Self‐Assembled Helical Arrays for the Stabilization of the Triplet State

Room‐temperature phosphorescence of metal and heavy atom‐free organic molecules has emerged as an area of great potential in recent years. A rational design played a critical role in controlling the molecular ordering to impart efficient intersystem crossing and stabilize the triplet state to achieve room‐temperature ultralong phosphorescence. However, in most cases, the strategies to strengthen phosphorescence efficiency have resulted in a reduced lifetime, and the available nearly degenerate singlet‐triplet energy levels impart a natural competition between delayed fluorescence and phosphorescence, with the former one having the advantage. Herein, an organic helical assembly supports the exhibition of an ultralong phosphorescence lifetime. In contrary to other molecules, 3,6‐phenylmethanone functionalized 9‐hexylcarbazole exhibits a remarkable improvement in phosphorescence lifetime (>4.1 s) and quantum yield (11 %) owing to an efficient molecular packing in the crystal state. A right‐handed helical molecular array act as a trap and exhibits triplet exciton migration to support the exceptionally longer phosphorescence lifetime.     

Expression and Characterization of Codon-Optimized Carbonic Anhydrase from Dunaliella Species for CO2 Sequestration Application

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) have been given much attention as biocatalysts for CO₂ sequestration process because of their ability to convert CO₂ to bicarbonate. Here, we expressed codon-optimized sequence of ??-type CA cloned from Dunaliella species (Dsp-aCAopt) and characterized its catalyzing properties to apply for CO₂ to calcite formation. The expressed amount of Dsp-aCAopt in Escherichia coli is about 50?mg/L via induction of 1.0?mM isopropyl-??-d-thiogalactopyranoside at 20?°C (for the case of intact Dsp-aCA, negligible). Dsp-aCAopt enzyme shows 47?°C of half-denaturation temperature and show wide pH stability (optimum pH 7.6/10.0). Apparent values of K _m and V _max for p-nitrophenylacetate substrate are 0.91?mM and 3.303?×?10^?5???M?min^?1. The effects of metal ions and anions were investigated to find out which factors enhance or inhibit Dsp-aCAopt activity. Finally, we demonstrated that Dsp-aCAopt enzyme can catalyze well the conversion of CO₂ to CaCO₃, as the calcite form, in the Ca²⁺ solution [8.9?mg/100???g (172?U/mg enzyme) with 10?mM of Ca²⁺]. The obtained expression and characterization results of Dsp-aCAopt would be usefully employed for the development of efficient CA-based system for CO₂-converting/capturing processes.     

Characterization of N-isopropyl acrylamide/acrylic acid grafted polypropylene nonwoven fabric developed by radiation-induced graft polymerization

Radiation-induced graft copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and acrylic acid (AA) mixture was carried out on polypropylene nonwoven fabric to develop a thermosensitive material and has been found to affect the thermal and physical characteristics of fabric. The grafted fabrics with different monomer ratios were characterized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), contact angle and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Results of FTIR clearly indicated that poly(acrylic acid) and poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) were successfully grafted onto the membrane surface. TGA results showed that the thermal stability of PP fabric increased after grafting of NIPAAm/AA. The crystallinity values from DSC and XRD were found to decrease with increase in degree of grafting because of the addition of grafted chains within the noncrystalline region. The decrease in contact angles of the grafted fabric with an increase of the degree of grafting shows that PNIPAAm/PAA exists as the hydrophilic component. The increase in surface roughness after grafting was observed by AFM.     

An Efficient Probe for Rapid Detection of Cyanide in Water at Parts per Billion Levels and Naked‐Eye Detection of Endogenous Cyanide

A new molecular probe based on an oxidized bis‐indolyl skeleton has been developed for rapid and sensitive visual detection of cyanide ions in water and also for the detection of endogenously bound cyanide. The probe allows the “naked‐eye” detection of cyanide ions in water with a visual color change from red to yellow (Δλ_max=80 nm) with the immediate addition of the probe. It shows high selectivity towards the cyanide ion without any interference from other anions. The detection of cyanide by the probe is ratiometric, thus making the detection quantitative. A Michael‐type addition reaction of the probe with the cyanide ion takes place during this chemodosimetric process. In water, the detection limit was found to be at the parts per million level, which improved drastically when a neutral micellar medium was employed, and it showed a parts‐per‐billion‐level detection, which is even 25‐fold lower than the permitted limits of cyanide in water. The probe could also efficiently detect the endogenously bound cyanide in cassava (a staple food) with a clear visual color change without requiring any sample pretreatment and/or any special reaction conditions such as pH or temperature. Thus the probe could serve as a practical naked‐eye probe for “in‐field” experiments without requiring any sophisticated instruments.     

Solution-Phase and Magnetic Approach towards Understanding Iron Gall Ink-like Nanoassemblies

Metal-containing tubes: The structures of several iron-containing C-methylpyrogallol[4]arene (PgC(1) ) nanoassemblies were studied in both the solid and solution phases. The nanoassemblies have a tubular architecture with the iron as part of the framework (see picture; gray C, red O, turquoise/blue Fe), and magnetic analysis suggests a canted or spiral arrangement of the iron centers.     

Synthesis of high voltage (4.9 V) cycling LiNixCoyMn(1-x-y)O2 cathode materials for lithium rechargeable batteries

Layered mixed oxides LiNi(x)Co(y)Mn(1-x-y)O(2) (0 ≤x, y≤ 0.5) synthesized by a sol-gel method using tartaric acid as a chelating agent, and their structural and electrochemical properties are investigated by thermal analysis, XRD, SEM, FT-IR and XPS studies. The higher composition of Co leads to cation disorder and shrinks the cell volume. Electrochemical behaviour of the synthesized materials is evaluated by Galvanostatic charge/discharge studies using 2016 type coin cells. The cycling studies are carried out in the voltage limits of 2.7 to 4.6, 4.8 and 4.9 V at current rates of C/10 and C/5 respectively. The composition LiNi(0.4)Co(0.1)Mn(0.5)O(2) exhibits an average discharge capacity of 192 mA h g(-1) at the current density of 0.612 mA cm(-2) (C/5) in the voltage range of 2.7-4.9 V as compared to the discharge capacity of 155 and 175 mA h g(-1) in the potential range of 2.7-4.6 and 2.7-4.8 V over the 50 investigated cycles. The effect of higher charge voltage at 4.9 V on the electrochemical performance of LiNi(x)Co(y)Mn(1-x-y)O(2) oxide materials has not previously been reported.     

Simultaneous determination of atorvastatin,amlodipine, ramipril and benazepril in human plasma by LC‐MS/MS and its application to a human pharmacokinetic study

A rapid, simple, sensitive and specific LC‐MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of atorvastatin (ATO), amlodipine (AML), ramipril (RAM) and benazepril (BEN) using nevirapine as an internal standard (IS). The API‐4000 LC‐MS/MS was operated under the multiple‐reaction monitoring mode using electrospray ionization. Analytes and IS were extracted from plasma by simple liquid–liquid extraction technique using ethyl acetate. The reconstituted samples were chromatographed on C₁₈ column by pumping 0.1% formic acid–acetonitrile (15:85, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. A detailed validation of the method was performed as per the FDA guidelines and the standard curves were found to be linear in the range of 0.26–210 ng/mL for ATO; 0.05–20.5 ng/mL for AML; 0.25–208 ng/mL for RAM and 0.74–607 ng/mL for BEN with mean correlation coefficient of ≥0.99 for each analyte. The intra‐day and inter‐day precision and accuracy results were well with in the acceptable limits. A run time of 2.5 min for each sample made it possible to analyze more than 400 human plasma samples per day. The developed assay method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in human male volunteers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uniformly convergent scheme for two‐parameter singularly perturbed problems with non‐smooth data

A numerical scheme is constructed for the problems in which the diffusion and convection parameters (?₁ and ?₂ , respectively) both are small, and the convection and source terms have a jump discontinuity in the domain of consideration. Depending on the magnitude of the ratios , and two different cases have been considered separately. Through rigorous analysis, the theoretical error bounds on the singular and regular components of the solution are obtained separately, which shows that in both cases the method is convergent uniformly irrespective of the size of the parameters ?₁, ?₂ . Two test problems are included to validate the theoretical results.