showcased how utilizing the hydrothermal approach resulted in the most substantial increase in crystallite size and specific surface area.

Over the years, studies showed that hydrogels can be produced through synthetic route to overcome the limitations in obtaining natural-based hydrogels. Biomass resources offer potential alternatives as renewable feedstocks due to their outstanding biodegradability and biocompatibility. Oil palm mesocarp fiber (MF) is the biomass residue obtained after the pressing of palm fruits during palm oil extraction. There is approximately 11 % MF generated from palm fruits after oil extraction. However, the applications of MF are limited. This study aimed to investigate the development of hydrogels from holocellulose MF instead of commonly used cellulose which involving several pretreatment steps, through acid cross-linkers. Holocellulose MF was selected as polymer for chemical cross-linking with two inexpensive and nontoxic hydrophilic organic acids, citric acid and acetic acid for hydrogel production. Comparison study was carried out to evaluate the physicochemical properties, and degree of swelling, as well as gel content in different media for both acids in the production of hydrogel from holocellulose MF. Results indicated that the optimum concentrations of citric acid and acetic acid for gel content and degree of swelling were 5 M and 2 M, respectively. Both optimized hydrogels exhibited comparable profiles in terms of morphology, thermal stability and functional groups, in addition to showing similar degree of swelling profile in different media, i.e., salt solution, acidic, neutral to alkaline, implying their distinctive characteristics. In summary, holocellulose MF is suitable for the production of hydrogel with citric acid and acetic acid as crosslinkers for different desired applications.