Health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil, plant, and water samples near "Gacko" power plant, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This study assesses heavy metal content in soil, water, and plant material from sites located around the lignite mine and the power plant "Gacko", Bosnia and Herzegovina. The samples were collected, prepared, and analyzed for heavy metals content using the flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Samples were analyzed for cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, manganese, and iron. To identify the relationship among the metals in samples and their possible sources, Pearson's correlation and principal component analysis were performed. Health risk assessment was applied to establish potential health risks posed to humans caused by contaminants in different environmental compartments. The results of our analyses show that most soil samples contain copper, and one of those samples had a copper concentration of more than 70 µg/g, which is a critical upper value for agricultural use. In the soil samples that were analyzed, cadmium was also detected, and its concentration was greater than 2 µg/g. Lead, on the other hand, had a concentration that was higher than the maximum permissible for unpolluted soils in 40% of the soil samples that were analyzed. Lead and cadmium concentrations in surface waters mostly contribute to a non-carcinogenic risk in the scenario of recreational swimming exposure. The presence of Cd, a highly toxic element in water, may be explained by the leaching of artificial fertilizers used in the study area, whereas Pb's origin may be geological. The results of this study recommend routine heavy metal monitoring in samples of soil, water, and plants from the examined area so that, if metal concentrations continue increasing, remedial action should be advised to prevent accumulation in the food chain.

Voltammetric Determination of Lead and Copper in Wine by Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode.

This paper describes the determination of Pb and Cu with a Nafion-modified glassy carbon electrode and MnCo2O4 nanoparticles as working electrode for anodic stripping voltammetry. Pb and Cu were accumulated in HCl/KCl (0.1 mol dm-3) at a potential of -1.4 V (vs. Ag/AgCl electrode) for 480 s, followed by a linear sweep anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) scan from -1.0 to +0.5 V. Under optimum conditions, the calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.01 - 8 and 0.01 - 5 mg dm-3 for Pb and Cu, respectively. Effect of sample dilution, accumulation time and potential were optimized. A study of interfering substances was performed. A significant increase in current was obtained at the modified electrode in comparison with the bare glassy carbon electrode. The modified electrode was successfully applied for determination of Pb and Cu in wine samples after a simple preparation procedure. Pb and Cu content in wine was used for estimation of the target hazard quotient (THQ) values for minimal and maximal levels of the metals.

Synthesis of MnCo2O4 nanoparticles as modifiers for simultaneous determination of Pb(II) and Cd(II).

The porous spinel oxide nanoparticles, MnCo2O4, were synthesized by citrate gel combustion technique. Morphology, crystallinity and Co/Mn content of modified electrode was characterized and determined by Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction pattern analysis (XRD), simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). Nanoparticles were used for modification of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and new sensor was applied for simultaneous determination of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions in water samples with the linear sweep anodic stripping voltammetry (LSASV).The factors such as pH, deposition potential and deposition time are optimized. Under optimal conditions the wide linear concentration range from 0.05 to 40 µmol/dm3was obtained for Pb(II), with limit of detection (LOD) of 8.06 nmol/dm3 and two linear concentration ranges were obtained for Cd(II), from 0.05 to 1.6 µmol/dm3 and from 1.6 to 40 µmol/dm3, with calculated LOD of 7.02 nmol/dm3. The selectivity of the new sensor was investigated in the presence of interfering ions. The sensor is stable and it gave reproducible results. The new sensor was succesfully applied on determination of heavy metals in natural waters.

Development of a Flow Injection System for Differential Pulse Amperometry and Its Application for Diazepam Determination.

This work presents the development of a flow injection system for differential pulse amperometry (DPA) for diazepam determination in the presence of oxygen. The thin flow cell consisted of the bare glassy carbon electrode, reference silver/silver chloride, and stainless steel as the auxiliary electrode. Electrochemical reduction of diazepam (DZP) was characterised by cyclic voltammetry. Azomethine reduction peak was used for DZP quantification. The detector response was linear in the range 20-250 µmol/dm3 of diazepam, with a calculated detection limit of 3.83 µg/cm3. Intraday and interday precision were 1.53 and 10.8%, respectively. The method was applied on three beverage samples, energetic drink, and two different beer samples, and obtained recoveries were from 93.65 up to 104.96%. The throughoutput of the method was up to 90 analyses per hour.

Effect of substituents on prediction of TLC retention of tetra-dentate Schiff bases and their Copper(II) and Nickel(II) complexes.

The objectives of this study were to gain insights into structure-retention relationships and to propose the model to estimating their retention. Chromatographic investigation of series of 36 Schiff bases and their copper(II) and nickel(II) complexes was performed under both normal- and reverse-phase conditions. Chemical structures of the compounds were characterized by molecular descriptors which are calculated from the structure and related to the chromatographic retention parameters by multiple linear regression analysis. Effects of chelation on retention parameters of investigated compounds, under normal- and reverse-phase chromatographic conditions, were analyzed by principal component analysis, quantitative structure-retention relationship and quantitative structure-activity relationship models were developed on the basis of theoretical molecular descriptors, calculated exclusively from molecular structure, and parameters of retention and lipophilicity.