Stereospecific Synthesis of Steroidal 20,16-γ-Carbolactones

Two strategies have been explored for the synthesis of steroidal 20,16-γ-carbolactones from the corresponding 17-ketoandrostane. A highly efficient, stereospecific protocol has been developed for the β-oriented cis-γ-lactone, based on a Michael addition of cyanide to a conjugated ketone. A different approach, involving prior attachment of a 3-carbon side chain on C-17 of a 17-oxo-16β-acetoxy-androstane led to the epimeric, α-oriented lactone.     

Co-solubilization of the Hydrophobic Drugs Carbamazepine and Nifedipine in Aqueous Nonionic Surfactant Media

Co-solubilization of the hydrophobic drugs Carbamezipine (CBZ) and Nifedipine (NFD) by micellar solutions at 25 °C, using two series of polyoxyethylene based nonionic surfactants, was measured and compared. The first series is composed of surfactants with a 12 carbon (C₁₂) hydrophobic chain while the second series had 16 carbon (C₁₆) hydrophobic chains. Experimental results were obtained for solubilization and co-solubilization of CBZ and NFD within the micelles at saturation and quantification was done in terms of the molar solubilization ratio and the micelle–water partition coefficient employing spectrophotometric and tensiometric techniques. The extent of micellar solubilization of CBZ is much greater than NFD. The C₁₂ series of surfactants exhibit higher solubilization capacities for CBZ than the C₁₆ series while the reverse is the case for NFD. Co-solubilization results showed competitive solubilization of the drugs. A synergistic effect on the solubilization of NFD was observed in the presence of CBZ in Brij30 and Brij56 surfactant systems while, in the remaining surfactants, the solubility of NFD was slightly reduced. Since the surfactants used in the present study are either nontoxic or have minimal toxicity, it is expected that they can be employed as drug delivery vehicles for co-administration of the two drugs in vivo. Both from industrial and research points of view, this paper reports a comprehensive study for co-solubilization of differently structured drugs in micellar media.     

Co‐ and Counterion Effect on the Micellization Characteristics of Dodecylpyridinium Chloride

Micellization parameters, critical micelle concentration (cmc), degree of counterion dissociation (α), aggregation number (n), critical packing parameter, and hydrophobic core volume of Dodecylpyridinium chloride (DPC) micelles were determined in presence of varying concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium acetate (SAc), sodium propionate (SPr), ethylammonium chloride (EACl), diethylammonium chloride (DEACl), tetraethylammonium chloride (TEACl), and propylammonium chloride (PACl) through conductometric investigations at 298.15 K. The resulting data suggests that both counter and coions affect the cmc values‐cmc depressing tendency of the salts varies in order PACl≈NaCl>EACl>DEACl>TEACl>SPr>SAc, while the degree of counterion dissociation is dependent on the nature and concentration range of the added salt. Increasing salt concentration increases the relative hydrophobic volume of the micelles and coion has not much effect on aggregation number.     

A review on recent advances in hierarchically porous metal and metal oxide nanostructures as electrode materials for supercapacitors and non-enzymatic glucose sensors

The remarkable significance of electrode materials in industrial processes, energy, sustainability and diabetes monitoring has captivated scientists to develop advance nanomaterials for the benefit of life across the globe. Here in, the recent developments in nanostructured porous metal and metal oxide composite materials for supercapacitor applications and non-enzymatic glucose sensors (NEGS) has been extensively discussed. The essential and active electrode materials from the research and application perspective has been emphasized in detail. We have also evaluated the worthiness, taxonomical classification, efficiency, specific capacitance and sensitivity of these materials for the aforementioned potential applications. Eventually, we concluded the review by providing the aspect ratio, surface morphology, particle size and specific surface area of these materials that plays an indispensable role for their promising potential applications.     

Longitudinal 3D Blood Flow Distribution Provided by Diffuse Correlation Tomography during Bone Healing in a Murine Fracture Model

Noninvasive monitoring of vascularization can potentially diagnose impaired bone healing earlier than current radiographic methods. In this study, a noncontact diffuse correlation tomography (DCT) technique was employed to measure longitudinal blood flow changes during bone healing in a murine femoral fracture model. The three-dimensional distribution of the relative blood flow was quantified from one day pre-fracture to 48 days post-fracture. For three mice, frequent DCT measurements were performed every other day for one week after fracture, and then weekly thereafter. A decrease in blood flow was observed in the bone fracture region at one day post-fracture, followed by a monotonic increase in blood flow beyond the pre-injury baseline until five to seven days post-fracture. For the remaining 12 mice, only weekly DCT measurements were performed. Data collected on a weekly basis show the blood flow for most mice was elevated above baseline during the first two post-fracture weeks, followed by a subsequent decrease. Torsional strength of the excised femurs was measured for all 15 mice after 7 weeks of healing. A metric based on the early blood flow changes shows a statistically significant difference between the high strength group and the low strength group.     

Recent developments and comparison of transformation strategies for organic halides to aldehydes and ketones

Molecular Diversity - Aldehydes and ketones are parts of millions of compounds and are important classes of chemicals which serve as important precursors for the synthesis of library of compounds....     

Stabilization of Catalytically Active Cu+ Surface Sites on Titanium–Copper Mixed‐Oxide Films

The oxidation of CO is the archetypal heterogeneous catalytic reaction and plays a central role in the advancement of fundamental studies, the control of automobile emissions, and industrial oxidation reactions. Copper‐based catalysts were the first catalysts that were reported to enable the oxidation of CO at room temperature, but a lack of stability at the elevated reaction temperatures that are used in automobile catalytic converters, in particular the loss of the most reactive Cu⁺ cations, leads to their deactivation. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, it is shown how the incorporation of titanium cations in a Cu₂O film leads to the formation of a stable mixed‐metal oxide with a Cu⁺ terminated surface that is highly active for CO oxidation.     

Some Inequalities Concerning the Polar Derivative of a Polynomial-II

In this paper, we consider the class of polynomials P（z）= anz^n＋ ∑vn=μan-vz^n-v,1≤μ≤n , having all zeros in ｜z｜≤k, k ≤1 and thereby present an alternative proof, independent of Laguerre＇s theorem, of an inequality concerning the polar derivative of a polynomial.     

A well‐balanced upstream flux‐splitting finite‐volume scheme for shallow‐water flow simulations with irregular bed topography

This study extends the upstream flux‐splitting finite‐volume (UFF) scheme to shallow water equations with source terms. Coupling the hydrostatic reconstruction method (HRM) with the UFF scheme achieves a resultant numerical scheme that adequately balances flux gradients and source terms. The proposed scheme is validated in three benchmark problems and applied to flood flows in the natural/irregular river with bridge pier obstructions. The results of the simulations are in satisfactory agreement with the available analytical solutions, experimental data and field measurements. Comparisons of the present results with those obtained by the surface gradient method (SGM) demonstrate the superior stability and higher accuracy of the HRM. The stability test results also show that the HRM requires less CPU time (up to 60%) than the SGM. The proposed well‐balanced UFF scheme is accurate, stable and efficient to solve flow problems involving irregular bed topography. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geometric Conditions on the Type of Matter Determining the Flat Behavior of the Rotational Curves in Galaxies

In an arbitrary axisymmetric stationary spacetime, we determine the expression for the tangential velocity of test objects following a circular stable geodesic motion in the equatorial plane, as function of the metric coefficients. Next, we impose the condition, observed in large samples of disks galaxies, that the magnitude of such tangential velocity be radii independent in the dark matter dominated region, obtaining a constraint equation among the metric coefficients, and thus arriving to an iff (iff means: if and only if.) condition: The tangential velocity of test particles is radii independent iff the metric coefficients satisfied the mentioned constraint equation. Furthermore, for the static case, the constraint equation can be easily integrated, leaving the spacetime at the equatorial plane essentially with only one independent metric coefficient. With the geometry thus fixed, we compute the Einstein tensor and equate it to an arbitrary stress energy tensor, in order to determine the type of energy-matter which could produce such a geometry. Within an approximation, we deduce a constraint equation among the components of the stress energy tensor. We test in that constraint equation several well known types of matter, which have been proposed as dark matter candidates and are able to point for possible right ones. Finally, we also present the spherically symmetric static case and apply the mentioned procedure to perfect fluid stress energy tensor, recovering the Newtonian result as well as the one obtained in the axisymmetric case. We also present arguments on the need to use GR to study types of matter different than the dust one.