Functional zinc(II) phthalocyanines bearing Schiff base complexes as oxidation catalysts for bleaching systems

Oxidation catalysis is used to increase the performance of hydrogen peroxide in laundry bleach applications. Bleach catalysts provide cost‐effective, energy‐saving and environmentally friendly bleach systems yielding perfect stain removal at lower temperatures. This comparative study is based on the synthesis of bis[bis(salicylhydrazonephenoxy)manganese(III)] phthalocyaninatozinc(II) ( 2 ), bis[bis(salicylhydrazonephenoxy)cobalt(III)] phthalocyaninatozinc(II) ( 3 ) and bis[bis(salicylhydrazonephenoxy)iron(III)] phthalocyaninatozinc(II) ( 4 ) as tri‐nuclear complexes consisting of two Schiff base complexes substituting a zinc phthalocyanine. Complexion on the periphery to obtain complexes 2 , 3 , 4 was performed through the reaction of a Schiff base‐substituted phthalocyanine using MnCl₂?4H₂O, CoCl₂?6H₂O or FeCl₃?6H₂O salts in basic condition in dimethylformamide. Fourier transform infrared, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, UV–visible, inductively coupled plasma optical emission and mass spectra were applied to characterize the prepared compounds. The bleach performances of the three phthalocyanine compounds 2 , 3 , 4 were examined by the degradation of morin as hydrophilic dye. The degradation progress in the presence of catalysts 2 , 3 , 4 /H₂O₂ combination in aqueous solution was investigated using an online spectrophotometric method. It was found that the catalysts 2 , 3 , 4 exhibited better bleaching performance at 25 °C than tetraactylethylethylenediamine as bleach activator used in powder detergent formulations for stain removal. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feasibility Exploration of Laser‐based Techniques for Characterization of a Flashing Jet

Two‐phase flows hold an interest in many areas of science and engineering. In the safety field, one such topic is the accidental release of flammable and toxic pressure‐liquefied gases. In case of such a release, a flashing vapor explosion takes place resulting in a very dense two‐phase cloud. If the released substance is flammable, this cloud can be combustible and can lead to deflagration or detonation. For understanding the source processes of flashing and risk assessment, data related to cloud characteristics (i.e. droplet size, velocity etc.) is needed especially in the near region of the release. Due to the non‐equilibrium nature of the near field regions accurate data measurement is not possible with intrusive techniques. Therefore, laser‐based optical techniques (like Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Particle Tracking Velocimetry and Sizing (PTVS), Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) etc.) present the only possibility to obtain information for particle diameter and velocity evolution in this harsh environment.     

Phenol biosensor based on electrochemically controlled integration of tyrosinase in a redox polymer

An amperometric biosensor for the detection of phenolic compounds was developed based on the immobilization of tyrosinase within an Os-complex functionalized electrodeposition polymer. Integration of tyrosinase within the redox polymer assures efficient catechol recycling between the enzyme and the polymer bound redox sites. The non-manual immobilization procedure improves the reproducibility of fabrication process, greatly reduces the desorption of the enzyme from the immobilization layer, and, most importantly prevents fast inactivation of the enzyme by its substrate due to fast redox cycling. A two-layer sensor architecture was developed involving ascorbic acid oxidase entrapped within an electrodeposition polymer in a second layer on top of the redox polymer/tyrosinase layer. Using this sensor architecture it was possible to eliminate the current interference arising from direct ascorbate oxidation up to a concentration of 630 μM ascorbic acid. The effects of the polymer thickness, the enzyme/polymer ratio, and the applied potential were evaluated with respect to optimal sensor properties. The sensitivity of the optimized sensors for catechol was 6.1 nA μM⁻¹ with a detection limit of 10 nM, and for phenol 0.15 nA μM⁻¹ with a detection limit of 100 nM.     

Synthesis,spectral properties,and antimicrobial activity of 2-arilamino-2,4,4,6,6-pentachloro-1,3,5,2λ<Superscript>5</Superscript>,4λ<Superscript>5</Superscript>,6λ<Superscript>5</Superscript>-triazatriphosphines and poly[bis(4-fluorophenylamino)phosphazene]

2-(4-Chloro and 4-fluorophenylamino)-2,4,4,6,6-pentachloro-1,3,5,2λ⁵,4λ⁵,6λ⁵-triazatriphosphinines and poly[bis(4-fluorophenylamino)phosphazene] were synthesized by reactions of 4-fluoroaniline and 4-chloroaniline with 2,2,4,4,6,6-hexachloro-1,3,5,2λ⁵,4λ⁵,6λ⁵-triazatriphosphinin and poly(dichlorophosphazene), respectively, in tetrahydrofuran under argon at ?20°C, followed by heating under reflux. The products were isolated by column chromatography and were characterized by FTIR, NMR (¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P), and mass spectra, termogravimetry, and high-performance liquid chromatography. Antimicrobial activity of the monomeric compounds and polymer against 9 bacteria and 5 yeast cultures was evaluated by the disk diffusion method in dimethyl sulfoxide relative to a number of commercial antibiotics and antifungal agents. Aminophosphazene derivatives exhibited a broad spectrum of activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial with a magnitude comparable to reference antimicrobial agents. The polymeric product turned out to be more potent than the monomeric compounds.     

Oxidation of cyclohexane catalyzed by metal-ion-exchanged zeolites

The ion-exchange rates and capacities of the zeolite NaY for the Cu(II), Co(II), and Pb(II) metal ions were investigated. Ion-exchange equilibria were achieved in approximately 72 h for all the metal ions. The maximum ion exchange of metal ions into the zeolite was found to be 120 mg Pb(II), 110 mg Cu(II), and 100 mg Co(II) per gram of zeolite NaY. It is observed that the exchange capacity of a zeolite varies with the exchanged metal ion and the amount of metal ions exchanged into zeolite decreases in the sequence Pb(II) > Cu(II) > Co(II). Application of the metal-ion-exchanged zeolites in oxidation of cyclohexane in liquid phase with visible light was examined and it is observed that the order of reactivity of the zeolites for the conversion of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol is CuY > CoY > PbY. It is found that conversion increases by increase of the empty active sites of a zeolite and the formation of cyclohexanol is favored initially, but the cyclohexanol is subsequently converted to cyclohexanone.     

Two new isoflavanoids from the rhizomes of Iris soforana

Two new isoflavones 1 and 2 along with eleven known compounds 3-13, have been isolated for the first time from the rhizomes of Iris soforana. The structures of these compounds were determined on the basis of spectroscopic methods and found to be 5,3'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxy-6,7-methylenedioxyisoflavone (1) (Soforanarin A), and 5,7,5'-trimethoxy-6,3',4'-trihydroxyisoflavone (2) (Soforanarin B).     

Locally Optimized Crossover for the Traveling Umpire Problem

This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the Traveling Umpire Problem, which is a recently introduced sports scheduling problem that is based on the most important features of the real Major League Baseball umpire scheduling problem. In our GA, contrary to the traditional way of randomly obtaining new solutions from parent solutions, we obtain partially optimized solutions with a Locally Optimized Crossover operator. This operator also presents a link between the evolutionary mechanism on a population of solutions and the local search on a single solution. We present improved results over other methods on benchmark instances.     

Visual detection of Al ions using conjugated copolymer-ATP supramolecular complex

A colorimetric Al³⁺ sensor based on fluorescence recovery of a conjugated copolymer-ATP complex is proposed. An optimized ratio of two polythiophene (PT) monomers is utilized to synthesize copolymer (CP) that yielded maximized colorimetric response for Al³⁺ in deionized (DI) and tap water. The electrostatic disassembly of CP-ATP upon addition of Al³⁺ led to an evident visual color change. The lowest concentration of Al³⁺ for naked eye observation is around 4 μM, which is below the threshold levels in drinking water according to European Economic Community (EEC) standard. Besides, the proposed assay showed a similar response to Al³⁺ in tap water. The proposed methodology showed selective and sensitive detection for Al³⁺ in analytically relevant concentration ranges without involving sophisticated instrumentation, illustrating the applicability for on-site drinking water monitoring.