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The neutron time-of-flight spectrometer NEAT has a long history of successful applications and is best suited to probe dynamic phenomena directly in the large time domain 10(-14) - 10(-10) s and on the length scale ranging from 0.05 to up to about 5 nm. To address user community needs for more powerful instrumental capabilities, a concept of the full upgrade of NEAT has been proposed. The upgrade started in 2010 after a rigorous internal and external selection process and resulted in 300-fold neutron count rate increase compared to NEAT01995. Combined with new instrumental and sample environmental capabilities the upgrade allows NEAT to maintain itself at the best world class level and provide an outstanding experimental tool for a broad range of scientific applications. The advanced features of the new instrument include an integrated guide-chopper system that delivers neutrons with flexible beam properties: either highly homogeneous beam with low divergence suitable for single crystals studies or "hot-spot" neutron distribution serving best small samples. Substantial increase of the detector angle coverage is achieved by using 416 He-3 position sensitive detectors. Placed at 3m from the sample, the detectors cover 20m(2) area and are equipped with modern electronics and DAQ using event recording techniques. The installation of hardware has been completed in June 2016 and on January 23, 2017 NEAT has welcomed its first regular users who took advantage of the high counting rate, broad available range of incoming neutron wavelengths and high flexibility of NEAT. Here we present details of NEAT upgrade, measured instrument characteristics and show first experimental results.
A novel mesoporous silica material containing boron–dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties (I) is employed for the detection of nerve agent simulants (NASs) and the organophosphate nerve or chemical warfare agents (CWAs) Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), and Tabun (GA) in aqueous environments. The reactive BODIPY dye with an optimum positioned hydroxyl group undergoes acylation reactions with phosph(on)ate substrates, yielding a bicyclic ring. Due to aggregation of the dyes in water, the sensitivity of the free dye in solution is very low. Only after immobilization of the BODIPY moieties into the silica substrates is aggregation inhibited and a sensitive determination of the NASs diethyl cyanophosphonate (DCNP), diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP) and diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) possible. The signaling mode is a strong quenching of the fluorescence, reaching LODs in the pM range. The best performing hybrid material was singled out from a library of hybrid silicas varying in morphology and surface functionalization. The response to actual CWAs such as GB, GD, and GA has also been tested, offering similar behavior as for the simulants. The proposed reaction mechanism has been verified by investigation of other model materials, containing for instance BODIPY moieties without an optimum hydroxyl group (III) or a BODIPY dye with an all-aliphatic counterpart (IV). The latter can only form a monocyclic reaction product, showing much less reactivity as I. Assays with other possible competitors have been additionally carried out, showing favorably low cross-reactivities. Finally, the determination of NASs in several natural waters has been demonstrated.
Test strips that in combination with a portable fluorescence reader or digital camera can rapidly and selectively detect chemical warfare agents (CWAs) such as Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), and Soman (GD) and their simulants in the gas phase have been developed. The strips contain spots of a hybrid indicator material consisting of a fluorescent BODIPY indicator covalently anchored into the channels of mesoporous SBA silica microparticles. The fluorescence quenching response allows the sensitive detection of CWAs in the μg m−3 range in a few seconds.
The role of mycotoxins in the microbial competition in an ecosystem or on the same host plant is still unclear. Therefore, a laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the influence of mycotoxins on growth and mycotoxin production of Fusarium and Alternaria fungi. Fusarium culmorum Fc13, Fusarium graminearum Fg23 and two Alternaria tenuissima isolates (At18 and At220) were incubated on wheat kernels supplemented with alternariol (AOH), tetramic acid derivates (TeA), deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) in an in vitro test system. Fungal biomass was quantified by determining ergosterol content. Three Fusarium toxins (DON, nivalenol and ZEA) and three Alternaria toxins (AOH, alternariol methyl ether (AME) and altenuene) were analysed by HPLC-MS/MS. If Alternaria strains grew in wheat kernels spiked with Fusarium mycotoxins, their growth rates were moderately increased, their AOH and AME production was enhanced and they were simultaneously capable of degrading the Fusarium mycotoxins DON and ZEA. In contrast, both Fusarium strains behaved quite differently. The growth rate of Fc13 was not distinctly influenced, while Fg23 increased its growth in wheat kernels spiked with AOH. TeA depressed the ergosterol content in Fc13 as well as in Fg23. The DON production of Fc13 was slightly depressed, whereas the ZEA production was significantly increased. In contrast, Fg23 restricted its ZEA production. Both Fusarium strains were not capable of degrading the Alternaria mycotoxin AOH. Mycotoxins might play an important role in the interfungal competitive processes. They influence growth rates and mycotoxin production of the antagonistic combatants. The observed effects between phytopathogenic Alternaria and Fusarium strains and their mycotoxins aid the understanding of the complexity of microbial competitive behaviour in natural environments.