Ketoconazol‐Triiodide Ion Pair Complex as a Suitable Carrier in an Iodide Selective Membrane Electrode

A novel membrane sensor for selective monitoring of iodide, consisting of a triiodide‐ketoconazole ion pair complex dispersed in a PVC matrix, plasticized with a mixture of 2‐nitrophenyl octyl ether and dioctylphtalate with unique selectivity toward iodide ions, is described. The influence of membrane composition, pH of test solution and foreign ions on the electrode performance were investigated. The optimized membrane demonstrates a near‐Nernstian response for iodide ions over a wide linear range from 1.0 × 10^?2 to 1.0 × 10^?5 M, at 25 ± 1 °C. The electrode could be used over a wide pH range 3–10 and has the advantages of high selectivity, fast response time and good lifetime (over 4 months). It was successfully used as indicator electrode in potentiometric titrations and direct potentiometric assay of iodide ions.     

Nanostructured pure gamma-Fe2O3 via forced precipitation in an organic solvent

Pure maghemite, gamma-Fe(2)O(3), was prepared as ultra fine particles in the nanometer-sized range via the forced precipitation method in an organic solvent. The precipitation of iron(III) ions, from iron(III) chloride in 2-propanol led selectively to highly dispersed particles of ferrihydrite, which upon treatment with temperatures higher than 200 degrees C under dynamic vacuum resulted in high-surface-area particles of gamma-Fe(2)O(3). Precipitation in water also led to ferrihydrite, but the final product, after heating at 300 degrees C, contained a mixture of gamma-Fe(2)O(3) and alpha-Fe(2)O(3) (hematite). The precipitation from iron(III) nitrate in water resulted in goethite which was converted to hematite upon heating. On the other hand, the final product in 2-propanol was a mixture of maghemite and hematite. The products were characterized by FTIR, TGA, XRD, and gas sorption analysis. Nitrogen gas adsorption studies for the pure gamma-Fe(2)O(3) samples revealed mesoporous particles with high surface areas in the range of 70-120 m(2) g(-1) after heat treatment at 300 degrees C. The gamma-Fe(2)O(3) particles retained their gamma-phase as well as their mesoporous structure at relatively high temperatures, as high as 400 degrees C.     

A robust-adaptive fuzzy coverage control for robotic swarms

In this paper, a decentralized adaptive control scheme for multi-robot coverage is proposed. This control method is designed based on centroidal Voronoi configuration integrated with robust adaptive fuzzy control techniques. We consider simple single integrator mobile robots used for covering dynamical environments, where an adaptive fuzzy logic system is used to approximate the unknown parts of control law. A robust coverage criterion is used to attenuate the adaptive fuzzy approximation error and measurement noises to a prescribed level. Therefore, the robots motion is forced to obey solutions of a coverage optimization problem. The advantages of the proposed controller can be listed as robustness to external disturbances, computation uncertainties, and measurement noises, while applicability on dynamical environments. A Lyapunov-function based proof is given of robust stability, i.e. convergence to the optimal positions with bounded error. Finally, simulation results are demonstrated for a swarm coverage problem simultaneous with tracking mobile intruders.     

Silver(I)‐N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes of bis‐imidazol‐2‐ylidenes having different aromatic‐spacers: synthesis,crystal structure,and in vitro antimicrobial and anticancer studies

A series of Ag(I) complexes ( 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ) derived from imidazol‐2‐ylidenes was synthesized by reacting Ag₂O with an o‐, m‐, p‐xylyl or 1,3,5‐triazine‐linked imidazolium salts ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ) and then characterizing these using various spectro‐analytical techniques. Additionally, triazine‐linked bis‐imidazolium salt 5 was characterized using the single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction method. Complexes 6–9 were formed from the N‐heterocyclic carbene ligand precursors 1–3 as PF₆^‐ salts in good yields. Conversely, salt 5 does not form Ag(I) complex even under various reaction conditions. Using ampicillin as a standard, complexes 6–9 were tested against bacteria strains Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria, respectively, showing potent antimicrobial activities against the tested bacteria even at minimum inhibition concentration and bacterial concentration levels. Furthermore, the potential anticancer activities of the reported complexes were evaluated against the human colorectal cancer (HCT 116) cell lines, using 5‐fluorouracil as a standard drug. The highest anticancer activities were observed for complex 8 with an IC₅₀ value of 3.4 μm , whereas the lowest was observed for complex 9 with an IC₅₀ value of 18.1 μm . Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solvent Free Synthesis of Coumarins

An efficient synthesis of 3-substituted coumarins under solventless system is described.     

Charge carrier mobility,photovoltaic, and electroluminescent properties of anthracene‐based conjugated polymers bearing randomly distributed side chains

This article reports on the synthesis, characterization, and properties of various anthracene‐containing poly (p‐phenylene‐ethynylene)‐alt‐poly(p‐phenylene‐vinylene) (PPE‐PPV) polymers (AnE‐PVs) bearing statistical distributions of various side chains. Primarily, the ratio of linear octyloxy and branched 2‐ethylhexyloxy side chains at the poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) (PPV) parts was varied, leading to the polymers stat, stat1, and stat2. Furthermore, polymers also containing asymmetric substituted PPV and poly(p‐phenylene ethynylene) units (bearing methoxy and 2‐ethylhexyloxy side chains) were prepared yielding stat3, stat4, and stat5. These materials exhibit a broad variation in their photovoltaic properties. It is once more shown that side chains and their distribution can crucially affect the photovoltaic device performance. The introduction of units with asymmetric substitution into these systems seems to be harmful for their utilization in photovoltaic applications. Organic field‐effect transistors were fabricated to investigate hole mobilities in these new materials. Large variance was observed, falling in the range of almost two orders of magnitude, indicating rather different π–π stacking behavior of the polymer backbones owing to side‐chain modifications. Moreover, a selection of the new polymeric systems was investigated regarding their potential for light‐emitting diode (LED) applications. Polymer LEDs using the polymers AnE‐PVstat, ‐stat3, ‐stat4, and ‐stat5, as the active layer showed turn‐on voltage of ～2 V and exhibited red light emission. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Temperature tunable random laser using superconducting materials

We propose that spectral intensity of superconductor based random lasers can be made tunable by changing temperature. The two fluid model and wavelength dependent dispersion formula have been employed to describe the optical response of the superconducting materials. Random laser characteristics have been calculated using the one dimensional FDTD method. Our simulation results reveal that the emission spectrum can be manipulated through the ambient temperature of the system. It is observed that transition from metal phase to pure superconducting phase leads to the enhancement of the laser emission. Furthermore, spatial distribution of the fields in one dimensional disordered media is very sensitive to the system temperature.     

Bis(β-Difunctional) Compounds: Versatile Starting Materials for Novel Bis(Heterocycles)

New bis(β-difunctional) compounds could be prepared in good yields. Their utility as intermediates in the synthesis of novel bis(heterocycles) were also investigated.