Sedimentation rate in the Sungai Linggi estuary using excess 210Pb and 137Cs

The purpose of this study was to estimate the sedimentation rate in the Sungai Linggi estuary using the constant initial concentration of unsupported or excess ²¹⁰Pb model and verified with ¹³⁷Cs method. Five sediment cores were collected on 25 January 2011 using gravity corer with the inner tube of 50 cm length and 7.5 cm diameter. The total ²¹⁰Pb activities in the sediment cores profile at all sampling stations were varied and upper than those obtained for supported ²¹⁰Pb i.e. ²²⁶Ra, indicated disequilibrium among ²¹⁰Pb and its grandparents in the ²³⁸U decay series. Meanwhile, the lower ¹³⁷Cs activities were observed at all sampling stations due to no significant sources of ¹³⁷Cs releases were transferred into Malaysian marine. The estimation of sedimentation rate indicated the agreement of ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs method with a general presence of deep mixing in the Sungai Linggi estuary. Therefore, the apparent sedimentation rates calculated from ²¹⁰Pb profiles generally reflect the true value with the range from 0.70 to 1.97 cmyr^?1. High sedimentation rate was observed at some sampling stations which are located in river channel, estuary and closer to mainland. This suggested that land-use development, agriculture activities, channelization etc. introduced a large amount of sediment loaded into those areas.     

Synthesis of Fe3O4-supported Schiff base Cu (II) complex: a novel efficient and recyclable magnetic nanocatalyst for one-pot three-component synthesis of quinolin-5-one,chromene-3-carbonitrile and phthalazine-5,10-dione derivatives

Research on Chemical Intermediates - In this research, synthesis and characterization of a novel Schiff base Cu (II) complex immobilized on Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles are reported. Then, the...     

CH4 reforming with CO2 for syngas production over La2O3 promoted Ni catalysts supported on mesoporous nanostructured γ-A12O3

Nanostructured -y-A12O3 with high surface area and mesoporous structure was synthesized by sol-gel method and employed as catalyst support for nickel catalysts in methane reforming with carbon dioxide. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, TPR, TPO, TPH, NH3-TPD and SEM techniques. The BET analysis showed a high surface area of 204 m2.g-1 and a narrow pore-size distribution centered at a diameter of 5.5 nm for catalyst support. The BET results revealed that addition of lanthanum oxide to aluminum oxide decreased the specific surface area. In addition, TPR results showed that addition of lanthanum oxide increased the reducibility of nickel catalyst. The catalytic evaluation results showed an increase in methane conversion with increasing lanthanum oxide to 3 mol% and further increase in lanthanum content decreased the catalytic activity. TPO analysis revealed that the coke deposition decreased with increasing lanthanum oxide to 3 mol%. SEM and TPH analyses confirmed the formation of whisker type carbon over the spent catalysts. Addition of steam and Oxide to drv reformin feed increased the methane conversion and led to carbon free ooeration in combined orocesses.     

Magnetoelectronic properties of ferromagnetic compounds Rb2TaZ6 (Z = Cl,Br) for possible spintronic applications

Highly spin-polarized ferromagnetic materials are essential for efficient spintronic devices. Here, 100% spin-polarized compounds Rb₂TaZ₆ (Z = Cl, Br) studied via density functional theory are reported. These compounds show stability in the ferromagnetic phase with cubic symmetry and half metallic behavior, thereby exhibiting a nonzero direct band gap in the spin-down channel and zero band gap in the spin-up configuration. The Ta-d sates contribute mainly to the net magnetic moments as explained by the crystal field theory and density of states. High Curie temperatures of 960.35 and 1021.74 K for Ra₂TaCl₆ and Rb₂TaBr₆, along with maximum spin polarizability, make these compounds favorable for efficient spintronic applications.     

One-pot synthesis of new hydantoin (thiohydantoin) derivatives and evaluation of their antibacterial and antioxidant activities

One-pot four-component reactions of phenacyl bromides, parabanic or thioparabanic acids, thiophenols, and triphenylphosphine in the presence of triethylamine afforded new derivatives of hydantoin or thiohydantoin in good to high yields (65%-90%). Their antibacterial activities were evaluated against two Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis) and two Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Among the synthesized compounds, the obtained products from 2-hydroxythiophenol exhibited higher antibacterial activity than those obtained from 2-aminothiophenol. Compound 9l including N,N′^′-diphenyl thiohydantoin moiety showed the highest antibacterial activity (26.0 ± 01.4) against B subtilis, in comparison with other synthesized samples. The antioxidant activities of the synthesized hydantoins and thiohydantoins were investigated by DPPH radical-scavenging based on Blois method. The results showed that all the compounds have high DPPH inhibition potency (77.4%-83.9%) that it could be due to existence of heteroatoms with lone pair electrons and exchangeable protons on their NH₂ and OH groups.     

Benchmark approach to search of cost-effective and accurate density functional for homolytic cleavage of C─Mg bond of Grignard reagent

Grignard reactions are of importance in organic chemistry for the synthesis β-keto esters and diethyl malonate, alcohols, aldehydes or ketones, monocarboxylic acids, and other organometallic compounds. Generally, the heterolytic dissociation of C─Mg bond in Grignard reagent is the key step in these reactions. Recently, homolytic cleavage of the C─Mg bond in Grignard reagents has been reported in the preparation of stable radicals. These reactive species react with other compounds, which result in the formation of hydrocarbons and their derivatives. Therefore, the study of homolytic cleavage of C─Mg bonds is quite vital to better understand the kinetics and thermodynamics of these reactions. In the current study, a benchmark approach is adopted to find a cost-effective and accurate density functional (DF) for bond dissociation energies measurement of the C─Mg bond of Grignard reagents. Twenty-nine DFs from 13 density functional theory (DFT) classes with three types of basis sets (Pople' 6-31G(d) and 6-311G(d), Dunning's aug-cc-pVDZ, and Karlsruhe' def2-SVP basis sets) are implemented for the measurement of dissociation energies of the C─Mg bond. Theoretical dissociation energy values are compared with experimental reported values of the C─Mg bond of selected Grignard reagents. TPSSTPSS of the meta-GGA class with 6-31G (d) basis set gave accurate results, and its Pearson's correlation is 0.95. SD, root mean square deviation, and mean unsigned error of this method are 2.36 kcal mol⁻¹, 2.33 kcal mol⁻¹, and −0.46 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively. TPSSTPSS of the meta-GGA class is a one-electron, self-interaction, error-free Tao-Perdew-Staroverov-Scuseria functional that performed better with the 6-31G(d) basis set.     

A Sensor for Serotonin and Dopamine Detection in Cancer Cells Line Based on the Conducting Polymer−Pd Complex Composite

An electrochemical sensor based on the conducting polymer composite with a palladium complex (Pd(C₂H₄N₂S₂)₂) was developed for the detection of serotonin and dopamine simultaneously in the breast cancer cell and human plasma samples. The proposed sensor was fabricated using the Pd(C₂H₄N₂S₂)₂ complex‐anchored poly2,2 : 5,2‐terthiophene‐3‐(p‐benzoic acid) (pTBA) layer on the AuNPs decorated reduced graphene oxide (AuNPs@rGO) substrate, which revealed the enhanced anodic current of the target species. The sensor probe was characterized by electrochemical and surface analysis methods. The experimental parameters affecting the sensor performance were optimized, in terms of AuNPs@rGO concentration, the number of electropolymerization cycle for pTBA, immobilization time of Pd(C₂H₄N₂S₂)₂, and pH. The dynamic ranges for serotonin and dopamine were obtained from 0.02 to 200 μM, and from 0.1 to 200 μM with the detection limit of 2.5, and 24.0 nM, respectively. The reliability of proposed sensor was evaluated using cancer cell lines for the clinical applications.     

通用型激光诱导荧光微流控芯片分析仪的研制与性能考察

设计和研制了一种通用型激光诱导荧光微流控芯片分析仪.检测部分按共聚焦检测原理设计,采用CCD(电荷耦合器件)监测通道,三维自动调节聚焦,发射波长滤光片可方便地更换以适应多种染料选择,能分别显示进样和分离通道2条电流-时间曲线.考察了该分析仪的检测灵敏度、检测极限和线性范围,显示了分析灵敏度高,检测限低和线性范围宽等特点,在自制注塑型PMMA塑料芯片上实现了φX174Haedi-gesT_dNA片段的分离测定和烟叶act基因PCR产物的分析     

Antibacterial Effects of Flavonoids and Their Structure-Activity Relationship Study: A Comparative Interpretation

According to the latest report released by the World Health Organization, bacterial resistance to well-known and widely available antibacterial drugs has become a significant and severe global health concern and a grim challenge to tackle in order to cure infections associated with multidrug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms efficiently. Consequently, various strategies have been orchestrated to cure the severe complications related to multidrug-resistant bacteria effectively. Some approaches involved the retardation of biofilm formation and multidrug-resistance pumps in bacteria as well as the discovery of new antimicrobial agents demonstrating different mechanisms of action. In this regard, natural products namely alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, anthraquinone, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, etc., have been suggested to tackle the multidrug-resistant bacterial strains owing to their versatile pharmacological effects. Amongst these, flavonoids, also known as polyphenolic compounds, have been widely evaluated for their antibacterial property due to their tendency to retard the growth of a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms, including multidrug-resistant bacteria. The hydroxylation of C5, C7, C3′, and C4′; and geranylation or prenylation at C6 have been extensively studied to increase bacterial inhibition of flavonoids. On the other hand, methoxylation at C3′ and C5 has been reported to decrease flavonoids’ antibacterial action. Hence, the latest information on the antibacterial activity of flavonoids is summarized in this review, with particular attention to the structure–activity relationship of this broad class of natural compounds to discover safe and potent antibacterial agents as natural products.     

Interaction of longitudinal phonons with discrete breather in strained graphene

We numerically analyze the interaction of small-amplitude phonon waves with standing gap discrete breather (DB) in strained graphene. To make the system support gap DB, strain is applied to create a gap in the phonon spectrum. We only focus on the in-plane phonons and DB, so the issue is investigated under a quasi-one-dimensional setup. It is found that, for the longitudinal sound waves having frequencies below 6 THz, DB is transparent and thus no radiation of energy from DB takes place; whereas for those sound waves with higher frequencies within the acoustic (optical) phonon band, phonon is mainly transmitted (reflected) by DB, and concomitantly, DB radiates its energy when interacting with phonons. The latter case is supported by the fact that, the sum of the transmitted and reflected phonon energy densities is noticeably higher than that of the incident wave. Our results here may provide insight into energy transport in graphene when the spatially localized nonlinear vibration modes are presented.