Synthesis and characterization of nickel(II) complexes with symmetrical tetradentate N2O2 naphthaldimine ligands. Their application as catalysts for the hydrogenation of cyclohexene

Ni acetate reacts with naphthaldimines containing the N2O2 donor group to yield two types of complex. The first, of molecular formula NiL (L=naphthaldimine), is free of the anions in which the ligand behaves as a dibasic tetradentate towards one Ni ion. These complexes are all diamagnetic, having square planar geometry. In the second type, the ligand behaves either as a monobasic acid towards the Ni ion or as a neutral molecule. These complexes are paramagnetic and exhibit a tetrahedral configuration around the central metal ion. The metal chelates were characterized by elemental analyses (t.g.a. and d.t.a.), and by i.r. and u.v.–vis. spectroscopy. Magnetic moments were also measured. A series of NiII–Schiff base complexes were tested for their catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of cyclohexene with molecular H2. The effects of the bridge length, amounts of solvent and cosolvent were studied. The use of H2O as a cosolvent greatly increases the yield of the reaction product. The hydrogenation product yield is linearly related to the dielectric constant of the medium.     

Complexes of copper(II) with some new thiocarbamide derivatives

Summary A new series of thiocarbamides was prepared by the reaction of benzoylisothiocyanate with various amines namely 2-aminopyridine (H₂L_I), 3-aminopyridine (H₂L_II), 2,3-diaminopyridine (H₂L_III), 2,6-diaminopyridine (H₂L_IV), o-phenylene diamine (H₂L_V), p-phenylenediamine (H₂L_VI) and ethylene diamine (H₂L_VII). The copper(II) complexes of these ligands were isolated and have been characterized by elemental analyses, molar conductivities, magnetic moments and spectral (visible, i.r.) measurements. I.r. spectra show that the ligands behave as dianionic or neutral tetradentates or as monoanionic or neutral bidentates. The [Cu(HL_I)Cl]₂ and Cu(H₂L_IV)Cl₂ complexes are diamagnetic and the other complexes have normal magnetic moment at room temperature. Electronic spectral analyses show that Cu₂(L_IV)Ac₂ is planar and the other complexes are tetragonally distorted octahedral. All the complexes are non-electrolytes.     

Spectrophotometric and electrical studies of charge transfer complexes of 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole with pi-acceptors

Charge transfer (CT) complexes formed between 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole as donor and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone (DDQ), p-chloranil (p-CHL), o-chloranil (o-CHL), p-bromanil (BRL) and chloranilic acid (CHA) as acceptors, have been studied spectrophotometrically. Benesi-Hildebrand and Job continuous variation methods were applied to the determination of association constant (K), molar extinction coefficients (varepsilon), dipole moment and stoichiometric ratio, respectively. The solid CT complexes have been synthesized and characterized by different spectral methods. The spectral changes reveal that the CT interaction depends on the type of the acceptors. The magnetic properties of the various complexes were also investigated. The electrical properties for the solid CT complexes are measured from which the activation energies are calculated.     

Spectroscopic investigation,DFT, fluorescence,molecular docking and biological studies of divalent and trivalent binuclear complexes prepared from benzoyl thiosemicarbazide derivative of 2‐benzylmalonohydrazide

The binuclear Cr (III), Mn (II) and Fe (III) complexes of N,N′‐(2,2′‐(2‐benzylmalonyl)bis (hydrazine‐1‐carbonothioyl))dibenzamide (H₄BPCD), which derived from the combination of 2‐benzylmalonohydrazide suspension with benzoyl‐isothiocyanate, have been isolated and investigated by the necessary analytical and spectroscopic techniques. The IR studies show that H₄BPCD dispose as a mono‐negative hexadentate ligand (NOS)₂ towards Mn (II) ion and tetra‐negative hexadentate (NOS)₂ towards both Cr (III) and Fe (III) ions. The values of molar conductance in DMSO suggested the non‐electrolytic nature for all complexes. The magnetic measurements and the electronic transitions data confirmed the hexa‐coordinate geometry of complexes. The DFT geometry optimization of all compounds and IR comparative study of both theoretical and experimental of H₄BPCD were carried out. Moreover, the H₄BPCD and its Cr (III) complex displayed intra ligand (π → π*) fluorescence emission spectra which corroborate their photoactive nature. The coordinated and crystalline water molecules have been investigated by (TG/DTG) studies. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were computed using Horowitz‐ Metzger, Coats‐Redfern and Broido methods. Biological studies of DNA binding, minimum inhibitory concentration, in vitro determination of SOD‐like activity and MTT‐cytotoxicity assay as well as molecular docking studies were tested for the ligand and its complexes.     

Fluorescent UO2(II) and ZrO(II) complexes: Synthesis,structural characterization,fluorescence, DNA binding studies and biological applications in cell probing

A new series of UO2(II) and ZrO(II) azo‐complexes based on 5‐nitro‐8‐hydroxyquinoline; [UO₂(H₂L¹)(NO₃)EtOH] (1), [ZrO(H₂L¹)(NO₃)H₂O] (2), [UO₂(HL²)(NO₃)EtOH]3H₂O (3), [ZrO(HL²)(NO₃)EtOH] (4), [UO₂(HL³)(NO₃)(H₂O)₃]2H₂O (5) and [ZrO(HL³)(NO₃)EtOH] (6); have been synthesized. The structure of these complexes has been characterized using elemental analysis, thermal analysis, molar conductance, UV–vis, IR, electron impact mass, X‐ray powder diffraction and NMR spectra. The results revealed the formation of non‐electrolyte mononuclear complexes via the N atom of the azo group or of the quinoline ring and the oxygen atom of the deprotonated OH. Fluorescence properties of the synthesized complexes have been examined and the fluorescence quantum yield (Φ_f) has been determined. The complexes have been tested as cell staining and imaging under the fluorescent microscope. The data showed that complexes 1 and 2 efficiently stain the nuclei in addition to some focal cytoplasmic areas. Other than complexes 3 and 4 exclusively stained the nuclei. On the other hand, complexes 5 and 6 stained the cytoplasm exclusively. It has been demonstrated that complex 4 was the most effective in cell staining. The binding constant (Kb) with DNA was calculated using UV–vis absorption titration and fluorescence spectral methods. It was concluded that complex 4 can be used effectively as fluorescent probes in studying cell biology.     

Temperature dependence of the thermophysical properties of Bi1.5Sb0.5Te3

The thermophysical properties (thermal diffusivitya, specific heatC _p and thermal conductivity λ), of Bi_1.5Sb_0.5Te₃ were measured in the temperature range 300–700 K. The results showed that the contribution of the charge carriers to the thermal conduction is negligibly small in comparison with the contribution of phonons at high temperatures. On the other hand, the heat conduction due to the simultaneous thermal diffusion of electrons and holes is important as well as the lattice thermal conduction. The explanation of the results was supported by using electrical conductivity measurements and X-ray diffraction.     

Photophysical parameters and laser performance of 3-(4′-dimethylaminophenyl)-1-(2-furanyl)prop-2-en-1-one (DMAFP): A new laser dye

The spectral properties such as singlet absorption, molar absorptivity, emission spectra, fluorescence quantum yield and excited state lifetime of 3-(4′-dimethylaminophenyl)-1-(2-furanyl)prop-2-en-1-one (DMAFP) have been determined in different solvents. DMAFP dye exhibits a large red shift in both electronic absorption and emission spectra as the solvent polarity increases, indicating a large change in the dipole moment of molecules upon excitation. A crystalline solid of DMAFP gives an excimer like emission at 566 nm due to the excitation of molecular aggregates. This is expected from the idealized crystal structure of the dye that belongs to the B-type class of Steven's classification. The ground and excited state protonation constants of DMAFP are calculated and amounted to 1.71 and 8.3, respectively. DMAFP acts as a good laser dye upon pumping with nitrogen laser (λ_ex=337.1 nm) in chloroform, methylene chloride and dioxane and gives laser emission in the range 460–590 nm. The laser parameters such as the tuning range, gain coefficient (α), emission cross section (σ_e) and half-life energy (E_1/2) are calculated. The photoreactivity and net photochemical quantum yield of DMAFP in chloromethane solvents are also studied.     

Deciphering the Interactions of Bioactive Compounds in Selected Traditional Medicinal Plants against Alzheimer’s Diseases via Pharmacophore Modeling,Auto-QSAR,and Molecular Docking Approaches

Neurodegenerative diseases, for example Alzheimer’s, are perceived as driven by hereditary, cellular, and multifaceted biochemical actions. Numerous plant products, for example flavonoids, are documented in studies for having the ability to pass the blood-brain barrier and moderate the development of such illnesses. Computer-aided drug design (CADD) has achieved importance in the drug discovery world; innovative developments in the aspects of structure identification and characterization, bio-computational science, and molecular biology have added to the preparation of new medications towards these ailments. In this study we evaluated nine flavonoid compounds identified from three medicinal plants, namely T. diversifolia, B. sapida, and I. gabonensis for their inhibitory role on acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, using pharmacophore modeling, auto-QSAR prediction, and molecular studies, in comparison with standard drugs. The results indicated that the pharmacophore models produced from structures of AChE, BChE and MAO could identify the active compounds, with a recuperation rate of the actives found near 100% in the complete ranked decoy database. Moreso, the robustness of the virtual screening method was accessed by well-established methods including enrichment factor (EF), receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), Boltzmann-enhanced discrimination of receiver operating characteristic (BEDROC), and area under accumulation curve (AUAC). Most notably, the compounds’ pIC₅₀ values were predicted by a machine learning-based model generated by the AutoQSAR algorithm. The generated model was validated to affirm its predictive model. The best models achieved for AChE, BChE and MAO were models kpls_radial_17 (R² = 0.86 and Q² = 0.73), pls_38 (R² = 0.77 and Q² = 0.72), kpls_desc_44 (R² = 0.81 and Q² = 0.81) and these externally validated models were utilized to predict the bioactivities of the lead compounds. The binding affinity results of the ligands against the three selected targets revealed that luteolin displayed the highest affinity score of −9.60 kcal/mol, closely followed by apigenin and ellagic acid with docking scores of −9.60 and −9.53 kcal/mol, respectively. The least binding affinity was attained by gallic acid (−6.30 kcal/mol). The docking scores of our standards were −10.40 and −7.93 kcal/mol for donepezil and galanthamine, respectively. The toxicity prediction revealed that none of the flavonoids presented toxicity and they all had good absorption parameters for the analyzed targets. Hence, these compounds can be considered as likely leads for drug improvement against the same.     

Facile synthesis of scheelite-type NdOsO4 directly grown on carbon cloth for oxygen evolution reaction

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - In the recent work, the scheelite-type ABO4 compound (A = Nd and B = Os) is synthesized via a hydrothermal route directly...     

Synthesis, spectral and thermal studies of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes 1-(4,6-dimethyl-pyrimidin-2-ylazo)-naphthalen-2-ol

The electronic absorption spectra of 1-(4,6-dimethyl-pyrimidin-2-ylazo)-naphthalen-2-ol is studied in organic solvents of different polarity as well as in buffer solutions of varying pH values at different temperatures and different ratios of methanol. The probable structure of the azodye has been assigned on the basis of spectral studies (IR and (1)H NMR). The effect of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions on the emission spectrum of the free azodye is also assigned. The stoichiometry of the metal complexes is determined spectrophotometrically and conductometrically. Novel complexes of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) with the pyrimidine azodye have been synthesized and characterized on the basis of elemental analyses, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements, IR, electronic as well as ESR spectral studies The thermal decomposition of the metal complexes is studied by TGA and DTA techniques. The kinetic parameters like activation energy, pre-exponential factor and entropy of activation are estimated.