Chemically Stable Covalent Organic Framework (COF)‐Polybenzimidazole Hybrid Membranes: Enhanced Gas Separation through Pore Modulation

Highly flexible, TpPa‐1@PBI‐BuI and TpBD@PBI‐BuI hybrid membranes based on chemically stable covalent organic frameworks (COFs) could be obtained with the polymer. The loading obtained was substantially higher (50 %) than generally observed with MOFs. These hybrid membranes show an exciting enhancement in permeability (about sevenfold) with appreciable separation factors for CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄. Further, we found that with COF pore modulation, the gas permeability can be systematically enhanced.     

Ultraviolet-A induced changes in photosystem II of thylakoids: effects of senescence and high growth temperature

Ultraviolet-A (UV-A) radiation induced changes in photosystem II (PS II) of senescing leaves of wheat seedlings were investigated. UV-A radiation did not show any significant effect on the level of photosynthetic pigments. However, the decline in F(v)/F(m) and oxygen evolution rate indicated the damaging effect of the radiation on primary photochemistry of PS II. Modification at the Q(B)-binding site was inferred from the observed downshift of peak temperature of thermoluminescence (TL) B-bands. The UV-A induced changes in PS II of chloroplasts from senescing leaves were found to be synergistically accelerated by high growth temperature.     

Alga-mediated facile green synthesis of silver nanoparticles: Photophysical,catalytic and antibacterial activity

A facile, convenient and green method has been employed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using dried biomass of a green alga, Chlorella ellipsoidea. The phytochemicals from the alga, as a mild and non-toxic source, are believed to serve as both reducing and stabilizing agents. The formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed from the appearance of a surface plasmon resonance band at 436 nm and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The transmission electron microscopy images showed the nanoparticles to be nearly spherical in shape with different sizes. A dynamic light scattering study revealed the average particle size to be 220.8 ± 31.3 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the occurrence of alga-derived phytochemicals attached to the outer surface of biogenically accessed silver nanoparticles. The powder X-ray diffraction study revealed the face-centred cubic crystalline structure of the nanoparticles. The as-synthesized biomatrix-loaded AgNPs exhibited a high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of the hazardous pollutant dyes methylene blue and methyl orange. The catalytic efficiency was sustained even after three reduction cycles. A kinetic study indicated the degradation rates to be pseudo-first order with the degradation rate being 4.72 × 10⁻² min⁻¹ for methylene blue and 3.24 × 10⁻² min⁻¹ for methyl orange. The AgNPs also exhibited significant antibacterial activity against four selected pathogenic bacterial strains.     

An efficient one-step chemoselective reduction of alkyl ketones over aryl ketones in β-diketones using LiHMDS and lithium aluminium hydride

β-Hydroxy ketones were synthesized in one-pot from β-diketones by reducing alkyl ketones chemoselectively by keeping aryl ketone intact. Initially, β-diketones were enolized using LiHMDS and later alkyl ketone was chemoselectively reduced efficiently by lithium aluminium hydride. This method produces β- hydroxyl ketones from the corresponding β-diketones in high yield.     

Isoscalar giant monopole resonance for drip-line and super heavy nuclei in the framework of relativistic mean field formalism with scaling calculation

We study the isoscalar giant monopole resonance for drip-lines and super heavy nuclei in the framework of relativistic mean field theory with a scaling approach. The well known extended Thomas-Fermi approximation in the nonlinear σ-ω model is used to estimate the giant monopole excitation energy for some selected light spherical nuclei starting from the region of proton to neutron drip-lines. The application is extended to the super heavy region for Z=114 and 120, which are predicted by several models as the next proton magic numbers beyond Z=82. We compared the excitation energy obtained by four successful force parameters NL1, NL3, NL3*, and FSUGold. The monopole energy decreases toward the proton and neutron drip-lines in an isotopic chain for lighter mass nuclei, in contrast to a monotonic decrease for super heavy isotopes. The maximum and minimum monopole excitation energies are obtained for nuclei with minimum and maximum isospin in an isotopic chain, respectively.     

Multi-objective geometric programming problem with ∊-constraint method

In multi-objective geometric programming problem there are more than one objective functions. There is no single optimal solution which simultaneously optimizes all the objective functions. Under these conditions the decision makers always search for the most “preferred” solution, in contrast to the optimal solution. A few mathematical programming methods namely fuzzy programming, goal programming and weighting methods have been applied in the recent past to find the compromise solution. In this paper ?$?$-constraint method has been applied to find the non-inferior solution. A brief solution procedure of ?$?$-constraint method has been presented to find the non-inferior solution of the multi-objective programming problems. Further, the multi-objective programming problems is solved by the fuzzy programming technique to find the optimal compromise solution. Finally, two numerical examples are solved by both the methods and compared with their obtained solutions.     

OH···X (X = O, S) hydrogen bonding in thetrahydrofuran and tetrahydrothiophene

In this article, hydrogen bonding interaction between p-cresol (p-CR) and cyclic ether, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and thioether, tetrahydrothiophene (THT) has been investigated. Two-color resonantly enhanced two-photon ionization in conjunction with the fluorescence detected IR (FDIR) spectroscopy was used to record the changes in the OH stretching frequency in these complexes. The FDIR spectra showed existence of a single conformer of the p-CR·THF and two conformers of the p-CR·THT complex. With the help of computed IR spectra and atoms-in-molecules analysis, the two conformers of p-CR·THT were assigned as the complex of p-CR with THT (C(2))/THT (C(S)). The redshift of OH stretching frequency for the p-CR·THF complex was greater compared to those for the conformers of the p-CR·THT complex. The binding energies of the p-CR·THF and p-CR·THT complexes were computed to be 7.42 and 6.15 kcal/mole. These were of the same order as those for the acyclic analogs, diethylether (DEE), and diethylsulfide (DES), of the solvent molecules under investigation. Although the DEE and THF consist of same number of carbon atoms, the dispersion energy contribution was much higher (43%) for DEE than that for THF (30%). In the case of sulfur analogs, however, it was similar (~50%) in the case of both DES well as THT complexes. All the computed H-bond indicators for these two complexes nicely correlate with the observed redshift of the O-H stretch.     

Influence of the microstructure and its stability on the electrochemical properties of EMD produced from a range of precursors

The influence of the microstructure and the stable crystal structure on the electrochemical properties of the electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) produced from manganese cake (EMD_MC), low-grade manganese ore (EMD_LMO), and synthetic manganese sulfate solutions (EMD_SMS) is reported. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and chemical analyses were used to determine the structural and chemical characteristics of the EMD samples. The charge–discharge profile was studied in 9 M KOH using a galvanostatic charge–discharge unit. All the samples were found to contain predominantly γ-phase MnO₂, which is electrochemically active for energy storage applications. FESEM images show that preparation method significantly influences surface morphology, shape, and size of the EMD particles. In almost all cases, nanoparticles were obtained, with spindle-shaped nanoparticles for EMD_MC, platy nanoparticles in the case of EMD_LMO, and anisotropic growth of tetra-branched star-like nanoparticles of EMD_SMS. These nanoparticles arrange themselves in a near net-like fashion, resulting in porosity of the flakes of EMD during electrochemical deposition. Thermal studies showed loss of structural water and formation of lower manganese oxides. The EMD_MC showed superior discharge capacity of ~280 mAh g^?1 as compared to EMD_LMO (275 mAh g^?1) and EMD_SMS (245 mAh g^?1).