Synthesis,spectroscopic investigations,and computational study of 4-((9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-1-yl)oxy)-3-methoxybenzaldehyde

4-((9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-1-yl)oxy)-3-methoxybenzaldehyde has been synthesized in an attempt to obtain a new photochromic compound. The optimized molecular structure, mole fractions of title compound in trans and ana forms have been investigated. UV-visible spectra of the compound were also recorded. Upon irradiation with 300 nm light, the camel solid turned orange, in which a visible absorption band was observed at 475 nm. The electronic properties, such as HOMO, LUMO and band gap energies were obtained by the time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approach. The predicted nonlinear optical properties of the title compound are much greater than those of urea. Transition structures were calculated by QST3 and IRC methods which yielded the potential energy surface and activation energy.     

Effect of sodium phosphate salts on the thermodynamic properties of aqueous solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) 6000 at different temperatures

Precise density, sound velocity, water activity, and phase diagram measurements have been carried out on polyethylene oxide (PEO) in aqueous solutions of sodium di-hydrogen phosphate, di-sodium hydrogen phosphate, and tri-sodium phosphate over a range of temperatures at atmospheric pressure. The experimental density and sound velocity data are used to calculate the apparent specific volume and isentropic compressibility as a function of temperature and concentration. It was found that both of the apparent specific volume and isentropic compressibility of PEO in aqueous solutions increase by increasing temperature and charge on the anion of electrolytes. The results show that the slope of constant water activity lines increased with increasing the temperature and charge on the anion of electrolytes and the vapour pressure depression for an aqueous (PEO + sodium phosphate) system is more than the sum of those for the corresponding binary solutions. Furthermore, the effect of temperature and type of anion of salt on the salting-out effect of polyethylene oxide by sodium phosphate salts has been studied.     

Development of liquid phase microextraction method based on solidification of floated organic drop for extraction and preconcentration of organochlorine pesticides in water samples

A simple and efficient liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) in conjunction with gas chromatography-electron capture detector (GC-ECD) has been developed for extraction and determination of 11 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) from water samples. In this technique a microdrop of 1-dodecanol containing pentachloronitrobenzene (internal standard) is delivered to the surface of an aqueous sample while being agitated by a stirring bar in the bulk of solution. Following completion of extraction, the sample vial was cooled by putting it into an ice bath for 5 min. Finally 2 μL of the drop was injected into the GC for analysis. Factors relevant to the extraction efficiency were studied and optimized. Under the optimized extraction conditions (extraction solvent: 1-dodecanol; extraction temperature: 65 °C; sodium chloride concentration: 0.25 M; microdrop and sample volumes: 8 μL and 20 mL respectively; the stirring rate: 750 rpm and the extraction time: 30 min), figures of merit of the proposed method were evaluated. The detection limits of the method were in the range of 7-19 ng L⁻¹ and the RSD% for analysis of 2 μg L⁻¹ of OCPs was below 7.2% (n = 5). A good linearity (r² ≥ 0.993) and a relatively broad dynamic linear range (25-2000 ng L⁻¹) were obtained. After 30 min of extraction, preconcentration factors were in the range of 708-1337 for different organochlorine pesticides and the relative errors ranged from −10.1 to 10.9%. Finally the proposed method was successfully utilized for preconcentration and determination of OCPs in different real samples.     

Graphene oxide/Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>@polythionine nanocomposite as an efficient sorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of duloxetine in human plasma

Herein, an efficient graphene oxide/Fe₃O₄@polythionine (GO/Fe₃O₄/PTh) nanocomposite sorbent was introduced for magnetic solid-phase extraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet detection of duloxetine (DLX) in human plasma. To prepare the sorbent, an oxidative polymerization of thionine on the surface of magnetic GO was utilized while PTh was simply used as a surface modifier to improve extraction efficiency. Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, vibrating sample magnetometry, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller technique were applied to characterize the prepared nanoparticles. Firstly, effective parameters controlling the performance of the extraction process were evaluated in detail and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, calibration curve showed linearity in the range of 2–2500 ng mL^?1 with regression coefficient corresponding to 0.998. Limits of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) and quantification (LOQ, S/N = 10) were 0.5 and 2 ng mL^?1, respectively. Reasonable intra-assay (3.5–4.5%, n = 6) and inter-assay (3.8–6.7%, n = 9) precision represented acceptable performance of the procedure. The applicability of the method was successfully extended to the determination of DLX in human plasma after oral administration of 60 mg single dose of the drug and finally some pharmacokinetic data was achieved.     

Thermodynamic Studies of Insulin Loading into a Glucose Responsive Hydrogel Based on Chitosan‐polyacrylamide‐polyethylene Glycol

The insulin therapy constitutes the preferred treatment for Diabetes Mellitus (DM). The traditional insulin therapy, which consists of daily subcutaneous insulin injections to control blood glucose level, is not able to regulate the blood glucose level precisely. In this research, to facilitate the diabetic patient life, an intelligent drug delivery system based on a biodegrable biopolymer to control the insulin release, was designed. In this system, chitosan‐polyethylene glycol hydrogel and glucose oxidize play the role of drug carrier and glucose biosensor, respectively. To increase the hydrogel drug loading capacity, hydrogels with different PEG content were synthesized and insulin was loaded by swelling‐diffusion method into them. The loaded hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Finally, the thermodynamic study for insulin loading process was performed to investigate the stability of the drug in the system.     

Boehmite silica sulfuric acid: as a new acidic material and reusable heterogeneous nanocatalyst for the various organic oxidation reactions

In this research, project boehmite silica sulfuric acid (Boehmite-SSA) has been applied as new acidic porous catalyst for the selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides and oxidative coupling of thiols to corresponding disulfides using hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing agent. The products have been obtained in short reaction times and high yields. Boehmite nanoparticles was prepared, coated by silica and then reacted with chlorosulfuric acid to obtain Boehmite-SSA. This catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, TGA/DTA, XRD, TEM, SEM, EDS and BET techniques. BET curve of boehmite nanoparticles identified as a typical type IV isotherm (definition by IUPAC), which are the characteristics of mesoporous material. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement indicated that boehmite nanoparticles had BET surface area of about 122.8 m²/g. The catalyst was easily separated and reused for the several runs without significant loss of its catalytic efficiency.     

A characterization of the finite simple group L<Subscript>16</Subscript>(2) by its prime graph

In this paper as the main result we prove that the projective special linear group L ₁₆(2) is uniquely determined by its prime graph. In fact we give a positive answer to an open problem arose in Zavarnitsin (Algebra Logic 43(4), 220–231, 2006) and we obtain a first example of a finite group with connected prime graph which is uniquely determined by its prime graph. This research was in part supported by a grant from IPM (No. 86200023).     

Improved plasmonic splitters and demultiplexers

Analytical optimizations and numerical simulations are applied to enhance power transferring through a metal–insulator–metal (MIM) plasmonic junction. Employing the quasi static approximation for subwavelength devices, we derived a pure analytical model which complies very well with the simulation results. By inserting intermediate matching sections and stub structure at the MIM junctions, various matched plasmonic junctions and devices are designed. Both methods considerably improve the transmission spectra of the structure and enhance the bandwidth. The improved T-shaped splitters and demultiplexers of 50 nm width are designed with zero reflection at 1550 nm wavelength, 18% higher efficiency and broader bandwidth. Finite-difference time-domain simulations validate numerically our analysis and optimization results.