Functionalized MgO,CeO<Subscript>2</Subscript> and ZnO nanoparticles with humic acid for the study of nitrate adsorption efficiency from water

In this study, the removal of nitrate using ZnO, MgO, and CeO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) modified by humic acid from water was tested. Nanoparticles were modified by humic acid using the microwave-assisted technique and then modified ZnO (Zn–H), modified MgO (Mg–H), and modified CeO₂ (Ce–H) were characterized through SEM, EDX, FTIR, and XRD analysis. Several important parameters influencing the removal of nitrate such as contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage and temperature were explored systematically by batch experiments. Isotherm studies were set up with the following optimum conditions: pH?=?5, adsorbent concentration of 1 g L^?1, 180 min and 25 °C. The results revealed that the adsorption were best fitted to pseudo-second order and simple Elovich kinetics models. Langmuir, Freundlich and linear adsorption models were fitted to describe adsorption isotherms and constants. The isotherm analysis indicated that the adsorption data can be represented by both Freundlich and linear isotherm models. The maximum adsorption capacity (q_m) was obtained at 55.1, 74.2 and 75.8 mg g^?1 for Zn–H, Ce–H, and Mg–H, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters such as free energy, enthalpy and entropy of adsorption were obtained. From the thermodynamic parameters, it is suggested that the adsorption of nitrate on modified NPs (MNPs) followed the exothermic and spontaneous processes. The obtained results showed that the MNPs were efficient adsorbents for removing nitrate from aqueous media.     

Copper-catalyzed efficient synthesis of 5-arylindazolo[3,2-b]quinazolin-7(5H)-ones from 2-nitrobenzaldehydes

A novel and practical copper-catalyzed approach was developed for the preparation of 5-arylindazolo[3,2-b]quinazolin-7(5H)-ones. The 2-amino-N′-arylbenzohydrazideis easily prepared by a reaction of isatoic anhydride with arylhydrazine. Then, through a condensation/intramolecular cyclization reaction by 2-nitrobenzaldehydes in the present of CuI, the corresponding 5-arylindazolo[3,2-b]quinazolin-7(5H)-ones are produced in good yields.     

Recent Development of Polyolefin‐Based Microporous Separators for Li−Ion Batteries: A Review

Secondary Li?ion batteries have been paid attention to wide‐range applications of power source for the portable electronics, electric vehicle, and electric storage reservoir. Generally, lithium‐ion batteries are comprised of four components including anode, cathode, electrolyte and separator. Although separators do not take part in the electrochemical reactions in a lithium‐ion (Li?ion) battery, they conduct the critical functions of physically separating the positive and negative electrodes to prevent electrical short circuit while permitting the free flow of lithium ions through the liquid electrolyte that fill in their open porous structure. Hence, the separator is directly related to the safety and the power performance of the battery. Among a number of separators developed thus far, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) porous membrane separators have been the most dominant ones for commercial Li?ion batteries over the decades because of their superior properties such as cost‐efficiency, good mechanical strength and pore structure, electrochemical stability, and thermal shutdown properties. However, there are main issues for vehicular storage, such as nonpolarity, low surface energy and poor thermal stability, although the polyolefin separators have proven dependable in portable applications. Hence, in this review, we decide to provide an overview of the types of polyolefin microporous separators utilized in Li?ion batteries and the methods employed to modify their surface in detail. The remarkable results demonstrate that extraordinary properties can be exhibited by mono‐ and multilayer polyolefin separators if they are modified using suitable methods and materials.     

Sulfonic acid-functionalized poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) mesoporous graphene oxide hybrid for one-pot preparation of coumarin-based pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine-dione derivatives

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Sulfonic acid-functionalized poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) mesoporous graphene oxide hybrid (PSSA-MGO) is prepared by polymerization of 4-styrenesulfonic acid on...     

Design and synthesis of 2,4-dioxochroman-pyridinium-phenylacetamide derivatives as new anti-Alzheimer agents: in vitro and in silico studies

2,4-Dioxochroman-pyridinium-phenylacetamide derivatives 7a–n were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitory activities against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). Obtained results demonstrated that, among the synthesized compounds, two compounds, 7j and 7k , were more potent than the standard drug donepezil against BuChE and did not show cytotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Furthermore, through molecular modeling and molecular dynamic studies. we showed that these compounds can be located deep in the gorge cavity of BuChE and that they interacted with catalytic residues, acyl, and cholin-binding pockets of this enzyme. Support information     

Amine-carbon disulfide promoted synthesis of novel benzo[e][1,3]thiazepin-5(1H)-one derivatives

In this paper, a simple method is introduced for the synthesis of novel 4-substituted-3-thioxo-3,4-dihydrobenzo[e][1,3]thiazepin-5(1H)-one derivatives. The synthesis is based on a two-step reaction of 2-methylbenzoic acid, an amine, and carbon disulfide. In the first step, 2-methylbenzoic acid reacts with sulfuric acid in ethanol, followed by the reaction with N-bromosuccinimide to produce ethyl 2-(bromomethyl)benzoate. Amine and carbon disulfide react in a separate flask in basic medium to give carbamodithioate salt. Carbamodithioate and ethyl 2-(bromomethyl)benzoate react together in dimethylformamide to produce the desired 4-substituted-3-thioxo-3,4-dihydrobenzo[e][1,3]thiazepin-5(1H)-one derivatives. The method is simple and fast and is applicable to a wide variety of substrates and gives the desired products in high isolated yields.     

A branch-and-bound approach for maximum quasi-cliques

Detecting quasi-cliques in graphs is a useful tool for detecting dense clusters in graph-based data mining. Particularly in large-scale data sets that are error-prone, cliques are overly restrictive and impractical. Quasi-clique detection has been accomplished using heuristic approaches in various applications of graph-based data mining in protein interaction networks, gene co-expression networks, and telecommunication networks. Quasi-cliques are not hereditary, in the sense that every subset of a quasi-clique need not be a quasi-clique. This lack of heredity introduces interesting challenges in the development of exact algorithms to detect maximum cardinality quasi-cliques. The only exact approaches for this problem are limited to two mixed integer programming formulations that were recently proposed in the literature. The main contribution of this article is a new combinatorial branch-and-bound algorithm for the maximum quasi-clique problem.     

Multispectroscopic studies of the interaction of calf thymus DNA with the anti-viral drug, valacyclovir

The present study investigated the binding interaction between an antiviral drug, valacyclovir and calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) using emission, absorption, circular dichroism, viscosity and DNA melting studies. In fluorimetric studies, thermodynamic enhancement constant (K(D)) and bimolecular enhancement constant (K(B)) were calculated at different temperatures and demonstrated that fluorescence enhancement is not initiated by a dynamic process, but instead by a static process that involves complex DNA formation in the ground state. Further, the enthalpy and entropy of the reaction between the drug and CT-DNA showed that the reaction is exothermic and enthalpy-favored. In addition, detectable changes in the circular dichroism spectrum of CT-DNA in the presence of valacyclovir indicated conformational changes in the DNA double helix following interaction with the drug. All these results prove that this antiviral drug interacts with CT-DNA via an intercalative mode of binding.     

Synthesis and evaluation of novel arylisoxazoles linked to tacrine moiety: in vitro and in vivo biological activities against Alzheimer’s disease

Molecular Diversity - Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is now ranked as the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. There is no definite cure for AD due to the multi-factorial...     

Frequency domain finite-element and spectral-element acoustic wave modeling using absorbing boundaries and perfectly matched layer

Wave propagation modeling as a vital tool in seismology can be done via several different numerical methods among them are finite-difference, finite-element, and spectral-element methods (FDM, FEM and SEM). Some advanced applications in seismic exploration benefit the frequency domain modeling. Regarding flexibility in complex geological models and dealing with the free surface boundary condition, we studied the frequency domain acoustic wave equation using FEM and SEM. The results demonstrated that the frequency domain FEM and SEM have a good accuracy and numerical efficiency with the second order interpolation polynomials. Furthermore, we developed the second order Clayton and Engquist absorbing boundary condition (CE-ABC2) and compared it with the perfectly matched layer (PML) for the frequency domain FEM and SEM. In spite of PML method, CE-ABC2 does not add any additional computational cost to the modeling except assembling boundary matrices. As a result, considering CE-ABC2 is more efficient than PML for the frequency domain acoustic wave propagation modeling especially when computational cost is high and high-level absorbing performance is unnecessary.