Composition of essential oil and antioxidant capacity of Centaurea drabifolia Sm. subsp. detonsa (Bornm.) Wagenitz, endemic to Turkey

In this study, composition of essential oil and antioxidant capacity of Centaurea drabifolia subsp. detonsa were investigated. The antioxidant capacity of the methanolic extract was evaluated by various methods including measuring the total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity, free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay), β-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching assay and ferric and cupric ion reducing power assay. The composition of essential oil was identified by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Totally, 41 compounds were described in the essential oil. Germacrene D (44.829%) was determined as the major compound of the essential oil. The total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity, inhibition rate of oxidation of linoleic acid, IC(50) (in DPPH assay) and EC(50) (in reducing power) value were found to be 40.454?mg?GAE/g, 100.840?mg?AAE/g, 65.639%, 39.584?μg?mL(-1) and 0.603?mg?mL(-1), respectively. The results indicated that the extract of C. drabifolia subsp. detonsa has strong antioxidant properties and this species can be used as a natural antioxidant in food processing and pharmaceutical industries.     

Intermolecular acetaldehyde and dimethoxymethane formation mechanisms via ethenol and methoxymethylene precursors in reactions of atomic carbon with methanol: a computational study

Atomic carbon, a reactive intermediate abundant in the interstellar medium (ISM) can participate in various energetically demanding reactions in its extremely long living (69 min) first excited singlet state ((1)D). Several studies on reactions of oxygen containing species with carbon atoms have been reported, however mechanistic details of the title reaction remain obscure. We report here quantum chemical studies on reactions of methanol with (3)P and (1)D carbon atoms at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ level of theory, with which experimentally well known facile CO production, intermolecular acetaldehyde formation, and intermolecular dimethoxymethane production mechanisms are explained. Energetics of the fragmentation, O-H insertion, C-H insertion, and O-C insertion channels on the triplet and singlet surfaces are studied. The CO production mechanism by C ((1)D) is identified as an oxygen abstraction and a triplet PES seems non-operative. Presenting novel features for the intermolecular reaction channels, current findings may be applicable to C + ROR reactions.     

Teaching the formation and solution of differential equations

This study examines how students in the early stages of learning about the concept of functions, describe a curve and, in particular, evaluate the appropriateness of their argument about the representation of a function. Students are offered a message game which is related to a curve drawn on a coordinate system, representing an ‘imaginary function’. In this message game, one half of the class must describe a curve to the other half who will then try to reproduce it as similarly as possible. Data analysis indicates that the idea of the curve that consists of series of points is very effective, while the idea of variation does not exist or is too limited among students at the beginning of learning functions. Thus, the concept of variation is not used as a criterion to describe a curve. More surprisingly, the students are working on the curve as if it was just a picture on a grid regardless of the representation of the function.     

Immunoadsorption of cholesterol on protein A oriented beads

Anti-low density lipoprotein antibody (anti-LDL) molecules were attached covalently and oriented through Protein A onto poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) [poly(HEMA-EGDMA)] beads in order to remove cholesterol specifically from hypercholesterolemic human plasma. Poly(HEMA-EGDMA) beads were produced by suspension polymerization. Blood compatibility tests were performed. All the clotting times were increased when compared with control plasma. Loss of platelets and leukocytes was very low. The maximum anti-LDL attachment was 11.6 mg . g(-1) in the case of random immobilization and 28.3 mg . g(-1) in the case of oriented immobilization. In the latter case, Protein A loading was 8.3 mg . g(-1) at pH 7.5 (borate buffer, 0.15 M NaCl). There was low non-specific cholesterol adsorption onto the poly(HEMA-EGDMA) beads, about 0.83 mg . g(-1). Random and oriented anti-LDL attached beads adsorbed 8.2 mg and 11.7 mg cholesterol per g of bead from hypercholesterolemic human plasma, respectively. Up to 96% of the adsorbed cholesterol was desorbed. The binding-elution cycle was repeated 6 times using the same beads. There was no significant loss of binding capacity.     

Rotational Raman generation with near-unity conversion efficiency

We demonstrate collinear generation of equidistant rotational sidebands in low-pressure molecular hydrogen with near-unity conversion efficiency. The spectrum consists of 37 coherent sidebands covering over 20, 000 cm(-1) of spectral bandwidth and ranging from 1.37mum to 352 nm in wavelength.     

Structure of a ring enlarged product from the base induced rearrangement of dibromomethylenebenzonorbornene

The base-catalyzed rearrangement reactions of 2-bromomethylenebenzonorbornene8 and 2,2-dibromomethylenebenzonorbornene9 were studied. Reaction of8 with potassiumtert-butoxide in THF gave only the enol ether11 whose formation is rationalized via a carbene-cycloalkyne mechanism. However, treatment of9 with phenyllithium in THF at –40°C gave the ringenlarged dibromide13 whose structure is reported herein. The ring-enlarged product13 is rationalized in terms of carbanionic rearrangement. Quantum mechanical calculations are consistent with these observations.     

A framework of incorporating confidence levels to deal with uncertainty in pairwise comparisons

Central European Journal of Operations Research - Pairwise comparison is a key ingredient in multi-criteria decision analysis. The method is based on a set of comparisons conducted by a group of...     

Synthesis of 4-alkoxycarbonyl-butenolides by uncatalyzed one-pot cyclization of 1,3-bis(silyloxy)alk-1-enes with oxalyl chloride

3-Hydroxy-4-alkoxycarbonyl-butenolides were prepared by one-pot cyclizations of 1,3-bis(silyloxy)alk-1-enes with oxalyl chloride.     

The synthesis of new polymeric sorbent and its application in preconcentration of cadmium and lead in water samples

Metal determinations at low concentration levels (≤ng mL⁻¹) comprise one of most important targets in analytical chemistry. This interest also increases in different areas such as biology, medicine, environment and food samples. In spite of inherent high sensitivities obtained for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), these techniques have some limitations depending on the concomitants. As a result, interest in preconcentration techniques still continues increasingly for trace metal determinations by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) due to the high accuracy of this method.In this work, thioureasulfonamide resin was synthesized, characterized and applied as a new sorption material for determinations of cadmium and lead in water samples. The method is based on the sorption of Cd and Pb ions on the synthesized resin without using any complexing reagent. The optimization of experimental conditions was performed using factorial design including pH, amount of resin, contact time, first sample volume and final eluent volume. Using the experimental conditions defined in the optimization, the method was applied to the determination and preconcentration of Cd and Pb at ng mL⁻¹ level in natural water. Flame AAS was used for trace metal determinations. This method exhibits the superiority in compared to the other adsorption reagents because of the fact that there is no necessity of any complexing reagent and optimum pH of solution presents in acidic media. Consequently, 600- and 360-fold improvements in the sensitivity of FAAS were achieved by combining the slotted tube atom trap-atomic absorption spectrometry (STAT-FAAS) and the purposed enrichment method for Cd and Pb, respectively.