Drinks, aqueous ionic

The present sensor could easily discriminate between some kinds of commercial drinks such as coffee, beer and aqueous ionic drinks (Figure 11) [22], Since the standard deviations were 2 mV at maximum in this experimental condition, these three output patterns are definitely different. If the data are accumulated in the computer, any food can be easily discriminated. Furthermore, the taste quality can also be described quantitatively by the method mentioned below. In biological systems, patterns of frequency of nerve excitation may be fed into the brain, and then foods are distinguished and their tastes are recognized [4-8]. Thus, the quality control of foods becomes possible using the taste sensor, which has a mechanism of information processing similar to biological systems. 

Some reviews were published dealing with this type of interface and its application in environmental analysis [24, 42, 123). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of polar pollutants by FAB or CF-FAB was performed with extracts of aqueous matrices, such as wastewater, surface water, seawater, raw and drinking water [124-129], for all types of surfactants (non-ionics, anionics, cationics and amphoterics) in urban wastewaters, receiving waters (rivers and costal receiving areas), and groundwater [124-148], for metabolites of surfactants [130, 149-153], and bromi-nated surfactants [137, 154). 

Chemistry is for a large part conducted in solutions involving ions and such solutions are ubiquitous in nature. Oceans are vast aqueous solutions of salts, consisting mainly of sodium chloride, but other salts and minor components are also present in ocean water. Lakes, rivers, and brackish water are dilute solutions of ions and are essential to survival, since they provide drinking water and water for irrigation. Rain and other precipitates may remove ionic species from the atmosphere that arrived there as spray from oceans and seas or from human activities, for example, acid rain. Physiological fluids consist mostly of water in which colloidal substances, but also ions essential to their function, are dissolved. 

One of the most important properties of an ionic liquid in the natural environment is its solubility in water. The greater the compound s aqueous solubility, the more likely that an ionic liquid will dissolve into water, and become part of the hydrologic cycle. Water solubility can affect the extent of leaching of solid wastes containing ionic liquids, and the movement and chemical fate of dissolved ionic liquids in rivers, lakes, groundwater, and in drinking-water supplies. 

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