Comparative study between chloramine-T and iodogen to prepare radioiodinated etodolac for inflammation imaging

This study describes a fast and efficient method for radiolabeling of etodolac with iodine-125 [¹²⁵I], where both chloramine-T and iodogen were used as oxidizing agents. The labeling reaction was carried out via electrophilic substitution of hydrogen atom with the iodonium cation I⁺. The labeling yield was found to be influenced by different factors such as drug concentration, pH of the reaction mixtures, different oxidizing agents, reaction time, temperature and different organic media. The radiochemical yield (RCY) was determined by TLC system using methylene chloride:ethyl acetate (3:7 v/v) as a developing solvent and by electrophoresis using cellulose acetate moistened with 0.02 M phosphate buffer pH 7. The maximum radiochemical yield of [¹²⁵I]Etodolac (87.7%) was obtained. Labeled etodolac shows a good localization in inflamed muscle. It excretes mainly via kidney and to some via liver.     

Microviscoelasticity of soft repulsive sphere dispersions: tracer particle microrheology of triblock copolymer micellar liquids and soft crystals

Tracer particle microrheology using diffusing wave spectroscopy-based microrheology is demonstrated to be a useful method to study the dynamics of aqueous Pluronic? F108 solutions, which are viewed as solutions of repulsive soft spheres. The measured zero-shear microviscosity of noncrystallizing micellar dispersions indicates micelle corona dehydration upon increasing temperature. Colloidal sphere thermal motion is shown to be exquisitely sensitive to the onset of crystallization in these micellar dispersions. High temperature dynamics are dominated by an apparent soft repulsive micelle-micelle interaction potential indicating the important role played by lubrication forces and ultimately micelle corona interpenetration and compression at sufficiently high concentrations. The measured microscopic viscoelastic storage and loss moduli are qualitatively similar to those experimentally observed in mechanical measurements on colloidal dispersions and crystals, and calculated from mode coupling theory of colloidal suspensions. The observation of subdiffusive colloidal sphere thermal motion at short time-scales is strong evidence that the observed microscopic viscoelastic properties reflect the dynamics of individual micelles rather than a dispersion of micellar crystallites.     

Two new acridone alkaloids from Glycosmis macrantha

Extraction and chromatographic separation of the extracts of dried stem barks of Glycosmis macrantha lead to isolation of two new acridone alkaloids, macranthanine and 7-hydroxynoracronycine, and a known acridone, atalaphyllidine. The structures of these alkaloids were determined by detailed spectral analysis and also by comparison with reported data.     

Urease inhibition and anti-leishmanial assay of substituted benzoylguanidines and their copper(II) complexes

A series of N,N',N'-trisubstituted guanidines (1-6) and their copper(II) complexes, [κ(2)(O,N)-C(6)H(5)CONHC(NHC(6)H(4)Cl)NR](2)Cu(ii) (R = iso-propyl (1a), n-butyl (2a), sec-butyl (3a), tert-butyl (4a), benzyl (5a), and para-tolyl (6a)) were synthesized and characterized using elemental analysis, FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. DFT studies were used to assess the location of the protons in the free ligands. However, calculations have shown that, in all cases, hydrogen bonding from either N-H group gives conformations that are very similar in energy. Single crystal XRD studies were used to characterize ligands 1 and 4 and the related complexes 1a and 4a. The structures reveal that these complexes are mononuclear in the solid state and that copper adopts a regular square planar geometry. In both metallic species, the N, N', N'-trisubstituted guanidine ligands chelate the Cu(II) atom using the oxygen and one nitrogen. The synthesized compounds were investigated for urease inhibition using thiourea as a standard drug. Most complexes exhibit a better activity than the respective guanidines and compound 1a was found to be the most active with IC(50) = 9.83 ± 0.07 μM (the IC(50) for thiourea is 21.0 ± 0.1 μM). The species were also screened for their anti-leishmanial activity. However, all of the compounds were devoid of any significant activity.     

A note on warped product submanifolds of Kenmotsu manifolds

Warped product manifolds are known to have applications in Physics. For instance, they provide an excellent setting to model space-time near a black hole or a massive star (cf. [HONG, S. T.: Warped products and black holes, Nuovo Cimento Soc. Ital. Fis. B 120 (2005), 1227–1234]). The studies on warped product manifolds with extrinsic geometric point of view are intensified after B. Y. Chen’s work on CR-warped product submanifolds of Kaehler manifolds. Later on, similar studies are carried out in the setting of Sasakian manifolds by Hasegawa and Mihai. As Kenmotsu manifolds are themselves warped product spaces, it is interesting to investigate warped product submanifolds of Kenmotsu manifolds. In the present note a larger class of warped product submanifolds than the class of contact CR-warped product submanifolds is considered. More precisely the existence of warped product submanifolds of a Kenmotsu manifold with one of the factors an invariant submanifold is ensured, an example of such submanifolds is provided and a characterization for a contact CR-submanifold to be a contact CR-warped product submanifold is established.     

Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of CO2 transport through hollow-fiber membranes

Chemical absorption of carbon dioxide was studied theoretically using hollow-fiber membrane contactors in this work. A 2D mathematical model was developed to study CO₂ transport through hollow-fiber membrane contactors. The model considers axial and radial diffusion in the membrane contactor. It also considers convection in the tube and shell side with chemical reaction. The finite element method (FEM) was used to solve the model equations. Modeling predictions were validated with the experimental data obtained from literature for CO₂ absorption in amine aqueous solutions as solvent. The modeling predictions were in good agreement with the experimental data for different values of gas and liquid velocities. The liquid solvents considered for this study include aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) and potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃). The simulation results indicated that amine aqueous solutions were better than K₂CO₃ aqueous solution for CO₂ absorption. Also simulation results revealed that the removal of CO₂ with aqueous solution of MEA was the highest among the amines solvents. The hollow-fiber membrane contactors showed a great potential in the area of CO₂ absorption.     

Parametric aggregation in ordered weighted averaging

Incorporating further information into the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator weights is investigated in this paper. We first prove that for a constant orness the minimax disparity model [13] has unique optimal solution while the modified minimax disparity model [16] has alternative optimal OWA weights. Multiple optimal solutions in modified minimax disparity model provide us opportunity to define a parametric aggregation OWA which gives flexibility to decision makers in the process of aggregation and selecting the best alternative. Finally, the usefulness of the proposed parametric aggregation method is illustrated with an application in metasearch engine.     

Chemical and nanomechanical analysis of rice husk modified by ATRP-grafted oligomer

Rice husk (RH), an abundant agricultural residue, was reacted with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide, to convert it to a heterogeneous polyfunctional macroinitiator for Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). The number of active sites placed on the RH surface was small, but they were ATRP active. Non-polar methyl methacrylate (MMA) and polar acrylonitrile (AN) were polymerized from the RH, and a sequential monomer addition was used to prepare an amphiphilic PMMA-b-PAN copolymer on RH surface. FTIR qualitatively confirmed the grafting. Gravimetric and XPS analysis of the different RH surface compositions indicated thin layers of oligomeric PMMA, PAN, and PMMA-b-PAN. The modified surfaces were mapped by nanomechanical AFM to measure surface roughness, and adhesion and moduli using the Derjaguin-Muller-Toropov model. RH grafted with MMA possessed a roughness value of 7.92, and a hard and weakly adhering surface (13.1 GPa and 16.7 nN respectively) while RH grafted with AN yielded a roughness value of 29 with hardness and adhesion values of 4.0 GPa and 23.5 nN. The PMMA-b-PAN modification afforded a surface with a roughness value of 51.5 nm, with hardness and adhesion values of 3.0 GPa and 75.3 nN.     

The extent of molecular orientation at liquid/vapor interface of pyridine and its alkyl derivatives by molecular dynamics simulation

In this paper, molecular dynamics simulation was performed to investigate the liquid∕vapor interfacial structure of neat polar liquids. Large-scale ensembles of liquid pyridine and its alkyl derivatives, 4-methylpyridine and 4-ethylpyridine, were simulated by classical molecular dynamics at 298 K. For the liquid system of low polarity, the surface density profile of the atoms meet exactly at the middle of interfacial region, and atoms of hydrophobic nature can be hardly discriminated from hydrophilic ones in either vapor or liquid sides. For a liquid system of high polarity, the density profile of atoms with different nature is highly discriminated all over the interfacial region, and as the polarity increases, a dense region of atomic density is clearly developed in the subsurface region. The recognized bivariate method was also used to study the molecular orientational distribution quantitatively. Orientational analysis of the three liquid systems indicates that the pyridine ring plane in the outmost surface tends to be vertical. Its tendency in the innermost interfacial region is parallel. The orientational states available to 4-ethylpyridine and pyridine are discriminated by predicting the possibility of a bisector-wise tumbling for the ring plane in pyridine and a side-wise tumbling in 4-ethylpyridine. The orientational distribution maps explain the trend of experimental surface tension and surface entropy. As the dipole moment of these liquids increases with the alkyl chain length, the surface structural profile changes from a regular definite one to a surface of complex atomic structure involving a dense phase near the interface. The development of dense region in alkyl derivatives is the result of segregation of molecules due to the alkyl group, which is captured and discriminated by molecular dynamics simulation even when the length of a short alkyl chain is increased by one carbon atom.     

A study of the electrochemical behavior of an oxadiazole derivative electrodeposited on multi-wall carbon nanotube-modified electrode and its application as a hydrazine sensor

In this study, an oxadiazole multi-wall carbon nanotube-modified glassy carbon electrode (OMWCNT?GCE) was used as a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for hydrazine determination. The surface charge transfer rate constant, k _s, and the charge transfer coefficient, ??, for electron transfer between GCE and electrodeposited oxadiazole were calculated as 19.4?±?0.5?s^?1 and 0.51, respectively at pH?=?7.0. The obtained results indicate that hydrazine peak potential at OMWCNT?GCE shifted for 14, 109, and 136?mV to negative values as compared with oxadiazole-modified GCE, MWCNT?GCE, and activated GCE surface, respectively. The electron transfer coefficient, ??, and the heterogeneous rate constant, k??, for the oxidation of hydrazine at OMWCNT?GCE were also determined by cyclic voltammetry measurements. Two linear dynamic ranges of 0.6 to 10.0???M and 10.0 to 400.0???M and detection limit of 0.17???M for hydrazine determination were evaluated using differential pulse voltammetry. In addition, OMWCNT?GCE was shown to be successfully applied to determine hydrazine in various water samples.