Preparation of a Cu(II)‐Immobilized Co‐polymer(CIC) for Effective Removal of Urea

The study describes the preparation of Cu(II)‐immobilized copolymer(CIC) under optimum conditions for the effective removal of urea. The copolymeric hydrogels, synthesized by free‐radical aqueous copolymerization of monomers acrylamide and sodium acrylate, have been analyzed for their Cu(II) uptake behavior. The sorption of Cu(II) into polymer follows a Langmuir–type pattern and amount sorbed depends upon the composition of copolymeric gels, presence of other co‐ions in the solution, pH of the solution, initial concentration of sorbate, degree of crosslinking of the copolymeric hydrogel, temperature of the solution etc. In the preliminary study, the Cu(II) immobilized co‐polymer(CIC) sorbent demonstrated a fair tendency to remove urea from aqueous solutions.     

Fatigue crack growth simulations of homogeneous and bi-material interfacial cracks using element free Galerkin method

In this paper, quasi-static fatigue crack growth simulations of homogeneous and bi-material interfacial cracks have been performed using element free Galerkin method (EFGM) under mechanical as well as thermo-elastic load. The thermo-elastic fracture problem is decoupled into thermal and elastic problems. The temperature distribution obtained by solving heat conduction equation is used as input in the elastic problem to get the displacement and stress fields. Discontinuities in the temperature and displacement fields are captured by extrinsic partition of unity enrichment technique. The values of stress intensity factors have been extracted from the EFGM solution by domain based interaction integral approach. The standard Paris fatigue crack growth law has been implemented for the life estimation of various model problems. The results obtained by EFGM under mechanical and thermo-elastic loads were compared with those obtained by FEM using remeshing approach.     

Nonclassical properties of a contradirectional nonlinear optical coupler

We investigate the nonclassical properties of output fields propagated through a contradirectional asymmetric nonlinear optical coupler consisting of a linear waveguide and a nonlinear (quadratic) waveguide operated by second harmonic generation. In contrast to the earlier results, all the initial fields are considered weak and a completely quantum-mechanical model is used here to describe the system. Perturbative solutions of Heisenberg's equations of motion for various field modes are obtained using Sen–Mandal technique. Obtained solutions are subsequently used to show the existence of single-mode and intermodal squeezing, single-mode and intermodal antibunching, two-mode and multi-mode entanglement in the output of contradirectional asymmetric nonlinear optical coupler. Further, existence of higher order nonclassicality is also established by showing the existence of higher order antibunching, higher order squeezing and higher order entanglement. Variation of observed nonclassical characters with different coupling constants and phase mismatch is discussed.     

Investigation of interface,microstructure, and mechanical properties of layered thermal barrier coatings of lanthanum zirconate and YSZ deposited by EB‐PVD process

Microstructure of the double‐layered ceramic thermal barrier coatings of lanthanum zirconate (LZ) and yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) with bond coat on Ni‐based superalloy deposited by electron beam evaporation process has been studied. Two sets of combination of LZ and YSZ were deposited: one LZ over YSZ and the other YSZ over LZ. The interfaces of each layer were studied and were found to be sharp; however, some diffusion of elements from below layer was observed. The detailed selected area diffraction of the phases was carried out from the coating cross‐section specimens. The LZ layer was mostly found to be amorphous, and fine columnar growth was observed. The YSZ layer over LZ showed two different crystal structures at interface and at the top surface, which were cubic and tetragonal, respectively. The YSZ layers showed clear columnar grains with feather‐like intercalated structure Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and Evaluation of Paromomycin Derivatives Modified at C(4′)

The 2‐amino‐2‐deoxy‐α‐D ‐glucopyranosyl moiety (ring I) of paromomycin was replaced by a 2,4‐diamino‐2,4‐dideoxy‐α‐D ‐glucopyranosyl, 2,4‐diamino‐2,4‐dideoxy‐α‐D ‐galactopyranosyl, 2‐amino‐2‐deoxy‐α‐D ‐galactopyranosyl, or 3,4,5‐trideoxy‐4‐aza‐α‐D ‐erythro‐heptoseptanosyl moiety to investigate the effect of the substituent at C(4′) on the interaction with ribosomal RNA. The triflate 6 was prepared from the key intermediate pentaazido 3′,6′‐dibenzyl ether 5 , and the hexosulose 10 was obtained by oxidation of 5 with Dess–Martin's periodinane. Stereoselective reduction of 10 with NaBH₄ gave the alcohol 11 that was transformed into the triflate 12 . The epimeric hexaazides 7 and 13 were obtained by treating the triflates 6 and 12 , respectively, with tetrabutylammonium azide. Periodate cleavage of glycol 2 yielded the dialdehyde 24 that was reductively aminated with aniline and benzylamine to give the 3,4,5‐trideoxy‐4‐aza‐α‐D ‐erythro‐heptoseptanosides 25 and 26 , respectively. Standard azide reduction and debenzylation yielded 9 (2,4‐diamino‐2,4‐dideoxy‐α‐D ‐galactopyranosyl ring I), 13 (2‐amino‐2‐deoxy‐α‐D ‐galactopyranosyl ring I), 17 (2,4‐diamino‐2,4‐dideoxy‐α‐D ‐glucopyranosyl ring I), and 27 and 28 (3,4,5‐trideoxy‐4‐aza‐α‐D ‐erythro‐heptoseptanosyl ring I). The derivatives 9 and 13 possessing a D ‐galacto‐configured ring I were less active than the corresponding D ‐gluco‐analogues 17 and paromomycin ( 1 ), respectively. The C(4′)‐aminodeoxy derivative 17 (D ‐gluco ring I) and the known 4′‐deoxyparomomycin ( 23 ), prepared by a new route, displayed slightly lower antibacterial activities than paromomycin ( 1 ). Cell‐wall permeability is not responsible for the unexpectedly low activity for 17 , as shown by cell‐free translation assays. The results evidence that the orientation of the substituent at C(4′) is more important than its nature for drug binding and activity.     

Oligomannan synthesis using ionic liquid supported glycosylation

The synthesis of complex oligosaccharides has been a challenge for researchers. Herein, we describe a strategy for the synthesis of an activated oligomannan 1 that employs ionic liquid (IL) support glycosylation methodology on an IL-tagged mannosyl fluoride donor. This method is capable of rapidly producing linear alpha(1-->6) oligomannan thioglycosides in a convenient and cost-effective manner without the need of column purification after each glycosylation step.     

Simultaneous determination of a ternary mixture of doxylamine succinate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, and folic acid by the ratio spectra-zero-crossing, double divisor-ratio spectra derivative, and column high-performance liquid chromatographic methods

Three simple, rapid, and accurate methods, i.e., the derivative ratio spectra-zero-crossing method (method I), double divisor-ratio spectra derivative method (method II), and column reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method (method III) were developed for the simultaneous determination of doxylamine succinate (DOX), pyridoxine hydrochloride (PYR), and folic acid (FA) in their ternary mixtures and in tablets. In methods I and II, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 2.5-80, 1.0-40, and 1.0-30 microg/mL for DOX, PYR, and FA, respectively. In the HPLC method, the separation of these compounds was performed using mobile phase consisting of 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.3)-methanol-acetonitrile (50 + 20 + 30, v/v/v), and UV detection was performed at 263 nm. Linearity was observed between the concentrations of the analytes and peak areas [correlation coefficient (r) > or =0.9998] in the concentration range of 1.0-200, 4.0-600, and 4.0-600 microg/mL for DOX, PYR, and FA, respectively. The standard deviation of retention time in method III was 0.011, 0.015, and 0.016 for DOX, PYR, and FA, respectively. The precision studies for all of the methods gave relative standard deviation values of <2%. The results obtained from the methods were statistically compared by means of Student's t-test and the variance ratio F-test. It was concluded that all of the developed methods were equally accurate, sensitive, and precise. These methods could be applied to determine DOX, PYR, and FA in their combined dosage forms.     

Synthesis of mesoporous γ-alumina by sol–gel process and its characterization and application for sorption of Pu(IV)

Mesoporous γ-alumina samples were prepared by the sol–gel process from the boehmite sol having different template solutions. Copper doped material was also prepared from sol containing template solution along with copper nitrate. Studies were performed to understand the influence of templates on the morphology of the synthesized samples particularly with respect to specific surface area and porosity. Synthesized samples were used to study sorption of Pu(IV) from nitric acid–oxalic acid solutions. Distribution ratios (D) for Pu(IV) were determined using the γ-alumina samples with an objective to employ these for the recovery of Pu.     

Metagenome-based screening reveals worldwide distribution of LOV-domain proteins

Metagenomes from various environments were screened for sequences homologous to light, oxygen, voltage (LOV)-domain proteins. LOV domains are flavin binding, blue-light (BL)-sensitive photoreceptors present in 10-15% of deposited prokaryotic genomes. The LOV domain has been selected, since BL is an ever present and sometimes harmful environmental factor for microbial communities. The majority of the metagenome material originated from the Sargasso Sea Project and from open-ocean sampling. In total, more than 40 million open reading frames were investigated for LOV-domain sequences. Most sequences were identified from aquatic material, but they were also found in metagenomes from soil and extreme environments, e.g. hypersaline ponds, acidic mine drainage or wastewater treatment facilities. A total of 578 LOV domains was assigned by three criteria: (1) the highly conserved core region, (2) the presence of minimally 14 essential amino acids and (3) a minimal length of 80 amino acids. More than three quarters of these identified genes showed a sequence divergence of more than 20% from database-deposited LOV domains from known organisms, indicating the large variation of this photoreceptor motif. The broad occurrence of LOV domains in metagenomes emphasizes their important physiological role for light-induced signal transduction, stress adaptation and survival mechanisms.