Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) Nanocomposites: Effect of Inorganic Nanoparticles Reinforcement on Its Performance and Food Packaging Applications

Poly lactic acid (PLA) is a compostable, as well as recyclable, sustainable, versatile and environmentally friendly alternative, because the monomer of PLA-lactide (LA) is extracted from natural sources. PLA’s techno-functional properties are fairly similar to fossil-based polymers; however, in pristine state, its brittleness and delicacy during processing pose challenges to its potential exploitation in diverse food packaging applications. PLA is, therefore, re-engineered to improve its thermal, rheological, barrier and mechanical properties through nanoparticle (NP) reinforcement. This review summarises the studies on PLA-based nanocomposites (PLA NCs) developed by reinforcing inorganic metal/metallic oxide, graphite and silica-based nanoparticles (NPs) that exhibit remarkable improvement in terms of storage modulus, tensile strength, crystallinity, glass transition temperature (Tg) value, antimicrobial property and a decrease in water vapour and oxygen permeability when compared with the pristine PLA films. This review has also discussed the regulations around the use of metal oxide-based NPs in food packaging, PLA NC biodegradability and their applications in food systems. The industrial acceptance of NCs shows highly promising perspectives for the replacement of traditional petrochemical-based polymers currently being used for food packaging.     

Natural (−)‐Vasicine as a Novel Source of Optically Pure 1‐Benzylpyrrolidin‐3‐ol

A facile and scalable methodology for the preparation of optically active (3S)‐1‐benzylpyrrolidin‐3‐ol ( 3 ), an important drug precursor, is reported. Starting from the naturally occurring alkaloid (?)‐vasicine ( 1 ), a major alkaloid of the plant Adhatoda vasica, 3 was obtained in 84% overall yield (Scheme 3).     

Cryptography in Hierarchical Coded Caching: System Model and Cost Analysis

The idea behind network caching is to reduce network traffic during peak hours via transmitting frequently-requested content items to end users during off-peak hours. However, due to limited cache sizes and unpredictable access patterns, this might not totally eliminate the need for data transmission during peak hours. Coded caching was introduced to further reduce the peak hour traffic. The idea of coded caching is based on sending coded content which can be decoded in different ways by different users. This allows the server to service multiple requests by transmitting a single content item. Research works regarding coded caching traditionally adopt a simple network topology consisting of a single server, a single hub, a shared link connecting the server to the hub, and private links which connect the users to the hub. Building on the results of Sengupta et al. (IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Secur., 2015), we propose and evaluate a yet more complex system model that takes into consideration both throughput and security via combining the mentioned ideas. It is demonstrated that the achievable rates in the proposed model are within a constant multiplicative and additive gap with the minimum secure rates.     

Pi-pi interaction in pyridine

pi-pi Interaction in pyridine dimer and trimer has been investigated in different geometries and orientations at the ab initio (HF, MP2) and DFT (B3LYP) levels of theory using various basis sets (6-31G, 6-31G, 6-311++G) and corrected for basis set superposition error (BSSE). While the HF and DFT calculations show the pyridine dimer and the trimer to be unstable with respect to the monomer, the MP2 calculations show them to be clearly stable, thus emphasizing the need to include electron correlation while determining stacking interaction in such systems. The calculated MP2/6-311++G binding energy (100% BSSE corrected) of the parallel-sandwich, antiparallel-sandwich, parallel-displaced, antiparallel-displaced, T-up and T-down geometries for pyridine dimer are 1.53, 3.05, 2.39, 3.97, 1.91, 1.47 kcal/mol, respectively. The results show the antiparallel-displaced geometry to be the most stable. The binding energies for the trimer in parallel-sandwich, antiparallel-sandwich, and antiparallel-displaced geometry are found to be 3.18, 6.14, and 8.04 kcal/mol, respectively.     

Balancing the NHS balanced scorecard!

In the UK, the split between opposition and supporters views of the National Health Service (NHS) performance ratings system is growing. Objective argument and consensus would be facilitated if a methodology was developed which showed the cause and effect relationships between the components of the performance rating system. The NHS hospital trust performance ratings data used in 2002 and 2003 were downloaded from the Department of Health performance rating website. Structural equation modelling was used to construct a causal-loop diagram showing the cause and effect relationships between the 16 common performance indicators in the two years. Scenario testing suggests that indicators of delayed transfer of care and of data quality are compromised if emergency readmissions performance is improved.     

Tandem mass spectra of transition-metal ion adducts of glycosyl dithioacetals; distinction among stereoisomers

Electrospray ionization mass spectra of some glycosyl dithioacetals recorded in the presence of transition-metal chlorides, XCl2 (where X = Co, Mn and Zn), give abundant adduct ions such as [M+XCl]+ and [2M-H+X]+ and minor ions such as [M-H+X]+ and [2M+XCl]+. The tandem mass spectra of these adducts show characteristic elimination of neutral molecules such as H2O, HCl, EtSH, CH2O, C2H4O2/C2H4O. [M+XCl]+ ions fragment readily and the fragmentation appears to be stereochemically controlled as the relative abundances of the fragments are different for three stereoisomers. The added metal is lost as neutral molecules in the form of XCl(OH) and XCl(SEt). This is a predominant pathway in the ZnCl+ adducts. [2M+XCl]+ ions fragment preferentially by elimination of HCl, indicating strong metal interactions in the resulting dimeric [2M-H+X]+ ion. As there are several electron-rich centers in the molecule, the dimeric complex [2M-H+X]+ can have several structures and the observed fragmentations may reflect the sum of those of all these structures. The dimeric complexes fragment by elimination of neutral molecules leaving the dimeric interactions intact. The extent of fragmentation varies for the stereoisomers, leading to stereochemical differentiation.     

Synthesis of iodo-indoloazepinones in an iodine-mediated three-component domino reaction via a regioselective 7-endo-dig iodo-cyclization pathway

An efficient and rapid synthetic strategy for the naturally occurring indoloazepinone scaffold via a three-component reaction of indole-2-carboxamides, 1,3-disubstituted propargyl alcohols, and I(2) is described. The strategy involves a C-H functionalization-alkyne activation-intramolecular hydroamidation-deprotonation domino sequence. The salient feature of this sequence is regioselective electrophilic 7-endo-dig iodo-cyclization during the intramolecular hydroamidation to afford a seven-membered azepinone ring annulated to the indole.     

Three-component tandem reaction involving acid chlorides, terminal alkynes, and 2-aminoindole hydrochlorides: synthesis of α-carboline derivatives in aqueous conditions via regioselective [3 + 3] cyclocondensation

An efficient synthesis toward highly diversified α-carboline derivatives via a three-component tandem reaction using acid chlorides, terminal alkynes, and 2-aminoindole hydrochlorides has been described. The salient feature of the one-pot strategy involves regioselective [3 + 3]-cyclocondensation and the presence of water in the reaction medium to facilitate cyclization. Nonaqueous conditions furnished products in poor yields.     

A general and efficient stereoselective synthesis of γ-azido-tetrahydrofuran carboxylic acids from glycals

An efficient, direct and general synthesis of enantiopure γ-azido-tetrahydrofuran carboxylic acid monomers (5-8) from commercially available glycals, suitable to design peptidomimetic oligomers with predisposed conformation, is described. The single crystal X-ray study of 8 showed that the compound crystallized in orthorhombic space group. The crystal-packing showed the presence of weak intermolecular C-H?O and aliphatic C-H?π interactions.     

Diversity oriented synthesis of pyran based polyfunctional stereogenic macrocyles and their conformational studies

A new approach to synthesize a homologous series of 14-, 15-, and 16-membered drug-like, macrocyclic glycoconjugates involving TBAHS promoted azide-propenone intramolecular cycloaddition in designed C-glycopyranosyl butenones from a simple sugar d-glucose and d-mannose is reported.