Phase separation behavior of whey protein isolate particle dispersions in the presence of xanthan

In this study, phase separation of colloidal whey protein isolate (WPI) particle dispersions was studied using a rod-like polysaccharide xanthan. Effects of different xanthan concentration, particle volume fraction, and temperature were analyzed by visual observations, turbidity measurements, and particle mobility tracking method. Particle mobility was determined using a diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) set up. Xanthan concentration was kept low in order not to increase the viscosity of dispersions, so that the phase separation could be observed easily. Visual observations showed that there was a minimum concentration of xanthan to induce phase separation at a constant particle volume fraction, and xanthan concentration was found to have an important effect on the degree of phase separation. The temperature was also found to have an effect on depletion mechanism. Phase separation was mainly a result of different sizes of WPI particles, and xanthan induced the depletion interaction between WPI particles, as supported by the data obtained from DWS. The results of this study explained both the mechanism and the stability range of particle dispersions in the presence of xanthan, which is important for the design of stable systems, including colloidal particles.     

A numerical study of the semi‐classical limit for three‐coupled long wave–short wave interaction equations

We study numerically the semi‐classical limit for three‐coupled long wave–short wave interaction equations. The Fourier–Galerkin semi‐discretization is proved to be spectrally convergent in an appropriate energy space. We propose a split‐step Fourier method in the semi‐classical regime with the discussion of the meshing strategy, which is necessary to obtain correct numerical solution. Plane wave solution with weak and strong initial phases, solitary wave solution and Gaussian solution are considered to investigate the semi‐classical limit.     

Exact Solutions of the Gardner Equation and their Applications to the Different Physical Plasmas

Traveling wave solution of the Gardner equation is studied analytically by using the two dependent (G^′/G,1/G)-expansion and (1/G^′)-expansion methods and direct integration. The exact solutions of the Gardner equations are obtained. Our analytic solutions are applied to the unmagnetized four-component and dusty plasma systems consisting of hot protons and electrons to investigate dynamical features of the solitons and shock waves produced in these systems. A wide variety of parameters of the plasma is used, and the basic features of the Gardner solitons that are beyond the existing study in literature are found. It is observed that the analytic solutions from (G^′/G,1/G)-expansion and (1/G^′)-expansion methods only produce shock waves but the solitary waves are found from the analytic solutions derived from the direct integration. It is also noted that the superhot electrons and relative mass density of the electrons significantly effect the soliton’s amplitude, width, and position. We have also numerically proved that the combination of every value of nomalized density μ₁ or temperature ratio σ₁ with the other sets of plasma parameters creates a region where the solutions have similar physical properties. The time-dependent behavior of the soliton is also studied, and a periodic motion of soliton along the phase variable η is found during the evolution. The investigations and the limits presented in this study may be helpful for studying and understanding the nonlinear properties of the solitary and shock waves seen in various physical and astrophysical plasma systems.     

液/液界面电子转移研究苯甲酰吡啶-缩氨基硫脲的亲脂性

The ion transfer reaction of 2-benzoylpyridine-thiosemicarbazone (HL), which has antimicrobial and antifungal properties and anticancer activity, has been studied to determine its lipophilicity by cyclic voltammetry at the water/1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCE) interface. The physicochemical parameters such as standard partition coefficient (IgP1) and the standard Gibbs energy of transfer (△G0,w→otr,I) of the protonated form of the ligand were measured as a function of pH in aqueous phase. The protonated form of the ligand exhibited reversible or quasi-reversible voltammograms at the 1,2-DCE in the range of pH 1-5. The protonation constants of the ligand, pKal, and pK? were determined spectrophotometrically and were found to be 12.14 and 3.24, respectively. The standard Gibbs energy of transfer (△G0,w→otr,N) and the partition coefficient of neutral species (IgPN) were also determined by the shake-flask method. The standard Gibbs energy of transfer of this compound across the water/1,2-DCE interface was evaluated as the quantitative measure of its lipophilicity. The difference between lgP1 and lgPN was related to the degree of charge delocalization and was used to evaluate qualitatively the lipophilicity of the ligand.     

Investigation of the Lipophilicity of 2-Benzoylpyridine-Thiosemicarbazone Based on the Ion Transfer across the Liquid/Liquid Interface

The ion transfer reaction of 2-benzoylpyridine-thiosemicarbazone (HL), which has antimicrobial and antifungal properties and anticancer activity, has been studied to determine its lipophilicity by cyclic voltammetry at the water/1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCE) interface. The physicochemical parameters such as standard partition coefficient (lgP_I) and the standard Gibbs energy of transfer ( ) of the protonated form of the ligand were measured as a function of pH in aqueous phase. The protonated form of the ligand exhibited reversible or quasi-reversible voltammograms at the 1,2-DCE in the range of pH 1–5. The protonation constants of the ligand, pK_a1 and pK_a2, were determined spectrophotometrically and were found to be 12.14 and 3.24, respectively. The standard Gibbs energy of transfer ( ) and the partition coefficient of neutral species (lgP_N) were also determined by the shake-flask method. The standard Gibbs energy of transfer of this compound across the water/1,2-DCE interface was evaluated as the quantitative measure of its lipophilicity. The difference between lgP_I and lgP_N was related to the degree of charge delocalization and was used to evaluate qualitatively the lipophilicity of the ligand.     

Spectroscopic and computational insights into second-sphere amino-acid tuning of substrate analogue/active-site interactions in iron(III) superoxide dismutase

In this study, the mechanism by which second-sphere residues modulate the structural and electronic properties of substrate-analogue complexes of the Fe-dependent superoxide dismutase (FeSOD) has been explored. Both spectroscopic and computational methods were used to investigate the azide (N3(-)) adducts of Fe(3+)SOD (N3-Fe(3+)SOD) and its Q69E mutant, as well as Fe(3+)-substituted MnSOD (N3-Fe(3+)(Mn)SOD) and its Y34F mutant. Electronic absorption, circular dichroism, and magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopic data reveal that the energy of the dominant N3(-)-->Fe(3+) ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) transition decreases in the order N3-Fe(3+)(Mn)SOD>N3-Fe(3+)SOD>Q69E N3-Fe(3+)SOD. Intriguingly, the LMCT transition energies correlate almost linearly with the Fe(3+/2+) reduction potentials of the corresponding Fe(3+)-bound SOD species in the absence of azide, which span a range of approximately 1 V (see the preceding paper). To explore the origin of this correlation, combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) geometry optimizations were performed on complete enzyme models. The INDO/S-CI computed electronic transition energies satisfactorily reproduce the experimental trend in LMCT transition energies, indicating that the QM/MM optimized active-site models are reasonable. Density functional theory calculations on these experimentally validated active-site models reveal that the differences in spectral and electronic properties among the four N 3(-) adducts arise primarily from differences in the hydrogen-bond network involving the conserved second-sphere Gln (mutated to Glu in Q69E FeSOD) and the solvent ligand. The implications of our findings with respect to the mechanism by which the second-coordination sphere modulates substrate-analogue binding as well as the catalytic properties of FeSOD are discussed.     

Preparation of glutathione loaded nanoemulsions and testing of hepatoprotective activity on THLE-2 cells

To improve bioavailability and stability of hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds, nanoemulsions are good alternatives as delivery systems because of their nontoxic and nonirritant nature. Glutathione (GSH) suffers from low stability in water, where its encapsulation in nanoemulsions is a powerful strategy to its stability in aqueous systems. The aim of this study was to obtain nanoemulsions from the hydrophobic/hydrophilic contents of N. sativa seed oil so as to improve GSH stability along with bioavailability of N. sativa seed oil. Then, the prepared nanoemulsions were tested for in vitro hepatoprotective activity against ethanol toxicity. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study on the test of nanoemulsions by the combination of Nigella sativa seed oils and GSH in hepatoprotective activity. Here, nanoemulsions with different contents were prepared using Nigella sativa seed oils. Content analyses and characterisation studies of prepared nanoemulsions were carried out. In order to investigate the protective effects against to ethanol exposure, THLE-2 cells were pretreated with nanoemulsions for 2 h with the maximum benign dose (0.5 mg/mL of nanoemulsions). Ethanol (400 mM) was introduced to pretreated cells and nontreated cells for 48- or 72-h periods, followed by cell viability assay was carried out. Fluorescence microscopy tests revealed the introduction of the nanoemulsions into THLE-2 cells. The findings show that nanoformulations have promising in vitro hepatoprotective effects on the THLE-2 cell line against ethanol exposure.     

Polymer encapsulated and stabilised blue-phase liquid crystal droplets

Polymer-encapsulated–polymer-stabilised blue-phase liquid crystals (LCs) are investigated. Encapsulated droplets are formed in a polyvinyl alcohol solution by emulsification, and blue-phase (BP) LCs in the droplets are stabilised via the polymerisation of reactive monomers to extend the BP temperature range. Polymer stabilised droplets are found to cause the expansion of the BP temperature range from 53°C to below 0°C. The effects of composition on droplet formation and the electro-optical behaviour and morphological properties of these droplets are reported.     

Synthesis of new pyrazolothiazole derivatives from 4-thiazolidinones

The synthesis of new 2,3,5,6-aryl substituted tetrahydro-2H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]- thiazoles 4a-j as potential biologically active compounds by the cyclocondensation of phenyl hydrazine with new 5-arylidene derivatives 2a-j of 2,3-disubstituted-1,3- thiazolidin-4-ones 1a-e is reported.     

State-of-the-art computations of dipole moments using analytic gradients of high-level density-fitted coupled-cluster methods with focal-point approximations

Using the analytic derivatives approach, dipole moments of high-level density-fitted coupled-cluster (CC) methods, such as coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), and coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)], are presented. To obtain the high accuracy results, the computed dipole moments are extrapolated to the complete basis set (CBS) limits applying focal-point approximations. Dipole moments of the CC methods considered are compared with the experimental gas-phase values, as well as with the common DFT functionals, such as B3LYP, BP86, M06-2X, and BLYP. For all test sets considered, the CCSD(T) method provides substantial improvements over Hartree–Fock (HF), by 0.076–0.213 D, and its mean absolute errors are lower than 0.06 D. Furthermore, our results indicate that even though the performances of the common DFT functionals considered are significantly better than that of HF, their results are not comparable with the CC methods. Our results demonstrate that the CCSD(T)/CBS level of theory provides highly-accurate dipole moments, and its quality approaching the experimental results. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.