Determination of Dicyclohexylamine in Beeswax by Aqueous Normal Phase Liquid Chromatography Coupled With Tandem Mass Spectrometry.
Dicyclohexylamine (DCH) is an excipient present in commercial formulations of fumagillin (Fumagilin-B® and Fumidil-B®), an antibiotic which is employed in apiculture for the control of nosema disease. DCH has been demonstrated to be stable in harvested honey; however, its fate in the beehive has not been investigated. In this study, DCH residues were determined in beeswax samples collected from brood chambers and honey supers from various apiaries throughout Alberta. The determination of DCH was performed using a simple extraction procedure followed by low-temperature cleanup and finally analysis with aqueous normal phase liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The method was found to yield high accuracy and precision (94.9 ± 1.7% to 110.8 ± 6.6%) for replicate beeswax samples spiked with 4, 80, 360 and 2,000 μg kg-1 of DCH. With a limit of quantification of 1 μg kg-1, 100% of the 61 beeswax samples analyzed were found to contain residues of DCH ranging from 15 to 6,410 μg kg-1. The results indicate that DCH can accumulate in beeswax when Fumagilin-B® or Fumidil-B® is applied in apiculture and that these concentrations can vary significantly among beekeeping operations.
Effect of Fumagillin upon Nosema apis (Zander)
A PRELIMINARY report by Katznelson and Jamieson1 on the effect of the antibiotic fumagillin (derived from an Aspergillus culture designated H–32) upon the infection of the adult honey bee by the microsporidian Nosema apis indicated promising results. They suggested that the action of the drug was prophylactic in nature, killing the infective amœboid, phase which is released from the spore into the ventricular lumen prior to its entry into the epithelial cells. This view was probably suggested by the results of McCowen et al.3, which showed a depressant action of the drug upon the growth of bacteria-free cultures of Endamœba hystolytica.
Enhancement of surface properties on Low Density Polyethylene packaging films using various fluorination routes
Nowadays, packaging market deployment requires an important attention. Influence of treatment with molecular (F2) or atomic (Fradical dot) fluorine on properties of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) films was investigated. The films were treated using direct fluorination conditions with F2 or a specific reagent XeF2, which releases atomic fluorine Fradical dot. Changes of LDPE chemical composition were investigated by FTIR and solid state NMR. Surface morphology was studied by several microscopy techniques (SEM and AFM). Finally to further characterize film properties after treatments, surface energy measurements and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analyses were also carried out. An upper fluorinated layer, which contains mainly high amount of single bondCF2single bond, was formed during the direct fluorination conditions (F2). For the process performed with XeF2, specific groups single bondCHFsingle bond were detected not only on the polymer surface but also in the bulk. The final CHF/CF2 ratio depended on the fluorination route. Treatment with Fradical dot (originated from XeF2 decomposition) resulted in single bondCHFsingle bond groups in bulk prevailing formation whereas F2 formed mainly single bondCF2single bond groups. Regardless to the reactive species, radicals (dangling bonds) appeared during the fluorination and reacted with oxygen during the exposition to air after the treatment. Such a process resulted in oxygenated polar groups formation and consequently in the surface energy increase.