Flow injection-based cloud point extraction of phosalone and ethion in seawater of Chabahar Bay and determination by high-performance liquid chromatography: study of use of carbon nanotube and nanofibers as a column filler in flow system

This study presents an easy and cost-effective flow-based cloud point extraction (CPE) method for determining partial amounts of two organophosphorus pesticides (phosalone and ethion) in seawater by HPLC–UV–Vis. In continues CPE methodology, the effect of the different column packing type such as carbon nanotube, polyacrylonitrile nanofiber and fiberglass on pesticide extraction was investigated. The Triton X-100 was utilized as nonionic surfactant, and moreover, effect of different parameters such as pH, temperature, extraction time, surfactant concentration, type and volume of the eluent solution on the extraction efficiency was optimized. Under optimum conditions, the figures of merit of the method for phosalone and ethion were obtained as: the enrichment factor (172 and 166), line range (0.8–300 and 0.5–300 µg L^?1, R ² = 0.9973 and 0.9982), relative standard deviation in concentration of 200 µg L^?1 (%RSD = %5.4 and %7.99, N = 5) and limit of detection (LOD = 0.24 and 0.14 µg L^?1). The suggested method was successfully used for determination of phosalone and ethion in Chabahar Bay seawaters with satisfactory results.     

Formation of Phosphorylated 3H‐Pyrroles from NefIsocyanidePerkow Adducts and Tosylmethyl Isocyanide

Imidoyl chlorides, generated from isocyanides and acyl chlorides, react with trialkyl phosphites, in a Perkow‐type reaction, to afford 3‐(alkylimino)‐2‐[(dialkyloxyphosphoryl)oxy]acrylates, which undergo a smooth reaction with tosylmethyl isocyanide (TsMIC) to furnish 4‐(alkylamino)‐3‐[(dialkyloxyphosphoryl)oxy]‐5‐[(4‐methylphenyl)sulfonyl]‐3H‐pyrrole‐3‐carboxylates in moderate‐to‐good yields.     

Thermal Decomposition Kinetics of Ethane Halides and Derivatives（C_2H_（6-n）X_n（n = 1～3）;X = F,Cl,Br）：DFT Study and NBO Analysis

A theoretical study of the thermal decomposition kinetics of ethane halides(C2H6-nXn(n = 1～3);X = F,Cl,Br) has been carried out at the B3LYP/6-31++G** and B3PW91/631++G** levels of theory.Among these methods and comparison of activation parameters with available experimental values,the B3PW91/6-31++G** method is in good agreement with the experimental data.The analysis of bond order and natural bond orbital(NBO) charges,bond indexes,and synchronicity parameters suggest the elimination of HX in reactions 1～9(HF:compounds 1～3,HCl:compounds 4～6,and HBr:compounds 7～9) occur through a concerted and slightly asynchronous four-membered cyclic transition state type of mechanism.     

Fabrication of carbon nanofiber by pyrolysis of freeze-dried cellulose nanofiber

The possibility of fabricating carbon nanofibers from cellulose nanofibers was investigated. Cellulose nanofiber of ~50 nm in diameter was produced using ball milling in an eco-friendly manner. The effect of the drying techniques of cellulose nanofibers on the morphology of carbon residue was studied. After pyrolysis of freeze-dried cellulose nanofibers below 600 °C, amorphous carbon fibers of ~20 nm in diameter were obtained. The pyrolysis of oven-dried precursors resulted in the loss of original fibrous structures. The different results arising from the two drying techniques are attributed to the difference in the spatial distance between cellulose nanofiber precursors.     

Phytochemical analysis and antimicrobial activities of methanolic extracts of leaf, stem and root from different varieties of Labisa pumila Benth

A local herb, Kacip Fatimah, is famous amongst Malay women for its uses in parturition; however, its phytochemical contents have not been fully documented. Therefore, a study was performed to evaluate the phenolics, flavonoids, and total saponin contents, and antibacterial and antifungal properties of the leaf, stem and root of three varieties of Labisia pumila Benth. Total saponins were found to be higher in the leaves of all three varieties, compared to the roots and stems. Leaves of var. pumila exhibited significantly higher total saponin content than var. alata and lanceolata, with values of 56.4, 43.6 and 42.3 mg diosgenin equivalent/g dry weight, respectively. HPLC analyses of phenolics and flavonoids in all three varieties revealed the presence of gallic acid, caffeic acid, rutin, and myricetin in all plant parts. Higher levels of flavonoids (rutin, quercitin, kaempferol) were observed in var. pumila compared with alata and lanceolata, whereas higher accumulation of phenolics (gallic acid, pyrogallol) was recorded in var. alata, followed by pumila and lanceolata. Antibacterial activities of leaf, stem and root extracts of all varieties determined against both Gram positive (Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis B145, Bacillus cereus B43, Staphylococcus aureus S1431) and Gram negative (Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumonia K36, Escherichia coli E256, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PI96) pathogens showed that crude methanolic extracts are active against these bacteria at low concentrations, albeit with lower antibacterial activity compared to kanamycin used as the control. Antifungal activity of methanolic extracts of all plant parts against Fusarium sp., Candida sp. and Mucor using the agar diffusion disc exhibited moderate to appreciable antifungal activities compared to streptomycin used as positive control.     

Cross-linking mechanisms of arginine and lysine with α,β-dicarbonyl compounds in aqueous solution

Cross-linking in proteins by α,β-dicarbonyl compounds is one of the most damaging consequences of reactive carbonyl species in vivo and in foodstuffs. In this article we investigate computationally the cross-linking of glyoxal and methylglyoxal with lysine and arginine residues using density functional theory and the wB97XD dispersion-corrected functional. Five pathways, A-E, have been characterized. In pathways A and B, the reaction proceeds via formation of the Schiff base, aldimine, followed by addition of arginine. In contrast, in pathways C-E, direct addition of arginine to the dicarbonyl compounds occurs first, leading to a dihydroxyimidazolidine intermediate, which then reacts with lysine after dehydration and proton transfer reactions. The results reveal that pathways A, C, and E are competitive whereas reactions via pathways B and D are much less favorable. Inclusion of up to five explicit water molecules in the proton transfer and dehydration steps is found to lower the energy barriers in the feasible pathways by about 5-20 kcal/mol. Comparison of the mechanisms of methylglyoxal-derived imidazolium cross-linking (MODIC) and glyoxal-derived imidazolium cross-linking (GODIC) shows that the activation barriers are lower for GODIC than MODIC, in agreement with experimental observations.     

Effect of thermophoresis and other parameters on the particle deposition on a tilted surface

In this study a modified version of v2-f turbulence model (φ-α), is applied to simulate a non-isothermal air-flow. The φ-α model and a two-phase Eulerian approach complement each other to predict the rate of particle deposition on a tilted surface. The φ-α model can accurately calculate the normal fluctuations, which mainly represent the non-isotropic nature of turbulence regime near the wall. The Eulerian model was modified considering the most important mechanism in the particle deposition rate when compared to the experimental data. The model performance is examined by comparing the rate of particle deposition on a vertical surface with the experimental data in a turbulent channel flow available in the literature. The effects of lift force, turbophoretic force, thermophoreric force, electrostatic force, gravitational force and Brownian/turbulent diffusion were examined on the particle deposition rate. The results show that, using the φ-α model predicts the rate of deposition with reasonable accuracy. The results of modified particle model are in good agreement with the experimental data. This study highlights the paramount effect of thermophoretic force on the particle deposition rate and clearly shows that when the temperature difference exceeds a certain limit, the electrostatic force has insignificant effect on the particle deposition rate. Furthermore, it is indicated that even at small temperature differences, the effect of tilt angle on the particle deposition rate for intermediate-size particles is negligible.     

Effect of Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> phases on the enhancement of thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids in engine oil

Thermal conductivity of α-Al₂O₃ was measured using hot wire method. α-Al₂O₃ (20 nm in size) was synthesized by microwave method for which, the results were compared with commercially available γ-Al₂O₃. Thermal conductivity of nanofluids was investigated considering, it is dependency on Al₂O₃ phase. It was observed that by adding 3 wt% of nano γ-Al₂O₃ and α-Al₂O₃ to the engine oil, thermal conductivity increases by 37 and 31%, respectively. The corresponding viscosity increase for the same amount of nano γ-Al₂O₃ and α-Al₂O₃ were 36 and 38%, respectively. It was concluded that the differences in thermal conductivity originate from higher specific surface area of γ-Al₂O₃ compared to the α-Al₂O₃ which is the result of porosity difference, obtained during the synthesis process.     

A novel numerical scheme for the investigation of surface tension effects on growth and collapse stages of cavitation bubbles

In the present study the effects of surface tension on the growth and collapse stages of cavitation bubbles are studied individually for both spherical and nonspherical bubbles. The Gilmore equation is used to simulate the spherical bubble dynamics by considering mass diffusion and heat transfer. For the collapse stage near a rigid boundary, the Navier–Stokes and energy equations are used to simulate the flow domain, and the VOF method is adopted to track the interface between the gas and the liquid phases. Simulations are divided into two cases. In the first case, the collapse stage alone is considered in both spherical and nonspherical situations with different conditions of bubble radius and surface tension. According to the results, surface tension has no significant effects on the flow pattern and collapse rate. In the second case, both the growth and collapse stages of bubbles with different initial radii and surface tensions are considered. In this case surface tension affects the growth stage considerably and, as a result, the jet velocity and collapse time decrease with increasing surface tension coefficient. This effect is more significant for bubbles with smaller radii.     

Newtonian and Shear-thinning Taylor flow heat transfer in wavy micro-tubes: a numerical study

Meccanica - In the present study, the two-phase gas–liquid convective heat transfer is numerically studied inside uniformly heated wavy micro-tubes in the Taylor flow regime. Both Newtonian...