Microwave-assisted processes digestion

Due to phase variation, there are fluctuations in expression levels of certain enzymes in bacteria, therefore, not all colonies or cells make the same structure of lipid A species. A micro-extraction method for extraction of lipid A from a single colony has been developed (Zhou et al., 2009). This method uses microwave-assisted enzymatic digestion and sodium acetate hydrolysis, suitable to analyze lipid A from both cell samples and an individual colony. Because the clean up of SDS is very time-consuming, and the contaminated SDS would seriously interfere with the analysis by mass spectrometry, the proteinase K, instead of SDS, is used to disrupt the cells. Using this method, the entire process for lipid A preparation only takes about 2 h with a detection limit to 1 (xg. 

Before applications are dealt with, the main variables governing microwave-assisted processes and the parameters characterizing specific microwave treatments are examined. The applications discussed include not only microwave-assisted digestion and extraction — which are the two most widely implemented and hence those with the highest potential interest to readers — but also others of special significance to solid sample treatment such as microwave-assisted drying, distillation and protein hydrolysis. Finally, some safety recommendations on the use of microwave equipment are made. 

Performance in microwave-assisted processes depends on a number of variables including the microwave power output, exposure time, solvent and sample size used. However, specific treatments such as digestion are additionally dependent upon factors such as the digesting acid, pressure and its relationship to temperature in closed-vessel systems, the residence time in flow systems, the number of cycles used in an FMAS extractor, etc., all of which should be optimized for each specific situation. 

Step 4a. For microwave-assisted, digestion, follow the procedure developed for the microwave system in the laboratory. Note that total dissolution of the solid is required for radioanalytical chemistry, whereas partial dissolution is acceptable for other analytical processes if the method has been tested for fractional recovery. Several references are given below that may be helpful in developing or using this method. 

The high significance of microwave-assisted digestion and its wide application warrants some comments on the characteristics of the different acids usually employed in the process and also of hydrogen peroxide, not an acid itself but widely used for digestions on account of its oxidizing power. 

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