Analysis of the Precursors, Simulants and Degradation Products of Chemical Warfare Agents.

Recent advances in analysis of precursors, simulants and degradation products of chemical warfare agents (CWA) are reviewed. Fast and reliable analysis of precursors, simulants and CWA degradation products is extremely important at a time, when more and more terrorist groups and radical non-state organizations use or plan to use chemical weapons to achieve their own psychological, political and military goals. The review covers the open source literature analysis after the time, when the chemical weapons convention had come into force (1997).

Biosynthesis of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate and exopolysaccharides on Azotobacter chroococcum strain 6B utilizing simple and complex carbon sources.

Coproduction of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and exopolysaccharides (EPS) was investigated with Azotobacter chroococcum strain 6B isolated from soil samples. The bacterium was cultured using various carbon sources solely or with 0.1 g/L of ammonium sulfate.

Quantitative chemical identification of four gases in remote infrared (9-11 mum) differential absorption lidar experiments.

A combined experimental and computational approach utilizing tunable CO(2) lasers and chemometric analysis was employed to detect chemicals and their concentrations in the field under controlled release conditions. We collected absorption spectra for four organic gases in the laboratory by lasing 40 lines of the laser in the 9.3-10.

[Isolation and characterization of Azotobacter sp. for the production of poly-beta-hydroxyalkanoates].

A microorganism (Azotobacter sp.) was isolated from soil samples from the Agronomy Faculty campus and its ability to accumulate poly-beta-hydroxyalkanoate (PHAs) polymers was analyzed. The isolated strain (named No 8) accumulated 8 micrograms PHA/m of culture media as intracytoplasmic granules.