Turn-off Fluorescence Chemosensor for Iron with Bis(2-aminoethyl)-2-(9-fluorenyl)malonamide Functionlized SBA-15

An bis(2-aminoethyl)-2-(9-fluorenyl)malonamide as fluorophore ligand was immobilized onto mesoporous silica type SBA-15 via post synthesis grafting. The obtained material was characterized by small and wide angle X-ray diffraction, N₂ adsorption–desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis that indicate the successful immobilization of the ligand on the surface of mesoporous silica. The sensing ability of the obtained material was studied by addition of the cations Fe³⁺, Mg²⁺, Cr³⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Hg²⁺ and Zn²⁺ to water suspensions of the assayed solid. Of all the cations tested addition of Fe³⁺ ion to a suspension of this material resulted in the largest decrease in the fluorescence intensity. Turn-off photoluminescence of this material was remarkably observed for iron ions in comparing of the other cations. A good linearity between the fluorescence intensity of this material and the concentration of Fe³⁺ ion is constructed, which enables it as a fluorescence chemosensor for detecting the Fe³⁺ ion with a suitable detection limit of 1.35?×?10^?5. It can be introduced as a novel fluorescent sensor in aqueous solution for a lot of practical applications in chemical, environmental and biological systems.     

Anodized aluminum wire as a solid-phase microextraction fiber for rapid determination of volatile constituents in medicinal plant

Headspace solid phase microextraction using anodized aluminum fiber in combination with capillary GC–MS was utilized as monitoring technique for the collection and detection of the volatile compounds of Echinophora platyloba DC. Experimental parameters, including the sample weight, extraction temperature, extraction time and humidity effect, desorption time and desorption temperature were examined and optimized. Using HS-SPME followed by GC–MS, 53 compounds were separated and identified in E. platyloba DC, which mainly included E-β ocimene (47.63%), R-D-decalactone (13.28%), α-pinene (7.43%) and nonane (6.71%). Compared with hydrodistillation (HD), HS-SPME, provides the advantages of a small amount of sample, timesaving, simplicity and cheapness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on using anodized aluminum fiber in solid-phase microextraction coupled to headspace for the investigation of volatile fraction of medicinal plant.     

Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of 2,2-Dimethyl-2H-chromenes via Pd(II)-Catalyzed Coupling and SiO2-Promoted Condensation of o-Halophenols with 2-Methyl-3-buten-2-ol

An efficient synthesis of 2,2-dimethyl-2H-chromenes was accomplished by Pd(II)-catalyzed coupling and SiO₂-promoted condensation of o-halophenols with 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (1,1-dimethylallyl alcohol) in one pot. The method is very general and can be useful for the synthesis of some natural 2,2-dimethyl-2H-chromenes.     

2,6-Dicarboxypyridinium Fluorochromate: A Mild and Efficient Reagent for Oxidative Deprotection of Trimethylsilyl Ethers to Their Corresponding Carbonyl Compounds

Deprotection of trimethylsilyl ethers to their parent aldehydes and ketones in high yields has been carried out using 2,6-dicarboxypyridinium fluorochromate under mild conditions.     

Analysis of volatile oil composition of Citrus aurantium L. by microwave‐assisted extraction coupled to headspace solid‐phase microextraction with nanoporous based fibers

Nanoporous silica was prepared and functionalized with amino propyl‐triethoxysilane to be used as a highly porous fiber‐coating material for solid‐phase microextraction (SPME). The prepared nanomaterials were immobilized onto a stainless steel wire for fabrication of the SPME fiber. The proposed fiber was evaluated for the extraction of volatile component of Citrus aurantium L. leaves. A homemade microwave‐assisted extraction followed by headspace (HS) solid‐phase apparatus was used for the extraction of volatile components. For optimization of factors affecting the extraction efficiency of the volatile compounds, a simplex optimization method was used. The repeatability for one fiber (n = 4), expressed as RSD, was between 3.1 and 8.6% and the reproducibility for five prepared fibers was between 10.1 and 14.9% for the test compounds. Using microwave‐assisted distillation HS‐SPME followed by GC‐MS, 53 compounds were separated and identified in C. aurantium L., which mainly included limonene (62.0%), linalool (7.47%), trans‐β‐Ocimene (3.47%), and caryophyllene (2.05%). In comparison to a hydrodistillation method, the proposed technique could equally monitor almost all the components of the sample, in an easier way, which was rapid and required a much lower amount of sample.     

Cold column trapping-cloud point extraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography for preconcentration and determination of curcumin in human urine

A cold column trapping-cloud point extraction (CCT-CPE) method coupled to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for preconcentration and determination of curcumin in human urine. A nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100, was used as the extraction medium. In the proposed method, a low surfactant concentration of 0.4% v/v and a short heating time of only 2 min at 70 °C were sufficient for quantitative extraction of the analyte. For the separation of the extraction phase, the resulted cloudy solution was passed through a packed trapping column that was cooled to 0 °C. The temperature of the CCT column was then increased to 25 °C and the surfactant rich phase was desorbed with 400 μL ethanol to be directly injected into HPLC for the analysis. The effects of different variables such as pH, surfactant concentration, cloud point temperature and time were investigated and optimum conditions were established by a central composite design (response surface) method. A limit of detection of 0.066 mg L⁻¹ curcumin and a linear range of 0.22–100 mg L⁻¹ with a determination coefficient of 0.9998 were obtained for the method. The average recovery and relative standard deviation for six replicated analysis were 101.0% and 2.77%, respectively. The CCT-CPE technique was faster than a conventional CPE method requiring a lower concentration of the surfactant and lower temperatures with no need for the centrifugation. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of curcumin in human urine samples.     

On 3-braids and L-space knots

Geometriae Dedicata - We classify closed 3-braids which are L-space knots.     

Enzyme-assisted extraction and ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography for determination of patulin in apple juice and method optimization using central composite design

A simple and highly sensitive analytical methodology for isolation and determination of patulin in apple-juice samples, based on enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) and ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (IL-DLLME) was developed and optimized. Enzymes play essential roles in eliminating interference and increasing the extraction efficiency of patulin. Apple-juice samples were treated with pectinase and amylase. A mixture of 80 μL ionic liquid and 600 μL methanol (disperser solvent) was used for the IL-DLLME process. The sedimented phase was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Experimental parameters controlling the performance of DLLME, were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). Under optimum conditions, the calibration curves showed high levels of linearity (R² > 0.99) for patulin in the range of 1–200 ng g⁻¹. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for the seven analyses was 7.5%. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.15 ng g⁻¹ and 0.5 ng g⁻¹, respectively. The merit figures, compared with other methods, showed that new proposed method is an accurate, precise and reliable sample-pretreatment method that substantially reduces sample matrix interference and gives very good enrichment factors and detection limits for investigation trace amount of patulin in apple-juice samples.     

Fast analysis of volatile components of Achillea tenuifolia Lam with microwave distillation followed by headspace single-drop microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS)

This article investigates the effect of microwaves on the amount of volatile compounds Achillea tenuifolia Lam with two methods, headspace single-drop microextraction and microwave-assisted headspace single-drop microextraction (MA-SDME), for the analysis of essential oil. Solvent selection, solvent volume, microwave power, irradiation time and sample mass were optimised by the simplex method.     

Flow invariance for solutions to nonlinear nonautonomous partial differential delay equations

We investigate the problem of existence and flow invariance of mild solutions to nonautonomous partial differential delay equations , t?s, us=φ, where B(t) is a family of nonlinear multivalued, α-accretive operators with D(B(t)) possibly depending on t, and the operators F(t,.) being defined—and Lipschitz continuous—possibly only on “thin” subsets of the initial history space E. The results are applied to population dynamics models. We also study the asymptotic behavior of solutions to this equation. Our analysis will be based on the evolution operator associated to the equation in the initial history space E.