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Polymer methyl methacrylate-based bone cement is commonly used in some hip and knee replacement arthroplasty surgeries to fix the metal components in place in the joint space. These cements are normally provided as two components. The first component, a powder, contains pre-polymerized PMMA powder along with some initiator (usually benzoyl peroxide) and a radiopacifier (usually barium sulfate). The second component, a liquid, is methyl methacrylate monomer along with some stabilizer. In the surgery, the operating staff will mix the two components together to form a viscous liquid, which is then injected or packed into the cavity behind or surrounding the metal implant. In the course of 5-15 minutes, the monomer cures after contact with the benzoyl peroxide.

As the residual unreacted monomer may leach out of the cement over time in the body, manufacturers and regulators are interested in knowing the amount of unreacted monomer present in polymerized PMMA. ASTM F451 describes a two methods for determining residual methyl methacrylate monomer in curing and cured bone cement, both based on gas chromatography with mass spectroscopy. In the first method, aliquots of freshly prepared cement are placed into vials containing water, and the monomer amounts that are elutable are quantified with GC-MS at time points up to around 30 minutes after start of mixing. In the second method, fully cured cement is exposed to water for a period of time up to 30 days, and the residual methyl methacrylate monomer is quantified in the water by comparison of peak heights to a methyl methacrylate monomer calibration curve.

The general method for GC-MS analysis of bone cement is discussed in this application note.

Coffee is prepared by steeping roasted ground coffee beans in hot water, and then removing the grounds. Caffeine, a naturally occurring stimulant found in coffee, can be removed from the coffee bean by a variety of methods. Benzene was originally used to extract caffeine from coffee in the early 1900s, but its toxicity resulted in this process being abandoned. Water extraction, or the Swiss Water Process, is sometimes used, whereby the water is infused with desirable oils found in the coffee to prevent their extraction, and the unroasted beans (green coffee beans) are repeatedly extracted until the desired level of caffeine is achieved. Dichloromethane or ethyl acetate are sometimes used to extract the caffeine from the beans. Super critical carbon dioxide can also be used to extract caffeine. Caffeine levels in coffee vary according to the bean and the decaffeination process. Decaf will typically contain around 20 ppm of caffeine, while regular coffee may contain around 800 ppm. The decaffeination process may remove or alter desirable aromatics in the coffee that impart its flavor and aroma, hence processors are concerned not only with caffeine levels, but also other properties of the coffee following decaffeination.

Cambridge Polymer Group tested decaffeinated and regular coffee with a variety of techniques to allow assessment of the chemicals that lead to its aroma and flavor, caffeine content, impurities, and shelf-life stability, using gas chromatography, mass spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, oxidation induction time testing, rheology, electron spin resonance spectroscopy,sol/gel, and UV spectroscopy.

Read the full white paper here.

Free radicals are unpaired electrons found on molecules, and can be the result of incomplete chemical reaction, radiation exposure, oxidation, or mechanical stress. Normally, free radicals are highly reactive and immediately react with other free radicals, oxygen, or other available chemical species. In some materials, however, free radicals can be temporarily stable, sometimes for years, waiting for the appropriate conditions to react. Knowing the free radical content of a material can sometimes be used to predict long term oxidative stability of the material. Identifying the type and location of the free radical on the material can help determine how to stabilize it and know how it was formed.

Cambridge Polymer Group offers electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR), also known as electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), to identify and quantify free radical content in materials. This technique is useful for evaluating antioxidants, shelf-life stability, and the effect of chemicals on materials.

Visit our site for more information on electron spin resonance spectroscopy.

Surface tension is the property that allows water striders to glide across the surface of a pond, for razor blades to float in a glass, and for water to stream from a hose for a certain length before breaking up into droplets. It is caused by intermolecular forces holding molecules in a liquid together, resisting an externally applied force. In water, the strong hydrogen bonds give water a high surface tension relative to other liquids (72.8 mN/m vs. ~30 mN/m for many organic solvents); this hydrogen bonding also results in water having a higher boiling point than many organic solvents. Mercury is also known for having a high surface tension (480 mN/m), resulting in its propensities for forming balls when placed on a substrate. Surface tension and energy are sometimes used interchangably, although tension is only applied to liquids. High surface energy liquids will not wet, or spread out, onto substrate that has a lower surface energy. Surfactants reduce the surface tension of liquids, allowing them to wet substrates that would normally not be wet by the unmodified liquid.

Surface tension in liquids is commonly measured by the Du Nuoy ring method. In this approach, a precision platinum ring of known diameter is attached to a precision balance, or tensiometer, and is slowly lowered into the liquid with a vertical stage (see image below). The direction is then reversed, and a ring of fluid is slowly pulled up out of the liquid. The tensiometer measures the force required to break free of the liquid, which can be easily converted into a surface tension by knowning the diameter of the ring.

For solids, the surface energy is usually required. A single surface energy term is a bit more challenging to report. The contact angle is normally reported, either from the sessile drop method, in which a liquid of known surface energy is placed on the substrate and the degree of wetting is assessed by its contact angle (see below), or from a Wilhelmy plate approach, in which a piece of the substrate is lowered into a vessel of a liquid of known surface energy, and the force required to lower and raise the liquid is monitored as a function of the perimeter length of the substrate. This latter test gives the advancing and receding contact angle.

 By making measurements of contact angle on a single substrate with multiple liquids of different surface tensions, the critical surface energy of a substrate can be determined where the contact angle goes to zero, indicating good wetting of the liquid on the substrate. All liquids with a surface tension below this critical surface energy will wet the substrate.

Visit our website for more information on surface energy and surface tension measurements.

The increasing interest in material deformulation analysis and quantification of trace compounds in materials has led to the development of coupled analytical techniques. One of these techniques is TGA-FTIR, which combines the mass sensitivity of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) with the compound identification ability of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In TGA-FTIR, the sample is placed in a conventional TGA, and the mass loss is monitored as a function of temperature. As materials evaporate or are combusted, the mass of the sample will change accordingly and is monitored quantitatively by the TGA. A gas transfer line connects the TGA to the FTIR, which reports the chemical signature of the volatile components as they leave the TGA. In this manner, the identity of the volatile species can often be determined, in addition to their concentration based on the TGA mass change.

In an example experiment, we ran a 60:40 mixture of water and glycerol in our TGA-FTIR. Water has a boiling point of 100C, whereas glycerol has a boiling point around 290C. In an experiment run in nitrogen, the mass change of the sample as a function of time is shown below, indicating 60% loss of water by the time the tempererature reaches 100C. The remaining glycerol starts evaporating, and is gone by the time the system reaches the boiling point of glycerol.

The FTIR spectrum as a function of time is shown below (the lower curve is the Gram Schmidt signal, showing overall absorption intensity). The slice taken at 5.8 minutes shown as Extraction 1 in the upper absorption spectra indicates that the material coming out of the TGA at this time point is indeed water.

 The slice taken around 24 minutes below shows that the spectrum is glycerol, matching the TGA results.

West Virginia's drinking water situation has been getting a lot of press in the past week. Two toxic chemicals have been identified in the water (polyglycol ethers (PPH) and 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol), introduced from a tank rupture at Freedom Industries, a coal-cleaning operation. Prior to yesterday, only the methylcyclohexanemethanol had been know to be in the water, since the water contamination analytical tests commonly used only look for species that are suspected to be in the water, rather than any species. When Freedom Industries indicated that PPH was also released, the water analytical labs knew to look for this species as well. A more general analytical technique used to look for contaminants in water is gas chromatography with mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), which is a sensitive technique that will separate and identify all the volatile components in contaminated water, known or unknown. GC-MS is commonly performed in at Cambridge Polymer Group to determine if unknown species are in solvents, elutions from materials or devices, or to identify unknown liquids. Identification and quantification is possible with GC-MS.

Please visit our web site for more information on GC-MS testing.