Metal-organic frameworks for the capture of α-pinene traces.

A dual computational/experimental approach enabled ranking of the performance of a series of MOFs for α-pinene capture in terms of affinity and uptake. UiO-66(Zr) is demonstrated to be a good candidate for adsorbing α-pinene at sub-ppm levels, while MIL-125(Ti)-NH shows ideal performances for abating α-pinene at concentrations encountered in indoor air.

Insight into the structure of black coatings of ancient Egyptian mummies by advanced electron magnetic resonance of vanadyl complexes.

Ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Period to the Greco-Roman Period were covered by a black coating consisting of complex and heterogeneous mixtures of conifer resins, wax, fat and oil with variable amounts of bitumen. Natural bitumen always contains traces of vanadyl porphyrin complexes that we used here as internal probes to explore the nanoscale environment of V ions in these black coatings by electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and hyperfine sub-level correlation spectroscopy (HYSCORE). Four types of vanadyl porphyrin complexes were identified from the analysis of N hyperfine interactions.

Nondestructive Analysis of Mummification Balms in Ancient Egypt Based on EPR of Vanadyl and Organic Radical Markers of Bitumen.

The black matter employed in the funeral context by ancient Egyptians is a complex mixture of plant-based compounds with variable amounts of bitumen. Asphaltene, the most resistant component of bitumen, contains vanadyl porphyrins and carbonaceous radicals, which can be used as paramagnetic probes to investigate embalming materials without sample preparation. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) at the X-band, combining in-phase and out-of-phase detection schemes, provides new information in a nondestructive way about the presence, the origin, and the evolution of bitumen in these complex materials.

Identification of the finishing technique of an early eighteenth century musical instrument using FTIR spectromicroscopy.

The study of varnishes from musical instruments presents the difficulty of analysing very thin layers of heterogeneous materials on samples most of which are generally brittle and difficult to prepare. Such study is crucial to the understanding of historical musical instrument varnishing practices since written sources before 1800 are very rare and not precise. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and imaging methods were applied to identify the major chemical components within the build-up of the varnish layers on a cello made by one of the most prominent French violin-makers of the eighteenth century (Jacques Boquay, ca.

Identification of volatile organic compounds emitted by a naturally aged book using solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has been applied to the analysis of volatile organic compounds emitted from a naturally aged groundwood pulp paper originating from an old book in order to access the products produced through the decomposition reactions occurring in paper upon ageing. Two different extraction methods were developed and compared: headspace SPME and contact SPME. The influence of few extraction parameters were tested in order to define the best extraction conditions.