A flow system with a multi-channel peristaltic pump placed before the solenoid valves is proposed to overcome some limitations attributed to multi-commuted flow injection systems: the negative pressure can lead to the formation of unwanted air bubbles and limits the use of devices for separation processes (gas diffusion, dialysis or ion-exchange). The proposed approach was applied to the colorimetric determination of ammonium nitrogen. In alkaline medium, ammonium is converted into ammonia, which diffuses over the membrane, causing a pH change and subsequently a colour change in the acceptor stream (bromothymol blue solution). The system allowed the re-circulation of the acceptor solution and was applied to ammonium determination in surface and tap water, providing relative standard deviations lower than 1.5%. A stopped flow approach in the acceptor stream was adopted to attain a low quantification limit (42 microgL(-1)) and a linear dynamic range of 50-1000 microgL(-1) with a determination rate of 20 h(-1).

The separations of peptide and protein mixtures in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) at various solution conditions were studied with the direct control of electroosmosis. The zeta potential at the aqueous/capillary interface and the resulted electroosmosis in the presence of an electric field were directly controlled by using an additional electric field applied from outside of the capillary. The controlled electroosmotic flow affected the migration time and zone resolution of peptide and protein mixtures. The changes in the magnitude and polarity of the zeta potential caused the various degrees of peptide and protein adsorption onto the capillary through the electrostatic interactions. The separation efficiencies of peptide and protein mixtures were enhanced due to the reduction in peptide and protein adsorption at the capillary wall. The direct manipulations of the separation efficiency and resolution of peptide and protein mixtures in CZE were demonstrated by simply controlling the zeta potential and the electroosmotic flow with the application of an external electric field.

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A picrate ion-selective electrode without inner reference solution and based on bis(triphenylphosphoranylidene)ammonium picrate dissolved in 2-nitrophenyloctyl ether was constructed and its characteristics assessed. With respect to reducing sugar determination in Port wine, a tubular electrode based on the same sensor system was developed and incorporated into a flow-injection manifold devised for this determination. The methodology involves a reaction between the reducing sugar and picric acid, the decrease in the picrate concentration being monitored with the tubular electrode. A linear dependence between peak width, at a fixed potential and the logarithm of sugar concentration in the range 25-200 g 1~ ' was obtained. The proposed system allows wine samples to be injected with no previous treatment and allows a sample throughput of 50 determinations per hour, a relative standard deviation less than 4%, and the results are comparable to the reference procedures.

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In this work, we propose the use of an air segment in a sequential injection system to simultaneously improve the overlapping of the stacked zones and minimise dispersion. This strategy was developed for the determination of sulphate in natural and wastewaters. Barium chloride was used as a precipitating agent and the turbidity of the suspension formed was measured at 420 nm. Analysis was performed without sample pre-treatment and the system was able to monitor sulphate concentration at a rate of at least 20 determinations per hour. Slightly different analytical sequences were developed for natural and wastewaters in order to minimise specific interferences. Direct determination of sulphate was possible within a concentration range of 10-100 and 16-100 mg SO(4)(2-) L(-1) for natural and wastewaters, respectively. Results obtained were comparable with those of the reference method with relative deviations lower than 5%. Relative standard deviations between 1.6% and 3.3% were found.

A¯ow-injection system for the enzymatic determination of L() lactic acid and L(À) malic acid in wines with spectrophotometric detection is described. The samples are dialysed in-line, and the enzymes in solution (malate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase) are injected as a train of plugs in the acceptor stream of the dialysis unit, yielding two peaks corresponding to the NADH formed for each determination. This methodology enables the determination of both acids with a single detector with a sampling rate of 20 h À1 (0.4±3 g l À1). The results are comparable to those obtained by the reference procedure, the repeatability is better than 5% (rsd), with low enzyme consumption (1.3 ml of suspension per sample).

A robust, automated, labor-saving, accurate, and economical sequential injection system was developed for simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in cured meat samples, based on the Shinn reaction. Nitrite is coupled and diazotized with sulfanilamide and N-(1-naphtyl)-ethylenediamine dihydrochloride, to form a colored compound that absorbs at 538 nm. Nitrate is previously in-line reduced to nitrite in a copperized cadmium column and measured as nitrite. The solutions' aspiration sequence, the influence of reagent and buffer concentrations, the manifold parameters, and the characteristics of the reducing column were studied. Nitrite and nitrate can be determined within the 0.030 to 1.22 of N-NO 2 -and 0.034 to 3.95 mg/L of N-NO 3 -ranges, respectively, at a sampling rate of 9/h. Detection limits of 9 g/L of N for nitrite and 9 g/L of N for nitrate were obtained, and the conversion rate of nitrate to nitrite was 100.6% ± 1.8%. The results were in good agreement with those obtained by the reference methods, with relative standard deviations (r.s.d.) better than 3.70% for nitrites and 2.42% for nitrates.