Nonlinear Optical Properties of Novel Metallophthalocyanines

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - Detailed measurements of nonlinear optical properties and optical limiting for four phthalocyanine (Pc) derivatives (PcCo, PcCu, PcMn, and PcSi) are reported. The...     

Identification,control strategies,and analytical approaches for the determination of potential genotoxic impurities in pharmaceuticals: A comprehensive review

Potential genotoxic impurities in pharmaceuticals at trace levels are of increasing concern to both pharmaceutical industries and regulatory agencies due to their possibility for human carcinogenesis. Molecular functional groups that render starting materials and synthetic intermediates as reactive building blocks for small molecules may also be responsible for their genotoxicity. Determination of these genotoxic impurities at trace levels requires highly sensitive and selective analytical methodologies, which poses tremendous challenges on analytical communities in pharmaceutical research and development. Experimental guidance for the analytical determination of some important classes of genotoxic impurities is still unavailable in the literature. Therefore, the present review explores the structural alerts of commonly encountered potential genotoxic impurities, draft guidance of various regulatory authorities in order to control the level of impurities in drug substances and to assess their toxicity. This review also describes the analytical considerations for the determination of potential genotoxic impurities at trace levels and finally few case studies are also discussed for the determination of some important classes of potential genotoxic impurities. It is the authors’ intention to provide a complete strategy that helps analytical scientists for the analysis of such potential genotoxic impurities in pharmaceuticals.     

Effect of different starch contents on physical,morphological, mechanical,barrier, and biodegradation properties of tapioca starch and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) blend film

Study on degradation behaviors of biodegradable poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) blended with different compositions of thermoplastic starch (TPS) under soil burial and natural weathering environments is vital in order to predict the product service-life and planning for in situ biodegradation after product disposal. In this article, different compositions of TPS (0%, 20%, 40%, 50%, and 60%) were compounded with PBAT using single screw extruder. The samples were characterized for their tensile properties, fractured surface morphology, water barrier and surface hydrophorbicity properties in order to investigate the effect of starch fractions in PBAT blends. The degradation behavior under natural weathering and soil burial conditions was also determined during the 9 months duration by observing the change of physical appearance, weight loss, surface morphology, chemical structural, and tensile properties. The findings showed that the addition of TPS (20%, 40%, 50%, and 60%) had led to a reduction in tensile strength (41.47%, 60.53%, 63.43%, and 68.53%), and reduction in elongation at break (42.92%, 92.1%, 92.23%, and 93.22%, respectively) and water barrier properties. The findings also showed that there were distinct degradation behavior under both conditions. Upon exposure to natural weathering, photodegradation and Norrish type I & II occurred whereas under the soil burial condition, hydrolytic, and enzymatic degradation take places. Sample with the highest starch contents underwent the highest weight loss and reduction in tensile properties under both environments. The findings in this study are useful in order to investigate the feasibility of PBAT/Tapioca starch blends for biodegradable plastic film for various industrial applications especially in packaging and agricultural mulch.     

Uranium concentration in blood samples of Southern Iraqi leukemia patients using CR-39 track detector

The simple and effective technique of fission track etch has been applied to determine trace concentration of uranium in human blood samples taken from two groups of male and female participants: leukemia patients and healthy subjects group. The blood samples of leukemia patients and healthy subjects were collected from three key southern governorates namely, Basrah, Muthanna and Dhi-Qar. These governorates were the centers of intensive military activities during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars, and the discarded weapons are still lying around in these regions. CR-39 track detector was used for registration of induced fission tracks. The results show that the highest recorded uranium concentration in the blood samples of leukemia patients was 4.71 ppb (female, 45 years old, from Basrah) and the minimum concentration was 1.91 ppb (male, 3 years old, from Muthanna). For healthy group, the maximum uranium concentration was 2.15 ppb (female, 55 years old, from Basrah) and the minimum concentration was 0.86 ppb (male, 5 years old, from Dhi-Qar). It has been found that the uranium concentrations in human blood samples of leukemia patients are higher than those of the healthy group. These uranium concentrations in the leukemia patients group were significantly different (P < 0.001) from those in the healthy group.     

Tetrathiafulvalene based electroactive ligands and complexes: Synthesis,crystal structures and antifungal activity

The synthesis of two tetrathiafulvalene-appended pyridinehydrazone pyrimidine ligands, namely (Z)-4-(2-((5-([2,2′-bi(1,3-dithiolylidene)]-4-yl)pyridin-2-yl)methylene) hydrazinyl)-6-chloropyrimidine L1 and (Z)-4-(2-((6-([2,2′-bi(1,3-dithiolylidene)]-4-yl)pyridin-2-yl)methylene) hydrazinyl)-6-chloropyrimidine L2 is described. Ligand L1 was reacted with cobalt(II) to yield a cationic metal complex [Co(L1)₂] while ligand L2 was reacted with zinc(II) to afford a neutral metal complex [ZnL2Cl₂]. The crystal structure analysis of [Co(L1)₂] indicate that Co(II) ion is coordinated by six nitrogen atoms from two perpendicular ligands while in [ZnL2Cl₂], Zn(II) is coordinated by two chlorine atoms and three nitrogen atoms. The electrochemical behavior indicate that ligands L1 and L2 and the zinc(II) complex are suitable fort the preparation of crystalline radical cation salts. Finally the determination of MIC₈₀ values against C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei and E. dermatitidis revealed that the cobalt(II) metal complex [Co(L1)₂] is active against all the studied fungi.     

Performance evaluation of survivable WDM based SANs in a metro ring network

Storage area networks (SANs) are an essential part of enterprise computing today. There is no comprehensive business continuity plan without SANs in the picture. This paper proposes and evaluates network survivability of optical paths in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) based storage area networks in a metro ring network. The paper begins with a background on network survivability in metro WDM ring network. Subsequently, the network and node architectures along with their medium access control (MAC) protocols are described. In this work, one link failure (a single cable cut) in metro WDM based SANs in a ring network architecture is considered. Performance evaluation for network survivability in metro WDM SAN is carried out by means of discrete-event computer simulation. Network throughput and packet delay are investigated. The network performance is evaluated for asymmetric (unbalanced) traffic scenarios under Poisson and self-similar traffic.     

Heck and Suzuki–Miyaura couplings catalyzed by nanosized palladium in polyaniline

A novel route to prepare polyaniline (PANI)‐supported Pd(0) nanoparticles by a one‐pot chemical route is presented. Nanosized Pd(0) particles were first prepared by reduction of Pd(OAc)₂ using t‐BuONa activated sodium hydride in refluxing THF. A ligand exchange with aniline on t‐BuONa‐stabilized Pd(0) particles yielded aniline‐stabilized particles. Pd(0)/PANI nanocomposites were finally obtained by polymerizing aniline‐stabilized Pd(0) particles using ammonium persulfate. Nanocomposites were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Results show that this one‐pot experimental route is successful in producing hybrid materials constituted of Pd(0) nanoparticles stabilized by PANI due to the strong binding of PANI amine groups to Pd(0) particles. TEM images of the nanohybrids show that metal particles with diameters of ca. 4.9 nm are homogeneously dispersed in PANI. The preliminary results indicate that the Pd(0) particles supported on PANI behave as efficient heterogeneous catalysts in the Heck and Suzuki–Miyaura reactions of aryl iodides. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.