Dispersive solid phase extraction of lead(II) using a silica nanoparticle-based ionic liquid ferrofluid

We demonstrate the application of an ionic liquid-based ferrofluid to the dispersive solid phase extraction of lead(II) using PAN as the chelator. The ionic liquid contains silica nanoparticles with a magnetic core as the dispersion medium, and its use results in improved stability of the colloidal dispersion and a complete extraction of lead(II) within a few seconds. In addition, there is no need for centrifugation. Specifically, the effect of different variables on the extraction of lead(II) was studied using an experimental design. Lead(II) was quantified by AAS. Under optimized conditions, the calibration graph for lead(II) is linear in the range from 5 to 372 μg L⁻¹, the relative standard deviation is 1.34 % (for n = 7), the limit of detection is 1.66 μg L⁻¹, and the enrichment factor is 200. The maximum adsorption capacity of sorbent was calculated to be 10.7 mg g⁻¹, and adsorption follows a Langmuir isotherm.

A schematic view of D-SPE experimental set up. We demonstrate the application of an ionic liquid-based ferrofluid to the dispersive solid phase extraction of lead(II) using PAN as the chelator. The ionic liquid contains silica nanoparticles with a magnetic core as the dispersion medium

     

Cloning and Expression of Che a 1, the Major Allergen of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chenopodium album</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

Chenopodium album is a weedy annual plant in the genus Chenopodium. C. album pollen represents a predominant allergen source in Iran. The main C. album pollen allergens have been described as Che a 1, Che a 2, and Che a 3. The aim of this work was to clone the Che a 1 in Escherichia coli to establish a system for overproduction of the recombinant Che a 1 (rChe a 1). In order to clone this allergen, the pollens were subjected to RNA extraction. A full-length fragment encoding Che a 1 was prepared by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the first-strand cDNA synthesized from extracted RNA. Cloning was carried out by inserting the cDNA into the pET21b (+) vector, thereafter the construct was transformed into E. coli Top10 cells and expression of the protein was induced by IPTG. The rChe a 1 was purified using histidine tag in recombinant protein by means of Ni–NTA affinity chromatography. IgE immunoblotting, ELISA, and inhibition ELISA were done to evaluate IgE binding of the purified protein. In conclusion, the cDNA for the major allergen of the C. album pollen, Che a 1, was successfully cloned and rChe a 1 was purified. Inhibition assays demonstrated allergic subjects sera reacted with rChe a 1 similar to natural Che a 1 in crude extract of C. album pollen. This study is the first report of using the E. coli as a prokaryotic system for Che a 1 cloning and production of rChe a 1.     

Comparison of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction and hollow fiber liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction for the determination of fentanyl,alfentanil, and sufentanil in water and biological fluids by high-performance liquid chromatography

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) and hollow fiber liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction (HF-LLLME) combined with HPLC–DAD have been applied for the determination of three narcotic drugs (alfentanil, fentanyl, and sufentanil) in biological samples (human plasma and urine). Different DLLME parameters influencing the extraction efficiency such as type and volume of the extraction solvent and the disperser solvent, concentration of NaOH, and salt addition were investigated. In the HF-LLLME, the effects of important parameters including organic solvent type, concentration of NaOH as donor solution, concentration of H₂SO₄ as acceptor phase, salt addition, stirring rate, temperature, and extraction time were investigated and optimized. The results showed that both extraction methods exhibited good linearity, precision, enrichment factor, and detection limit. Under optimal condition, the limits of detection ranged from 0.4 to 1.9 μg/L and from 1.1 to 2.3 μg/L for DLLME and HF-LLLME, respectively. For DLLME, the intra- and inter-day precisions were 1.7–6.4% and 14.2–15.9%, respectively; and for HF-LLLME were 0.7–5.2% and 3.3–10.1%, respectively. The enrichment factors were from 275 to 325 and 190 to 237 for DLLME and HF-LLLME, respectively. The applicability of the proposed methods was investigated by analyzing biological samples. For analysis of human plasma and urine samples, HF-LLLME showed higher precision, more effective sample clean-up, higher extraction efficiency, lower organic solvent consumption than DLLME.     

Synthesis, experimental and theoretical characterization of N,N'-dipyridoxyl (1,4-butanediamine) Schiff-base ligand and its Cu(II) complex

A new N,N'-dipyridoxyl(1,4-butanediamine) [=H(2)BS] Schiff-base ligand and its Cu(II) salen complex, [Cu(BS)(H(2)O)(CH(3)OH)], were synthesized and characterized by IR, UV-vis, (1)H NMR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. Also, full optimization of the geometries, (1)H NMR chemical shifts (for the H(2)BS) and vibrational frequencies were calculated by using density functional theory (DFT) method. Structure of the H(2)BS ligand is not planar, i.e. two pyridine rings are not in the same plane. In the structure of the Cu complex, the Schiff-base ligand acts as a dianionic tetradentate ligand in N, N, O(-), O(-) manner. The coordinating atoms of BS(2-) occupy equatorial positions of the octahedral complex, where the H(2)O and CH(3)OH ligands locate at axial positions. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data, confirming the suitability of the proposed and optimized structures for the H(2)BS ligand and its Cu complex.     

Ag Raman modes of RBCO (R = Gd, Pr) by density functional theory approach

Ab initio total energy calculations have been performed for superconducting GdBa₂Cu₃O₇ and insulating PrBa₂Cu₃O₇ using the full-potential linear augmented plane-wave method in the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The comparison of the calculated unit cell volume and lattice parameters with the experimental data indicates the improvement of these parameters in the GGA relative to LDA. LDA and GGA give the equilibrium unit cell volume about 6% smaller and 1.25% larger than the experimental data, respectively for both systems. Thus frozen phonon calculations have been performed to determine the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the k=0 A_g modes of the two systems in equilibrium structure have been obtained in GGA. The calculated frequencies in the GGA are in good agreement with the other LDA calculations for similar systems. Comparison of computational data with experimental data indicates that calculations determine the frequencies about ten percent below the experimental data. Even by improving LDA to GGA in these calculations, the calculated phonon frequencies have remained almost ten percent below the experimental data, even though the calculated unit cell volumes are nearly equal to the experimental data. So, applying GGA has not considerably decreased the difference between the computational and experimental data. The effect of Pr doping on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors have also been investigated.     

Synthesis of novel annulated uracils via domino Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reaction in aqueous media

An efficient synthesis of tetracyclic uracil derivatives (polycyclic pyrans) is achieved via domino Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of O-propargylated salicylaldehyde derivatives with 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid in water as solvent in the presence of CuI. The products are formed in good yields.     

Hall anomaly in CNT-doped Y-123 high temperature superconductor

In order to study the Hall effect in pure and CNT-doped Y-123 polycrystalline samples, we have measured the longitudinal and transverse voltages at different magnetic field (0 ? 9 T) in the normal and vortex states. In the normal state, the Hall coefficient is positive and decreases with increasing temperature, and can be approximately fitted to R_H = a + bT^?1. We have found a sign reversal in the pure sample for the magnetic field of about 3 T, and double sign reversal of the Hall coefficient in the 0.7 wt% CNT-doped sample at about 3 and 5 T. The Hall resistivity in our samples depends on the pinning.     

Legendre spectral method for the fractional Bratu problem

In this paper, the Legendre spectral collocation method (LSCM) is applied for the solution of the fractional Bratu's equation. It shows the high accuracy and low computational cost of the LSCM compared with some other numerical methods. The fractional Bratu differential equation is transformed into a nonlinear system of algebraic equations for the unknown Legendre coefficients and solved with some spectral collocation methods. Some illustrative examples are also given to show the validity and applicability of this method, and the obtained results are compared with the existing studies to highlight its high efficiency and neglectable error.     

Current superalgebras and unitary representations

In this paper we determine the projective unitary representations of finite dimensional Lie supergroups whose underlying Lie superalgebra is $\mathfrak{g}=A?\mathfrak{k}$, where $\mathfrak{k}$ is a compact simple Lie superalgebra and A is a supercommutative associative (super)algebra; the crucial case is when $A={\mathrm{\Lambda }}_s(\mathbb{R})$ is a Graßmann algebra. Since we are interested in projective representations, the first step consists in determining the cocycles defining the corresponding central extensions. Our second main result asserts that, if $\mathfrak{k}$ is a simple compact Lie superalgebra with ${\mathfrak{k}}_1\ne \{0\}$, then each (projective) unitary representation of ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_s(\mathbb{R})?\mathfrak{k}$ factors through a (projective) unitary representation of $\mathfrak{k}$ itself, and these are known by Jakobsen's classification. If ${\mathfrak{k}}_1=\{0\}$, then we likewise reduce the classification problem to semidirect products of compact Lie groups K with a Clifford–Lie supergroup which has been studied by Carmeli, Cassinelli, Toigo and Varadarajan.     

Free vibration of functionally graded rectangular plates using first-order shear deformation plate theory

The main objective of this research work is to present analytical solutions for free vibration analysis of moderately thick rectangular plates, which are composed of functionally graded materials (FGMs) and supported by either Winkler or Pasternak elastic foundations. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply-supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply-supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. In order to capture fundamental frequencies of the functionally graded (FG) rectangular plates resting on elastic foundation, the analysis procedure is based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) to derive and solve exactly the equations of motion. The mechanical properties of the FG plates are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness of the plate and obey a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents, whereas Poisson’s ratio is set to be constant. First, a new formula for the shear correction factors, used in the Mindlin plate theory, is obtained for FG plates. Then the excellent accuracy of the present analytical solutions is confirmed by making some comparisons of the results with those available in literature. The effect of foundation stiffness parameters on the free vibration of the FG plates, constrained by different combinations of classical boundary conditions, is also presented for various values of aspect ratios, gradient indices, and thickness to length ratios.