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.     

Novel modified carbon nanotubes as a selective sorbent for preconcentration and determination of trace copper ions in fruit samples

In this work, multiwalled carbon nanotubes were reacted with N‐[3‐(triet‐hoxysilyl)propyl]isonicotinamide to prepare pyridine‐functionalized carbon nanotubes. This novel sorbent was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, thermal and elemental analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Functionalized carbon nanotubes were applied for the preconcentration and determination of copper ions using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Various parameters such as sample pH, flow rate, eluent type and concentration, and its volume were optimized. Under optimal experimental conditions, the limit of detection, the relative standard deviation, and the recovery of the method were 0.65 ng/mL, 3.2% and 99.4%, respectively. After validating the method using standard reference materials, the new sorbent was applied for the extraction and determination of trace copper(II) ions in fruit samples.     

Effect of self-fields on the electron cyclotron maser instability in a dielectric loaded waveguide

The influence of self-fields on the cyclotron maser instability in a hollow electron beam propagating parallel to a uniform axial magnetic field B ₀ ê _z in a dielectric loaded waveguide is investigated. The theoretical analysis is carried out within the framework of linearized Vlasov-Maxwell equations. It is assumed that the beam is thin with the radial thickness much smaller than the beam radius. A new dispersion relation for azimuthally symmetric electromagnetic perturbation is derived and analyzed numerically. The influence of self-fields on the cyclotron maser instability in a dielectric loaded waveguide for different dielectric medium is studied. It is found that unlike the hollow waveguide the growth rate is increased by increasing self-fields. The instability band width decreases due to the increasing self-fields. The maximum growth rate increases gradually as self-fields increase as regards a different dielectric medium.     

Diastereoselective Synthesis of Novel Benzofuran Derivatives by Euparin as a Natural Compound with DMAD in the Presence of Trialkyl Phosphite

An efficient, simple, and diastereoselective synthesis of novel benzofuran phosphonato ester derivatives has been achieved via a one‐pot three‐component reaction of euparin as a natural product, trialkyl phosphate, and dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) in diethyl ether without using any catalyst at room temperature. NMR spectroscopic data and X‐ray crystallography analysis are in agreement with the anti arrangement for the two vicinal protons in the structures, and only one diastereoisomer (2S,3R) or (2R,3S) was obtained for the products. The advantage of our research is that this is the first report for the diastereoselective synthesis of phosphonato ester derivatives from a green natural product. This one‐pot reaction occurs in high yields with easy work‐up under mild conditions. All pure products were obtained by recrystallization from ethanol, and there was no need for column chromatography.     

Determination of captopril in patient human urine using ferrocenemonocarboxylic acid modified carbon nanotubes paste electrode

<正>In this work,we describe a new strategy for the electrochemical determination of captopril(CA) using ferrocenemonocarboxylic acid as a mediator and multiwall carbon nanotubes as sensors in aqueous solution at pH 7.0.The diffusion coefficient(D),and the kinetic parameters such as electron transfer coefficient(α).and heterogeneous rate constant(k_h),for CA were also determined using electrochemical approaches.Under the optimized conditions,the electrocatalytic oxidation peak current of captopril showed two linear dynamic ranges with a detection limit of 0.3×10~(-6) mol L~(-1) captopril.The linear calibration range was 0.8×10~(-6) to 65×10~(-6) mol L~(-1) using cyclic voltammetry.Finally,this modified electrode was also examined as a selective,simple and precise new electrochemical sensor for the determination of captopril in real samples such as drug and patient human urine.     

A facile synthesis of novel 1,4-benzoxazepin-2-one derivatives

An efficient and simple synthesis of 1,4-benzoxazepin-2-one derivatives has been achieved via the reaction of isoquinoline, activated acetylenes, and 1-(6-hydroxy-2-isopropenyl-1-benzofuran-yl)-1-ethanone in water without using any catalyst. This one-pot reaction occurs in high yields under mild conditions.     

Electron energy spectrum in the field-ionized plasma

In this article, the effect of ionization on the energy spectrum of electrons within the interaction of a laser pulse with hydrogen atoms is investigated using particle-in-cell simulation codes. The results show that the behaviour of electrons' energy distribution function in the field-ionized plasma, which occurred due to the field ionization, compared with that in the pre-plasma strongly depends on the pulse shape. For short rise-time pulses (here 30 fs), due to the rapid enhancement of laser electric field, ionization occurs quickly, and as a result, there is not much difference in the electron energy in both the media. However, for pulses with rise time of 40 fs, in the pre-plasma state, the electron population reaches higher energies compared with the field-ionized plasma state. The main reason for this difference is the nonlinear wave breaking that happens earlier due to density inhomogeneity in the field-ionized plasma. On the other hand, at longer rise-time pulses (here 60 and 70 fs), electrons achieve higher energies in the field-ionized plasma than those in the case of pre-plasma. In this case, because of density fluctuations in the field-ionized plasma, the Raman backscattered radiations are seeded by a strong initial noise at the earlier times and the Mendonca condition for chaos threshold is met sooner. Therefore, the electrons gain more energy through the stochastic mechanism that is in agreement with chaotic nature of the motion.     

N-Methylimidazole-promoted efficient synthesis of 1,3-oxazine-4-thiones under solvent-free conditions

Abstract  A novel method for oxazine ring formation is established using the reaction of ammonium thiocyanate and acid chlorides with napthols in the presence of N-methylimidazole to afford [1,3]oxazine-4-thione derivatives in excellent yields. Graphical abstract        

pharmaceutical and biological samples using modified multiwall carbon nanotubes paste electrode

A carbon paste electrode(CPE) chemically modified with multiwall carbon nanotubes and ferrocene(FC) was used as a selective electrochemical sensor for the simultaneous determination of trace amounts of cysteamine(CA) and folic acid(FA).This modified electrode showed very efficient electrocatalytic activity for the anodic oxidation of CA.The peak current of differential pulse voltammograms of CA and FA increased linearly with their concentration in the ranges of 0.7-200μmol/L CA and 5.0- 700μmol/L FA.The detection limits for CA and FA were 0.3μmol/L and 2.0μmoI/L,respectively.The diffusion coefficient(D) and transfer coefficient(α) of CA were also determined.These conditions are sufficient to allow determination of CA and FA both individually and simultaneously.