Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Adsorption Forms of Cyanuric Acid and Cyanuric Chloride on TiO2.

Cyanuric acid is often found to be the end product in the hydrolysis of waste melamine and in the TiO2-mediated photocatalytic decomposition of s-triazine-containing compounds used as herbicides or dyes. The photocatalytically recalcitrant nature of cyanuric acid on TiO2 may be closely related to its adsorption properties, including the tautomeric forms present on the surfaces and their bonding structures, which remain to be determined. In this paper, we present the optimized adsorption structures of the four tautomeric isomers (triketo, diketo, monoketo, and triol) of cyanuric acid on a model rutile-TiO2(110) surface and their vibrational absorptions. Experimentally, the adsorption structures of cyanuric acid and chloride on powdered TiO2 are analyzed on the basis of the theoretically obtained, characteristic infrared information. Cyanuric acid on TiO2 at 35 °C exists in triketo and hydroxylated forms, but the diketo becomes the predominant form on the surface at 250 °C, being bonded to a titanium site via one of its carbonyl groups and with a N-H···O hydrogen bonding interaction. Hydroxylation of cyanuric chloride occurs as it is adsorbed on TiO2 at 35 °C. Upon being heated to 200 °C, the surface is mainly covered with the diketo form of cyanuric acid after the adsorption of cyanuric chloride.

Preparation and characterization of three dimensional graphene foam supported platinum-ruthenium bimetallic nanocatalysts for hydrogen peroxide based electrochemical biosensors.

The large surface, the excellent dispersion and the high degrees of sensitivity of bimetallic nanocatalysts were the attractive features of this investigation. Graphene foam (GF) was a three dimensional (3D) porous architecture consisting of extremely large surface and high conductive pathways. In this study, 3D GF was used incorporating platinum-ruthenium (PtRu) bimetallic nanoparticles as an electrochemical nanocatalyst for the detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). PtRu/3D GF nanocatalyst exhibited a remarkable performance toward electrochemical oxidation of H2O2 without any additional mediator showing a high sensitivity (1023.1 µA mM(-1)cm(-2)) and a low detection limit (0.04 µM) for H2O2. Amperometric results demonstrated that GF provided a promising platform for the development of electrochemical sensors in biosensing and PtRu/3D GF nanocatalyst possessed the excellent catalytic activity toward the H2O2 detection. A small particle size and a high degree of the dispersion in obtaining of large active surface area were important for the nanocatalyst for the best H2O2 detection in biosensing. Moreover, potential interference by ascorbic acid and uric acid appeared to be negligible.

Detection of Alpha-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase (AMACR), a Biomarker of Prostate Cancer, in Patient Blood Samples Using a Nanoparticle Electrochemical Biosensor.

Although still commonly used in clinical practice to screen and diagnose prostate cancer, there are numerous weaknesses of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, including lack of specificity and the inability to distinguish between aggressive and indolent cancers. A promising prostate cancer biomarker, alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), has been previously demonstrated to distinguish cancer from healthy and benign prostate cells with high sensitivity and specificity. However, no accurate clinically useful assay has been developed. This study reports the development of a single use, disposable biosensor for AMACR detection. Human blood samples were used to verify its validity, reproducibility and reliability. Plasma samples from 9 healthy males, 10 patients with high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN), and 5 prostate cancer patients were measured for AMACR levels. The average AMACR levels in the prostate cancer patients was 10 fold higher (mean(SD) = 0.077 (0.10)) than either the controls (mean(SD) = 0.005 (0.001)) or HGPIN patients (mean(SD) = 0.004 (0.0005)). At a cutoff of between 0.08 and 0.9, we are able to achieve 100% accuracy in separating prostate cancer patients from controls. Our results provide strong evidence demonstrating that this biosensor can perform as a reliable assay for prostate cancer detection and diagnosis.