Artifacts, procedural

Dyestuff Recognition Tests for Historic Fabrics. Methods have been developed specifically for identifying general dye classifications on historic textile artifacts. Procedures outlined by Rice (14) were followed in this portion of the study. 

The tightly bound chromophore could be extracted from the protein with methanol [186], and the major component of the extract was determined to have the enediyne structure 116 (Figure 11.21), related to chromophores of other chromoprotein antitumor agents such as neocarzinostatin. Additional minor components were extracted, variously containing an OH group instead of OMe attached to the enediyne core, with Cl instead of OMe when chloride was present in the buffer salt, or with OEt instead of OMe when ethanol was used for the extraction. Another byproduct was isolated in the form of structure 117, consistent with a facile cy-doaromatization reaction as observed for all other enediyne antibiotics. Surprisingly, 117 also displayed antibiotic and antitumor activity, perhaps due to alkylation of DNA or protein by the aziridine. The interpretation of these results was that 116 and the other enediyne byproducts were merely artifacts of the extraction procedure and that the true structure of the maduropeptin chromophore is the aziridine 118. 

Phase cycling As employed in modern NMR experiments, repeating the pulse sequence with all the other parameters being kept constant and only the phases of the pulse (s) and the phase-sensitive detector reference being changed. The FIDs are acquired and coadded. The procedure is used to eliminate undesired coherences or artifact signals, or to produce certain desired effects (e.g., multiple-quantum filtration). 

Quadrature images Any imbalances between the two channels of a quadrature detection system cause ghost peaks, which appear as symmetrically located artifact peaks on opposite sides of the spectrometer frequency. They can be eliminated by an appropriate phase-cycling procedure, e.g., CYCLOPS. 

Symmetrization A procedure for removing artifact signals that appear nonsymmetrically disposed on either side of the diagonal. 

Figure 2. Fhase adjusted Fourier transforms of Ft metal, 1% Ft/ Cabosil catalyst in H2 and 0.5% Ft/Cabosil catalyst in H2, all at 90 K. All are plotted to the same scale to emphasize the diminished magnitude because of the smaller average coordination numbers in the catalysts. The INSET shows the Ft-0 peak area retransformed with the appropriate Ft-0 phase shift. The artifact at low R is due to the EXAFS extraction procedure.

In certain areas, particularly the rapidly developing area of organo-metalhc spedation, concern has been expressed that artifacts may lead to false results. One example are the doubts about the accuracy and suspicion of possible artifact formation of methyhner-cury (MeHg) duriri analytical procedures, mainly distillation and alkaline dissolution, which were expressed for the first time at the Conference Mercury as a Global Pollu-tanf in 1996 (Hintelmann and Evans 1997 Hintelmann et al.1997). 

High performance capillary electrophoresis was introduced originally as an analytical tool. Now that instruments are equipped with automated fraction collection, however, capillary electrophoresis can be used for micropreparative collection of individual peaks separated from a mixture. Using the fraction collection feature, nanomolar amounts of solute such as proteins, peptides, oligonucleotides can be collected in amounts sufficient for microsequencing. An intersample washing procedure and use of well-formed capillaries aid in the prevention of artifacts.44... 

Figures 8 and 9 show the first order kinetic plots for the isomerization and crosslinking reactions, respectively. In the data analysis the area of the isoimide peak was measured between consistent limits chosen to exclude any contribution from the 1775 cm imide band. These data were generated by measuring the area of the appropriate peak in a baseline corrected spectrum and ratioing this area to that of a reference peak (which was invarient during the experiment) in the same spectrum. This concentration indicative number was then ratioed to the concentration ratio observed on the initial scan. Plots of the log of the ratio of the concentration of the functionality at time "t" to the concentration of the functionality at t = 0 were then constructed. In order to insure that the trends in the data were not artifacts of this procedure or of the baseline correction routine, we also plotted the data in terms of peak intensity in absorbance units and observed the same trends but with more scatter in the data.

Rapin F., Tessier A., Campbell P.G.C., Carignan R. Potential artifacts in the determination of metal partitioning in sediments by a sequential extraction procedure. Environ Sci Technol 1986 20 836-840. 

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