Publications by authors named "Masaaki Tabata"

Whenever houses are demolished or disasters occur, large quantities of building materials are discharged, which may contain asbestos. To prevent the damage caused by asbestos exposure, a rapid asbestos presence confirmation method is required at demolition sites or temporary disaster storage sites. It is difficult to confirm the presence of asbestos in waste building materials by simple observation.

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We have developed a method to detect asbestos by staining the surface of building materials in order to quickly detect asbestos-containing building materials at disaster sites. After staining, asbestos was easily detected by the color and characteristic shape of the images observed under a stereomicroscope. The type of asbestos was confirmed to be chrysotile by polarized light microscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, and Raman spectra.

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Unlabelled: Kinetics between 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(N-methylpyridium-4-yl)porphyrin and Ni species were investigated in aqueous solution at 25 ±1 °C in = 0.10 M (NaNO). Speciation of Ni was done in = 0.

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The discoloration of chlorophyll (Chl) by light is an ongoing issue for green beverages in the food industry. To suppress the discoloration of Chl in aqueous solution, the effects of different emulsifiers were investigated on the discoloration of Chl under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation to determine their potential application for use as food additives. Sucrose fatty acid ester (SE), sorbitan fatty acid ester (TW), and quillaja saponin (QS) were used as emulsifiers, while Triton X-100 (TX) was used for reference.

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Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) discolors when it is exposed to light, and such discoloration decreases food quality. To elucidate the discoloration mechanism of Chl-a, we determined discoloration rate in different Chl-a chemical species and assessed the size of Chl-a aggregates in mixed aqueous solutions of methanol and ethanol. Chl-a existed as monomer, J-aggregate, and random aggregate in solutions with different alcohol concentrations.

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This study aimed to develop a simpler method for determining total mercury (T-Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in biological samples by using methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) in the degreasing step. The fat in the samples was extracted by MIBK to the upper phase. T-Hg transferred into the water phase.

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Dioxins like polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCSDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are mainly emitted from waste incinerators (WIs) and have become an international research focus because of its serious concerns over the adverse health effects. The detoxification of PCCDs/Fs and PCBs is very difficult because of their stable chemical structure. A significant hydrodechlorination/detoxification of polychlorinated 1-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were achieved in fly ash by using an aqueous mixture of calcium hydroxide and sulfur.

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Catechins [(-)-epicatechin (EC), (-)-epigallocatechin (EGC), (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)] were analysed by HPLC using an ODS column, an electrochemical detector (0.75V vs. Ag/AgCl) and an eluting solvent composed of water containing buffer (84% v/v), acetonitrile (12% v/v) and ethylacetate (4% v/v) in the presence of metal ions (Cu(2+), Fe(2+) and Fe(3+)).

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An efficient dechlorination/detroxification method for p-nitrochlorobenzene, p-chloroanisole and 1-chloronaphthalene on municipal waste incinerator fly ash in presence of reducing agents with water/alcohol mixtures was developed. Dechlorination% was higher in water/isopropanol mixture at temperature <100 degrees C. Metal contents of fly ash played a vital role in enhancing dechlorination at low temperature.

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The mixture of 2-propanol with water has been employed to extract Au(III) along with other precious metals such as Pd(II) and Pt(IV) by using NaCl in the concentration range of 2.5-4.0 mol dm(-3).

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Organic compounds (2-naphthol, phenol, 4-chlorophenol, 4-nitrophenol, and 1,3,5-naphthalenetrisulfonic acid) were sufficiently separated from mixtures during flow in a fused silica capillary tube (50 microm in i.d. and 45 cm in length) with an aqueous mixed solvent of an ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIM(+)Cl(-)), without a specific separation column.

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Background, Aims And Scope: Chromium enters into the aquatic environment as a result of effluent discharge from steel works, electroplating, leather tanning industries and chemical industries. As the Cr(VI) is very harmful to living organisms, it should be quickly removed from the environment when it happens to be contaminated. Therefore, the aim of this laboratory research was to develop a rapid, simple and adaptable solvent extraction system to quantitatively remove Cr(VI) from polluted waters.

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For the title complexes, the value of formation constant K(CuL+A) is higher than that of K1(CuA2). According to the mechanistic consideration, log K(CuL+A) is calculated for regular Cu(II) complexes with neither special enhancement nor diminution of the stability constant. Then, the difference of log K(CuL+A)(obs)-log K(CuL+)(calc) represents extrastabilization due to the hydrophobic interactions and the aromatic pi-pi interactions.

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In the expression of bioaccumulated elemental mercury (Hg 0) toxicity, the first Hg 0 oxidation step is crucial. Therefore, to clarify the mechanism underlying the interactions of sulfhydryl (SH) compounds and Hg 0 in the present study, we analyzed the oxidation of reduced glutathione (GSH) and L-cysteine (Cys) in the presence of Hg 0 in aqueous solution by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Production of Hg2+ in the reaction mixture was found to increase along with a decrease in free SH residues.

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The electrochemical behaviors of native and thermally denatured fish DNA was investigated using boron-doped diamond (BDD) film electrode by cyclic voltammetry. The BDD electrode afforded us to measure weak current less than muA for the DNA solution in 100 microl. The mixture of acetic acid and sodium acetate solution (0.

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A solvent-extraction system comprising toluene/ter-butanol (ter-BuOH) mixed solvent as the organic phase was developed to selectively extract Cr(VI) from acidic chloride media in the presence of divalent metals, namely Cd(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) under 5 M CaCl2 salting-out conditions. Chromium(VI) was selectively extracted as a solvated ion-pair of [ter-BuOH2+ x CrO3Cl-] at ter-BuOH mole fractions of between 0.1 and 0.

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The spectrophotometric titration of cobalt(II) with CaCl2 was carried out in mixed solvents of 2-propanol and water at different solvent compositions of 2-propannol, water and CaCl2 to analyze the salting-out extraction mechanism of Co(II) by the addition of CaCl2 from the mixed solvents. The formation constants of betaCoCl4(2-) = [CoCl4(2-)][Co2+](-1)[Cl-](-4) in both the organic and aqueous phases were determined thorough non-linear regression of the spectrophotometric titration data by a computer program SPECFIT/32. The values of log betaCoCl4(2-) in the aqueous phases were -4.

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Oxidative DNA damage was investigated by free radicals generated from HEPES (2-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethanesulfonic acid) buffer, which is widely used in biochemical or biological studies, in the presence of Au(III). The effect of free radicals on the DNA damage was ascertained by gel electrophoresis, electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. ESR results indicated the generation of nitrogen-centered cationic free radicals from the HEPES in the presence of Au(III) which cause the DNA damage.

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The trypanocidal effects of aqueous gold(III) and palladium(II) and their metalloporphyrin derivatives on Trypanosoma brucei brucei growth in culture have been studied using an Alamar Blue indicator assay. All the experiments were conducted in the dark. As previously described for mercury(II), cadmium(II) and lead(II) porphyrins [Chem.

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The retention behavior and mechanism of methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, buthyl and isobuthyl benzoates have been studied at different eluent compositions of aqueous mixtures with water-soluble organic solvents (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, acetonitrile (AN), 1,4-dioxane and tetrahydrofuran (THF)) in RPLC. The retention of the solutes is discussed based on the solvent composition, solvent polarity (ETN value), preferential solvation, hydrogen bonding and solvent clusters of the eluents. The smaller ETN values and the larger preferential solvation of the mixed solvent eluted the solutes faster.

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The interactions of the metalloporphyrins of tetrakis (1-methylpyridinium-4yl)porphyrin ([M(TMPyP)](4+)) where M=Hg(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II)) with pBluescript II plasmid DNA have been studied by the measurement of circular dichroism (CD), UV-visible and fluorescence spectra at 0.1 M NaNO(3), pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C.

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The effects of free mercury(II), cadmium(II) and lead(II) ions and their metalloporphyrin-derivatives on Trypanosoma brucei brucei growth in culture were studied. All experiments were conducted in the dark. IC(50) values on growth obtained in 24-h time-course experiments were 1.

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