Uranium(VI) recovery from acidic leach liquor using manganese oxide coated zeolite (MOCZ) modified with amine

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Manganese oxide coated zeolite modified with trioctyl amine (MOCZ/TOA) was tested for adsorption of uranium. Different experiments were performed...     

n-Bit Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol Using Quantum Secure Direct Communication

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - The proposed quantum secret sharing protocol in this article conveys n bit secret messages from the sender to the n receivers making use of a secure...     

Phylogenetic Analysis of Putative Genes Involved in the Tryptophan-Dependent Pathway of Auxin Biosynthesis in Rice

Plant proteome databases were mined for a flavin monooxygenase (YUCCA), tryptophan decarboxylase (TDC), nitrilase (NIT), and aldehyde oxidase (AO) enzymes that could be involved in the tryptophan-dependent pathway of auxin biosynthesis. Phylogenetic trees for enzyme sequences obtained were constructed. The YUCCA and TDC trees showed that these enzymes were conserved across the plant kingdom and therefore could be involved in auxin synthesis. YUCCAs branched into two clades. Most experimentally studied YUCCAs were found in the first clade. The second clade which has representatives from only seed plants contained Arabidopsis sequences linked to embryonic development. Therefore, sequences in this clade were suggested to be evolved with seed development. Examination of TDC activity and expression had previously linked this enzyme to secondary products synthesis. However, the phylogenetic finding of a conserved TDC clade across land plants suggested its essential role in plant growth. Phylogenetic analysis of AOs showed that plants inherited one AO. Recent gene duplication was suggested as AO sequences from each species were similar to each other rather than to AO from other species. Taken together and based on the experimental support of the involvement of AO in abscisic synthesis, AO was excluded as an intermediate in IAA production. Phylogenetic tree for NIT showed that the first clade contained sequences from species across the plant kingdom whereas the second branch contained sequences from only Brassicaceae. Even though NIT4 orthologues were conserved in the second clade, their major role seems to be detoxification of hydrogen cyanide rather than producing IAA.     

Singlet oxygen quenching by thione analogues of canthaxanthin, echinenone and rhodoxanthin

Thione analogues of three naturally occurring carotenones (canthaxanthin, echinenone, and rhodoxanthin) were synthesized just over ten years ago, and it was reported that substitution of the oxygen atom by sulphur brings about a large red shift and some broadening in the optical absorption spectrum of the compound. Since the three carotenothiones are scarce, determination of their molar absorption coefficients presents a challenge. A method for relating the molar absorption coefficient of a carotenothione (Car-S) to that of its ketone analogue (Car-O) has been developed, which has revealed that the peak molar absorption coefficient of a Car-S is only about 60% of the corresponding value for Car-O. Using methylene blue as the sensitizer and acetonitrile as the solvent, we have also investigated the quenching (under photostationary conditions) of the 1270nm phosphorescence emission of singlet oxygen by each of the six carotenoids. The data conform to the Stern-Volmer relation, and show that substitution of a carbonyl oxygen atom by sulphur does not lead to an appreciable change in the value of the quenching constant, which is close to 1.5 x 10(10)M(-1)s(-1) for all six quenchers.     

Solid-phase synthesis of dinucleoside and nucleoside-carbohydrate phosphodiesters and thiophosphodiesters

Unprotected nucleosides (ROH) were reacted with two polymers bound to N,N-diisopropylamino-1,3,2-oxathiaphospholane in the presence of 1H-terazole. Oxidation with tert-butyl hydroperoxide or sulfurization with Beaucage's reagent, followed by the 1,3,2-oxathiaphospholane ring opening with unprotected nucleosides or carbohydrates (R'OH) in the presence of DBU, afforded nucleoside-(5'-5')-nucleoside or nucleoside-carbohydrate phosphodiester and thiophosphodiester derivatives through the elimination of polymer-bound ethylene episulfide. This strategy offers the advantages of facile isolation of final products and monosubstitution of unprotected nucleosides and carbohydrates.     

Synthesis of polymer-bound 4-acetoxy-3-phenylbenzaldehyde derivatives: applications in solid-phase organic synthesis

Aminomethyl polystyrene resin was reacted with 4-(5'-formyl-2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzoic acid and 4-(5'-formyl-2'-hydroxyphenyl)phenyl propionic acid, respectively, in the presence of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole and 1,3-diisopropylcarbodiimide to yield polymer-bound benzaldehydes. The phenolic group in resins was acetylated with acetic anhydride to afford two polymer-bound 4-acetoxybenzaldehydes. The reductive amination of polymer-bound linkers by amines and sodium triacetoxyborohydride, followed by sulfonylation with arylsulfonyl chloride derivatives in the presence of pyridine and the cleavage with TFA/DCM/H2O, produced pure sulfonamides.     

Dynamic Wave Propagation in Porous Media Semi-Infinite Domains

The problem of dynamic wave propagation in semi-infinite domains is of great importance, especially, in subjects of applied mechanics and geomechanics, such as the issues of earthquake wave propagation in an infinite half-space and soil-structure interaction under seismic loading. In such problems, the elastic waves are supposed to propagate to infinity, which requires a special treatment of the boundaries in initial boundary-value problems (IBVP). Saturated porous materials, e. g. soil, basically represent volumetrically coupled solid-fluid aggregates. Based on the continuum-mechanical principles and the established macroscopic Theory of Porous Media (TPM) [1, 2], the governing balance equations yield a coupled system of partial differential equations (PDE). Restricting the discussion to the isothermal and geometrically linear case, this system comprises the solid and fluid momentum balances and the overall volume balance, and can be conveniently treated numerically following an implicit monolithic approach [3]. Therefore, the equations are firstly discretised in space using the mixed Finite Element Method (FEM) together with quasi-static Infinite Elements (IE) at the boundaries that represent the extension of the domain to infinity [4], and secondly in time using an appropriate implicit time-integration scheme. Additionally, a stable implementation of the Viscous Damping Boundary (VDB) method [5] for the simulation of transient waves at infinity is presented, which implicitly treats the damping boundary terms in a weakly imposed sense. The proposed algorithm is implemented into the FE tool PANDAS and tested on a two-dimensional IBVP. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Comparison of the Effect of an Organoclay,Triphenylphosphate, and a Mixture of Both on the Degradation and Combustion Behaviour of PC/ABS Blends

Summary: Polycarbonate Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene blends (PC/ABS) with flame retardants Triphenyl Phosphate (TPP), nanoclay and their mixtures were prepared in a twin- screw extruder. The morphological properties were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) which showed the intercalated structure of nanoclay in the matrix. Thermal stability of the samples was studied using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and the degradation kinetic parameters were determined using various methods including Kissinger, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and Coats-Redfern methods. It was found that the sample containing both TPP and nanoclay has the highest activation energy. The activation energy order of PC/ABS blends with different flame retardant packages, obtained by Kissinger method agrees well with that obtained by Coats-Redfern. Cone calorimetry and limited oxygen index (LOI)/underwriters laboratory 94 (UL94) methods were used to investigate the fire behaviour and flammability of materials. The reduced mass loss rate (MLR), peak heat release rate (PHRR) and enhanced LOI of the composite containing mixture system confirmed a synergistic effect of TPP and nanoclay.     

Prenylated flavonoids from Tephrosia apollinea

In continuation of our chemical investigation on some medicinal plants of the genus Tephrosia,re-investigation of the methylenechloride/methanol(1:1) extract of the air-dried aerial part of Tephrosia apollinea afforded a new prenylated flavonoid 1, in addition to an aromatic ester,a sesquiterpene,a lignan and several known prenylated flavonoids.The structures were established by(~1H NMR,~(13)C NMR,DEPT,~1H-~1H COSY,HMQC,HMBC,NOESY and HRMS).Relative configurations of 9 and 10 were confirmed by X-ray anal...     

On linear vertex-arboricity of complementary graphs

The linear vertex-arboricity ρ(G) of a graph G is defined to be the minimum number of subsets into which the vertex set of G can be partitioned such that each subset induces a linear forest. In this paper, we give the sharp upper and lower bounds for the sum and product of linear vertex-arboricities of a graph and its complement. Specifically, we prove that for any graph G of order p. and for any graph G of order p = (2n + 1)², where n ? Z⁺, 2n + 2 ≦ ρ(G) + ρ(G ).