Interconversion of host–guest components in supramolecular assemblies of polycarboxylic acids and reduced Schiff bases

Eight supramolecular assemblies of benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (H₃BTC) and benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylic acid (H₄BTtC) with reduced Schiff base of flexible backbone having phenolic and pyridyl groups, i.e., 1,2-bis(2-hydroxybenzylamino)ethane, 1,3-bis(2-hydroxybenzylamino)propane, 1,4-bis(2-hydroxybenzylamino)butane and 1,4-bis(4-pyridinylmethylamino)butane have been constructed by proton transfer reaction. H₃BTC forms host–guest type assemblies with amines having phenolic functionality, while a layered structure was obtained with pyridyl functionalized amine. H₄BTtC also formed host–guest assemblies with the diamines where reduced Schiff base acts as host and acid moiety acts as the guest. Different conformations of the diamines were observed in these assemblies. Theoretical studies were performed to analyze the effect of varied chain lengths of diamines on hydrogen bond interaction energy of the adducts.     

Synthesis of biologically important novel fluorinated spiro heterocycles under microwaves catalyzed by montmorillonite KSF

The arylidienes of fluorinated spiro thiazolidines (5) containing α,β-unsaturated function have been used as component of Micheal addition with equimolar amount of 2-aminopyridine (6a) to give novel fluorinated spiro [indole-3,2′-pyrido[1,2-a]thiazolo[5,4-e]pyrimidines] (7) in a single step under microwaves in presence of montmorillonite KSF as solid support. The new improved synthetic method for fluorinated spiro [indole-3,2′-thiazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidines] (8) has also been developed involving the reaction of (5) with thiourea under monomode microwave reactor. Comparison with conventional synthesis and multimode microwave oven indicated the enhanced yield with faster reactions under monomode microwave reactor. Structure-activity relationships between the chemical structures and the antimycobacterial, antifungal activity of the evaluated compounds are also discussed.     

An experimental study of partially premixed flame sound

The occurrence of oscillating combustion and combustion instability has led to resurgence of interest in the causes, mechanisms, suppression, and control of combustion noise. Noise generated by enclosed flames is of greater practical interest but is more complicated than that by open flames, which itself is not clearly understood. Studies have shown that different modes of combustion, premixed and non-premixed, differ in their sound generation characteristics. However, there is lack of understanding of the region bridging these two combustion modes. This study investigates sound generation by partially premixed flames. Starting from a non-premixed flame, air was gradually added to achieve partial premixing while maintaining the fuel flow rate constant. Methane, ethylene, and ethane partially premixed flames were studied with hydrogen added for flame stabilization. The sound pressure generated by methane partially premixed flames scales with M⁵ compared to M³ for turbulent non-premixed methane flames. Also, the sound pressure generated by partially premixed flames of ethane and ethylene scales as M^4.5. With progressive partial premixing, spectra level increases at all frequencies with a greater increase in the high-frequency region compared to the low-frequency region; flames develop a peak and later a constant level plateau in the low frequency region. The partially premixed flames of methane, ethylene, and ethane generate a similar SPL as a function of equivalence ratio when the fuel volume flow rate is matched. However, when fuel mass flow rate is matched, the ethane and ethylene flames produce a similar SPL, which is lower than that produced by the methane flame.     

Functionalization of cis-1,4-polyisoprene using hypervalent iodine compounds with tetrazole ligands

Hypervalent iodine(III) compounds with tetrazole ligands C₆H₅I(N₄CR)₂ (R  CH₃, C₆H₅, 4-CH₃C₆H₄) reacted, in the presence of elemental iodine, with the double bonds in cis-1,4-polyisoprene (polyIP) to afford iodo-tetrazolylated polymers. The alkyl-iodide groups in the products of the polyIP functionalization were utilized as macro chain-transfer agents for the iodine-transfer polymerization of methyl methacrylate, which yielded brush polymers with well-defined poly(methyl methacrylate) side chains. In addition, the iodo-tetrazolylated polymers were reacted with NaN₃ in DMF at room temperature, and it was noticed that, in addition to nucleophilic substitution, elimination reactions took place. However, the presence of azide groups was taken advantage of and successful click chemistry-type of grafting-onto reactions were carried out with alkyne-capped poly(ethylene oxide) in the presence of CuBr and N,N,N′,N″,N″-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine. The thermal decomposition of both the iodo-tetrazolylated and the azido-tetrazolylated polymers was exothermic, especially for the latter materials. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 58, 172–180     

β-Sitosterol-D-Glucopyranoside Mimics Estrogenic Properties and Stimulates Glucose Utilization in Skeletal Muscle Cells

Estrogenic molecules have been reported to regulate glucose homeostasis and may be beneficial for diabetes management. Here, we investigated the estrogenic effect of β-sitosterol-3-O-D-glucopyranoside (BSD), isolated from the fruits of Cupressus sempervirens and monitored its ability to regulate glucose utilization in skeletal muscle cells. BSD stimulated ERE-mediated luciferase activity in both ERα and ERβ-ERE luc expression system with greater response through ERβ in HEK-293T cells, and induced the expression of estrogen-regulated genes in estrogen responsive MCF-7 cells. In silico docking and molecular interaction studies revealed the affinity and interaction of BSD with ERβ through hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bond pairing. Furthermore, prolonged exposure of L6-GLUT4myc myotubes to BSD raised the glucose uptake under basal conditions without affecting the insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, the effect associated with enhanced translocation of GLUT4 to the cell periphery. The BSD-mediated biological response to increase GLUT4 translocation was obliterated by PI-3-K inhibitor wortmannin, and BSD significantly increased the phosphorylation of AKT (Ser-473). Moreover, BSD-induced GLUT4 translocation was prevented in the presence of fulvestrant. Our findings reveal the estrogenic activity of BSD to stimulate glucose utilization in skeletal muscle cells via PI-3K/AKT-dependent mechanism.     

Hopping and tunneling transport over a wide temperature range in chemically synthesized doped and undoped polypyrrole

Polypyrrole was synthesized by the chemical oxidation method in the presence of phosphoric acid by varying oxidant to monomer molar ratio for the optimization of electrical conductivity. The conductivity in doped polypyrrole reached up to a maximum value of 9.18 S/cm. Granular morphology was observed in chemically synthesized polypyrrole. Neutralization of doped polypyrrole was done with aqueous ammonium hydroxide and three orders of reduced conductivity were obtained in neutral polypyrrole. Doped and undoped samples of polypyrrole were then electrically characterized over a wide temperature range of 10–300 K. The measured electrical conductivity rises with the increase in temperature and shows the semiconducting nature of the material. Strong and weak temperature dependence of conductivity was revealed by undoped and doped polypyrrole samples respectively. An effort has been made to explore the electrical transport in doped and undoped polypyrrole by charge transport models. The experimental data obeys Kivelson’s hopping model in temperature range of 60–300 K and fluctuation assisted tunneling was the dominant conduction mechanism below 60 K.     

Electrical conduction mechanism in nanocrystalline CdTe (nc-CdTe) thin films

The present paper reports the electrical characterization of nc-CdTe thin films in different temperature ranges. Thin films of nc-CdTe are deposited on the glass substrates by Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) using the Inert Gas Condensation (IGC) method. The Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) studies are made on the CdTe nanocrystals. The surface morphology and structure of the thin films are studied by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements. Dark conductivity measurements are made on the nc-CdTe thin films in the temperature range 110–370 K in order to identify the conduction mechanism in this temperature range. The obtained results reveal three distinct regions at high, low, and sufficiently low temperature regions with decreasing activation energies. The analysis of the high temperature conductivity data is based on the Seto’s model of thermionic emission. At very low temperatures, dc conductivity (σ _d) obeys the law: lnσT ^1/2∝T ^?1/4, indicating variable-range hopping in localized states near the Fermi level. The density of the localized states N(E _F) and various other Mott’s parameters like the degree of disorder (T _O), hopping distance (R), and hopping energy (W) near the Fermi level are calculated using dc conductivity measurements at low temperatures. Carrier type, carrier concentration, and mobility are determined from the Hall measurements. The transient photoconductivity decay measurements are performed on the nc-CdTe thin films at different intensities in order to know the nature of the decay process.     

Analytical investigations on the effects of substrate kinetics on macromolecular transport and hybridization through microfluidic channels

In this paper, a generalized surface-kinetics based model is developed to analytically investigate the influences of the substrate types and the buffer compositions on the macromolecular transport and hybridization in microfluidic channels, under electrokinetic influences. For specific illustration, three typical microchannel substrates, namely silanized glass, polycarbonate and PDMS, are considered, in order to obtain analytical expressions for their zeta potentials as a function of the buffer pH and the substrate compositions. The expressions for the zeta potential are subsequently employed to derive the respective velocity distributions, under the application of electric fields of identical strengths in all cases. It is also taken into consideration that the charged macromolecules introduced into these channels are subjected to electrophoretic influences on account of the applied electric fields. Closed form expressions are derived to predict the transport behaviour of the macromolecules and their subsequent hybridization characteristics. From the analysis presented, it is shown that the modification of the channel surface with silane-treatment becomes useful for enhancing the macromolecular transport and surface hybridization, only if the buffer pH permits a large surface charge density. The analytical solutions are also compared with full-scale numerical solutions of the coupled problem of fluid dynamic and macromolecular transport in presence of the pertinent surface reactions, in order to justify the effectiveness of closed-form expressions derived in this study.