Synthesis and electrochemistry of vanadium(IV) Schiff base complexes

The electrochemical properties of vanadyl(IV) derivatives, namely salen Schiff base complexes of the type [VO(Salen)] (5-BrSalen, 5-NO₂Salen, 5-MeOSalen, salpn (bis(salicylaldehyde)-1,3-propanediamine, 5-BrSalpn, 5-NO₂Salpn, 5-MeOSalpn, Me₂Salen, Salophen, 5-BrSalophen, and 5-MeOSalophen) were investigated. The equatorial Schiff base ligands affect the oxidation potentials via interaction with the d-orbitals of the vanadyl metal ion. The cathodic peak potential (E_pc) becomes less negative according to the sequence MeO- < H- < Br- < NO_2?.     

Synthesis, spectroscopy, electrochemistry and thermal study of vanadyl tridentate Schiff base complexes: theoretical study of the structures of compounds by ab initio calculations

The VO(IV) complexes of tridentate ONN Schiff ligands were synthesized and characterized by IR, UV–Vis and elemental analysis. The electrochemical properties of the vanadyl complexes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. A good correlation was observed between the oxidation potentials and the electron-withdrawing character of the substituents on the Schiff base ligands, showing the following trend: MeO < H < Br < NO₂. The thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermoanalysis (DTA) of the VO(IV) complexes were carried out in the range of 20–700 °C. The VOL¹(OH₂) and VOL²(OH₂) decomposed in three steps, whereas the VOL³(OH₂) and VOL⁴(OH₂) complexes decomposed in two steps. The thermal decomposition of these complexes is closely related to the nature of the Schiff base ligands and proceeds via first-order kinetics. The structures of compounds were determined by ab initio calculations. The optimized molecular geometry and atomic charges were calculated using MP2 method with 6-31G(d) basis. The results suggested that, in the complexes, V(IV) ion is in square-pyramid N₂O₃ coordination geometry. Also the bond lengths and angles were studied and compared.     

Thermodynamics of Cobalt(III) Schiff base complexes in various solvents

The electronic and steric effects of some Schiff bases and the solvent on the thermodynamic parameters of the pentacoordinate Co(III) Schiff base complexes were studied. The formation constants and the thermodynamic parameters were measured spectrophotometrically for 1:1 adduct formation of the complexes as acceptors with tributylphosphine (PBu₃) as donor, in some solvents (acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, butanol, ethanol and N,N-dimethylformamide) in constant ionic strength (I = 0.01 M, sodium perchlorate) and at various temperatures. The trend of the reactivity of the pentacoordinate cobalt(III) Schiff base complexes toward tributylphosphine according to the solvent is as follows: acetonitrile > tetrahydrofuran > butanol > ethanol > N,N-dimethylformamide. The trend of the reactivity of pentacoordinate cobalt(III) Schiff base complexes toward the donor in a given solvent according to the equatorial Schiff base is as follows: BBE > BAE > Salen.     

A genetic algorithm for resource investment project scheduling problem,tardiness permitted with penalty

In this paper a genetic algorithm for solving a class of project scheduling problems, called Resource Investment Problem, is presented. Tardiness of project is permitted with defined penalty. Elements of algorithm such as chromosome structure, unfitness function, crossover, mutation, immigration and local search operations are explained.     

Novel nanocomposite membranes prepared with PVC/ABS and silica nanoparticles for C<Subscript>2</Subscript>H<Subscript>6</Subscript>/CH<Subscript>4</Subscript> separation

Composite membranes based on polyvinyl chloride and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) copolymer have been prepared and then filled with 2–8 wt % of silica nanoparticles. Membranes were fabricated by solution casting method using dimethylacetamide. The performance of prepared membranes were studied for methane and ethane at the feed pressure of 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 bar at 35°C. By increasing the percentage of ABS, permeability of methane and ethane increased. In addition, by adding the silica nanoparticles in the membrane, permeability of gas increased in all cases. The highest gas pair selectivity for C₂H₆/CH₄ could be obtained from PVC/BS (20 wt %) which loaded with 8 wt % of silica nanoparticles. The results of this study suggest that high performance gas separation nanocomposite membranes can be attained by adopting a judicious combination of blending technique for polymeric membrane, optimized loading percentage, and feed operating conditions.     

A hybrid scatter search for the discrete time/resource trade-off problem in project scheduling

We develop a heuristic procedure for solving the discrete time/resource trade-off problem in the field of project scheduling. In this problem, a project contains activities interrelated by finish-start-type precedence constraints with a time lag of zero, which require one or more constrained renewable resources. Each activity has a specified work content and can be performed in different modes, i.e. with different durations and resource requirements, as long as the required work content is met. The objective is to schedule each activity in one of its modes in order to minimize the project makespan. We use a scatter search algorithm to tackle this problem, using path relinking methodology as a solution combination method. Computational results on randomly generated problem sets are compared with the best available results indicating the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Ethylene to Propylene over Zeolite ZSM-5: Improved Catalyst Performance by Treatment with CuO

Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry - In this paper, the ZSM-5 zeolite base is used to produce light olefins in the process of converting ethylene to propylene, as well as copper oxide to improve...     

A polyhedral study of triplet formulation for single row facility layout problem

The single row facility layout problem (SRFLP) is the problem of arranging n departments with given lengths on a straight line so as to minimize the total weighted distance between all department pairs. We present a polyhedral study of the triplet formulation of the SRFLP introduced by Amaral [A.R.S. Amaral, A new lower bound for the single row facility layout problem, Discrete Applied Mathematics 157 (1) (2009) 183-190]. For any number of departments n, we prove that the dimension of the triplet polytope is n(n−1)(n−2)/3 (this is also true for the projections of this polytope presented by Amaral). We then prove that several valid inequalities presented by Amaral for this polytope are facet-defining. These results provide theoretical support for the fact that the linear program solved over these valid inequalities gives the optimal solution for all instances studied by Amaral.     

Catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol by means of nanostructured polymeric Schiff base complexes

Polymeric Schiff base ligands were synthesized using 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde (L²), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (L⁴), and 5-aminoisophthalic acid. The nanostructured complexes were then synthesized using Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Mn³⁺. The ligands and complexes thus synthesized were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The thermal stability of the complexes was confirmed using TGA. The synthesized complexes were used as catalysts in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol in an aqueous phase in the presence of sodium borohydride. In this work, the catalytic reactivity of nanostructured complexes was compared using the rate constant (k) of the reaction. The reaction time for the reduction of 4-NP was 5–14 min for different complexes. The catalytic system based on Ni²⁺/2-hydroxybenzaldehyde was the most active and displayed reusability in the reduction of 4-NP.