0000000000184290
AUTHOR
F. Lanza
Selective solid phase extraction of a drug lead compound using molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by the target analogue approach
Molecularly imprinted polymers have been evaluated at the sample clean-up stage in the analysis of a drug lead compound. In order to circumvent quantification problems related to bleeding of the template, a structurally related analogue of the latter was used. This was selected based on criteria related to interaction site location, solubility, availability and stability of the analogue. Selection of suitable polymerisation conditions was then made using a small batch format (ca. 50 mg) and rapid assessment of binding in the equilibrium mode. It was found that the amount of template could be greatly reduced compared to the conventional protocol, requiring only 5 μmol of template per gram of…
The application of molecular imprinting technology to solid phase extraction
In parallel to a long lasting search for universal multi-purpose sorbents, the area of solid phase extraction (SPE) is recently experiencing a rapid development of new types of tailor-made class specific or compound-specific sorbents which are designed to respond to the increasing demand for selectivity and efficiency in sample clean-up prior to quantification. An important issue here is the enrichment and clean-up of complex samples, such as environmental waters, sediments, biofluids and foodstuffs prior to detection. This because the analyte is often present in low concentration in a complex mixture of similar compounds and therefore needs to be isolated and enriched in order to be detect…
Inner speech for a self-conscious robot
The experience self-conscious thinking in the verbose form of inner speech is a common one. Such a covert dialogue accompanies the introspection of mental life and fulfills important roles in our cognition, such as self-regulation, self-restructuring, and re-focusing on attentional resources. Although the functional underpinning and the phenomenology of inner speech are largely investigated in psychological and philosophical fields, robotic research generally does not address such a form of self-conscious behavior. Existing models of inner speech inspire computational tools to provide the robot with a form of self-consciousness. Here, the most widespread psychological models of inner speech…