There is disclosed, a desalination apparatus making use of a particles including covalently bonded functionalized magnetic nanoparticles coupled to a complexing agent. For example, the complexing agent may include a crown ether. The particles are optionally used for removing salt from water, for example sea water. The apparatus optionally includes a magnet for magnetic filtering, concentrating and/or removing the particles and/or contaminant (e.g. salt). In some embodiments, the salt is then separated back from the particles using UV light. The remaining unclarified water may be washed out with the contaminant and/or used for salt production and/or disposed of (e.g. dumped back to the sea). Optionally, the particles are regenerated. For example, the regenerated particulars may be reused for further desalination steps (e.g. further salt removal from the clarified water) to clarify new input water.

The disclosure provides a capture system and methods for isolating cysteine-containing peptides from biological fluid and proteolytic mixtures. The disclosure also provides compounds of formulae (II), (III), and (IV), useful in methods of the invention. ##STR00001##

The present invention relates to the use, for affinity purification of an antibody or an fragment of an antibody, of a ligand-substituted matrix comprising a support material and at least one ligand covalently bonded to the support material, the ligand being represented by formula (I)
L-(Sp).sub.v-Ar.sup.1—Am—Ar.sup.2   (I)
wherein L, SP, Ar.sup.1, AM, Ar.sup.2 and v are defined herein.

A method of removing and detecting the presence of substances from at least one of a body of water and the air. The method includes placing into the body of water or into the air an open-cell foam material, removing separate portions of the open-cell foam material from the water or air at different exposure times after the open-cell foam material was placed into the water or air, and determining the presence in the removed separate portions of one or more substances that were removed from the water or air by the open-cell foam material.

The invention relates to poly-amide bonded hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) stationary phases and novel HILIC methods for use in the characterization of large biological molecules modified with polar groups, known to those skilled in the art as glycans. The invention particularly provides novel, poly-amide bonded materials designed for efficient separation of large biomolecules, e.g. materials having a large percentage of larger pores (i.e. wide pores). Furthermore, the invention advantageously provides novel HILIC methods that can be used in combination with the stationary phase materials described herein to effectively separate protein and peptide glycoforms by eliminating previously unsolved problems, such as on-column aggregation of protein samples, low sensitivity of chromatographic detection of the glycan moieties, and low resolution of peaks due to restricted pore diffusion and long intra/inter-particle diffusion distances.

The invention concerns polymeric media based on modified natural polysaccharides for removing one or both of Anti-A Antibodies and Anti-B Antibodies from human blood or plasma, the media comprising one or both of (i) a polymeric solid support with a blood group A Antigen ligand attached to the solid support at a ligand loading between 1-5 mg/mL of solid support, and wherein the media is stable under physiological pH conditions, and (ii) a polymeric solid support with a blood group B Antigen ligand attached to the solid support at a ligand loading between 1-5 mg/mL of solid support, and wherein the media is stable under physiological pH conditions.

The present invention relates to a super absorbent polymer exhibiting more improved absorption under pressure and liquid permeability, even while basically maintaining excellent centrifuge retention capacity and absorption rate, and a method for producing the same. The super absorbent polymer comprises: a base polymer powder including a first crosslinked polymer of a water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomer having at least partially neutralized acidic groups; and a surface crosslinked layer formed on the base polymer powder and including a second crosslinked polymer in which the first crosslinked polymer is further crosslinked via a surface crosslinking agent, wherein the surface crosslinking agent includes at least two compounds having a solubility parameter value (σ) of 12.5 (cal/cm.sup.3).sup.1/2 or more, and wherein at least one of the surface crosslinking agents is an alkylene carbonate-based compound, and the remainder is selected from the group consisting of an alkylene carbonate-based compound and a polyhydric alcohol-based compound.

A stationary phase for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) devices is based on nickel and titanium alloy nuclei and a metal-organic framework (MOF) exterior, which may be used for chromatographic analysis in environmental, food, etc. applications. The method of preparation of the stationary phases includes a number of steps which provide a covalent adhesion of the MOF to the nickel/titanium alloy. In these stationary phases, the metal-organic framework is the only component that comes into contact with the sample to be analysed. The interior of the stationary phase is executed in nitinol and endows the system with thermal and mechanical stability this being the first time that it is used to support a metal-organic framework, and presenting extractive advantages in comparison with commercial SPME stationary phases.

A filtration material including a silica base material having a group represented by the following general formula (a0-1) [in formula (a0-1), Ya.sup.01 represents a divalent linking group; Ra.sup.01 represents a hydrocarbon group which may have a substituent; Ra.sup.02 represents a hydroxyl group or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms which may have a substituent; n.sup.01 represents an integer of 0 to 5; and the symbol “*” represents a valence bond with respect to the silica base material].

##STR00001##

Provided herein are stationary phase compositions comprising a chromatographic surface of porous or non-porous core material comprising a surface modifier for use in chromatographic separations.