Modelling and measuring the thermal conductivity of multi-metallic Zn/Cu nanofluid

A metallic nanofluid is a suspension of metallic nanoparticles in a base fluid. Multi-metallic nanoparticles are a combination of two or more types of metallic particles. Such multi-metallic nanoparticles were suspended in water using an ultrasonic vibrator for different total volume fractions and different ratios of metallic/metallic nanoparticles. A transient hot wire setup was built to measure the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid at different temperatures. The experimental results were in good agreement with the results in the literature. Then, the experimental results were used as input data for an adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to predict the thermal conductivity of the multi-metallic nanofluid. The maximum deviation between the ANFIS results and experimental measurements was 1 %. The predicted results and the experimental data were compared with other models. The ANFIS model was found to have good ability to predict the thermal conductivity of the multi-metallic nanofluid over the range of the experimental results.     

Radiological impact from natural radionuclide activity concentrations in soil and vegetables at former tin mining area and non-mining area in Peninsular Malaysia

The radionuclide concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K were measured in eleven different types of vegetables from nine sample locations in Peninsular Malaysia by using gamma spectrometry with high purity germanium detector. Radiological impact and cancer risk arising from the ingestion of vegetables was also determined in this study. The annual ingestion dose of vegetables from former tin mining area and non-mining area were found to be 0.64 and 0.61 µSv y^?1. Corresponding cancer risk estimated for adults were 2.24 × 10^?6 and 2.15 × 10^?6 for former tin mining area and non-mining area, respectively. Both of them were lower than predicted value recommended at international level by ICRP, 3.5 × 10^?3. The present study concludes that vegetables planted at both areas would not pose any significant radiological impact to the population, despite the higher concentration of radionuclide in soil. External hazard indices from soil in this study are less than one. Thus, the soils are suitable for use in agriculture.     

Phosphorus ligands for iron(III)‐mediated ATRP of styrene via generation of activators by monomer addition

Styrene polymerization via generation of activators by monomer addition (GAMA) for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) has been examined extensively with bulk FeX₃ and FeX₂ at 110 °C in conjunction with various phosphorus‐bearing ligands. It was found that GAMA possesses advantages over normal ATRP. Most importantly, narrower polydispersity index (PDI) values were observed from the styrene polymerizations with Fe(III) over those with Fe(II). Every instance of 2‐(diphenylphosphino)‐N,N′‐dimethyl‐[1,1′‐biphenyl]‐2‐amine and 2‐(diphenylphosphino) pyridine with the Fe(III) system were controlled excellently without addition of any radical initiator or reducing agent additives. Initiator type was found to exert a significant factor to influence on the controllability of polymerization. The initiation of 1‐phenylethyl chloride and methyl‐2‐chloropropionate gave rise to formation of polymers with narrow PDI (1.05–1.20), whereas those from 1‐phenylethyl bromide increased to 1.35. The GAMA of bulk styrene exhibited the best performance in terms of both rate and controllability compared with toluene and anisole. Both formation of block copolymer from the macroinitiator and efficient perturbation of polymerization with 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine 1‐oxyl provided firm evidence to support the living and radical characteristics for the GAMA of styrene. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 144–151, 2010     

Electronic structures of carbazole and its derivatives: A semi-empirical study on the substitution effects of carbazole

The electronic structures of carbazole, N-phenylcarbazole (NPC), cyanophenylcarbazole (CPC) and N-ethylcarbazole (NEC) have been calculated using the quantum chemical semi-empirical MINDO/3 method. In this paper, electronic ground states and first singlet excited states of the systems mentioned were investigated. It is observed that the excitation energy of carbazole based on the calculated difference in heats of formation agrees quite well with experimental data obtained from supersonic expansion studies. Calculated energy levels of molecular orbitals and their graphical forms are used qualitatively in elucidating the S₀ → S₁ excitation electronic origin red shifts observed in carbazole derivatives with respect to the electronic origin of the parent carbazole. It is noted that the red shifts are not just a result of the destabilization of the HOMO of carbazole but are also determined by the nature of the substituting moieties. It is also observed that the LUMO of CPC is not derived from the parent carbazole which partially explains the difference in electronic behaviour as compared with the other derivatives.     

Sonochemical Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound

The sonochemical synthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with different shapes and size distributions by using high‐intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) operating at 463 kHz is reported. GNP formation proceeds through the reduction of Au³⁺ to Au⁰ by radicals generated by acoustic cavitation. TEM images reveal that GNPs show irregular shapes at 30 W, are primarily icosahedral at 50 W and form a significant amount of nanorods at 70 W. The size of GNPs decreases with increasing acoustic power with a narrower size distribution. Sonochemiluminescence images help in the understanding of the effect of HIFU in controlling the size and shapes of GNPs. The number of radicals that form and the mechanical forces that are generated control the shape and size of the GNPs. UV/Vis spectra and TEM images are used to propose a possible mechanism for the observed effects. The results presented demonstrate, for the first time, that the HIFU system can be used to synthesise size‐ and shape‐controlled metal nanoparticles.     

Rapid preparative isolation of erythrocentaurin from Enicostemma littorale by medium‐pressure liquid chromatography,its estimation by high‐pressure thin‐layer chromatography,and its α‐amylase inhibitory activity

Erythrocentaurin is a relatively simple natural product present among the members of Gentianaceae. A preparative method for the isolation of erythrocentaurin from the ethyl acetate fraction of Enicostemma littorale using medium‐pressure liquid chromatography has been reported. The method consisted of a simple step gradient from 10 to 20% ethyl acetate in n‐hexane. Using a 70 × 460 mm Si60 column, this method is capable of processing 20 g of material in <3 h (purity ≈ 97%). The recovery of erythrocentaurin was 87.77%. Estimation of erythrocentaurin in extracts and fractions based on high‐pressure thin‐layer chromatography was carried out on silica gel 60 F₂₅₄ plates with toluene/ethyl acetate/formic acid (80:18:2 v/v/v) as the mobile phase. The densitometric analysis was performed at 230 nm. A well‐separated compact band of erythrocentaurin appeared at R_f 0.54 ± 0.04. The analytical method showed good linearity in the concentration range of 200–1500 ng/band with a correlation coefficient of 0.99417. The limits of detection and quantification were found to be ≈60 and ≈180 ng/band, respectively. Erythrocentaurin exhibited a concentration‐dependent α‐amylase inhibition (IC₅₀ 1.67 ± 0.28 mg/mL). The outcome of the study should be considered for pharmacokinetic and biotransformation studies involving E. littorale.     

Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation Catalyzed by Mesoporous MCM‐41‐Supported Chiral Ru‐Complex

Chiral N‐sulfonyldiamine was successfully anchored on mesoporous MCM‐41 silica. The MCM‐41‐supported chiral N‐sulfonyldiamine was used as an efficient heterogeneous chiral ligand in the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones. This heterogeneous system offered satisfactory enantioselectivities up to 94 % with excellent conversions.     

Liquid Chromatographic Determination of NSAIDs in Urine After Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction Based on Solidification of Floating Organic Droplets

An environmentally benign method of sample preparation based on dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction and solidification of floating organic droplets (DLLME-SFO) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection has been developed for analysis of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in biological fluids. A low-toxicity solvent was used to replace the chlorinated solvents commonly used in conventional DLLME. Seven conditions were investigated and optimized: type and volume of extraction solvent and dispersive solvent, extraction time, effect of addition of salt, and sample pH. Under the optimum conditions, good linearity was obtained in the range 0.01–10 µg mL⁻¹, with coefficients of determination (r ²) >0.9949. Detection limits were in the range 0.0034–0.0052 µg mL⁻¹ with good reproducibility (RSD) and satisfactory inter-day and intra-day recovery (95.7–115.6 %). The method was successfully used for analysis of diclofenac, mefenamic acid, and ketoprofen in human urine. Analysis of urine samples from a patient 2 and 4 h after administration of diclofenac revealed concentrations of 1.20 and 0.34 µg mL⁻¹, respectively.

     

Theoretical and experimental studies of ion imprinted polymer for nitrate detection

Molecular imprinting is an approach to synthesize receptors with specific molecular recognition properties. A computational method was carried out to study interaction between template and monomer in prepolymerization mixture. The functional monomer and template complexes were optimized, at the minimum energy confirmation using Austin Model 1 semi empirical method within Restricted Hartree Fock formalism. The theoretical results showed that allylthiourea (functional monomer) has the largest interaction energy towards template (sodium nitrate) with the mole ratio of 4 : 1; functional monomer : template. The resulting polymers were characterized using Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry analysis and field emission scanning electron microscopy. Rebinding experiments were carried out to evaluate binding capacity of the polymer. The adsorption data of ion imprinted polymer (IIP) were fitted with Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model. Pseudo-second order kinetic model was used to describe the kinetic adsorption behavior of IIP. The experimental binding result showed good agreement with theoretical computation and the IIP was further used for nitrate ion detection. The results of membrane optimization indicated that the sensor, which composed of 30% polyvinylchloride, 60% nitrophenyl octyl ether as a plasticizer, 2% sodium tetraphenyl borate, and 10% IIP as ionophore exhibited an almost Nernstian slope with the limit of detection 3.9 × 10^-6 M. The fabricated sensor had shown good potential in nitrate detection with wide linear range, low limit of detection and found to have good selectivity towards nitrate ion over other anion.     

Large Time Asymptotics with Error Estimates to Solutions of a Forced Burgers Equation

This article deals with a forced Burgers equation (FBE) subject to the initial function, which is continuous and summable on . Large time asymptotic behavior of solutions to the FBE is determined with precise error estimates. To achieve this, we construct solutions for the FBE with a different initial class of functions using the method of separation of variables and Cole–Hopf like transformation. These solutions are constructed in terms of Hermite polynomials with the help of similarity variables. The constructed solutions would help us to pick up an asymptotic approximation and to show that the magnitude of the difference function of the true and approximate solutions decays algebraically to 0 for large time.