Carbohydrate-based nanostructured catalysts: applications in organic transformations

The requirement of green and sustainable materials to prepare heterogeneous catalysts has intensified for practical reasons over the past few decades. Carbohydrates are possibly the most plentiful and renewable organic materials in nature with inimitable physiochemical properties, plausible low-cost and large-scale production, and sustainability features could be exploited in the generation of nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. This review article outlines the organic transformations catalyzed by diverse carbohydrate-based nanostructured catalysts in greener and environmentally friendly processes. Selected examples are highlighted for a variety of organic reactions exploiting the proposed catalysts’ reactivity and reusability, and interactions with the intrinsic nature of the applied carbohydrate supports; advantages and speculated challenges of the introduced catalysts are deliberated as well.     

自掺杂SnO2微球的水热合成及其可见光催化性能

本研究采用水热法,以柠檬酸为螯合剂,通过控制n(Sn⁴⁺)/n(Sn²⁺)的数值,合成了由具有丰富氧空位的SnO₂纳米晶体组装成的微球。通过X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、傅里叶红外光谱(FT-IR)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)及UV-Vis漫反射光谱对SnO₂纳米微球进行表征分析,结果表明:在酸性水热条件和柠檬酸的螯合作用下,二氧化锡纳米晶体聚集形成微球;在Sn⁴⁺/Sn²⁺摩尔比例为3:7时,其微球尺寸最小,整体分散性较好;同时适量二价锡离子的掺杂使得该样品氧空位浓度达到最佳,氧空位的存在将使得样品光吸收范围拓展至可见光,因而该样品显示出较强的可见光催化效率,在8 min内完全降解甲基橙。     

Asymmetric nonlinear-mode-conversion in an optical waveguide withPT symmetry

Asymmetric mode transformation in waveguide is of great significance for on-chip integrated devices with one-way effect, while it is challenging to achieve asymmetric nonlinear-mode-conversion (NMC) due to the limitations imposed by phase-matching. In this work, we theoretically proposed a new scheme for realizing asymmetric NMC by combining frequency-doubling process and periodic PT symmetric modulation in an optical waveguide. By engineering the one-way momentum from PT symmetric modulation, we have demonstrated the unidirectional conversion from pump to second harmonic with desired guided modes. Our findings offer new opportunities for manipulating nonlinear optical fields with PT symmetry, which could further boost more exploration on on-chip nonlinear devices assisted by non-Hermitian optics.     

Polymer complexes. LXXVI. Synthesis,characterization, CT‐DNA binding,molecular docking and thermal studies of sulfoxine polymer complexes

Novel polymer complexes of 8‐hydroxyquinoline‐5‐sulfonic acid hydrate ( H ₂ L ) with Cu²⁺, Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ chloride were prepared and characterized. Microanalysis, magnetic susceptibility, IR spectra, electron spin resonance, mass spectra, X‐ray, molar conductance, thermal, and UV–Vis spectra studies have been used to confirm the structure of the prepared polymer complexes. The molecular and electronic structures of the hydrogen bond conformers for ligand ( H ₂ L ) were optimized theoretically and the quantum chemical parameters were calculated. On the basis of elemental and IR data, the chemical structure of metal chelates commensurate that the tri‐dentate (H₂L) coordinate to metal chlorides through oxygen atom of phenolic OH and oxygen atom of SO₃‐H group by replacing H atoms and nitrogen of the quinoline ring. The magnetic studies suggested the octahedral geometrical structure for all produced polymer complexes with general formula {[ML (OH₂)₃] .xH₂O}_n (M = Cu²⁺, x = 1.; Co²⁺, x = 2 and Ni²⁺, x = 2) in molar ratio (1:1). Coats–Redfern and Horowitz–Metzger methods have been used for calculating the activation thermodynamic parameters of the thermal decomposition for H ₂ L and its polymer complexes. The interaction between H ₂ L and its transition metal complexes with the calf thymus DNA (CT‐DNA) was determined by UV–Vis spectra. Binding efficiency between H ₂ L with the receptors of the prostate cancer (PDB code 2Q7L Hormone) and the breast cancer (PDB code 1JNX Gene regulation) was studied by molecular docking. The inhibition behaviour of H ₂ L against the corrosion of carbon steel / HCl (2 M) solution was studied by weight loss, Tafel polarisation, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical frequency modulation (EFM) techniques. The adsorption isotherm was found to be Friendlish isotherm. The morphology of inhibited carbon steel? s surface was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS).     

Cetyl‐alcohol‐reinforced hollow fiber solid/liquid‐phase microextraction and HPLC–DAD analysis of ezetimibe and simvastatin in human plasma and urine

A new cetyl‐alcohol‐reinforced hollow fiber solid/liquid‐phase microextraction (CA–HF–SLPME) followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection (HPLC–DAD) method was developed for simultaneous determination of ezetimibe and simvastatin in human plasma and urine samples. To prepare the CA–HF–SLPME device, the cetyl‐alcohol was immobilized into the pores of a 2.5 cm hollow fiber micro‐tube and the lumen of the micro‐tube was filled with 1‐octanol with the two ends sealed. Afterwards, the prepared device was introduced into 10 mL of the sample solution containing the analytes with agitation. Under optimized conditions, calibration curves plotted in spiked plasma and urine samples were linear in the ranges of 0.363–25/0.49–25 μg L^?1 for ezetimibe/simvastatin and 0.193–25/0.312–25 μg L^?1 for ezetimibe/simvastatin in plasma and urine samples, respectively. The limit of detection was 0.109/0.174 μg L^?1 for ezetimibe/simvastatin in plasma and 0.058/0.093 μg L^?1 for ezetimibe/simvastatin in urine. As a potential application, the proposed method was applied to determine the concentration of selected analytes in patient plasma and urine samples after medication and satisfactory results were achieved. In comparison with reference methods, the CA–HF–SLPME–HPLC–DAD method demonstrates considerable potential in the biopharmaceutical analysis of selected drugs.     

Multiple positive solutions for Schrödinger‐Poisson system involving singularity and critical exponent

In this paper, the existence and multiplicity of positive solutions is established for Schrödinger‐Poisson system of the form where 0 ∈ Ω is a smooth bounded domain in , , and λ > 0 is a real parameter. Combining with the variational method and Nehari manifold method, two positive solutions of the system are obtained.     

The spectral analysis and exponential stability of a bi‐directional coupled wave‐ODE system

In this paper, an unstable linear time invariant (LTI) ODE system is stabilized exponentially by the PDE compensato—a wave equation with Kelvin‐Voigt (K‐V) damping. Direct feedback connections between the ODE system and wave equation are established: The velocity of the wave equation enters the ODE through the variable v_t(1,t); meanwhile, the output of the ODE is fluxed into the wave equation. It is found that the spectrum of the system operator is composed of two parts: point spectrum and continuous spectrum. The continuous spectrum consists of an isolated point , and there are two branches of asymptotic eigenvalues: the first branch approaches to , and the other branch tends to ?∞. It is shown that there is a sequence of generalized eigenfunctions, which forms a Riesz basis for the Hilbert state space. As a consequence, the spectrum‐determined growth condition and exponential stability of the system are concluded.     

Electrochemical Monitoring of Methotrexate Anticancer Drug in Human Blood Serum by Using in situ Solvothermal Synthesized Fe3O4/ITO Electrode

Here, we reported on a one‐step fabrication of magnetite Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles/indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode based on the direct growing of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on the ITO surface by using a solvothermal process. The modified electrode was used as electrochemical methotrexate (MTX) biosensor with high sensitivity based on cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry techniques. The results demonstrated a linear relationship between the MTX concentration and its oxidation current peak over a wide range from 10^?5 to 10^?14 mole/L with a limit of detection of 0.4×10^?15 M based on the square wave voltammetry (SWV) technique. In addition, Fe₃O₄/ITO electrode showed a good capability for measuring very low concentrations of MTX drug dissolved in human serum solution. Also, Fe₃O₄/ITO electrode was used for detecting MTX in blood serum samples collected from patients after their treatment with MTX. The prepared electrode showed the higher sensitivity that higher than the Viva‐E instrument, which opens the door for developing a cheap, simple and higher sensitive MTX sensor.     

Highly Sensitive AdSV Method for Fe(III) Determination in Presence of Solochrome Violet RS on Renewable Amalgam Film Electrode

The new DP AdSV method for high sensitive Fe(III) determination in the presence of Solochrome Violet RS was developed. The use of an innovative renewable amalgam film electrode Hg(Ag)FE allowed to obtain high sensitivity and significantly minimize the mercury consumption. The best results were obtained for surface area of Hg(Ag)FE equal to 11.8 mm². Instrumental parameters were optimized. The optimal results were obtained using differential pulse technique for the following values: sampling and waiting time ts=tw=10 ms, step potential Es=5 mV, pulse amplitude ΔE=50 mV. Measurements were conducted in 0.05 M acetate buffer (pH 5.6), the concentration of SVRS was equal to 5 μM. Deposition step was carried out at the potential ?400 mV for 20 s. Calculated detection limit for 40 s preconcentration time was equal to 1.4 nM (78 ng L^?1). The influence of the common in environment, organic and inorganic interferences was studied. The developed method for Fe(III) determination was successfully applied and validated by investigation of certified reference material SPS‐SW2 Batch 118 and recovery of Fe(III) from various spiked samples as snow, tap water and bottom sediments. The repeatability (for 50 nM of Fe(III)) of the developed method expressed as CV was equal 3.1 % (n=5).