Advances in arsenic speciation techniques

The present review describes the speciation techniques of arsenic. The principal advanced techniques discussed are gas chromatography, reversed-phase liquid chromatography, ion chromatography, capillary electrophoresis. Some other techniques are also mentioned. The extraction procedures of arsenic species from unknown samples are also discussed. Arsenic speciation is summarized in tabular form and optimizing parameters are also discussed.     

Modeling the role of government efforts in controlling extremism in a society

People having extreme idealogies affect the process in a region using fear of terror acts, money power, and the word of mouth communication network to change individuals to their way of thinking. This forces government to divert its limited financial resources for controlling extremism and thus affecting development. In this paper, therefore, a nonlinear mathematical model is proposed to study the dynamics of extremism governed by four dependent variables, namely, number of people in the general population having no extreme ideology, number of extreme ideologists, number of isolated ideologists (prisoners), and the cumulative density of government efforts and their interactions. The model is analyzed using the stability theory of differential equations and computer simulation. The analysis shows that if appropriate level of government efforts is applied on extremists, the spread of their ideology can be controlled in the general population. A numerical study of the model is also carried out to investigate the effects of certain parameters on the spread of extremism confirming the analytical results.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dimethylaminoalkyl chalcogenolate palladium(II) complexes as an efficient copper- and phosphine-free catalyst for Sonogashira reaction

N,N-Dimethylaminoalkyl chalcogenolate Pd(II) complexes [PdCl(E^∩NMe₂)]_n has been investigated as a moisture/air-stable and robust catalyst for Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction in the absence of copper and phosphine ligand. The dimeric palladium(II) complex of selenium containing ligand shows the best catalytic activity as compared with monomeric and trimeric complexes. The variety of functional groups are tolerated under optimized catalytic systems and provide excellent yields of the products.     

Design and synthesis of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole based azaspirocycles catalyzed by NaI under mild condition and evaluated their antidiabetic and antibacterial activities

A modest, efficient, and mild synthetic procedure has been developed for the synthesis of novel series of 1,3,4-oxadiazole containing azaspirocycles derivatives. The reaction of 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative with diverse azaspiro compounds under room temperature condition with helps of sodium iodide catalyst and polar aprotic solvent. Numerous compensations of this strategy embrace less time required, yield increment, consumption of all reactants, and mild condition. All synthesized compounds evaluated for in vitro antidiabetic and antibacterial screening. Among them some compounds show significant biological response.     

Greener approach toward synthesis of biologically active s-Triazine (TCT) derivatives: A recent update

The greener methodology to synthesize s-triazine derivatives (also known as TCT) is described, including synthesis through microwave, ultrasound, and solvent-free conditions. This review mainly focuses on reactions of TCT (2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine) with various substituents having amine and hydroxy functionalities to give corresponding triazine derivatives under a greener approach. The results of reactions indicate that, unlike classical methods, green methods result in better yields of the product, through a rapid reaction, under mild reaction conditions, and by easy workup procedures.     

Microwave-Assisted Graft Copolymerization of Cellulosic Fibers for Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Aqueous Solution

Functional materials obtained from cellulosic biofibers have gained attention due to the growing demand for them in the field of wastewater remediation. In view of the technological significance of functionalized cellulosic biofibers in wastewater treatment, the present study is a green approach to functionalized cellulosic fibers through graft copolymerization under microwave irradiation. The grafted cellulosic polymers were subsequently subjected to heavy metal ion adsorption studies in order to assess their application in wastewater remediation. The effects of pH, contact time, temperature, and metal ion concentration were studied in batchwise adsorption experiments. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Tempkin models were used to show the adsorption isotherms. The maximum monolayer capacities, q _m. calculated using the Langmuir isotherm for Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Pb²⁺ were found to be 37.79, 69.68, and 96.81 mg/g respectively. The thermodynamic parameter ΔH° and ΔG° values for metal ion adsorption on functionalized cellulosic fibers showed that adsorption process was spontaneous as well as exothermic in nature.     

Synthesis and characterization of some acetoxime-modified hetero-metal alkoxide precursors of zinc(II) and aluminum(III) for sol–gel transformation to nano-sized ZnAl2O4

Reactions of [ZnAl₂(OPr_i)₈] [A] with acetoxime in different molar ratios in refluxing anhydrous benzene, yield complexes of the type [ZnAl₂(OPrⁱ)_8?n{(CH₃)₂CNO}_n] {where, n = 1–4}. All the complexes are transparent viscous/foamy solids. They were characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR and NMR (¹H, ¹³C {¹H}) spectral studies. ²⁷Al NMR spectrum of [ZnAl₂(OPrⁱ)₄{(CH₃)₂CNO}₄] [4] in CDCl₃ suggests presence of four coordination around both the aluminum atoms. IR spectra suggest that the oximato ligands bind the aluminum atoms in a side on manner in all the complexes. The ESI-mass spectrum of the representative derivative [4] suggests its monomeric nature while the thermo-gravimetric curve shows its low thermal stability. Sol–gel transformations of the precursors (A), (1), and (4) yielded nano-sized ZnAl₂O₄ samples (a), (b) and (c) at ~500 °C, respectively. The XRD patterns of (a), (b) and (c) indicate formation of cubic phase nano-sized zinc aluminate in all the samples. Surface morphologies of these samples were investigated by SEM images. IR spectra as well as EDX analyses indicate formation of pure zinc aluminate in all the cases. TEM image of sample (c) shows spherical (~5–8 nm) morphology.     

Aqueous Diels–Alder reactions for thermochemical storage and heat transfer fluids identified using density functional theory

Thermal storage and transfer fluids have important applications in industrial, transportation, and domestic settings. Current thermal fluids have relatively low specific heats, often significantly below that of water. However, by introducing a thermochemical reaction to a base fluid, it is possible to enhance the fluid's thermal properties. In this work, density functional theory (DFT) is used to screen Diels–Alder reactions for use in aqueous thermal fluids. From an initial set of 52 reactions, four are identified with moderate aqueous solubility and predicted turning temperature near the liquid region of water. These reactions are selectively modified through 60 total functional group substitutions to produce novel reactions with improved solubility and thermal properties. Among the reactions generated by functional group substitution, seven have promising predicted thermal properties, significantly improving specific heat (by as much as 30.5%) and energy storage density (by as much as 4.9%) compared to pure water.     

Design and pharmacophoric identification of flavonoid scaffold-based aromatase inhibitors

Aromatase is a crucial enzyme for the catalysis of aromatization reaction at the last and rate-limiting step involved in the conversion of androgenic substrates to an estrogenic substrate. A hormone-dependent breast cancer in postmenopausal woman can be cured by inhibition of estrogen biosynthesis by the help of aromatase inhibitors (AIs). The mode of interactions of flavonones with the active site of aromatase has been studied in search of potent and selective AIs as a substitute of the natural steroidal ligand. Structure-based computational approach namely, molecular docking simulations were performed to investigate the structural features of the docked complex of aromatase and flavonoid ligands. A nonsteroidal flavonoid pharmacophore showing electrostatic and steric features for selective binding within the main pocket of the catalytic active site of aromatase has been identified as an outcome of the study. The binding affinity of quercetin and isoflavone were predicted within aromatase. Isoflavone was used as a negative control to compare its binding affinities with the selected dataset. The predicted binding affinity of negative control isoflavone was in accordance with its in vitro AI efficacy. Isoflavone showed poor binding affinity and ranked last in terms of MolDock score (−86.309 kcal/molÅ) compared to dataset molecules. The generated pharmacophoric information will be helpful for the synthetic chemist to design and synthesize selective AIs with comparable binding affinity to the natural steroidal ligand.