New Insights on Modern Age Coins by Calibration-Free Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Method and Chemometric Approaches

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - The elemental composition of one- and two-rupee coins issued in different years by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was investigated using laser-induced breakdown...     

Structured water chains in external electric fields

ABSTRACT

We study the structural, energetic and electronic properties of the structured water chain clusters within the density functional theory. We refer the structured water chains to those water clusters that have specific geometric patterns stretched along one direction. External electric field required to keep the structures open chain, thereby preventing them to form closed structures, is applied along the length of the chain. The structures are essentially periodic with basic repeating unit consisting of the corner- or edge-sharing 4-, 5- or 6-membered ring water clusters. Our calculations underscore the possible existence of such structured water clusters in the electrostatic environments, which we simulate in its simplicity employing a dipolar, uniform and static electric field. Analysis reveals that the 5-membered ring water chain clusters, i.e. the pentamer chain clusters have the lowest average dipole moment per water molecule while the threshold field, that marks the onset of the field-induced closure of the HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital)-LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) energy gap, is highest, followed by that for the tetramer and hexamer chains. The results suggest that the pentamer chains are the most stable clusters over a wide range of electric fields.     

Direct calculation of time varying Aharonov-Bohm effect

The Aharonov-Bohm effect (ABE) for steady magnetic fields is a well known phenomenon. However, if the current in the infinite solenoid that creates the magnetic field is time-dependent, that is in the presence of both magnetic and electric fields, there is no agreement whether the effect would be present. In this note, we try to investigate time varying ABE by a direct calculation in a set-up with a weak time dependent magnetic field. We find that the electric field arising out of the time-varying magnetic field in the path of the electrons does not enter the action integral but only changes the path of the electron from the source to the slits and then on to the detector. We find a frequency dependent AB phase shift. At low frequencies the result smoothly approaches the one for a constant field as the frequency tends towards zero. On the other hand, for high frequencies such that the AB-phase induced in the path of the wave packet oscillates rapidly, the net effect will be very small which is borne out by our results.     

Quantitative determination of isoquinoline alkaloids and chlorogenic acid in Berberis species using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Berberis species are well known and used extensively as medicinal plants in traditional medicine. They have many medicinal values attributable to the presence of alkaloids having different pharmacological activities. In this study, a method was developed and validated as per international conference on harmonization guidelines using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with hybrid triple quadrupole‐linear ion trap mass spectrometry operated in the multiple reaction monitoring mode for nine bioactive compounds, including protoberberine alkaloids, aporphine alkaloids and chlorogenic acid. This method was applied in different plant parts of eight Berberis species to determine variations in content of nine bioactive compounds. The separation was achieved on an ACQUITY UPLC CSH? C₁₈ column using a gradient mobile phase at flow rate 0.3 mL/min. Calibration curves for all the nine analytes provided optimum linear detector response (with R² ≥0.9989) over the concentration range of 0.5–1000 ng/mL. The precision and accuracy were within RSDs ≤2.4 and ≤2.3%, respectively. The results indicated significant variation in the total contents of the nine compounds in Berberis species.     

Diboraanthracene-Doped Polymer Systems for Colour-Tuneable Room-Temperature Organic Afterglow

Organic ultralong room temperature phosphorescence (RTP), or organic afterglow, is a unique phenomenon, gaining widespread attention due to its far-reaching application potential and fundamental interest. Here, two laterally expanded 9,10-dimesityl-dihydro-9,10-diboraanthracene (DBA) derivatives are demonstrated as excellent afterglow materials for red and blue-green light emission, which is traced back to persistent thermally activated delayed fluorescence and RTP. The lateral substitution of polycyclic DBA scaffold, together with weak transversal electron-donating mesityl groups, ensures the optimal molecular properties for (reverse) intersystem crossing and long-lived triplet states in a rigid poly(methyl methacrylate) matrix. The achieved afterglow emission quantum yields of up to 3 % and 15 %, afterglow lifetimes up to 0.8 s and 3.2 s and afterglow durations up to 5 s and 25 s (for red and blue-green emitters, respectively) are attributed to the properties of single molecules.     

Recyclable catalysts for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds using carbon materials

Heterogeneous catalytic reactions play a major role in the industry to produce a number of compounds that are essential in our daily life. Synthesis of heterocyclic compounds using heterogeneous catalysis is one of the rapidly growing research areas. Inherent ability to produce high selectivity and potentiality to recycle, the catalyst makes the heterogeneous systems more attractive, especially on the industrial scale. Various recyclable catalytic systems have been extensively developed for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds via dehydration, partial oxidations, three-component couplings, dehydrogenations, and others. Different supports like polymers, metal oxides, and quite recently carbon supports like carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene oxide (GO), graphitic nitride (GCN), and nitrogenous carbon materials (NGr) have been widely used to synthesize diverse heterocycles. The use of GO in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds has been reviewed recently, hence we did not focus on GO in this review. The aim of this review article is to explore the emerging areas of carbon-based heterogeneous materials such as CNTs, GCN, and NGr in the synthesis of heterocycles. This review also focused on the most recent examples, their preparation, and recycling studies of highly excited catalytic systems used for the heterocycles.     

Synthesis,Antibacterial, and Antioxidant Evaluation of Novel Series of Condensed Thiazoloquinazoline with Pyrido,Pyrano, and Benzol Moieties as Five- and Six-Membered Heterocycle Derivatives

A novel synthesis of thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines 4(a–e), pyrido[2′,3′:4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines {5(a–e), 6(a–e), and 7(a–e)}, pyrano[2′,3′:4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines 8(a–e), and benzo[4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazoloine9(a–e) derivatives starting from 2-(Bis-methylsulfanyl-methylene)-5,5-dimethyl-cyclohexane-1,3-dione 2 as efficient α,α dioxoketen dithioacetal is reported and the synthetic approaches of these types of compounds will provide an innovative molecular framework to the designing of new active heterocyclic compounds. In our study, we also present optimization of the synthetic method along with a biological evaluation of these newly synthesized compounds as antioxidants and antibacterial agents against the bacterial strains, like S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. Among all the evaluated compounds, it was found that some showed significant antioxidant activity at 10 μg/mL while the others exhibited better antibacterial activity at 100 μg/mL. The results of this study showed that compound 6(c) possessed remarkable antibacterial activity, whereas compound 9(c) exhibited the highest efficacy as an antioxidant. The structures of the new synthetic compounds were elucidated by elemental analysis, IR, ¹H-NMR, and ¹³C-NMR.     

High-performance nanostructured bio-based carbon electrodes for energy storage applications

Cellulose - Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon precursor is a well-established and researched material for electrodes in energy storage applications due to its good physical properties and...     

Synthesis,characterizations, and electrochemical studies of ZnO/reduced graphene oxide nanohybrids for supercapacitor application

Herein the present article reports the fabrication of ZnO/reduced graphene oxide (ZnG) nanohybrid following a reduction-based process using a non-hazardous material, i.e., ascorbic acid. The morphology, structure, and bonding in the nanohybrid were analyzed using different techniques. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images show spherical particles of ZnO distributed over reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The X-ray diffraction analysis gives calculated values of crystallite size for ZnO as 15.62 nm. The successful incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles into rGO was confirmed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. The electrochemical studies were performed using an electrolyte (0.5 M H₂SO₄). The calculated value of specific capacitance for the nanohybrid was 345 Fg^-1, which was found to be almost double as compared to that of rGO, which is having a value of only 190.5 Fg^-1 at the same scan rate. The nanohybrid also showed excellent capacitance retention after 1,000 cycles.