A new electroanalytical procedure was developed for the determination of lidocaine in commercial local anesthetics products containing lidocaine as the active ingredient. The procedure is based on the use of electrochemical methods as cyclic and square-wave voltammetry, with boron-doped diamond electrodes. The oxidation of lidocaine in BrittonRobinson buffer (0.1 mol L À1 ) using this type of electrode gives rise to one irreversible peak in 1.68 V (versus Ag/ AgCl). The detection and quantification limits obtained from pure water were 10.0 and 34.4 mg/L, respectively. The proposed electrochemical method was also successfully applied to the analysis of commercially available pharmaceutical preparations. The electrochemical responses of pharmaceutical preparations (gels) were identical to those of standard lidocaine. No influence of propyleneglycol present in the gels on the voltammetric responses was observed. Lidocaine recoveries ranged from 97.6% to 99.2%.

are presented in this review paper. A deep literature revision about the subject dealing with materials and device configurations developed in the last years, is presented. Great efforts of the scientific community have been done in this field. On the other hand, new electrochomic devices based on reversible deposition of metals are specially emphasized here. These devices present many advantages such as simple operation and construction and they have also shown high cycling rates. These factors make them suitable for application in display industry. In this way, many concepts used in the developement of electrodeposition baths are very useful for the improvement of these new devices; specially, all knowledge about the use of additives for modifying films microstructure and morfology.Keywords: electrochromism; cromogenic materials; reversible electrodeposition devices. REVISÃO INTRODUÇÃO Considerações GeraisO interesse por pesquisas relacionadas ao aproveitamento da energia solar tem se intensificado nos últimos anos. Hoje é notório o desenvolvimento de tecnologias para a utilização desta energia, assim como a maximização da eficiência em seus processos de aproveitamento. Há também a possibilidade de, utilizando esta energia, aliviar os impactos ambientais como o aquecimento global através do efeito estufa e o aumento da incidência de radiação ultravioleta (U.V.) através dos buracos na camada de ozônio. No entanto, esta renovada preocupação se deve também, ao grande interesse por outros mercados especializados tais como o automobilístico, aeroespacial, militar, de diversão, entre outros, os quais parecem muito promissores a curto prazo, podendo haver grande movimentação financeira.Uma ampla classe de materiais opticamente ativos vem despertando enorme interesse, especialmente aqueles com absorção, transmissão ou reflexão controláveis, devido às suas potenciais aplicações. Estes materiais são chamados materiais cromógenos e são conhecidos pela sua capacidade de mudar suas propriedades ópticas, em resposta a uma mudança nas condições do meio 1 . O eletrocromismo, efeito cromógeno, é uma propriedade característica que alguns materiais ou sistemas apresentam de mudar de cor (absorção e/ou reflexão espectral) reversivelmente, em resposta a um potencial externo aplicado.Recentemente, têm-se desenvolvido dispositivos eletrocrô-micos bastante promissores baseados na deposição -dissolução reversível de metais. Estes dispositivos também chamados de janelas e visores inteligentes contém o material eletrocrômico no eletrólito e um filme fino de metal é formado sobre um substrato transparente por passagem de corrente elétrica.O interesse por dispositivos eletrocrômicos reside no fato de apresentarem um grande número de vantagens bastante específicas tais como: alto contraste óptico com contínua variação de transmitância e independência em relação ao ângulo de visão, memória óptica, estabilidade aos raios ultra -violeta, além de ampla operação nas mais variadas faixas de temperatura. Estas características favoráveis podem, fi...

A solution with 0.38 mM of the pesticide propoxur (PX) at pH 3.0 has been comparatively treated by electrochemical oxidation with electrogenerated HO (EO-HO), electro-Fenton (EF), and photoelectro-Fenton (PEF). The trials were carried out with a 100-mL boron-doped diamond (BDD)/air-diffusion cell. The EO-HO process had the lowest oxidation ability due to the slow reaction of intermediates with OH produced from water discharge at the BDD anode. The EF treatment yielded quicker mineralization due to the additionalOH formed between added Fe and electrogenerated HO. The PEF process was the most powerful since it led to total mineralization by the combined oxidative action of hydroxyl radicals and UVA irradiation. The PX decay agreed with a pseudo-first-order kinetics in EO-HO, whereas in EF and PEF, it obeyed a much faster pseudo-first-order kinetics followed by a much slower one, which are related to the oxidation of its Fe(II) and Fe(III) complexes, respectively. EO-HO showed similar oxidation ability within the pH range 3.0-9.0. The effect of current density and Fe and substrate contents on the performance of the EF process was examined. Two primary aromatic products were identified by LC-MS during PX degradation.

h i g h l i g h t s Tebuthiuron and ametryn formulations degraded in a flow plant with BDD/air-diffusion cell. Growing oxidation power over single herbicide formulations: AO-H 2 O 2 < EF < SPEF. Two-stage kinetics in EF and SPEF due to the formation of Fe(II) and Fe(III) complexes. Similar profiles with lower oxidation ability for mixed herbicide formulations in SPEF. Identification of 4 heteroaromatic products in mixtures and release of sulfate and nitrate ions.

Acrocomia aculeata is a palm tree typical of the Brazilian savanna. Oils extracted from the pulp and kernel of Acrocomia aculeata fruits have gained considerable attention mainly due to their nutritional and medicinal features. Despite their potential applications, a detailed analysis of their oxidative stability is still needed. The present study shows a close analysis of the oxidative stability of the oils obtained from the kernel and pulp of Acrocomia aculeata fruits, evaluating the influence of the intrinsic antioxidants and the fatty acid composition on the oil's thermal stability. A complete characterization of the physical-chemical and optical properties of the oils was performed. The results showed that 66% of the fatty acids present in the pulp oil are unsaturated, while 75% are saturated in the kernel oil. A higher content of intrinsic antioxidants was obtained in the pulp oil, and an induction period (at 110 • C) of 65 and 43 h was determined for the pulp and kernel oil, respectively. Additionally, oil absorption increases due to the formation of degradation products, and a new fluorescent compound was formed during the oil oxidation process at 110 • C. Even though the pulp presented a high content of unsaturated fatty acids, the pulp oil was more stable than the kernel oil due to its higher content of intrinsic antioxidant, especially carotenoids. The results also demonstrated that oil oxidation can be optically determined by analyzing the absorption at 232 and 270 nm, as well as the emission at 424 nm.