Nonequilibrium liquid crystalline layered phase stabilized by light

The ability of light to alter/stabilize a particular thermodynamic phase is a power tool to investigate condensed matter from a new dimension. This field of photoinduced phase transitions is currently an important area of research. Being elastically soft and having subtle changes between its many phases a liquid crystal material is an attractive medium to investigate such light-driven phase transitions. The attraction is partly due to the large birefringence changes accompanying these transitions that are useful in developing photonic devices. In all of the cases reported to date, the photoinduced transition always leads to a phase that in any case exists in the thermal cycle. Recently we reported the first exception to such an established phenomenon (Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 2086). The guest-host ternary mixture consisting of the photoactive azobenzene guest molecules does not exhibit smectic A phase in the absence of UV radiation. However, the smectic A phase is induced and stabilized only in the presence of UV light. In this paper, we map out hitherto unexplored temperature versus UV intensity phase diagrams for various mixtures, which illustrate that light mimics, in a limited sense, the role of a thermodynamic parameter such as, for example, pressure. The threshold UV intensity required to photodrive the appearance of the smectic A phase is seen to have a strong concentration dependence. Our studies also suggest the possibility of observing a double critical point by employing the UV intensity as a fine-tuning parameter.     

Two dimensional electrophoretic analysis of human tears: collection method in dry eye syndrome

Tear proteomics, by 2-DE, can give a fingerprint of the protein profile, which is well suited in clinical proteomics for biomarker identification and in diagnostics. The mode of tear collection can influence the representation of the proteins in the tear and therefore it is important to use the appropriate method. In this study, capillary and Schirmer mode of tear collection was done in the healthy controls and the Schirmer method was validated in dry eye syndrome conditions. 2-D PAGE of normal and dry eye tear was performed using pH 3-10 linear IPG strips followed by 13% SDS-PAGE. The spot intensity was analyzed by the PD quest software. The two methods were compared using Bland-Altman statistical tool. The 2-D map of capillary and Schirmer tear showed 147 ± 8 spots and 145 ± 7 spots respectively. Both the collection methods were in agreement with each other and were comparable. Dry eye tear protein showed differential expression of proteins as observed in 25-35 kDa region. One of the significantly reduced protein was identified as proline-rich 4 protein. Schirmer method of tear collection is reliable in patients with dry eye, which can display the differential protein expression and help in biomarker identification.     

Time series with Birnbaum‐Saunders marginal distributions

A stationary sequence of random variables with Birnbaum‐Saunders marginal distribution is constructed using a Gaussian autoregressive moving average sequence. The parameters of the model are then estimated by the maximum likelihood method, and the resulting estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. A simulation study is carried out to assess the performance of the estimators. The proposed model is finally used to analyze 2 real data sets.     

Induced representations of Dihedral groups ( $$D_n$$ D n ) from its subgroups and to the Symmetric groups ( $$S_n$$ S n ): Applications to Nanotubes,Gel’fand states Tableaus and Spectroscopy

Journal of Mathematical Chemistry - Let $$D_n$$ denotes the dihedral group of order 2n. In this article, given any subgroup H of $$D_n$$ , we describe the direct sum decomposition of...     

Crystal growth, structural, optical, spectral and thermal studies of tris(L-phenylalanine)L-phenylalaninium nitrate: a new organic nonlinear optical material

Tris(L-phenylalanine)L-phenylalaninium nitrate, C(9)H(12)NO(2)(+)·NO(3)(-)·3C(9)H(11)NO(2) (TPLPN), a new organic nonlinear optical material was grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation solution growth at room temperature. The grown crystals were subjected to powder X-ray diffraction and single crystal X-ray diffraction studies to confirm the crystalline nature and crystal structure. The modes of vibration of different molecular groups present in TPLPN have been identified by FTIR spectral analysis. The presence of hydrogen and carbon in the grown crystal were confirmed by using proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral analyses. The optical transmission spectral study establishes good transmitting ability of the crystal in the entire visible region. The thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA) were carried out to understand the thermal stability of the sample. The nonlinear optical property of the compound observed using Kurtz powder second harmonic generation test assets the suitability of the grown material for the frequency conversion of laser radiation of Nd:YAG.     

New hexaphosphane ligands 1,3,5-C6H3{p-C6H4N(PX2)2}3 [X = Cl, F, C6H3OMe(C3H5)]: synthesis, derivatization and palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes

A novel dodecachlorohexaphosphane, 1,3,5-C(6)H(3)[p-C(6)H(4)N(PCl(2))(2)](3) (1) was synthesized by reacting 1,3,5-tris(4'-anilino)benzene with phosphorus trichloride. Fluorination of 1 with SbF(3) produces 1,3,5-C(6)H(3)[p-C(6)H(4)N(PF(2))(2)](3) (2). The derivatization of chlorohexaphosphane with an aryloxy substituent and its palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes are also described.     

Pd/C-Mediated Arylation Followed by I2-Catalyzed Hydration Strategy: Preparation of Functionalized Novel Indanone Derivatives

A simple and inexpensive synthesis of novel 2-(3-oxo-3-arylpropyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-one derivatives has been achieved via Pd/C-mediated arylation followed by I₂-mediated regioselective hydration of 2-(prop-2-ynyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ones. A wide variety of 3-aryl substituted 2-propynyl indanone derivatives were conveniently prepared by using 10% Pd/C-PPh₃-CuI as a catalyst system, some of which were used to prepare the corresponding ketones via alkyne hydration in the presence of catalytic I₂. In an in vitro study a representative compound showed inhibition of PDE4B (phosphodiesterase type 4B) and binding with this protein in silico     

An efficient approach for the synthesis of functionalized selenoethers and selenacalix[4]thiophenes, {2,5-(μ-Se)(3,4-dialkoxythiophene)}4

An efficient method for the synthesis of selenoethers and selenacalix[4]thiophene utilizing SeCl₂ is described. Reactions of phenols with SeCl₂ produce the corresponding selenoethers in moderate to good yields. The selenacalix[4]thiophenes, [–Se-3,4-(C₄(OR)₂S)]₄ (R = CH₃, C₆H₁₃) were synthesized by convenient one-pot electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction of dialkoxy thiophene with SeCl₂ in good yield.     

Nitroketene acetal chemistry: efficient synthesis of 2-amino-3-nitro-4H-chromenes

Base-catalyzed reaction of the nitroketene N,S-acetals and the ring substituted 2-hydroxybenzaldehydes afforded a combinatorial library of the 2-alkylamino-3-nitro-4-alkylsulfanyl 4H-chromenes in excellent yields. Nucleophilic displacement of the C4 alkylsulfanyl group with different thiols afforded 4H-chromenes with structural diversity.     

Enhanced Bactericidal Activity of Modified Titania in Sunlight against Pseudomonas aeruginosa,a Water-Borne Pathogen

Photocatalyst-mediated inactivations generate reactive oxygen species and OH radicals, which induce oxidative destruction of membrane integrity, causing damage to membrane phospholipids of gram negative bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nanosized TiO₂ was synthesized by gel to crystalline conversion and Zr-doped TiO₂ was synthesized by pulverization using appropriate precursor. The doped nanocrystals retained the anatase phase with a marginal increase in crystallite size, averaging at 25 nm. SEM–EDX analysis of the doped sample depicts the substantial growth of grain size with 1.33 atomic weight % of zirconium. The created electron states in the doped sample act as charge carrier traps suppressing recombination which later detraps the same to the surface of the catalyst causing enhanced interfacial charge transfer. Zr-doped TiO₂ at the molecular scale exhibits better photocatalytic activity with lower bandgap energy that can respond to visible light. The redshift caused by the dopants in absorption spectra of TiO₂ facilitated the nonintrinsic sample to exhibit nearly 2-fold enhancement of photoinactivation in sunlight. Extent of photoinactivation of P. aeruginosa was observed to be complete (100%) within 150 min of sunlight exposure in the presence of modified TiO₂.