Generalized local projection stabilized nonconforming finite element methods for Darcy equations

Numerical Algorithms - An a priori analysis for a generalized local projection stabilized finite element solution of the Darcy equations is presented in this paper. A first-order nonconforming...     

Guerbet alcohol esters: Practical synthesis and applications

Guerbet alcohols are primary alcohols with beta branching and have lower melting point than their linear counterpart. Due to presence of branching, the products are liquid at lower temperatures; they have low volatility and exhibit better color and oxidation stability. The main advantage of the Guerbet branching material is their biodegradability. Present research work was carried out on synthesis of branch chain alcohols with varying hydrocarbon chain lengths. The main purpose was to study the effects of branching and varying chain length with performance properties. Branch chain esters with mono and di-carboxylic acids were synthesized with varying hydrocarbon chain lengths. The major limitation of Guerbet products is their cost. Guerbet alcohols were esterified with various monobasic and dibasic acids and found to have lower pour points. Load carrying capacity of prepared ester increased with increase in carbon chain. Wear scar of the prepared ester decreased with the increase in carbon number of ester molecule. These properties indicated their potential use as lubricating oil base stock which are environment friendly as they are biodegradable and with excellent liquidity.     

Quantification of the Particle Size and Stability of Graphene Oxide in a Variety of Solvents

The exceptional solution processing potential of graphene oxide (GO) is always one of its main advantages over graphene in terms of its industrial relevance in coatings, electronics, and energy storage. However, the presence of a variety of functional groups on the basal plane and edges of GO makes understanding suspension behavior in aqueous and organic solvents, a major challenge. Acoustic spectroscopy can also measure zeta potential to provide unique insight into flocculating, meta‐stable, and stable suspensions of GO in deionized water and a variety of organic solvents (including ethanol, ethylene glycol, and mineral oil). As expected, a match between solvent polarity and the polar functional groups on the GO surface favors stable colloidal suspensions accompanied by a smaller aggregate size tending toward disperse individual flakes of GO. This work is significant since it describes the characteristics of GO in solution and its ability to act as a precursor for graphene‐based materials.     

Linear and Nonlinear Stability of Double-Diffusive Convection with the Soret Effect

The onset of double-diffusive convection in a horizontal fluid-saturated porous layer is examined by taking the Soret effect into consideration. The linear and nonlinear stability analyses are derived, and the corresponding eigenvalue problems are solved. The nonlinear stability analysis is achieved by using the energy method. In both the cases of linear and nonlinear stability theories, the onset criterion for all possible modes is derived analytically. For numerical computations of the eigenvalue problem, the Chebyshev tau method is employed. It is observed that the effect of stabilization or destabilization caused by the Soret parameter is significant for the Soret parameters which are less than \(Sr = 2\). In the absence of the Soret effect, the linear and nonlinear stability thresholds coincide.     

Synthesis and characterization of microporous hollow core-shell silica nanoparticles (HCSNs) of tunable thickness for controlled release of doxorubicin

Hollow core-shell silica nanoparticles (HCSNs) are being considered as one of the most favorable drug carriers to accomplish targeted drug delivery. In the present study, we developed a simple two-step method, employing polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles (150?±?20 nm) as a sacrificial template for the synthesis of microporous HCSNs of size 230?±?30 nm. PS core and the wall structure directing agent cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) were removed by calcination. Monodispersed spherical HCSNs were synthesized by optimising the parameters like water/ethanol volume ratio, PS/tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) weight ratio, concentration of ammonia, and CTAB. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the formation of hollow core-shell structure of silica with tunable thickness from 15 to 30 nm while tailoring the concentration of silica precursor. The results obtained from the cumulative release studies of doxorubicin loaded microporous HCSNs demonstrated the dependence of shell thickness on the controlled drug release behavior. HCSNs with highest shell thickness of 30 nm and lowest surface area of 600 m²/g showed delay in the doxorubicin release, proving their application as a drug carrier in targeted drug delivery systems. The novel concept of application of microporous HCSNs of pore size ~?1.3 nm with large specific surface area in the field of drug delivery is successful.     

Heavy Heparin: A Stable Isotope‐Enriched,Chemoenzymatically‐Synthesized,Poly‐Component Drug

Heparin is a highly sulfated, complex polysaccharide and widely used anticoagulant pharmaceutical. In this work, we chemoenzymatically synthesized perdeuteroheparin from biosynthetically enriched heparosan precursor obtained from microbial culture in deuterated medium. Chemical de‐N‐acetylation, chemical N‐sulfation, enzymatic epimerization, and enzymatic sulfation with recombinant heparin biosynthetic enzymes afforded perdeuteroheparin comparable to pharmaceutical heparin. A series of applications for heavy heparin and its heavy biosynthetic intermediates are demonstrated, including generation of stable isotope labeled disaccharide standards, development of a non‐radioactive NMR assay for glucuronosyl‐C5‐epimerase, and background‐free quantification of in vivo half‐life following administration to rabbits. We anticipate that this approach can be extended to produce other isotope‐enriched glycosaminoglycans.     

High accuracy cubic spline approximation for two dimensional quasi-linear elliptic boundary value problems

We report a new 9 point compact discretization of order two in y- and order four in x-directions, based on cubic spline approximation, for the solution of two dimensional quasi-linear elliptic partial differential equations. We describe the complete derivation procedure of the method in details and also discuss how our discretization is able to handle Poisson’s equation in polar coordinates. The convergence analysis of the proposed cubic spline approximation for the nonlinear elliptic equation is discussed in details and we have shown under appropriate conditions the proposed method converges. Some physical examples and their numerical results are provided to justify the advantages of the proposed method.     

Synthesis, characterization and molecular structures of barium(II) trichloroacetate DME/1,4-dioxane compounds

Two new barium(II) trichloroacetate compounds, [Ba(H₂O)(DME)(μ-O₂CCCl₃)₂]_n (1) and [{Ba(H₂O)₂(diox)_0.5(μ-O₂CCCl₃)₂}(diox)]_n (2) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, physiochemical studies, FT-IR, ¹H NMR, thermogravimetric analyses (TG/DTG/DSC) and single crystal X-ray studies. The reaction of hydrated barium(II) trichloroacetate monohydrate with excess DME (1,2-dimethoxyethane) and diox (1,4-dioxane) in methanol at room temperature led to the isolation of the novel compounds 1 and 2, respectively. Bridging trichloroacetate groups are anticipated on the basis of FT-IR studies and this was confirmed by the X-ray studies. Both compounds dissociate to produce ions in water, as shown by molar conductance values. ¹H NMR spectroscopy confirms that DME and 1,4-dioxane are coordinated to the metal ion in these compounds. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the barium cation is coordinated to nine O atoms in a deformed coordination polyhedron in both compounds. Structural data of barium(II) trichloroacetates compounds have been obtained for the first time in the present investigation.     

Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) microgel based assemblies for organic dye removal from water: microgel diameter effects

Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic acid (pNIPAm-co-AAc) microgel based assemblies (aggregates) were synthesized from microgels of various diameters via polymerization of the crosslinker N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS) in the presence of microgels in solution. We investigated the ability of the respective aggregates to remove the organic, azo dye molecule 4-(2-hydroxy-1-napthylazo) benzenesulfonic acid sodium salt (Orange II) from water at both room and elevated temperatures. The results from the microgel aggregates made from 1.1-μm-diameter [Parasuraman and Serpe. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2011] microgels were compared to aggregates synthesized from 321-nm and 1.43-μm-diameter microgels. Aggregates made from the same size microgels showed increased uptake efficiency as the concentration of BIS in the aggregates was increased, while for a given BIS concentration, the uptake efficiency increased with increasing microgel size in the aggregate. We attribute this to the “nature” of the aggregates; aggregates have void space between the microgels that can serve as reservoirs for Orange II uptake—the void spaces are hypothesized to increase with larger diameter microgels. By exploiting the thermoresponsive nature of the microgels, and microgel based aggregates, 85.3 % removal efficiencies can be achieved. Finally, all uptake trends for the aggregates, at room temperature, were fit with a Langmuir sorption isotherm model.