The analysis and subsequent identification of aluminum extruded alloys have been investigated by handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (HXRF) toward the closed-loop recycling of aluminum. First, the standardized aluminum alloys were analyzed to evaluate the instrument, which was followed by some modifications of its hardware and software for obtaining analytical improvements. Secondly, aluminum sash scraps acquired into the laboratory were checked as to whether mutual identification of some mixed extruded alloys in the scraps are capable or not. Further, distributed aluminum scraps which have irregular shapes with coated and dirty surfaces in a recycling yard were tested for identification. In the yard, it also worked fairly well, but in the alloys close to pure aluminum, misidentification between them was occasionally found. Totally, the HXRF has a robustness for on-site analysis and is effective to analyze and identify real scrap samples of aluminum. Further improvement of alloy identification will surely result in a new proposal on recycling process without shredding and sorting.

A commercial syringe filter was introduced as a device for separation and pre-concentration. We applied this technique to the on-site colorimetric determination of trace arsenic(III, V) in water sampls. Arsenic reacted with sodium thiosulfate and ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate to form a hydrophobic arsenic(III) complex; then, the syringe filter collected it by manual pressure filtration. For eluting it, we proposed an eluent containing sulfuric acid, potassium permanganate, molybdenum(VI) and copper(II). That is, the collected arsenic on the filter dissolved in the eluent as a form of molybdoarsenate(V), then reacted with tin(II) to form molybdenum blue for detection by a visual color comparison and/or spectrophotometry. Syringe filter served as a convenient device suitable for on-site analysis. Glass fiber as the optimal filtering material achieved quantitative recovery with a smaller pressure loss. We adopted 30 mL and 1.7 mL as the volume of the sample and the eluent, respectively. Twelve minutes of the entire procedure permitted us to determine arsenic at levels of 0.01 mg L⁻¹, which is an environmental standard for water quality in Japan. Results from soil leachate samples were successfully obtained in good agreement with those by ICP-AES.

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is very important in the clinical management of drug therapy based on the assessment of individual variability of the efficacy, side-effects, metabolism and genetic factors. However, it is hard to perform TDM in hospital routinely, because the blood level of each different drug is quantified by different analytical methods using various types of apparatus, devices and chemicals. In this study, a practical HPLC method was developed for the in-hospital quantitation of blood levels of various medicinal drugs, based on almost the same procedure. The method consists of a solid-phase extraction (SPE) of a drug in serum using a disposable centrifugal cartridge, and following conventional HPLC/UV analysis of a drug in a SPE eluate. At first, the conditions of the SPE treatment and HPLC analysis were optimized for each drug. Next, the SPE recovery % of drug from serum was determined for each drug. Finally, quantitation of the blood level of each drug was performed with our absolute calibration curve method corrected by each SPE recovery %. The present method is applicable to quantitation of blood levels of fifteen different medicines; the values of lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) were over a range of 0.10 – 1.48 μg mL⁻¹. The method was also well-validated for each medicine in the range of its effective concentration. It will thus be a useful tool for the routine-implementation of TDM of the fifteen different medicines operated by a full-time staff in a hospital, such as a clinical laboratory technician and/or pharmacist.

The qualitative analysis of lubricating oils composed of a base oil and various additives requires tedious and time-consuming pretreatments. By contrast, Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART)-MS equipped with a thermal desorption and pyrolysis device could easily detect the additives and the base oil components in lubricating oils without any sample pretreatment. Under 380 °C, several additives such as viscosity modifiers and antioxidants were desorbed. Monitoring their relative content might be useful an index to evaluate the degree of lubricant degradation. The complicated mass spectra from base oils desorbed at higher temperature were converted into two-dimensional maps, called Kendrick mass defect (KMD) plots. The presence of ethoxylated surfactants in the degraded lubricating oils was highlighted by the KMD analysis, suggesting a contamination from inside the engine. The combination of the DART-MS with a thermal desorption and pyrolysis device is an effective tool for the easy and rapid evaluation of degraded lubricating oils.

To simplify a water quality survey using colorimetry, an application that determines the concentration using a smart device, such as a smartphone, was developed. To use AI technology makes it possible to remove a jig to block the effects of external light and to avoid creating a color-concentration calibration curve. Also, instead of measuring the concentration on each smart device, it was decided to perform concentration determination using an AI server built on a network. In this way, to minimize the function of the application installed on each device and to eliminate the model dependency as much as possible were tried. Furthermore, by acquiring and storing observation location information simultaneously, the system was shown to be an effective water quality investigation system for wide-area environmental investigation.

In this study, we tried to quantify trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) and hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in fly ash eluate by atomic absorption spectrometry using chelate resin solid phase extraction method. By treating Nobias Chelate PA1 in the chelate resin solid-phase extraction column with an iron(III) nitrate solution, Cr(III) in fly-ash eluate can be captured on the frit of the solid-phase extraction column or resin and Cr(VI) can be passed through the column. It was possible to separate Cr(III)･Cr(VI). This method is a pretreatment method that can be carried out easily and in a short time because the pretreatment is completed simply by passing the sample solution through the column.This method is also applicable to samples that are difficult to measure due to color development inhibition in the diphenylcarbazide-absorption spectrometry widely used as a measurement method of Cr(VI) by adjusting the pH of the eluate to 10.7 or higher.

Vibrational spectroscopic methods, such as infrared and Raman spectroscopy, are widely used for both qualitative and quantitative analyses of many materials. Such analyses have mainly been performed in laboratories using bench-top instruments. However, there has recently been a growing need for analytical instruments that can perform high-quality measurements at locations, such as manufacturing plants or outdoors. To respond to these requirements, we have been engaged in the miniaturization and unitization of our instruments while maintaining a high-level of performance (e.g., the signal-to-noise ratio, and wavenumber resolution), and we have finally developed FT-IR and Raman spectrometers that are easy-to-use, capable of in-situ analysis and are easy to customize for specific purposes. In this paper, an overview of these specialized spectrometer systems is presented, and example applications are reported.

When the lycopene content in tomatoes and related products was evaluated rapidly, the samples had been crushed with water, and we had measured the visible spectra. In addition, the crushed tomatoes and related products have been treated separately. In this paper, to develop a rapid determination method of lycopene in tomatoes and related products, tomatoes are crushed using a mixer (tomato products without crushing) and the visible spectra measured without dilution; both samples were treated together for data analysis. Then, a calibration sample set (n = 29 (tomatoes = 19, tomato products = 10)) gave a coefficient of determination of 0.97 with two independent variables, absorbance at 594 and 740 nm. When the calibration was applied to unknown samples, a prediction sample set (n = 41 (tomatoes = 38, tomato products = 3)), it gave a root mean square (RMS) value of 1.05 mg 100 g⁻¹. Therefore, crushed tomatoes and related products can be used to determine the lycopene content rapidly without dilution and each grouping.

A portable spectrometer capable of measuring both an ultraviolet-visible absorption (UV-vis) and a fluorescence emission spectrum was developed with the aim of nondestructive onsite analysis of be the cultural heritage and artwork. To demonstrate the availability of the spectrometer, we brought it to Hokusai Museum to carry out the analysis of original drawings by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), a Japanese Ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. His two drawings, “Waves” and “Chrysanthemums”, were investigated by means of the UV-vis/fluorescence spectrometer together with portable instruments of other analytical techniques (X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, X-ray powder diffractometry, and micro Raman spectroscopy), in the nondestructive manner. As the results, UV-vis and fluorescence emission spectra revealed that Hokusai had used several kinds of organic pigments and dyes in these two paintings. Generally, it is difficult to identify these organic painting materials by X-ray analytical techniques. Our analytical results demonstrated that Hokusai had created beautiful and deep colors in drawings by a mixing or a recoating of various pigments and dyes such as indigo, laccaic acid, safflower.

A fully automated system has been developed by our research group for the solid-phase extraction, desorption and GC/MS measurement of water samples. In the present work, the validity for the determination of simazin and thiobencarb in environmental water samples using a fully automated online SPE-GC/MS system was investigated. Calibration curves of simazin and thiobencarb demonstrated good linearity in the range of 0.30–5.0 μg L⁻¹. The repeatability in the case of the on–line coupling system of automatic SPE with GC/MS was studied, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) in the case of aqueous solutions of simazine and thiobencarb solutions (0.3 μg L⁻¹) were 4.4 % and 4.5 % for seven measurements. The method was applied to the determination of simazine and thiobencarb in river and sea waters. Environmental water samples were spiked with 1.0 μg L⁻¹ for evaluating the recovery. The recovery for the spiked amount was in the range of 96.2–107 %. The present system was considered to be satisfactorily for the determination of simazine and thiobencarb in environmental water samples.