Role of pore curvature on the thermal stability of gold nanoparticles in mesoporous silica

Pores arranged in a two-dimensional hexagonal structure inside spherical mesoporous silica particles help to prevent the thermal sintering of gold nanoparticles compared to straight pores in MCM-41.     

CAN catalyzed one-pot synthesis and docking study of some novel substituted imidazole coupled 1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acids as antifungal agents

The present work describes a facile,one-pot three component synthesis of a series of 3-[(4,5-diphenyl-2-substituted aryl/heteryl)-1H-imidazol-1-yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid derivatives M(1-15).Benzil,aromatic aldehydes and 3-amino-l,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid was refluxed in ethanol using cerric ammonium nitrate(CAN) as a catalyst to give the title compounds in good yields.The compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activity.Compounds M1,M9,and M15 were found to be equipotent against Candida albicans when compared with fluconazole.Compounds M2.M5,and M14 showed higher activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae.Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pyogenes,respectively,compared with ampicillin.Docking study of the newly synthesized compounds was performed,and the results showed good binding mode in the active sites of C albicans enzyme cytochrome P450 lanosterol 14α-demethylase.The results of in vitro antifungal activity and docking study showed that synthesized compounds had potential antifungal activity and can be further optimized and developed as a lead compound.     

In-vitro antibacterial activity of Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes incorporating new azo-azomethine ligand possessing excellent antioxidant,anti-inflammatory activity and protective effect of free radicals against plasmid DNA

Azo Schiff base ligand 2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-5-(tolyldiazenyl)benzaldehyde oxime (HL¹) and 2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-5-(methoxyphenyl)benzaldehyde oxime (HL²) were prepared along with their transition metal complexes of Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II). Ligands and their metal complexes were characterized by several analysis techniques. In- vitro antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of synthesized ligands and their metal complexes have been studied. Biological study showed that amongst all the synthesized compounds, Cu(II) complexes possessed excellent antibacterial activity than standard antibiotic Chloramphenicol. Ligands (HL¹) and (HL²) showed excellent antioxidant as well as anti-inflammatory activity. Both the ligands were tested for their protective effect of free radicals against plasmid DNA and it was found that both the ligands showed good DNA nicking activity.     

Supramolecular Packing Drives Morphological Transitions of Charged Surfactant Micelles

The shape and size of self-assembled structures upon local organization of their molecular building blocks are hard to predict in the presence of long-range interactions. Combining small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering data, theoretical modelling, and computer simulations, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), over a broad range of concentrations and ionic strengths, was investigated. Computer simulations indicate that micellar shape changes are associated with different binding of the counterions. By employing a toy model based on point charges on a surface, and comparing it to experiments and simulations, it is demonstrated that the observed morphological changes are caused by symmetry breaking of the irreducible building blocks, with the formation of transient surfactant dimers mediated by the counterions that promote the stabilization of cylindrical instead of spherical micelles. The present model is of general applicability and can be extended to all systems controlled by the presence of mobile charges.     

Thermal degradation behaviour of some metal chelate polymer compounds with bis(bidentate) ligand by TG/DTG/DTA

Seven novel divalent transitional metal chelate polymers compounds (commonly known as chelate compounds or metal coordination complexes or polymer complexes) have been characterized by thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal gravimetry (DTG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) methods. Thermal decomposition behaviour of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II) polymers with terphthaoyl-bis(p-methoxyphenylcarbamide) has been investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at heating rate 10 °C min^?1 under nitrogen atmosphere. TG/DTA of chelate compounds were shown to be a stable compound against thermal decomposition which was measured on the basis of final decomposing temperature, but it is observed in some curves that decomposition takes place at low temperature due to the lattice water, which is always placed at outer coordination sphere of the central metal ion. The presence of both lattice and coordinated water were noteworthy investigated in Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) chelate polymer compounds, whereas lattice water found in Zn(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II). However, Mn(II) showed only coordinated water. Thermal stabilities for release of lattice water, coordinated water and organic moiety that occur in sequential decomposition of chelate compounds are explained on the basis of ionic size effect and electronegativity. The processes of thermal degradation taking place in seven chelate polymers were studied comparatively by TG/DTG/DTA curves which indicating the difference in the thermal decomposition. Coats–Redfern integral method is used to determine the kinetic parameters for the successive steps in the decomposition sequence of TG curves. Scanning electron microscope images of some chelate polymers were shown in previous publication revealed that particle sizes of chelate polymers were found to be of nanomaterial level therefore, resulting chelate compounds might be called as nanomaterial.     

A Simulated Annealing Genetic Algorithm for the Electrical Power Districting Problem

Due to a variety of political, economic, and technological factors, many national electricity industries around the globe are transforming from non-competitive monopolies with centralized systems to decentralized operations with competitive business units. A key challenge faced by energy restructuring specialists at the World Bank is trying to simultaneously optimize the various criteria one can use to judge the fairness and commercial viability of a particular power districting plan. This research introduces and tests a new algorithm for solving the electrical power districting problem in the context of the Republic of Ghana and using a random test problem generator. We show that our mimetic algorithm, the Simulated Annealing Genetic Algorithm, outperforms a well-known Parallel Simulated Annealing heuristic on this new and interesting problem manifested by the deregulation of electricity markets.     

Bioaffinity sensing using biologically functionalized conducting-polymer nanowire

A simple, one-step method for fabricating single biologically functionalized conducting-polymer (polypyrrole) nanowire on prepatterned electrodes and its application to biosensing was demonstrated. The biologically functionalized polypyrrole was formed by the electropolymerization of an aqueous solution of pyrrole monomer and the model biomolecule, avidin- or streptavidin-conjugated ZnSe/CdSe quantum dots, within 100 or 200 nm wide by 3 mum long channels between gold electrodes on prefabricated silicon substrate. When challenged with biotin-DNA, the avidin- and streptavidin-polypyrrole nanowires generated a rapid change in resistance to as low as 1 nM, demonstrating the utility of the biomolecule-functionalized nanowire as biosensor. The method offers advantages of direct incorporation of functional biological molecules into the conducting-polymer nanowire during its synthesis, site-specific positioning, built-in electrical contacts, and scalability to high-density nanoarrays over the reported silicon nanowire and carbon nanotube biosensors.     

Determination of lipid oxidation level in broiler meat by liquid chromatography

An assay was conducted for the determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in broiler meat. The method involves extraction of tissues with trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and reaction of the TCA extract with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH). After separation of the MDA-DNPH complex using a solid-phase extraction C18 column, samples were eluted with 1 mL acetonitrile. Aliquots of 20 microL acetonitrile were analyzed by liquid chromatography on reversed-phase C18 column (3 microm) with UV detection. The products were eluted isocratically with the mobile phase containing acetonitrile-water-acetic acid (39 + 61 + 0.2, v/v/v). The retention time for MDA-DNPH was 6.5 min, and the detection limit was 3.5 microg/kg. Two extraction methods (cold and hot) were also used in the study. The results showed that hot extraction increased results about 55.8% and recovery from samples spiked with 116.6 microg/kg was lower (74.6%) in comparison with cold extraction (94.7%).     

Partial synthesis of 23-hydroxyursolic acid isolated from medicinal plants of the Rubiaceae family

23-Hydroxyursolic acid (2), previously isolated from medicinal plants of the Rubiaceae family, was synthesized in ten steps via methyl 23-hydroxy-3-oxours-12-en-28-oate (5) from commercially available ursolic acid (6).