Guanidine Hydrochloride: A Highly Efficient Organocatalyst for the Synthesis of 12‐Aryl‐8,9,10,12‐tetrahydrobenzo[a]xanthene‐11‐ones Under Solvent‐Free Conditions

A new green protocol has been developed for the synthesis of 12‐aryl‐8,9,10,12‐tetrahydrobenzo[a]xanthen‐11‐ones using guanidine hydrochloride as an organocatalyst under solvent‐free conditions. Operational simplicity, mild reaction conditions, enhanced rates, high isolated yields of the pure products, and purification of products by nonchromatographic methods are significant advantages of the protocol presented here.     

Dark energy cosmology with tachyon field in teleparallel gravity

We construct a tachyon teleparallel dark energy model for a homogeneous and isotropic flat universe in which a tachyon as a non-canonical scalar field is non-minimally coupled to gravity in the framework of teleparallel gravity. The explicit form of potential and coupling functions are obtained under the assumption that the Lagrangian admits the Noether symmetry approach. The dynamical behavior of the basic cosmological observables is compared to recent observational data, which implies that the tachyon field may serve as a candidate for dark energy.     

A simple and high sensitive spectrophotometric method for ultra trace determination of ruthenium with its catalytic effect on the oxidation of pyronin B by periodate

A new simple, selective, high sensitive and rapid method has been developed for spectrophotometric determination of ultra trace amounts of ruthenium based on its catalytic effect on the oxidation of pyronin B by periodate at lambdamax=555 nm. The described method is able to quantify ruthenium in the range of 0.1-100 ng ml-1 (r=0.9973), with a detection limit (S/N=3) of 0.036 ng ml-1. Under optimum conditions, this procedure has been successfully applied to determine the trace levels of ruthenium in the environmental and biological samples. The precision, expressed as relative standard deviation of three measurements, is better than 2.44%.     

Spectroscopic studies of dehydrogenation of ammonia borane in carbon cryogel

Ammonia borane (AB) is of great interest for storing hydrogen, an important issue in the growing field of hydrogen technology. The reaction pathways leading to the thermal decomposition of solid-state AB incorporated in carbon cryogels (CC) have been studied by spectroscopic methods. The time-dependent thermal decomposition was followed by in situ 11B nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and showed a significant increase in hydrogen release kinetics for AB in CC compared to neat AB. Both 11B NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy show a new reaction product, formed in the thermal decomposition of AB in CC scaffold (CC-AB) that is assigned to reactions with surface oxygen groups. The results indicate that incorporation of AB in CC enhances kinetics because of the reactions with residual surface-bound oxygen functional groups. The formation of new products with surface -O-B bonds is consistent with the greater reaction exothermicity observed when hydrogen is released from CC-AB materials. Scanning electron microscopy shows different morphology of AB in CC-AB nanocomposite as compared to neat AB.     

Coherent carbon cryogel-ammonia borane nanocomposites for H2 storage

Coherent carbon cryogel-ammonia borane (C-AB) nanocomposites were synthesized, and improved H2 storage properties are reported. Porous carbon cryogels were impregnated with AB in tetrahydrofuran solution at 25 degrees C under argon; 30% of the carbon cryogel pore volume was filled to produce a 24 wt % C-AB nanocomposite. Nitrogen sorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal/thermal gravimetric analyses, mass spectrometry, and 11B NMR were used to characterize the coherent C-AB nanocomposites. Findings include a merged two-step hydrogen release reaction with an appreciable reduction in the dehydrogenation temperature to <90 degrees C as well as the suppression of borazine release. The possible nanosize effects on the H2 storage properties are discussed.     

Spectrophotometric study of acidity constants of Alizarine Red S in various water-organic solvent

The acidity constants of Alizarine Red S were determined spectrophotometrically at 25 degrees C and at constant ionic strength 0.1 M (KNO3) in pure water as well as in aqueous media containing variable mole percentages (5-70%) of organic solvents. The organic solvents used were methanol, ethanol, N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile and dioxan. The acidity constants of all related equilibria are estimated using the whole spectral fitting of the collected data to an established factor analysis model. DATAN program was applied for determining of acidity constants and pure spectra of different form of Alizarine Red S. The obtained results indicated that acidity constants decrease as the content of an organic solvent in the medium increases. There are linear relationship between acidity constants and the mole fraction of various organic solvents in the solvent mixtures. Effect of various solvents on acidity constants and pure spectrum of each component are also discussed.     

Aeroelastic analysis of a rotating wind turbine blade using a geometrically exact formulation

In this paper, an aeroelastic analysis of a rotating wind turbine blade is performed by considering the effects of geometrical nonlinearities associated with large deflection of the blade produced during wind turbine operation. This source of nonlinearity has become more important in the dynamic analysis of flexible blades used in more recent multi-megawatt wind turbines. The structural modeling, involving the coupled edgewise, flapwise and torsional DOFs, has been performed by using a nonlinear geometrically exact beam formulation. The aerodynamic model is presented based on the strip theory, by applying the principles of quasi-steady and unsteady airfoil aerodynamics. Compared to the conventional steady aerodynamic model, the presented model offers a more realistic consideration of fluid–structure interactions. The resulting governing equation, expanded up to the third-order terms, is analyzed by using the reduced-order model (ROM). The ROM is developed by employing the coupled mode shapes of a cantilever blade under free loading condition. The specifications of the 5MW-NREL wind turbine are used in the simulation study. After verifying the ROM results by comparing them with those of the full FEM model, the model is used in additional static, modal and transient dynamics analyses. The results indicate the important effect of geometrical nonlinearity, especially for larger structural deformations. Moreover, nonlinear analyses reveal the important effects of torsion induced by lateral deformations. It is also found that the governing equation is more efficient, and sufficiently accurate, when it is developed by using the second-order kinetic terms, third-order potential terms and the second-order aerodynamic terms together with third-order damping. Finally, the effects of nonlinearities on the flutter characteristics of wind turbine blades are evaluated through frequency and dynamic analyses.     

A novel three-component reaction of a secondary amine and a 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde derivative with an isocyanide in the presence of silica gel: an efficient one-pot synthesis of benzo[b]furan derivatives

Reaction of an isocyanide with an iminium ion intermediate, formed by reaction between an electron-poor 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde derivative and a secondary amine in the presence of silica gel proceeds smoothly at room temperature to afford benzo[b]furan derivatives in high yields.     

Electrochemical synthesis of copper sulfide nanoparticles

Cu₂S nanoparticles were electrosynthesized by cyclic voltammetry between 0.10 and 1.50 V in the presence of polyvinylalcohol as stabilizer. The structure and nature of the resulting Cu₂S poly (vinyl alcohol) composite were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results show that electrochemically synthesized Cu₂S nanoparticles are homogeneously dispersed and well separated from one another with a mean diameter of about 12 nm.     

Second-order calibration of excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra for determination of glutathione in human plasma

A rapid non-separative spectroflourimetric method based on the second-order calibration of the excitation-emission data matrix was proposed for the determination of glutathione (GSH) in human plasma. In the phosphate buffer solution of pH 8.0 GSH reacts with ortho-phthaldehyde (OPA) to yield a fluorescent adduct with maximum fluorescence intensity at about 420 nm. To handle the interfering effects of the OPA adducts with aminothiols other than GSH in plasma as well as intrinsic fluorescence of human plasma, parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis as an efficient three-way calibration method was employed. In addition, to model the indirect interfering effect of the plasma matrix, PARAFAC was coupled with standard addition method. The two-component PARAFAC modeling of the excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra accurately resolved the excitation and emission spectra of GSH, plasma (or plasma constituents). The concentration-related PARAFAC score of GSH represented a linear correlation with the concentration of added GSH, similar to that is obtained in simple standard addition method. Using this standard addition curve, the GSH level in plasma was found to be 6.10 ± 1.37 μmol L⁻¹. The accuracy of the method was investigated by analysis of the plasma samples spiked with 1.0 μmol L⁻¹ of GSH and a recovery of 97.5% was obtained.