Covalent immobilization of Candida antarctica lipase B on nanopolystyrene and its application to microwave-assisted esterification

Nanopolystyrene was used as a solid support for the covalent immobilization of Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) using the photoreactive reagent 1-fluoro-2-nitro-4-azido benzene (FNAB) as a coupling reagent. The obtained derivative was then used as a biocatalyst in a microwave assisted esterification experiment. Factors such as contact time, pH, and enzyme concentration were investigated during immobilization. The hydrolytic activity, thermal, and operational stability of immobilized-CalB were determined. The maximum immobilized yield (218 μg/mg support) obtained at pH 6.8 exhibited optimum hydrolytic activity (4.42 × 10³ mU p-nitrophenol/min). The thermal stability of CalB improved significantly when it was immobilized at pH 10, however, the immobilized yield was very low (93.6 μg/mg support). The immobilized-CalB prepared at pH 6.8 and pH 10 retained 50% of its initial activity after incubation periods of 14 and 16 h, respectively, at 60 ℃. The operational stability was investigated for the microwave assisted esterification of oleic acid with methanol. Immobilized-CalB retained 50% of its initial activity after 15 batch cycles in the microwave-assisted esterification. The esterification time was notably reduced under microwave irradiation. The combined use of a biocatalyst and microwave heating is thus an alternative total green synthesis process.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the reduction of diaquotetrakis (2,2′-bipyridine)-µ-oxodiruthenium(III) ion by hypophosphorous acid in acidic medium

The kinetics and mechanism of the reduction of diaquotetrakis(2,2′-bipyridine)-µ-oxodiruthenium(III), [(H₂O)₂(bipy)₄Ru₂O]⁴⁺, by H₃PO₂ has been studied in aqueous acid at ionic strength = 0.5 mol dm^?3 (NaClO₄), [H⁺] = 5.0 × 10^?2 mol dm^?3 and temperature = 31 ± 1 °C. Measurement of the stoichiometry showed that 1 mole of [(H₂O)₂(bipy)₄Ru₂O]⁴⁺ was reduced by 1 mole of H₃PO₂. The reaction was found to be first order with respect to both [(H₂O)₂(bipy)₄Ru₂O⁴⁺] and [H₃PO₂], hence second order overall. Variations in the ionic strength and dielectric constant of the reaction medium had no effect on the rate. Also, addition of various ions to the reaction medium did not significantly alter the rate. Free radicals were identified during the course of the reaction by a polymerisation test. Spectroscopic information and Michaelis–Menten plots suggested the absence of an intermediate complex prior to electron transfer. [(H₂O)₂(bipy)₂Ru]²⁺, the reduction product of [(H₂O)₂(bipy)₄Ru₂O]⁴⁺, plus H₃PO₃, the oxidation product of H₃PO₂, were identified in the product solutions. It is suggested that the reaction proceeds through the outer sphere pathway. A mechanism for the reaction is proposed.     

High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography Analysis of Saccharin in Foods and Beverages

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A simple, accurate, and inexpensive high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been established for analysis of...     

Probabilistic representation and approximation for coupled systems of variational inequalities

Our study is dedicated to the probabilistic representation and numerical approximation of solutions of coupled systems of variational inequalities. We interpret the unique viscosity solution of a coupled system of variational inequalities as the solution of a one-dimensional constrained BSDE with jumps. This new representation allows for the introduction of a natural probabilistic numerical scheme for the resolution of these systems.     

Computationally Efficient Changepoint Detection for a Range of Penalties

In the multiple changepoint setting, various search methods have been proposed, which involve optimizing either a constrained or penalized cost function over possible numbers and locations of changepoints using dynamic programming. Recent work in the penalized optimization setting has focused on developing an exact pruning-based approach that, under certain conditions, is linear in the number of data points. Such an approach naturally requires the specification of a penalty to avoid under/over-fitting. Work has been undertaken to identify the appropriate penalty choice for data-generating processes with known distributional form, but in many applications the model assumed for the data is not correct and these penalty choices are not always appropriate. To this end, we present a method that enables us to find the solution path for all choices of penalty values across a continuous range. This permits an evaluation of the various segmentations to identify a suitable penalty choice. The computational complexity of this approach can be linear in the number of data points and linear in the difference between the number of changepoints in the optimal segmentations for the smallest and largest penalty values. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Live Cell Imaging With Biocompatible Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots Derived From Edible Mushrooms Agaricus bisporus,Pleurotus ostreatus,and Suillus luteus

In the study, fluorescent imaging of live cells was performed using fluorescent carbon quantum dots derived from edible mushrooms species; Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Suillus luteus as a fluorophore agent. Carbon quantum dots were synthesized through a facile and low-cost method based on microwave irradiation of dried mushroom samples in hydrogen peroxide solution under optimized conditions (microwave energy, solution type, duration of microwave treatment, amount of mushroom). Upon purification with centrifugation, microfiltration, and dialysis, the lyophilized carbon quantum dots were identified through UV–visible, fluorescence and FT-IR, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and quantum yield calculation. Cell viability assessment of the carbon quantum dots was evaluated against human epithelial cell line PNT1A using the Alamar Blue Assay. In vitro fluorescence cell imaging studies demonstrated that the carbon dots could dynamically penetrate the cell membrane and nuclear membrane and localize in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus.

     

On*-primes and*-valuations

We study the relation between^*-primes and^*-valuations to deduce a necessary and sufficient condition for extending^*-valuations.     

AnL 1 counting problem in ergodic theory

We give a negative solution to the following counting problem for measure preserving transformations. Forf∈L ₊ ¹ (μ), is it true that sup _n (N _n (f)(x)/n) <∞, μ a.e., where N _n (f)(x)=≠{k:f(T ^k x)/k >1/ n}? One of the consequences is the nonvalidity of J. Bourgain’s Return Time Theorem for pairs of (L ¹ ,L ¹ ) functions.     

Chemical constituents from the flowers of Satsuma mandarin and their free radical scavenging and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities

Flowers of Citrus plants are used as mild sedatives and for the treatment of insomnia in traditional medicines. In Japan, tea made from the flowers of Satsuma mandarin is consumed as healthy drink. Hesperidin (1), hesperetin (2), rutin (3), quercetin (4), nicotiflorin (5), eriocitrin (6), narirutin (7), phenylethyl glucoside (8) and unshuoside A (9) were isolated from the MeOH extract of fresh flowers. Structure elucidation of these compounds was performed on the basis of NMR spectroscopic data. Among them, rutin (3), quercetin (4) and eriocitrin (6) showed potent free radical scavenging activity, whereas hesperetin (2) and quercetin (4) showed potent α-glucosidase inhibitory activity.     

Dispersion of polymeric-coated–silica aerogel particles in unsaturated polyester composites: Effects on thermal-mechanical properties

The thermal-mechanical properties of unsaturated polyester (UP) composite were enhanced by the dispersion of silica aerogel (SA) with preserved pores. Low-cost SA was prepared from rice husk via the sol-gel process and ambient pressure drying. A new method was proposed to encapsulate the hydrophobic aerogel surface pores with hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film using the fluidized-bed coating process. The dispersion of PVA-coated aerogel with preserved pores in the polyester matrix resulted in an increase of specific compressive strength (44.1?MPa?·?cm³?g^?1), thermal insulation (0.23?W?m^?1?K^?1), and thermal stability (T_onset?=?310°C), but decreased the glass transition temperature (T_g?=?260°C).