Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils from leaves, stems and flowers of Salvia reuterana Boiss. grown in Iran

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves, stems and flowers of Salvia reuterana (Lamiaceae) were analysed by GC and GC/MS. Germacrene D and beta-caryophyllene were the major constituents in all the three oils: (28.5, 27.7 and 32.5%) and (15.5, 11.4 and 16.6%), respectively. Bicyclogermacrene (10.2 and 13.2%) was also prodominated in the stem and flower oils. The composition of the oils was mostly quantitativel rather than qualitatively different. All the oils consisted mainly of sesquiterpenes and a small percentage of non-terpenoid compounds. In all the three oils, monoterpenes were in a concentration less than 0.5%. Antibacterial activity was determined by the measurement of growth inhibitory zones.     

Plasma-assisted nitrogen doping of VACNTs for efficiently enhancing the supercapacitor performance

Nitrogen doping of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition has been investigated to improve the supercapacitance performance of CNTs. Incorporating electrochemical measurements on the open-ended nitrogen-doped CNTs, showed the achievement of 6 times improvement in the capacitance value. For nitrogen-doped CNTs on silicon substrate, specific capacitance of 60 F g^?1 was obtained in 0.5 M KCl solution, with capacity retention ratio above 90 % after cycled at 0.1 A g^?1 for 5000 cycles. Using this sample, a symmetric supercapacitance was fabricated which showed the power density of 37.5 kW kg^?1. The facile fabrication approach and its excellent capacitance improvement, propose it as an efficient technique for enhancing the supercapacitance performance of the carbon-based electrodes.     

Characterization of some finite groups by order and length of one conjugacy class

We study the possibility of characterizing S ∈ {²D_n(2), ²D_n+1(2)} by simple conditions when 2ⁿ⁺¹ > 5 is a prime. Furthermore, we will show that Thompson’s conjecture is valid under some weak condition for these groups.     

Expeditious green synthesis of 3,4-disubstituted isoxazole-5(4<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>)-ones catalyzed by nano-MgO

In this work, it was found that magnesium oxide nanoparticles (nano-MgO) catalyzed one-pot three-component reaction of hydroxylamine hydrochloride with aryl aldehydes (or heteroaryl aldehydes) and β-oxoesters to synthesize some biologically active isoxazole-5(4H)-one-based heterocycles. The reactions were completed using 3 mol% catalyst loading in aqueous medium at room temperature. Nano-MgO was synthesized by precipitation and hydrothermal treatment of aqueous salt solution. The structure of the nano-MgO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. The presented environmentally friendly heterocyclization offers some interesting merits, including safety, high product yield, mild conditions, low cost, minimal waste, good atom efficiency, catalyst recoverable, energy efficiency, avoidance of hazardous organic solvents, and easy workup.     

The influence of interunit carbon–carbon linkages during lignin upgrading

The cleavage of β-O-4 linkages in lignin can generate monomers with a phenyl propane structure that can easily be upgraded into valuable hydrocarbon biofuels and renewable aromatic chemicals. High-yield lignin monomer production from extracted (or technical) lignin that is produced in a practical way could facilitate the productivity and profitability of biomass conversion processes. However, interunit carbon–carbon (C–C) linkages present in native lignin or formed during lignin condensation in biomass pretreatments dramatically reduce lignin monomer yields. Here, we present a perspective on biological and chemical strategies that have been successfully used to reduce the formation of C–C linkages in native or technical lignin. We analyze the mechanisms involved in these strategies and offer our views on improving the quality of technical lignin resulting from biomass conversion in order to achieve high-yield lignin monomer production.     

Heterogeneous oxidation of alcohols with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by polyoxometalate metal–organic framework

HSiW-MOF, PMo-MOF, HPMo-MOF and PW-MOF were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, UV–Vis, FT-IR, cyclic voltammetry and XRD. These compounds were used as catalyst for the selective oxidation of alcohols by hydrogen peroxide. Within them, PW-MOF showed a higher catalytic activity compared to other catalysts in a similar reaction condition. Therefore, PW-MOF catalyst system was successfully used for the selective oxidation of the benzylic, linear and secondary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones. Also, allylic alcohols were converted to the corresponding aldehydes with high conversion and significant selectivity. Moreover, PW-MOF was stable to leaching, behaved as true heterogeneous catalysts, easily recovered by filtration, and reused four times with the preserve of the catalytic performance.     

Refinements of mean-square stochastic integral inequalities on convex stochastic processes

Recently, in the class of convex stochastic processes, Kotrys (Aequat Math 83:143–151, 2012; Aequat Math 86:91–98, 2013) proposed upper and lower bounds of mean-square stochastic integrals by using Hermite–Hadamard inequality. This paper shows that these bounds can be refined. Our results extend and refine the corresponding ones in the literature. Finally, an open problem for further investigations is given.     

On fractional stochastic inequalities related to Hermite–Hadamard and Jensen types for convex stochastic processes

Stochastic convexity and its applications are very important in mathematics and probability (Aequationes Mathematicae 20:184–197, 1980). There are two well-known inequalities for convex stochastic processes: Jensen’s inequality and Hermite–Hadamard’s inequality. Recently, Hafiz (Stoch Anal Appl 22:507–523, 2004) has provided fractional calculus for some stochastic processes. The problem is how to formulate these inequalities for stochastic processes in the class of fractional calculus and that is what is done in this paper. Our results generalize the corresponding ones in the literature.