A Simple and Rapid Estimation of Major Bioactive Arnebin-1 from the Natural Dye Plant,Arnebia nobilis Reichb. f.

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - Arnebia nobilis has gained an increasing popularity for the recently recognized various pharmacological activities. The root part...     

Reaction mechanism and kinetic analysis of citrate gel-combustion synthesis of nanocrystalline urania

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The reaction mechanism and the determination of kinetic parameters of the citrate gel combustion synthesis of nanocrystalline urania (U3O8) are being...     

Photoluminescence studies on rare earth titanates prepared by self-propagating high temperature synthesis method

The laser-induced luminescence studies of the rare earth titanates (R2Ti2O7) (R=La, Nd and Gd) using 355 nm radiation from an Nd:YAG laser are presented. These samples with submicron or nanometer size are prepared by the self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) method and there is no known fluorescence shown by these rare earths in the visible region. Hence, the luminescence transitions shown by the La2Ti2O7 near 610 nm and Gd2Ti2O7 near 767 nm are quite interesting. Though La3+ ions with no 4f electrons have no electronic energy levels that can induce excitation and luminescence processes in the visible region, the presence of the Ti3+ ions leads to luminescence in this region.     

Boron-Thioketonates: A New Class of S,O-Chelated Boranes as Acceptors in Optoelectronic Devices

Development of new n-type semiconductors with tunable band gap and dielectric constant has significant implication in dissociating bound charge carrier relevant for demonstrating high performance optoelectronic devices. Boron-β-thioketonates (MTDKB), analogues to boron-β-diketonates containing a sulfur atom in the framework of β-diketones were synthesized. Bulk transport measurement exhibited an outstanding bulk electron mobility of ≈0.003 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, which is among the best values reported till date in these class of semiconducting materials and correspondingly a single junction photo responsivity of upto 6 mA W⁻¹ was obtained. This new family of O,S-chelated boron compounds exhibited luminescence in the far red/near-infrared region. The remarkable red shift of 89 nm (fluorescence) observed for 4 a in comparison with analogues boron-β-diketonate signifies the importance of sulfur in these molecules. MTDKBs with amine functionality have also been investigated as an ON/OFF fluorescent sensor.     

Sterically Allowed H-type Supramolecular Polymerizations

The functionalization of π-conjugated scaffolds with sterically demanding substituents is a widely used tactic to suppress cofacial (H-type) stacking interactions, which may even inhibit self-assembly. Contrary to expectations, we demonstrate herein that increasing steric effects can result in an enhanced thermodynamic stability of H-type supramolecular polymers. In our approach, we have investigated two boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes with bulky phenyl ( 2 ) and mesityl ( 3 ) meso-substituents and compared their self-assembly in nonpolar media with that of a parent meso-methyl BODIPY 1 lacking bulky groups. While the enhanced steric demand induces pathway complexity, the superior thermodynamic stability of the H-type pathways can be rationalized in terms of additional enthalpic gain arising from intermolecular C−H⋅⋅⋅F−B interactions of the orthogonally arranged aromatic substituents, which overrule their inherent steric demand. Our findings underline the importance of balancing competing non-covalent interactions in self-assembly.     

Toward accurate thermochemical models for transition metals: G3Large basis sets for atoms Sc-Zn

An augmented valence triple-zeta basis set, referred to as G3Large, is reported for the first-row transition metal elements Sc through Zn. The basis set is constructed in a manner similar to the G3Large basis set developed previously for other elements (H-Ar, K, Ca, Ga-Kr) and used as a key component in Gaussian-3 theory. It is based on a contraction of a set of 15s13p5d Gaussian primitives to 8s7p3d, and also includes sets of f and g polarization functions, diffuse spd functions, and core df polarization functions. The basis set is evaluated with triples-augmented coupled cluster [CCSD(T)] and Brueckner orbital [BD(T)] methods for a small test set involving energies of atoms, atomic ions, and diatomic hydrides. It performs well for the low-lying s-->d excitation energies of atoms, atomic ionization energies, and the dissociation energies of the diatomic hydrides. The Brueckner orbital-based BD(T) method performs substantially better than Hartree-Fock-based CCSD(T) for molecules such as NiH, where the starting unrestricted Hartree-Fock wavefunction suffers from a high degree of spin contamination. Comparison with available data for geometries of transition metal hydrides also shows good agreement. A smaller basis set without core polarization functions, G3MP2Large, is also defined.     

Stability and Hopf bifurcation of a diffusive predator‐prey model with hyperbolic mortality

The dynamics of a reaction‐diffusion predator‐prey model with hyperbolic mortality and Holling type II response effect is considered. The stability of the positive equilibrium and the existence of Hopf bifurcation are investigated by analyzing the distribution of eigenvalues without diffusion. We also study the spatially homogeneous and nonhomogeneous periodic solutions through all parameters of the system which are spatially homogeneous. To verify our theoretical results, some numerical simulations are also presented. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 34–43, 2016     

Quantum chemical insights into Alzheimer's disease: Curcumin's chelation with Cu(II), Zn(II), and Pd(II) as a mechanism for its prevention

We provide quantum chemical insights into curcumin's prevention of Alzheimer' disease through curcumin's scavenging of neurotoxic Cu(II), Zn(II), and Pd(II) transition metal ions that catalyze polymerization of amyloid‐β and promote misfolding of amyloid into neurotoxic conformations. We have employed high level quantum chemical computations to study the chelate complexes of curcumin with Cu(II), Zn(II), and Pd(II). Quantum chemically derived structures, IR spectra, and UV‐visible spectra of these complexes corroborate with the observed spectra, confirming that the primary site of chelation is the β‐diketone bridge through the loss of an enolic proton of curcumin. We have also obtained the various structural parameters such as the Mulliken charges on various centers, highest occupied, lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals—all of which confirm that curcumin forms chelate complexes and thus acts as a scavenger of these neurotoxic metal ions preventing Alzheimer's disease. We find that the open‐d‐shell Cu(II) and Pd(II) form nearly square planar complexes while the closed‐d‐shell Zn(II) forms a tetrahedral complex with curcumin. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Interaction of water, methanol, and ammonia with AlxOy-: a comparative theoretical study of Al5O4- versus Al3O3-

The chemical reactions of water, methanol, and ammonia with Al5O4- have been studied using electronic structure calculations. The chemistry of Al5O4- with these molecules is different from that of Al3O3-. While Al3O3- dissociatively adsorbs two water molecules (and methanol), Al5O4- reacts with only one. In addition, Al5O4- does not show any reaction with ammonia while recent experimental and theoretical studies suggest that Al3O3- chemisorbs ammonia. These apparent differences in their chemical reactivity have been explained based on the thermodynamic stability of the corresponding reaction products and kinetic barriers associated with their formation.