A flow-injection procedure for the determination of a commercially available fatty amine ethoxylate-based non-ionic surfactant in sea water over the range 0–50 mg l−1 is described. The procedure is based on measurement of the chemiluminescence emission resulting from oxidation of the tertiary amine group with sodium hypochlorite at pH 10.5 in the presence of Rhodamine B, which acts as a sensitizer.

A flow injection procedure for the determination of triethylamine in water and sea water over the range 1 × 10–5–1 × 10–2M is described, based on measurement of the chemiluminescence emission resulting from the oxidation of triethylamine by sodium hypochlorite at pH 11.0 in the presence of Rhodamine B as a sensitiser. The response to trimethylamine, tripropylamine, ethylamine and diethylamine is also reported and a possible reaction pathway considered.

Produced water from North Sea oil reservoirs contains substantial amounts (about 1g I−1) of non-hydrocarbon organic matter, largely as salts of acetic, propionic and butyric acids, as well as some 20–40 mg I−1 of dissolved hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and xylene. The non-hydrocarbon components originate in water in the oil-bearing formation. All of the organic matter can be accounted for, within analytical accuracy. The water also contains some 20–30 mg I−1 of ammoniacal nitrogen and a number of inorganic components.

A method has been developed in which sample components separated on a plate by thin-layer chromatography are successively vaporized, by a slow-moving furnace, into a stream of nitrogen which passes into a flame ionization detector. Each zone is recorded on a strip chart as a peak having an area proportional to the amount of material present.

A large number of aliphatic amines have been studied by thin-layer chromatography. Some relationships between chemical structure, chromatographic behaviour and physical properties are discussed.

The extent of cheese ripening and the type of proteolysis and lipolysis of common cheeses in Egypt were measured by concentration of each of soluble tyrosine; soluble trypophan; amino N; soluble N/total N; total volatile fatty acids and free fatty acids, and by quantitative gel electrophoresis and thin-layer chromatography. The effects of concentration-related factors (e.g. moisture, salt and pH) on cheese protein and fat hydrolysis were also studied.The results showed that, as a heterogeneous group of cheese, differences were marked in gross chemical composition and both the extent of cheese ripening and the relative proportions of protein, fat and their degradation products. Among the selected cheeses, ras cheese has higher values of ripening indices, while kariesh cheese has lower values. Increasing the salt content of mish cheese caused an inhibition in degradation of its protein and fat.The principal protein regions in electrophoretic patterns and fractions of fat in TLC patterns were similar in number and relative mobility. In most of the cheeses, αs-casein was degraded more extensively than β-casein, while the whole of the γ-caseins were resistant to further hydrolysis. Also, there was close correlation between αs-casein and its degradation products. In spite of the absence of significant relationships between the soluble nitrogen and the relative amounts of unattached αs-, β-, and γ-caseins, the amino nitrogen and soluble tyrosine and tryptophan were in close correlation with αs- and β-caseins and their degradation products.A positive relationship was noted between pH (from 4·40 to 5·85) and both protein and fat hydrolysis. The fat of roquefort cheese was more hydrolysed than other cheeses; however, the fat of the soft cheeses was less hydrolysed. Moreover, negative and highly significant correlations between triglycerides and their degradation by both TLC and chemical analysis were obtained.