Deia Abd El-Hady

Free-Standing Hierarchically Sandwich-Type Tungsten Disulfide Nanotubes/Graphene Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), analogue of graphene, could form various dimensionalities. Similar to carbon, one-dimensional (1D) nanotube of TMD materials has wide application in hydrogen storage, Li-ion batteries, and supercapacitors due to their unique structure and properties. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of tungsten disulfide nanotubes (WS2-NTs)/graphene (GS) sandwich-type architecture as anode for lithium-ion batteries for the first time. The graphene-based hierarchical architecture plays vital roles in achieving fast electron/ion transfer, thus leading to good electrochemical performance. When evaluated as anode, WS2-NTs/GS hybrid could maintain a capacity of 318.6 mA/g over 500 cycles at a current density of 1A/g. Besides, the hybrid anode does not require any additional polymetric binder, conductive additives, or a separate metal current-collector. The relatively high density of this hybrid is beneficial for high capacity per unit volume. Those characteristics make it a potential anode material for light and high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

Recent advances in capillary electrophoretic migration techniques for pharmaceutical analysis (2013-2015)

This review updates and follows‐up a previous review by highlighting recent advancements regarding capillary electromigration methodologies and applications in pharmaceutical analysis. General approaches such as quality by design as well as sample injection methods and detection sensitivity are discussed. The separation and analysis of drug‐related substances, chiral CE, and chiral CE‐MS in addition to the determination of physicochemical constants are addressed. The advantages of applying affinity capillary electrophoresis in studying receptor–ligand interactions are highlighted. Finally, current aspects related to the analysis of biopharmaceuticals are reviewed. The present review covers the literature between January 2013 and December 2015.

Precision in affinity capillary electrophoresis for drug–protein binding studies

In order to achieve excellent precision in the estimation of binding constants by affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE), electroosmotic flow (EOF) stability is the key parameter, especially when using proteins in binding assays. Appropriate rinsing protocols are mandatory. In our study, the capillary was rinsed after each run with 0.1 mol/L sodium hydroxide for 2.0 min, with water for 2.0 min followed by running electrolyte (phosphate buffer at pH 7.4) for 3.0 min (pressure=3000 mbar each). Tryptophan-human serum albumin, warfarin-bovine serum albumin and quercetin-beta-lactoglobulin were used as ACE models. Further improvements in precision have been obtained by avoiding a complete standstill of liquid within the capillary and flushing the capillary with buffer for 25 min after each 30 consecutive runs. The precision of measurements is further improved by the use of mobility ratios to report mobility changes (RSD% less than 0.5% in a long-term measurement, n=300-600). Apart from the importance of a stable EOF, other ACE key parameters include protein concentration, drug plug length, applied voltage, and the choice of the regression method. In the present work, useful protocols and templates are provided in order to allow users a quick and efficient start with ACE methods. The comprehensive experimental part can serve as a checklist, which parameters need to be addressed for successfully applying ACE. Here, the suggested experimental design allows for the determination of binding constants within a couple of hours using standard instrumentation. This time could still be decreased by orders of magnitude using capillary arrays or miniaturized systems.

Determination of catechin isomers in human plasma subsequent to green tea ingestion using chiral capillary electrophoresis with a high-sensitivity cell.

A simple and reliable analytical electrophoretic method using chiral capillary electrophoresis (CCE) with a high-sensitivity cell of special design has been established for simultaneous determination of (+)-catechin (C) and (-)-epicatechin (EC) in aqueous and human plasma media. The application of a capillary with high-sensitivity cell has led to an improvement of 10-fold and 5-fold time-corrected peak area over a standard cell and a capillary with bubble cell, respectively. Analysis has involved the electrophoretic separation of C and EC in less than 4.0 min at 210 nm. The running buffer consist of 50.0 mmol L(-1) borate buffer with 1.0 mmol L(-1) beta-cyclodextrin at pH 8.5. CCE system has been proved for its intended use by applying procedure starting from calibration of CE instrument into validation of all experimental parameters. The resolution between catechin isomers under optimal conditions has been found to be more than 3.0. The detection limits of C and EC have been calculated to be 3.2 and 1.0 ng mL(-1), respectively. Good linearity has been obtained with correlation coefficient (r(2)) ranging between 0.995 and 0.996 at 99% confidence level (CL). Application of the proposed method to human plasma after ingestion of green tea has successfully been achieved and has statistically been proved. The unchanged amounts of C and EC in plasma were about 17.4 and 1.8% of the administered dose after 2 h of starting tea ingestion. The detection limits of C and EC in human plasma at 210 nm were 4.1 and 1.5 ng mL(-1), respectively.

Recent advances in affinity capillary electrophoresis for binding studies

The present review covers recent advances and important applications of affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE). It provides an overview about various ACE types, including ACE-MS, the multiple injection mode, the use of microchips and field-amplified sample injection-ACE. The most common scenarios of the studied affinity interactions are protein-drug, protein-metal ion, protein-protein, protein-DNA, protein-carbohydrate, carbohydrate-drug, peptide-peptide, DNA-drug and antigen-antibody. Approaches for the improvements of ACE in term of precision, rinsing protocols and sensitivity are discussed. The combined use of computer simulation programs to support data evaluation is presented. In conclusion, the performance of ACE is compared with other techniques such as equilibrium dialysis, parallel artificial membrane permeability assay, high-performance affinity chromatography as well as surface plasmon resonance, ultraviolet, circular dichroism, nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared, fluorescence, MS and isothermal titration calorimetry.

Eco-friendly ionic liquid based ultrasonic assisted selective extraction coupled with a simple liquid chromatography for the reliable determination of acrylamide in food samples

Acrylamide in food has drawn worldwide attention since 2002 due to its neurotoxic and carcinogenic effects. These influences brought out the dual polar and non-polar characters of acrylamide as they enabled it to dissolve in aqueous blood medium or penetrate the non-polar plasma membrane. In the current work, a simple HPLC/UV system was used to reveal that the penetration of acrylamide in non-polar phase was stronger than its dissolution in polar phase. The presence of phosphate salts in the polar phase reduced the acrylamide interaction with the non-polar phase. Furthermore, an eco-friendly and costless coupling of the HPLC/UV with ionic liquid based ultrasonic assisted extraction (ILUAE) was developed to determine the acrylamide content in food samples. ILUAE was proposed for the efficient extraction of acrylamide from bread and potato chips samples. The extracts were obtained by soaking of potato chips and bread samples in 1.5 mol L(-1) 1-butyl-3-methylimmidazolium bromide (BMIMBr) for 30.0 and 60.0 min, respectively and subsequent chromatographic separation within 12.0 min using Luna C18 column and 100% water mobile phase with 0.5 mL min(-1) under 25 °C column temperature at 250 nm. The extraction and analysis of acrylamide could be achieved within 2h. The mean extraction efficiency of acrylamide showed adequate repeatability with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 4.5%. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation were 25.0 and 80.0 ng mL(-1), respectively. The accuracy of the proposed method was tested by recovery in seven food samples giving values ranged between 90.6% and 109.8%. Therefore, the methodology was successfully validated by official guidelines, indicating its reliability to be applied to analysis of real samples, proven to be useful for its intended purpose. Moreover, it served as a simple, eco-friendly and costless alternative method over hitherto reported ones.

Use of short chain alkyl imidazolium ionic liquids for on-line stacking and sweeping of methotrexate, flinic acid and folic acid: Their application to biological fluids

Methotrexate (MTX) is widely used for the treatment of many types of cancer. Folinic acid (FNA) and folic acid (FA) were usually simultaneously supplemented with MTX to reduce the side effects of a folate deficiency. This study, for the first time, included on‐line sample preconcentration by stacking and sweeping techniques under reduced or enhanced electric conductivity in the sample region using short chain alkyl imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) as micelle forming agents for analyte focusing. Both analyte focusing by micelle collapse (AFMC) and sweeping‐MEKC had been investigated for the comparison of their effectiveness to examine simultaneously MTX, FNA and FA in plasma and urine under physiological conditions. In sweeping‐MEKC, the sample solution without micelles was hydrodynamically injected as a long plug into a fused‐silica capillary pre‐filled with phosphate buffer containing 3.0 mol/L of 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bromide (BMIMBr). Using AFMC, the analytes were prepared in BMIMBr micellar matrix and hydrodynamically injected into the phosphate buffer without IL micelles. The conductivity ratio between BGE and sample (γ, BGE/sample) was optimized to be 3.0 in sweeping‐MEKC and 0.33 in AFMC resulting the adequate separation of analytes within 4.0 min. To reduce the possibility of BMIMBr adsorption, an appropriate rinsing protocol was used. The limits of detection were calculated as 0.1 ng/mL MTX, 0.05 ng/mL FNA and 0.05 ng/mL FA by sweeping‐MEKC and 0.5 ng/mL MTX, 0.3 ng/mL FNA and 0.3 ng/mL FA by AFMC. The accuracy was tested by recovery in plasma and urine matrices giving values ranging between 90 and 110%. Both stacking and sweeping by BMIMBr could be successfully used for the rapid, selective and sensitive determination of pharmaceuticals in complex matrices due to its fascinating properties, including high conductivity, good thermal stability and ability to form different types of interactions by electrostatic, hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding and π–π interactions. In sweeping‐MEKC, the using of BMIMBr enhanced the γ factor, k retention factor and the injected amount of sample. Consequently, this technique offers particular potential for higher sensitivity by giving 22‐ and 5‐fold sensitivity enhancement factors (SEFs) of MTX compared to CZE and AFMC, respectively.

Alkyl imidazolium ionic liquid based sweeping-micellar electrokinetic chromatography for simultaneous determination of seven tea catechins in human plasma

Determination of tea catechins in human plasma might provide a means of better evaluation of their benefits. The main difficulty in their analysis is the low catechins concentrations in plasma and their susceptible to oxidation during sample pretreatment. In the current work, a sweeping-micellar electrokinetic chromatography (sweeping-MEKC) by long alkyl chain ionic liquid was investigated for the simultaneous determination of seven principal naturally-occurring tea catechins in human plasma under acidic conditions after the intake of green tea beverage. The effects of type and concentration of three 1-tetradecyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids, namely bromide, acetate and hydrogen sulfate salts were studied. The seven catechins were successfully separated within 5min by micellar running buffer of 5mmolL(-1) 1-tetradecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide and 15mmolL(-1) phosphate buffer at pH 4.5 under optimal parameters of 50mbar injection for 150s, 10kV, 25°C and 200nm. To prevent the possibility of IL adsorption, an appropriate rinsing protocol was established. The method has analytical ranges from 0.5, 1, 0.5, 1, 2, 1 and 1 to 500ngmL(-1) for GC, C, EC, EGCG, GCG, ECG and EGC, respectively (r ranged from 0.995 to 0.999). The intraday precision and accuracy were 0.1-0.9% RSD (n=10) and 97-106% recovery, respectively. Limits of detections of analytes were ranged from 0.2 to 1.2ngmL(-1). The current sweeping-MEKC achieved sensitivity enhancement factor (SEF) up to 183-fold of analytes concentrations compared to other hitherto published CE reports that is suitable to find out the trace amounts of catechins in plasma.

A comprehensive platform to investigate protein–metal ion interactions by affinity capillary electrophoresis

In this work, the behavior of several metal ions with different globular proteins was investigated by affinity capillary electrophoresis. Screening was conducted by applying a proper rinsing protocol developed by our group. The use of 0.1M EDTA in the rinsing solution successfully desorbs metal ions from the capillary wall. The mobility ratio was used to evaluate the precision of the method. Excellent precision for repeated runs was achieved for different protein metal ion interactions (RSD% of 0.05-1.0%). Run times were less than 6 min for all of the investigated interactions. The method has been successfully applied for the interaction study of Li(+), Na(+), Mg(2+), Ca(2+), Ba(2+), Al(3+), Ga(3+), La(3+), Pd(2+), Ir(3+), Ru(3+), Rh(3+), Pt(2+), Pt(4+), Os(3+), Au(3+), Au(+), Ag(+), Cu(1+), Cu(2+), Fe(2+), Fe(3+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cr(3+), V(3+), MoO4(2-) and SeO3(2-) with bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin, β-lactoglobulin and myoglobin. Different interaction values were obtained for most of the tested metal ions even for that in the same metal group. Results were discussed and compared in view of metal and semimetal groups interaction behavior with the tested proteins. The calculated normalized difference of mobility ratios for each protein-metal ion interaction and its sign (positive and negative) has been successfully used to detect the interaction and estimate further coordination of the bound metal ion, respectively. The comprehensive platform summarizes all the obtained interaction results, and is valuable for any future protein-metal ion investigation.

Simultaneous determination of acrylamide, asparagine and glucose in food using short chain methyl imidazolium ionic liquid based ultrasonic assisted extraction coupled with analyte focusing by ionic liquid micelle collapse capillary electrophoresis

Acrylamide (AA) is a known lethal neurotoxin and carcinogen. AA is formed in foods during the browning process by the Maillard reaction of glucose (GL) with asparagine (AS). For the first time, the simultaneous online preconcentration and separation of AA, AS and GL using analyte focusing by ionic liquid micelle collapse capillary electrophoresis (AFILMC) was presented. Samples were prepared in a 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (BMIMBr) micellar matrix with a conductivity 4 times greater than that of the running buffer (12.5 mmol L(-1) phosphate buffer at pH 8.5). Samples were hydrodynamically injected into a fused silica capillary at 25.0 mbar for 25.0 s. Separations were performed by applying a voltage of 25.0 kV and a detection at 200.0 nm. To sufficiently reduce BMIMBr adsorption on the interior surface of capillary, an appropriate rinsing procedure by hydrochloric acid and water was optimized. AFILMC measurements of analytes within the concentration range of 0.05-10.0 μmol L(-1) achieved adequate reproducibility and accuracy with RSD 1.14-3.42% (n=15) and recovery 98.0-110.0%, respectively. Limits of detections were 0.71 ng g(-1) AA, 1.06 ng g(-1) AS and 27.02 ng g(-1) GL with linearity ranged between 2.2 and 1800 ng g(-1). The coupling of AFILMC with IL based ultrasonic assisted extraction (ILUAE) was successfully applied to the efficient extraction and determination of AA, AS and GL in bread samples. The structure of ILs has significant effects on the extraction efficiency of analytes. The optimal extraction efficiency (97.8%) was achieved by an aqueous extraction with 4:14 ratio of sample: 3.0 mol L(-1) BMIMBr followed by sonication at 35 °C. The proposed combination of ILUAE and AFILMC was simple, ecofriendly, reliable and inexpensive to analyze a toxic compound and its precursors in bread which is applicable to food safety.