Antioxidant capacity and larvicidal and antifungal activities of essential oils and extracts from Piper krukoffii

The leaves and twigs of Piper krukoffii, collected in the Carajás National Forest, north Brazil, yielded essential oils (2.0% and 0.8%), the main constituents of which were myristicin (40.3% and 26.7%), apiole (25.4% and 34.1%) and elemicin (2.8% and 3.0%). The antioxidant activities of the oils, methanol extract and its sub-fractions were evaluated. The DPPH EC50 values varied from the ethyl acetate sub-fraction (73.4 +/- 3.7 microg/mL) to the methanol extract (24.9 +/- 0.8 microg/mL), and the ABTS TEAC values ranged in the same order from 265.7 to 349.2 microMol TE/g. These results indicated a significant antioxidant activity for the plant. The lignans (-)-kusunokin, yatein, (-)-hinokin and cubebin were identified in the methanol extract. The hydro-methanolic sub-fraction showed a high value for total phenol content (106.5 +/- 0.7 mg GAE/g), as well as 1H NMR signals for sugar moieties. Crude extracts and sub-fractions were also able to inhibit beta-carotene bleaching, varying from 22.4 to 47.1%. The oils from the leaves and twigs showed strong larvicidal (21.4 and 3.6 microg/mL) and fungicide (0.5 and 0.1 microg/mL) activities.     

Sign-changing Solutions for a Schrödinger Equation with Saturable Nonlinearity

We consider the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

$-\Delta{u} + V (x)u = K(x)u^3/(1 + u^2)$

in \({\mathbb {R}^N}\) , and assume that V and K are invariant under an orthogonal involution. Moreover, V and K converge to positive constants V _∞ and K _∞, as |x| → ∞. We present some results on the existence of a particular type of sign changing solution, which changes sign exactly once. The basic tool employed here is the Concentration–Compactness Principle and the interaction between translated solutions of the corresponding autonomous problem.

     

Cation distribution in natural ferrites

Mössbauer spectra of jacobsite have been recorded at temperatures of 4.2, 125, 180, 240 and 300 K and with an external magnetic field of 60 kOe applied parallel to the incident radiation at 4.2 K. The results show the presence of two different magnetic hyperfine interactions associated with the iron nuclei. Spectra of samples in external magnetic fields indicate the same sign for the magnetic hyperfine interactions, implying that both iron ions occupy only the octahedral sublattice. These results are compared with data from synthetic stoichiometry manganese ferrite, and a model of cation distribution, assuming the existence of vacancies, is proposed. According to this model, the mineral jacobsite is rich in manganese compared with stoichiometric MnFe₂O₄ ferrite.     

A 119Sn Mössbauer Spectroscopic Investigation of Tin Complexes with Amidines

Several novel tin(IV) adducts of amidines, [SnClPh₃L], [SnCl₂Ph₂L] and [SnBr₄L] {L=N,N-diphenylacetamidine (Hdpac) or N,N-diphenylbenzamidine (Hdpba)}, were prepared and investigated by Mössbauer spectroscopy which was an important tool for the elucidation of bonding and structural features. The resulting Mössbauer data also led to the conclusion that the tin(IV) centre for the adduct [SnClPh₃L] is pentacoordinated in a trigonal bipyramidal arrangement and hexacoordinated for [SnCl₂Ph₂L] and [SnBr₄L] in a geometric patterns of an octahedral. The amidines act as monodentate ligands to the metal centre for the former and bidentate for the latter.     

The charge-charge flux-overlap model for the interpretation of atomic polar tensors and infrared intensities

The interpretation of infrared intensities using the concepts of atomic polar tensors divided according to contributions from charge-charge flux-overlap (CCFO) terms appears in general to be quite useful. Here we shall illustrate this analysis for the F and H atoms in chemically related molecules to show how their properties vary for CF, CH, OF and OH bonds as R varies in RCF, RCH and ROH molecules.     

Determination of cobalt in the presence of high concentrations of zinc by differential pulse polarography

Summary Cobalt(II) can be determined in 0.1 mol/l Na₃citrate + 0.1 mol/l NH₄Cl + 0.08% dimethylglyoxime as supporting electrolyte in the presence of a 50 000-fold excess of zinc by differential pulse polarography. The limit of determination is 4.2×10^–5 mol/l Co (2.5 mg/l). Linear calibration curves are obtained within the range of 1×10^–7 to 5×10^–6 mol/l cobalt without zinc and in the presence of 5×10^–3 mol/l Zn. The analytical method developed is suitable for the determination of cobalt in zinc plant solutions.

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Cobaltbestimmung in Gegenwart hoher Zinkkonzentrationen mit Hilfe der Differential-Puls-Polarographie

     

The symmetry aspects of quantum field theory in general relativity 1

Some proposed models for a quantum field theory in general relativity are briefly analyzed. Their main difficulties are a consequence of the initial choice of the group of symmetries of the (quantum) field equations. The necessity of selecting space-time isometries in a general covariant theory and the unphysical character of the Poincaré translations in a tangent plane theory are discussed. Starting from some basic requirements, a model is proposed in which the groups of symmetries are derived from the proper homogeneous groups of isometries of the minimal isometric local embedding spaces of space-times.This essay received an honorable mention (1977) from the Gravity Research Foundation-Ed.     

Mechanism of the pyrolysis of C2HCl5, molecular and radical steps

An analysis of the thermochemistry of the kinetic parameters of the elementary reactions involved in the pyrolysis of pentachloroethane has resolved several disputed, unclarified, or inconsistent aspects of the reaction mechanism. The resulting mechanisms for the inhibited and uninhibited pyrolysis account for all reported experimental findings. On the basis of this interpretation, first experimentally based values have been derived for the following: DH⁰(CCl₃–CHCl₂) = 79.0 ± 1.0 kcal/mol, ΔH${}_{\text{f}}^{\text{0}}$(CHCl₂) = 25.7 ± 1.0 kcal/mol, and E₁ = 59.7 ± 1.0 kcal/mol C₂HCl₅ .     

Colour diversification in octocorals based on conjugated polyenes: A Raman spectroscopic view

Polyenic pigments in octocorals have been investigated by Raman spectroscopy using laser excitation at 532, 785 and 1064 nm. The spectral features suggest the structural nature of carotenoids from Phyllogorgia dilatata, Leptogorgia punicea, Muricea atlantica, Carijoa riisei and conjugated polyenals from L. punicea, L. setacea, Muricea flamma and Renilla muelleri. The observed vibrational bands at ca. 1540–1520 ν₁(C=C), 1159 ν₂(C–C) and 1005 cm⁻¹ ρ₃(C–CH₃) were assigned to carotenoids, whereas the identification of non‐methylated conjugated polyenals have been proposed due to two major Raman bands at ca. 1500 and 1120 cm^‐1, assigned to ν(C=C) and ν(C–C), respectively. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.