Novel Fast Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometric Quantitative Approach for the Determination of Plant-Extracted Phytosterols and Tocopherols

Phytosterols and tocopherols are commonly used in food and pharmaceutical industries for their health benefits. Current analysis methods rely on conventional liquid chromatography, using an analytical column, which can be tedious and time consuming. However, simple, and fast analytical methods can facilitate their qualitative and quantitative analysis. In this study, a fast chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (FC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantitative analysis of phytosterols and tocopherols. Omitting chromatography by employing flow injection analysis—mass spectrometry (FIA-MS) failed in the quantification of target analytes due to analyte-to-analyte interferences from phytosterols. These interferences arise from their ambiguous MS fingerprints that would lead to false identification and inaccurate quantification. Therefore, a C18 guard column with a 1.9 µm particle size was employed for FC-MS/MS under isocratic elution using acetonitrile/methanol (99:1 v/v) at a flow rate of 600 µL/min. Analyte-to-analyte interferences were identified and eliminated. The false peaks could then be easily identified due to chromatographic separation. In addition, two internal standards were evaluated, namely cholestanol and deuterated cholesterol. Both internal standards contributed to the observed analyte-to-analyte interferences; however, adequate shift in the retention time for deuterated cholesterol eliminated its interferences and allowed for an accurate quantification. The method is fast (1.3 min) compared to published methods and can distinguish false peaks observed in FIA-MS. Seven analytes were quantified simultaneously, namely brassicasterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, α-tocopherol, δ-tocopherol, and γ-tocopherol. The method was successfully applied in the quantitative analysis of phytosterols and tocopherols present in the unsaponifiable matter of canola oil deodorizer distillate (CODD). β-sitosterol and γ-tocopherol were the most abundant phytosterols and tocopherols, respectively.     

Electrochemical characterization of MnO2 as electrocatalytic energy material for fuel cell electrode

 Development of inexpensive non Pt based high electrocatalytic energy materials is the need of the hour for fuel cell electrode to produce clean alternative green energy from synthesized bio alcohol using biomass. MnO₂, electro synthesized at different current density is found to be well performed electrocatalytic material, comparable to Pt, with higher current density, very low overvoltage for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol. From EIS study, the polarization resistance of the coated MnO₂ is found to be much low and electrical double layer capacitance is high, the effect increases with increase in current density of electro deposition. XRD, EDX and AAS analysis confirm the MnO₂ deposition. The morphology of SEM images exhibits an enhanced 3D effective substrate area, for electro oxidation of the fuel. A few nano structured grains of the deposited MnO₂ is also observed at higher current density. The fact supports that a high energetic inexpensive electro catalytic material has been found for fuel cell electrode to synthesis renewable energy from methanol fuel.     

Iodine-catalyzed cycloalkenylation of dihydroquinolines and arylamines through a reaction with cyclic ketones under neat conditions

An iodine-catalyzed direct cycloalkenylation of dihydroquinolines and arylamines has been developed. This method consists of a Friedel–Crafts reaction between dihydroquinolines (or arylamines) and cyclic ketones in which the double bond is selectively generated throughout the course of the reaction resulting in a direct cycloalkenylation, under neat conditions.     

Solid-state synthesis, structural variants and transformation of three-dimensional sulfides, AGaSnS4 (A=Na, K, Rb, Cs, Tl) and Na1.263Ga1.263Sn0.737S4

New cubic-AGaSnS₄ (A=Na, K, Rb, Cs, Tl) and orthorhombic-NaGaSnS₄ compounds were synthesized by solid-state reactions and characterized by X-ray diffraction and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Single crystals of orthorhombic-Na_1.263Ga_1.263Sn_0.737S₄ were obtained in the crystal growth attempts of sodium compound. All six new compounds have orthorhombic AgGaGeS₄ and cubic BaGa₂S₄ structures, as determined from single crystal X-ray structures of Na_1.263Ga_1.263Sn_0.737S₄ and cubic-AGaSnS₄ (A=Na, K, Rb). Orthorhombic-NaGaSnS₄ and known layered-KGaSnS₄ undergo structural transformation to thermodynamically stable cubic form.     

A numerical experiment in DLCQ: microcausality, continuum limit and all that

Issues related with microcausality violation and continuum limit in the context of (1+1) dimensional scalar field theory in discretized light-cone quantization (DLCQ) are addressed in parallel with discretized equal time quantization (DETQ) and the fact that Lorentz invariance and microcausality are restored if one can take the continuum limit properly is emphasized. In the free case, it is shown with numerical evidence that the continuum results can be reproduced from DLCQ results for the Pauli–Jordan function and the real part of Feynman propagator. The contributions coming from k⁺ near zero region in these cases are found to be very small. In the interacting case, aspects related to the continuum limit of DLCQ results in perturbation theory in momentum space are discussed.     

Working group report: Quantum chromodynamics sub-group

This is the report of the QCD working sub-group at the Tenth Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-X).      

Preparation and Antibacterial Activity of Thermo-Responsive Nanohydrogels from Qiai Essential Oil and Pluronic F108

Essential oils (EOs) have been used in cosmetics and food due to their antimicrobial and antiviral effects. However, the applications of EOs are compromised because of their poor aqueous solubility and high volatility. Qiai (Artemisia argyi Levl. et Van. var. argyi cv. Qiai) is a traditional Chinese herb and possesses strong antibacterial activity. Herein, we report an innovative formulation of EO as nanohydrogels, which were prepared through co-assembly of Qiai EO (QEO) and Pluronic F108 (PEG-b-PPG-b-PEG, or PF108) in aqueous solution. QEO was efficiently loaded in the PF108 micelles and formed nanohydrogels by heating the QEO/PF108 mixture solution to 37 °C, by the innate thermo-responsive property of PF108. The encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of QEO reached 80.2% and 6.8%, respectively. QEO nanohydrogels were more stable than the free QEO with respect to volatilization. Sustained QEO release was achieved at body temperature using the QEO nanohydrogels, with the cumulative release rate reaching 95% in 35 h. In vitro antibacterial test indicated that the QEO nanohydrogels showed stronger antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and E. coli than the free QEO due to the enhanced stability and sustained-release characteristics. It has been attested that thermo-responsive QEO nanohydrogels have good potential as antibacterial cosmetics.     

Generalized parton distributions of the photon

We present a first calculation of the generalized parton distributions of the photon (both polarized and unpolarized) using overlaps of light-front wave functions at leading order in α and zeroth order in αs; for non-zero transverse momentum transfer and zero skewness. We present the novel parton content of the photon in transverse position space.