Synergistic effect of dealumination and ceria impregnation to the catalytic properties of MOR zeolite

MOR zeolite has been extensively employed as a catalyst in industries. However, high Brønsted acidity in MOR leads to rapid deactivation due to coke deposition on the pore mouths; thus, the surface acidity of MOR needs to be moderated. Herein, we report a modification of MOR chemical composition via acid treatment and deposition of ceria nanoparticles using a wet impregnation method. The acid treatment successfully increases the Si/Al ratio of MOR from 8.39 to 11.58 and reduces the total acid site concentration of MOR from 990 μmol/g to 752 μmol/g. The acidity of MOR is decreased when the Si/Al ratio is increased since the quantity of Brønsted acid sites is proportional to the number of Al framework. In addition, the acid treatment also improves the external surface area of MOR. Furthermore, ceria particles were successfully deposited on the MOR surface using wet impregnation method. The ceria content of parent MOR sample is lower compared to that of preceded by the acid treatment, which may be attributed to the formation of more terminal silanol groups. Finally, catalytic test on Friedel–Crafts alkylation of toluene with benzyl alcohol shows that the synergy between dealumination and the impregnation of ceria significantly improves the activity of MOR zeolite.     

In-Vitro Screenings for Biological and Antioxidant Activities of Water Extract from Theobroma cacao L. Pod Husk: Potential Utilization in Foods

Increasing production of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) leads to a higher environmental burden due to its solid waste generation. Cocoa pod husk, one of the major solid wastes of cocoa production, contains rich bioactive compounds unveiling its valorization potential. With that in mind, our research aimed to explore the biological and antioxidant activities of aqueous extracts from cocoa pod husks. In this present work, cocoa pod husk was extracted using water and subsequentially partitioned using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol. The antimicrobial investigation revealed that the ethyl acetate solubles were active against the Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans, where at a 20% w/v concentration, the inhibition diameters were 6.62 ± 0.10, 6.52 ± 0.02, and 11.72 ± 0.36 mm, respectively. The extracts were found non-toxic proven by brine shrimp lethality tests against Artemia salina with LC₅₀ scores ranging from 74.1 to 19,054.6 μg/mL. The total phenolic content and total flavonoid content were obtained in the range of 47.44 to 570.44 mg/g GAE and 1.96 to 4.34 mg/g QE, respectively. Antioxidant activities of the obtained extracts were revealed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) assay with EC₅₀ reached as low as 9.61 μg/mL by the ethyl acetate soluble. Phytochemical screening based on gas chromatography—mass spectroscopy analysis on the sample with the highest antioxidant activities revealed the dominant presence of three phytosterols, namely gamma-sitosterol, stigmasterol, and campesterol.     

Quantum filtering for multiple input multiple output systems driven by arbitrary zero-mean jointly Gaussian input fields

In this paper, we treat the quantum filtering problem for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) Markovian open quantum systems coupled to multiple boson fields in an arbitrary zero-mean jointly Gaussian state, using the reference probability approach formulated by Bouten and van Handel as a quantum version of a well-known method of the same name from classical nonlinear filtering theory, and exploiting the generalized Araki-Woods representation of Gough. This includes Gaussian field states such as vacuum, squeezed vacuum, thermal, and squeezed thermal states as special cases. The contribution is a derivation of the general quantum filtering equation (or stochastic master equation as they are known in the quantum optics community) in the full MIMO setup for any zero-mean jointly Gaussian input field states, up to some mild rank assumptions on certain matrices relating to the measurement vector.     

Effectiveness of Bioactive Compound as Antibacterial and Anti-Quorum Sensing Agent from Myrmecodia pendans: An In Silico Study

Background: antibiotic resistance encourages the development of new therapies, or the discovery of novel antibacterial agents. Previous research revealed that Myrmecodia pendans (Sarang Semut) contain potential antibacterial agents. However, specific proteins inhibited by them have not yet been identified as either proteins targeted by antibiotics or proteins that have a role in the quorum-sensing system. This study aims to investigate and predict the action mode of antibacterial compounds with specific proteins by following the molecular docking approach. Methods: butein (1), biflavonoid (2), 3″-methoxyepicatechin-3-O-epicatechin (3), 2-dodecyl-4-hydroxylbenzaldehyde (4), 2-dodecyl-4-hydroxylbenzaldehyde (5), pomolic acid (6), betulin (7), and sitosterol-(6′-O-tridecanoil)-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8) from M. pendans act as the ligand. Antibiotics or substrates in each protein were used as a positive control. To screen the bioactivity of compounds, ligands were analyzed by Prediction of Activity Spectra for Substances (PASS) program. They were docked with 12 proteins by AutoDock Vina in the PyRx 0.8 software application. Those proteins are penicillin-binding protein (PBP), MurB, Sortase A (SrtA), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) gyrase, ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase, ribosomal protein, Cytolysin M (ClyM), FsrB, gelatinase binding-activating pheromone (GBAP), and PgrX retrieved from UniProt. The docking results were analyzed by the ProteinsPlus and Discovery Studio software applications. Results: most compounds have Pa value over 0.5 against proteins in the cell wall. In nearly all proteins, biflavonoid (2) has the strongest binding affinity. However, compound 2 binds only three residues, so that 2 is the non-competitive inhibitor. Conclusion: compound 2 can be a lead compound for an antibacterial agent in each pathway.     

On the total vertex irregularity strength of trees

A vertex irregular total k-labelling λ:V(G)∪E(G)?{1,2,…,k} of a graph G is a labelling of vertices and edges of G done in such a way that for any different vertices x and y, their weights wt(x) and wt(y) are distinct. The weight wt(x) of a vertex x is the sum of the label of x and the labels of all edges incident with x. The minimum k for which a graph G has a vertex irregular total k-labelling is called the total vertex irregularity strength of G, denoted by . In this paper, we determine the total vertex irregularity strength of trees.     

Activation of ammonia and hydrazine by electron rich Fe(ii) complexes supported by a dianionic pentadentate ligand platform through a common terminal Fe(iii) amido intermediate

We report the use of electron rich iron complexes supported by a dianionic diborate pentadentate ligand system, B₂Pz₄Py, for the coordination and activation of ammonia (NH₃) and hydrazine (NH₂NH₂). For ammonia, coordination to neutral (B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(ii) or cationic [(B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(iii)]⁺ platforms leads to well characterized ammine complexes from which hydrogen atoms or protons can be removed to generate, fleetingly, a proposed (B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(iii)–NH₂ complex (3_Ar-NH₂). DFT computations suggest a high degree of spin density on the amido ligand, giving it significant aminyl radical character. It rapidly traps the H atom abstracting agent 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenoxy radical (ArO˙) to form a C–N bond in a fully characterized product (2_Ar), or scavenges hydrogen atoms to return to the ammonia complex (B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(ii)–NH₃ (1_Ar-NH₃). Interestingly, when (B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(ii) is reacted with NH₂NH₂, a hydrazine bridged dimer, (B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(ii)–NH₂NH₂–Fe(ii)(B₂Pz₄Py) ((1_Ar)₂-NH₂NH₂), is observed at −78 °C and converts to a fully characterized bridging diazene complex, 4_Ar, along with ammonia adduct 1_Ar-NH₃ as it is allowed to warm to room temperature. Experimental and computational evidence is presented to suggest that (B₂Pz₄Py)Fe(ii) induces reductive cleavage of the N–N bond in hydrazine to produce the Fe(iii)–NH₂ complex 3_Ar-NH₂, which abstracts H˙ atoms from (1_Ar)₂-NH₂NH₂ to generate the observed products. All of these transformations are relevant to proposed steps in the ammonia oxidation reaction, an important process for the use of nitrogen-based fuels enabled by abundant first row transition metals.

Synopsis: a highly reactive Fe(iii)–NH₂ complex is generated via activation of ammonia or hydrazine in reactions of relevance to fundamental steps in ammonia oxidation processes mediated by an abundant, first row transition metal.     

Iterative method for invariant imbedding

In this paper, we consider two-point linear boundary-value problems which depend continuously on many parameters, and we prove that, under certain condition, there exists an iterative scheme for solving the invariant-imbedding equations with properties that save some storage and reduce computation times. An application to linear transport theory in slab geometry is discussed.