preconcentration and determination of amoxicillin and ceftriaxone in hospital sewage using vortex-assisted liquid-phase microextraction based on the solidification of the deep eutectic solvent followed by HPLC–UV

In the present study, a new method for extraction and preconcentration of amoxicillin and ceftriaxone was used in hospitalised sewage samples, called vortex-assisted liquid-phase microextraction based on the solidification of deep eutectic solvent. Samples were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet detection after preparation and extraction. In this method, the new deep eutectic solvent is used as the extraction solvent, which is obtained from the combination of 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and n-butanoic acid. The important advantages of this novel extraction solvent include material stability, low density and good freezing point near room temperature. Under the optimum conditions, enrichment factors are in the range of 164–172. Repeatability and reproducibility of the method based on seven replicate measurements of 50.0 µg L^?1 of the target analytes in analysed samples were in the range of 2.1–3.5% and 3.8–5.2%, respectively. The limit of detections and linearity are in the range of 0.005–0.10 and 3–600 µg L^?1, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of amoxicillin and ceftriaxone in the real sewage samples. The relative recoveries of sewage samples spiked with amoxicillin and ceftriaxone are 91–107%.     

Chemical Composition of Pentanema kurdistanicum Essential Oil

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Preparation and study of bi-supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst with nano graphene oxide and magnesium ethoxide supports for polymerization of polyethylene

In this study, we have reported the preparation of bi-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts using magnesium ethoxide and graphene oxide as support. The polymerization process was carried out in slurry phase using triisobutylaluminum as a co-catalyst.The XRD analysis of TiCl₄/graphene oxide/Mg(OEt)₂ catalyst demonstrated that the space between the layers of graphene oxide had increased to 0.2 nm.The catalyst was characterized by XPS, BET, BJH, SEM, and TGA. The catalyst activity was studied for various Al/Ti molar ratios, and the catalyst activity was optimum at Al/Ti molar ratio of 315.     

Effects of nano graphene oxide as support on the product properties and performance of Ziegler–Natta catalyst in production of UHMWPE

The synthesis of mono‐ and bi‐supported Ziegler–Natta catalysts using magnesium etoxide Mg(OEt)₂ and graphene oxide (GO) as catalyst support for production of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) is reported in this investigation. Nano‐graphene oxide was prepared by the modified Hummer's method and its structure was analyzed by XRD and FTIR indicating the presence of hydroxyl groups on graphene oxide and the formation of an exfoliated structure. The activity of TiCl₄/Mg(OEt)₂, TiCl₄/Mg(OEt)₂‐GO, and TiCl₄/GO catalysts in terms of grams of PE produced per mmol of Ti per hour was experimentally obtained for catalysts with different ratios of co‐catalyst (triisobutylaluminium) to TiCl₄. For all three series of catalysts, the activity curve showed an optimum point at a specific Al/Ti molar ratio. Catalyst activity was highest for TiCl₄/Mg(OEt)₂ and lowest for TiCl₄/GO. The characterization of UHMWPE products indicated that the viscosity average molecular weight (Mv) was highest for the polymer produced by TiCl₄/Mg(OEt)₂ and lowest for the polymer produced by TiCl₄/GO. Furthermore, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), and mechanical tensile testing were conducted on the prepared polymers indicating that the polymer produced by TiCl₄/GO had the highest thermal and mechanical properties, while these properties were at their minimum for polymers produced by TiCl₄/Mg(OEt)₂. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Proximal quasi-Newton methods for regularized convex optimization with linear and accelerated sublinear convergence rates

A general, inexact, efficient proximal quasi-Newton algorithm for composite optimization problems has been proposed by Scheinberg and Tang (Math Program 160:495–529, 2016) and a sublinear global convergence rate has been established. In this paper, we analyze the global convergence rate of this method, in the both exact and inexact settings, in the case when the objective function is strongly convex. We also investigate a practical variant of this method by establishing a simple stopping criterion for the subproblem optimization. Furthermore, we consider an accelerated variant, based on FISTA of Beck and Teboulle (SIAM 2:183–202, 2009), to the proximal quasi-Newton algorithm. Jiang et al. (SIAM 22:1042–1064, 2012) considered a similar accelerated method, where the convergence rate analysis relies on very strong impractical assumptions on Hessian estimates. We present a modified analysis while relaxing these assumptions and perform a numerical comparison of the accelerated proximal quasi-Newton algorithm and the regular one. Our analysis and computational results show that acceleration may not bring any benefit in the quasi-Newton setting.     

Preparation and investigation of tribological properties of ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/graphene oxide

This article has been devoted to investigation of the tribological properties of ultra‐high molecular polyethylene/graphene oxide nanocomposite. The nanocomposite of ultra‐high molecular polyethylene/graphene oxide was prepared with 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 wt% of graphene oxide and with a molecular weight of 3.7 × 10⁶ by in‐situ polymerization using Ziegler–Natta catalyst. In this method, graphene oxide was used along with magnesium ethoxide as a novel bi‐support of the Ziegler–Natta catalyst. Analyzing the pin‐on‐disk test, the tribological properties of the nanocomposite, such as wear rate and mean friction coefficient, were investigated under the mentioned contents of graphene oxide. The results showed that an increase in graphene oxide content causes a reduction in both wear rate and mean coefficient friction. For instance, by adding only 5 wt% graphene oxide to the polymeric matrix, the wear rate and mean coefficient friction decreased about 34% and 3.8%, respectively. Also, the morphological properties of the nanocomposite were investigated by using X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, thermal properties of the nanocomposite were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry, under various contents of graphene oxide. The results of the morphological test indicated that the graphene oxide was completely exfoliated into the polymeric matrix without any agglomeration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental determination of the speed of sound in cavitating flows

This paper presents measurements of the speed of sound in two-phase flows characterized by high void fraction. The main objective of the work is the characterization of wave propagation in cavitating flows. The experimental determination of the speed of sound is derived from measurements performed with three pressure transducers, while the void fraction is obtained from analysis of a signal obtained with an optical probe. Experiments are first conducted in air/water mixtures, for a void fraction varying in the range 0–11%, in order to discuss and validate the methods of measurement and analysis. These results are compared to existing theoretical models, and a nice agreement is obtained. Then, the methods are applied to various cavitating flows. The evolution of the speed of sound according to the void fraction α is determined for α varying in the range 0–55%. In this second configuration, the effect of the Mach number is included in the spectral analysis of the pressure transducers’ signals, in order to take into account the possible high flow compressibility. The experimental data are compared to existing theoretical models, and the results are then discussed.