Thermogravimetric analyses revealed the bioenergy potential of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eulaliopsis binata</Emphasis>

The present study was focused on the thermal degradation of Eulaliopsis binata biomass produced on a salt-affected soil without any fertilizer or pesticide applications. The plant biomass was subjected to thermal degradation experiments at three heating rates, 10, 30 and 50 K min^?1. The kinetic analyses were performed through isoconversional models of Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa, followed by the calculation of thermodynamic parameters of activation. The high heating value was calculated as 15.10 MJ mol^?1. The activation energy values of the grass were shown to be ranging from 118 through 240 kJ mol^?1. Energy difference of enthalpies of activation between the reagent and the activated complex was in accordance with activation energies. Pre-exponential factors indicated the reaction to follow first-order kinetics. Gibbs free energy for the grass was measured to be ranging from 171 to 174 kJ mol^?1. Our data have shown that E. binata biomass offers remarkable potential as a low-cost biomass for bioenergy.     

Anticancer metallopharmaceutical agents based on mixed‐ligand palladium(II) complexes with dithiocarbamates and tertiary organophosphine ligands

Mixed‐ligand palladium(II) complexes of the type [(DT)Pd(PR₃)Cl], where DT = diethyldithiocarbamate (1), dibutyldithiocarbamate (2,3), dipropyldithiocarbamate (4,5), bis(2‐methoxyethyl)dithiocarbamate; PR₃ = benzyldiphenylphosphine (1,4), diphenyl‐o‐tolylphosphine (2), diphenyl‐t‐butylphosphine (3), P‐chlorodiphenylphosphine (5) and triphenylphosphine (6), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses and FT‐IR, Raman and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. The structures of compounds 1 and 2 were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD) measurements and these analyses showed that the complexes have pseudo square‐planar geometry around the Pd(II) and that the dithiocarbamate ligand is bound in a bidentate fashion, while the remaining two positions are occupied by a tertiary organophosphine and a chloride ligand. The anticancer studies showed that the Pd(II) complexes are highly active against cisplatin‐resistant DU145 human prostate carcinoma (HTB‐81) cells with the highest activity shown by compound 6 (IC₅₀ = 2.12 µm ). The redox behavior and ds‐DNA‐denaturing ability of the complexes were studied by cyclic voltammetry and two reduction and one oxidation waves were observed. The decrease in the reduction peak currents illustrated the consumption of the mixed‐ligand drug by the DNA molecule. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thrombin Inhibitory Constituents from Duranta repens

The C‐alkylated flavonoids 3,7,4′‐trihydroxy‐3′‐(4‐hydroxy‐3‐methylbutyl)‐5,6‐dimethoxyflavone ( 1 ), 3,7‐dihydroxy‐3′‐(4‐hydroxy‐3‐methylbutyl)‐5,6,4′‐trimethoxyflavone ( 2 ) and the trans‐clerodane diterpenoids 6β‐hydroxy‐15,16‐epoxy‐5β,8β,9β,10α‐cleroda‐3,13(16),14‐trien‐18‐oic acid ( 3 ) and 2β‐hydroxy‐15,16‐epoxy‐5β,8β,9β,10α‐cleroda‐3,13(16),14‐trien‐18‐oic acid ( 4 ) were isolated from Duranta repens. Their structures and the relative configuration of 3 and 4 were determined by spectroscopic methods (¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR, IR, and MS) and 2D‐NMR experiments. The known flavonoid 5 is also reported for the first time from this species. The compounds 1 , 3 , and 5 showed significant enzyme‐inhibitory activity against thrombin.     

Biosynthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by the Valorization of Biomass and Synthetic Waste

Synthetic pollutants are a looming threat to the entire ecosystem, including wildlife, the environment, and human health. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural biodegradable microbial polymers with a promising potential to replace synthetic plastics. This research is focused on devising a sustainable approach to produce PHAs by a new microbial strain using untreated synthetic plastics and lignocellulosic biomass. For experiments, 47 soil samples and 18 effluent samples were collected from various areas of Punjab, Pakistan. The samples were primarily screened for PHA detection on agar medium containing Nile blue A stain. The PHA positive bacterial isolates showed prominent orange–yellow fluorescence on irradiation with UV light. They were further screened for PHA estimation by submerged fermentation in the culture broth. Bacterial isolate 16a produced maximum PHA and was identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. It was identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia HA-16 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MN240936","term_id":"1712425297","term_text":"MN240936"}}MN240936), reported first time for PHA production. Basic fermentation parameters, such as incubation time, temperature, and pH were optimized for PHA production. Wood chips, cardboard cutouts, plastic bottle cutouts, shredded polystyrene cups, and plastic bags were optimized as alternative sustainable carbon sources for the production of PHAs. A vital finding of this study was the yield obtained by using plastic bags, i.e., 68.24 ± 0.27%. The effective use of plastic and lignocellulosic waste in the cultivation medium for the microbial production of PHA by a novel bacterial strain is discussed in the current study.     

Microbial transformation of cortisol and prolyl endopeptidase inhibitory activity of its transformed products

Incubation of cortisol (1) with Gibberella fujikuruoi for 12 days yielded an oxidatively cleaved product, 11beta-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3,17-dione (2), while incubation with Bacillus subtilis and Rhizopus stolonifer yielded the reduced product, 11beta, 17alpha,20,21-tetrahydroxy-(20S)-pregn-4-en-3-one (3). Other reduced products, 11beta, 17alpha, 21-trihydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-3, 20-dione (4) and 3beta, 11beta, 17alpha, 21-tetrahydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (5) were obtained by incubation of compound 1 with Bacillus cerus. The inhibitory activity of compounds 1-5 against prolyl endopeptidase enzyme (PEP) was also assayed. Compounds 2 (IC50 162.8 microM) and 4 (IC50 157 microM) have shown significant inhibitory activity against PEP.     

Bio-inspired optimization algorithms for optical parameter extraction of dielectric materials: A comparative study

Particle swarm optimization(PSO) and invasive weed optimization(IWO) algorithms are used for extracting the modeling parameters of materials useful for optics and photonics research community. These two bio-inspired algorithms are used here for the first time in this particular field to the best of our knowledge. The algorithms are used for modeling graphene oxide and the performances of the two are compared. Two objective functions are used for different boundary values. Root mean square(RMS) deviation is determined and compared.     

Synthesis of Symmetric Bridged Bis-Pyrazolone Based Metal Complex Acid Dyes and their Applications on Leather

Our present investigation aims at the synthesis and application of new, symmetric bridged bis-pyrazolone based acid dyes. The bis-pyrazolone compounds were accomplished from bis- hydrazine of 4,4′-Diaminostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid and ethyl acetoacetate. The bis-pyrazolones have been coupled with diazonium salts of o-hydroxyl aromatic amines which resulted in ligand dyes. The intermediate ligand dyes were treated with 3d transition metals to achieve the targeted metal complex acid dyes. The structures of investigated compounds were confirmed with the help of spectroscopic techniques. Dyes were applied on leather and their application parameters including their light fastness, wash fastness and rubbing fastness were determined.

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Graphical Abstract Symmetric brymmetric Bridged bis-Pyrazolone based Metal Complex Acid

     

Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Ga1-xHoxN (x=0.0 and 0.05) Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Thin Films

Holmium doped GaN diluted magnetic semiconductor thin films have been prepared by thermal evaporation technique and subsequent ammonia annealing. X-ray diffraction mea-surements reveal all peaks belong to the purely hexagonal wurtzite structure. Surface mor-phology and composition analysis were carried out by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy respectively. The room temperature ferromagnetic proper-ties of Ga_1-xHo_xN(x=0.0, 0.05) films were analyzed using vibrating sample magnetometer at room temperature. Magnetic measurements showed that the undoped films (i.e. GaN) exhibited diamagnetic behavior, while the Ho-doped (Ga_0.95Ho_0.05N) film exhibited a ferro-magnetic behavior.     

Classification of Teleparallel Homothetic Vector Fields in Cylindrically Symmetric Static Space-Times in Teleparallel Theory ofGravitation

In this paper we classify cylindrically symmetric static space-timesaccording to their teleparallel homothetic vector fields using directintegration technique. It turns out that the dimensions of the teleparallelhomothetic vector fields are 4, 5, 7 or 11, which are the same in numbers asin general relativity. In case of 4, 5 or 7 proper teleparallel homotheticvector fields exist for the special choice to the space-times. In the caseof 11 teleparallel homothetic vector fields the space-time becomes Minkowskiwith all the zero torsion components. Teleparallel homothetic vector fieldsin this case are exactly the same as in general relativity. It is importantto note that this classification also covers the plane symmetric static space-times.     

Novel diethanolamine based deep eutectic mixtures for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture: synthesis and characterisation

In this work, diethanolamine was successfully used as a hydrogen bond donor to prepare three different deep eutectic solvents (DESs) using three quaternary ammonium salts at different molar ratios. Important physical properties of the prepared DESs including melting point, glass transition, crystallisation temperature, density, refractive index and viscosity were measured in temperature ranging from (298.15 to 358.15 K). Moreover, in order to explore the changes in chemical structures of the DESs, FTIR analysis was performed. The developed DESs have melting points lower than 293.15 K, and of significantly low density (close to water) and comparable viscosity. The effect of temperature and molar ratio on physical properties were also discussed. Empirical models were used to correlate the density, refractive index and viscosity data of the DESs as a function of temperature and molar ratio. A quantitative analysis, also called as ANOVA analysis, was conducted to investigate the significance of the experimental physical properties data. The new DESs prepared in this work have a potential to be used in numerous applications including CO₂ capture.