High-quality Cu2O crystals with various morphologies grown by thermal oxidation

We present an improved preparation method for, and experimental results on, high-quality crystals of cuprous oxide (${\mathrm{Cu}}_2\mathrm{O}$) grown by thermal oxidation. X-ray diffraction and low-temperature optical measurements at 2 K confirm excellent characteristics that are on par with natural-growth cuprite crystals. Synthetic ${\mathrm{Cu}}_2\mathrm{O}$ crystals were prepared in different geometries including platelets, cylindrical wires, and spheroids. Interestingly, we observed that the oxidation of Cu wires at high temperatures leads to the formation of hollow tubules of ${\mathrm{Cu}}_2\mathrm{O}$. Such unconventional structures of ${\mathrm{Cu}}_2\mathrm{O}$ could be utilized to confine excitonic matter, or serve as high-density exciton–polariton cavities.     

Electrocatalytic cyclization of dithiothreitol on a chemically modified electrode by analogy with protein action

Electrocatalytic oxidative cyclization of dithiothreitol (DTT(SH)2) to a disulfide product was demonstrated on a Nafion/lead-ruthenium oxide pyrochlore chemically modified electrode (NPyCME). The process at the NPyCME with DTT(SH)2 is similar to the behaviour of protein in a disulfide linkage, which can be demonstrated by product analysis using HPLC coupled with UV spectroscopy. A possible electrocatalytic mechanism for DTT(SH)2 oxidation to dihydroxydithiane [i.e. cyclized DTT(S-S)] on the NPyCME was proposed in terms of Py-Ru(IV)/Py-Ru(VI) redox active sites. This physical aspect was further utilized for high precision analytical assays using flow injection analysis (FIA), with a linearity up to 50 microM and a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 28 nM (8.64 pg) in a 20 microL sample loop. This is the most sensitive method ever reported for DTT(SH)2 detection assays. The interference from dissolved oxygen, disulfide and glucose is almost negligible. The present method offers an easy route for extension to redox-related protein studies.     

A one pot synthesis of annulated carbazole analogs

A ZnBr₂-mediated arylation of N-protected 2/3-bromomethylindoles containing an electron-deficient malonylidene unit with arenes at 80 °C led to the formation of arylated products, which on unprecedented 1,5-sigmatropic rearrangement followed by electrocyclization and subsequent aromatization with loss of diethylmalonate furnished the corresponding annulated carbazoles in reasonable yields.     

An Expedient Approach for the Synthesis of Bioactive Pyrazole,Isoxazole and Benzodiazepine‐Substituted Quinolin‐2(1H)‐one Derivatives

A sequence of functionalized pyrazole, isoxazole and benzodiazepine‐substituted quinolone derivatives were synthesized in good yield starting from readily available starting precursors. These approaches lead to the synthesis of hitherto unknown compounds with a varied substitution pattern by both conventional and microwave‐assisted method. A good number of analogues were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against human cervical and colon cancer cell lines by MTT protocol. Almost all the selected compounds showed remarkable cytotoxic activities. Among them, compound 4g and 4i emerged as the most promising scaffolds. These scaffolds will be used for further molecular level studies.     

Multiple parents crossover operators: A new approach removes the overlapping solutions for sequencing problems

Maintaining population diversity throughout generations of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) is key to avoid premature convergence. Redundant solutions is one cause for the decreasing population diversity. To prevent the negative effect of redundant solutions, we propose a framework that is based on the multi-parents crossover (MPX) operator embedded in GAs. Because MPX generates diversified chromosomes with good solution quality, when a pair of redundant solutions is found, we would generate a new offspring by using the MPX to replace the redundant chromosome. Three schemes of MPX will be examined and will be compared against some algorithms in literature when we solve the permutation flowshop scheduling problems, which is a strong NP-Hard sequencing problem. The results indicate that our approach significantly improves the solution quality. This study is useful for researchers who are trying to avoid premature convergence of evolutionary algorithms by solving the sequencing problems.