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Seventeen Portuguese miniature portraits on copper support from the Évora Museum collection (Portugal) were analyzed in situ and nondestructively by Raman microscopy (RM), SEM-EDS, and stereomicroscopy. This work constitutes a great breakthrough in the study of miniature paintings from the 17 th and 18 th centuries, since the chemical information known about this unique kind of paintings are still scarce, and in particular, this exclusive collection was never been subjected to any physicochemical study. In this work, each portrait was examined in detail in order to characterize the pigments palette used by the miniaturists. The μ-Raman analysis, in particular, guaranteed an exceptional visualization and good individual identification of small grains of pigments and other constituents of the pictorial layer. Using this technique, 19 compounds were identified, including bluish black covellite, a pigment rarely found in oil paintings. SEM-EDS was used as an important complementary technique to confirm the chemical nature of some pigments and to identify shell gold (gold dust) in some portraits. Overall, the pigments identified in this large set of old paintings are broadly consistent with those mentioned in the painting treatises of that time or reported in other more modern bibliographic sources.

The aim of the work now reported is the development of low cost electrodes in the monolithic shape without the need for a pos-production step with potential to be used in supercapacitors. The tested materials were activated carbon fibres prepared and activated carbons made from coffee endocarp. The main functional groups identified were quinone, lactone, Si-H, phenol, hydroxyl, carbonyl and ether for activated carbon samples and amine, amide, pyrone, lactone, carbonyl and hydroxyl for activated carbon fibres samples. The nanostructure of the materials is predominantly microporous but with a significant variety of porosity development with BET surface area and pore volume given by α(s) method range from 89 to 1050 m(2) g(-1) and 0.04 to 0.50 cm(3) g(-1), respectively. The electrochemical properties of the materials were investigated using classic cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The higher specific capacitance achieved was 176 F g(-1).

The electrochemical behavior of pomiferin, a natural isoflavone with significant antioxidant, antidiabetic and antitumor properties, is reported here for the first time at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). In order to understand the redox processes of this compound, its response was compared with the nonantioxidant isoflavone osajin. Based on cyclic and square-wave voltammetric methods it was observed that pomiferin presents a quasireversible anodic peak, which was attributed to the oxidation of the catechol group, and that is strongly influenced by pH. This anodic process yields a well-defined DPV response, which can be used for the analytical determination of this potential pharmotherapeutic isoflavone.

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