Measurement of exotic surfaces

Complex visual effects, such as pearlescence, translucence, iridescence and glitter, help to sell many products, including cars, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and military hardware. Such surfaces and coatings may look different depending on illumination or viewing angles, which makes them difficult to measure by traditional characterisation methods. NIST in the USA have introduced a goniospectrometer to measure light reflected from a surface as well as its dependence on the directions of illumination and observation.

The new goniospectrometer will be used both to provide an enhanced calibration service and for research on exotic-looking materials and coatings. laura.ost@nist.gov

NMR helps improve Basque cider

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been used by José Ignacio Santos González of the University of the Basque Country to improve the quality of cider. NMR combined with chemometric techniques was used to characterise 27 varieties of cider apples, determining general parameters and acidity and sugar profiles throughout the 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons. Experimental design and factorial analysis were used to determine the influence of new, alternative production technologies (type of press and the material of the fermentation tank) on the general parameters of glycerol and volatile and acidic compounds of both fermenting apple must and of the cider obtained for it. Once bottled, their progress was monitored over a seven-month period.

The influence of various mixtures of apple varieties on the initial composition of the musts and their evolution during fermentation was also studied. www.sc.ehu.es/rmn

ToF-SIMS-IR

The University of Manchester has been awarded £1.7m to build a new instrument that combines time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) with infrared spectroscopy, which will open new possibilities in the study of biological, organic and inorganic materials. The capabilities of the instrument, which will be built within two years, will be tested on materials such as prostate cancer tissue and environmental particulate pollutants. Professor John Vickerman, Director of the Surface Analysis Research Centre, said: “By combining this capability with infrared spectroscopy we will be able to get a much fuller picture of the chemistry of the molecules and materials we are studying”.

Synchrotron radiation helps preserve Tudor warship

The Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s principal warship for 35 years until she sank outside Portsmouth, UK, in 1545. In 1982 substantial remains of the hull were raised and are currently undergoing conservation whilst open to the public in Portsmouth dockyard. An international team has been analysing the sulphur and iron composition in the timbers of the Mary Rose to determine the potential threat from these. They used synchrotron X-rays from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (USA) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France); results have been published in PNAS. They found that there are about two tons of sulphur in different compounds rather uniformly distributed within the 280ton hull. The sulphur species present in the wood were determined at SSRL and their precise location at the micrometre level at ESRF. By studying thin wood slices cut perpendicularly to the cell walls at X-ray microscopy beamline ID21, they found high concentrations of organo-sulphur compounds in the lignin-rich areas between the cells, which may have helped preserve the ship while it was submerged. This helped to understand how accessible and reactive the different sulphur compounds found are to acid-producing oxidation.

The hull of the Mary Rose. Courtesy of the Mary Rose Trust.

Plenty of iron and pyrite is also present in the Mary Rose, which is a concern, since in the moist wood iron ions can catalyse the conversion of sulphur to sulphuric acid in the presence of oxygen. The investigators suggest that chemical treatments to remove or stabilise the remaining iron and sulphur compounds and reducing humidity and oxygen access are requirements for long-term preservation. www.maryrose.org, dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0504490102

CIDETEC Award

The first CIDETEC award for scientific research has been presented to Professor Antonio Aldaz Riera for his work, “In situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy on Electrodes with Platinum and Palladium Nanoparticle Ensembles”. The award was preented during the XXVII Meeting of the Electrochemical Specialisation Group of the Royal Spanish Chemical Society. www.cidetec.es