Graphene and Carbon Nanotube-based Electrochemical Sensing Platforms for Dopamine

Dopamine (DA) is an important neurotransmitter, which is created and released from the central nervous system. It plays a crucial role in human activities, like cognition, emotions, and response to anything. Maladjustment of DA in human blood serum results in different neural diseases, like Parkinson's and Schizophrenia. Consequently, researchers have started working on DA detection in blood serum, which is undoubtedly a hot research area. Electrochemical sensing techniques are more promising to detect DA in real samples. However, utilizing conventional electrodes for selective determination of DA encounters numerous problems due to the coexistence of other materials, such as uric acid and ascorbic acid, which have an oxidation potential close to DA. To overcome such problems, researchers have put their focus on the modification of bare electrodes. The aim of this review is to present recent advances in modifications of most used bare electrodes with carbonaceous materials, especially graphene, its derivatives, and carbon nanotubes, for electrochemical detection of DA. A brief discussion about the mechanistic phenomena at the electrode interface has also been included in this review.     

Living ring-opening metathesis polymerization of norbornenes bay-functionalized perylene diimides

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP)-derived poly(oxanorbornene imide)s bearing bay-linked mono - alkoxy -M1 and 1,7-di-alkoxy M2 functionalized perylene diimides (PDIs) were synthesized using Grubb's third ( G3 ) and Hoveyda-Grubbs second generation ( HG2 ) ruthenium-alkylidene metathesis initiators. The mono-alkoxy-derived PDI-based non-ladderphane polymer poly M1 displayed 67% to 77% of the trans olefin content in the polymer chain depending on the initiator used for the polymerization. When using the symmetrical 1,7-di-alkoxy-derived PDI-based polymer poly M2 having the ladderphane type-structure, this displayed a significant amount of cis and trans olefin contents in the polymer chains, irrespective of the type of initiators used for the polymerization. ROMP of both monomers M1 and M2 proceeded in a well-controlled manner with a linear dependence of molecular weight on the monomer/initiator ratio using G3 as initiator. Optical properties of the ladderphane-based poly M2 and non-ladderphane-based poly M1 were characterized in both solution and the film state. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis for all the polymers showed significant π-stacking in the thin film state with ordered molecular packing and closer values of d-spacing for both poly M1 and poly M2 . Film morphology examined by AFM elucidated homogenous smooth polymer surface for both polymers in general, but with some irregularities observed for poly M1 . In addition, CV analysis revealed both polymers could be good candidates as electron-accepting materials, with excellent film-forming ability, and thermal stability.     

Soap-free emulsion polymerization of poly (methyl methacrylate-co-butyl acrylate): effects of anionic comonomers and methanol on the different characteristics of the latexes

Soap-free emulsion polymerization (SFEP) of methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate was conducted in water/methanol media with sodium salts of four different acidic comonomers, namely styrene sulfonic acid (NaSS), 2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (NaAmps), acrylic acid (NaAA), and itaconic acid (Na₂ita). It was found that the introduction of methanol as co-solvent (35 wt%) to the medium greatly decreases the amount of water-soluble polyelectrolyte in the cases NaAA and Na₂ita while it does not make difference for NaSS and NaAmps. Having employed the concept of conductance dependency to the ion mobility, the onset concentration in which soluble chains were formed was detected. The addition of sulfonic-based comonomers (NaSS and NaAmps), first decreased particle size and then led to predomination of solution polymerization over SFEP. On the contrary, the incorporation of carboxylic-based comonomers (NaAA and Na₂ita) led to increase in particle size. Moreover, the particle size results were in good qualitative agreement with the classical Smith–Ewart theory.     

Validated TLC-densitometry method for the simultaneous analysis of pyrethroid insecticides in agricultural and domestic products

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Pyrethroids are widely used for the control of pests and insects, as pyrethroids are believed to pose very little risk to human health and environment. However, exposure to the pyrethroids exceeding the label directions might adversely affect human health and environment. Hence a careful selection of environment friendly household product is required that must contain exactly the label claimed pyrethroids amount. RESULTS: A sensitive and robust TLC-densitometric method for simultaneous quantification of commonly used synthetic pyrethroids including esbiothrin, alpha-cypermethrin and cis/trans permethrin in agricultural and domestic products has been developed and validated. TLC aluminum plates, precoated with 0.2 mm thick layer of silica gel 60 F-254, were used for chromatographic process. Densitometric analysis of chromatoplates was carried out in absorbance mode at corresponding lamdamax of each pyrethroid. Equally valid common mobile phase for all pyrethroids consisted of hexane-dichloromethane-ethylacetate-formic acid (8:1.5:0.4:0.1 v/v/v/v) which provided sharp and symmetrical peaks of esbiothrin, alpha-cypermethrin, trans-permethrin and cis-permethrin, at Rf 0.31, 0.53, 0.6 and 0.65, respectively. Linear regression data for respective calibration curves showed a good linearity for all pyrethroids with r = 0.991-0.996. Limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) for all pyrethroids were found in the range of 1.6-2.8 and 4.9-8.5 ng/spot, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The developed method is applicable for separating the mixture of pyrethroids and at the same time, it is also valid for separating their isomers. The method is reproducible, precise and accurate for the quantitative determination of pyrethroids in agricultural and domestic products.     

Solvent selection in ultrasonic-assisted emulsification microextraction: Comparison between high- and low-density solvents by means of novel type of extraction vessel

There are numerous published reports about dispersive liquid phase microextraction of the wide range of substances, however, till now no broadly accepted systematic and purpose oriented selection of extraction solvent has been proposed. Most works deal with the optimization of available solvents without adequate pre-consideration of properness. In this study, it is tried to compare the performances of low- and high-density solvents at the same conditions by means of novel type of extraction vessel with head and bottom conical shape. Extraction efficiencies of seven basic pharmaceutical compounds using eighteen common organic solvents were studied in this work. It was much easier to work with high-density solvents and they mostly showed better performances. This work shows that although exact predicting the performance of the solvents is multifaceted case but the pre-consideration of initial selection of solvents with attention to the physiochemical properties of the desired analytes is feasible and promising. Finally, the practicality of the method for extraction from urine and plasma samples was investigated.     

Synthesis,spectral characterization and biological studies of transition metal(II) complexes with triazole Schiff bases

New metal based triazoles (1–12) have been synthesized by the interaction of novel Schiff base ligands (L¹–L³) with the Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) metal ions. The Schiff base ligands and their all metal(II) complexes have been thoroughly characterized using various physical, analytical and spectroscopic techniques. In vitro bacterial and fungal inhibition studies were carried out to examine the antibacterial and antifungal profile of the Schiff bases in comparison to their metal(II) complexes against two Gram‐positive, four Gram‐negative and six fungal strains. The bioactivity data showed the metal(II) complexes to have more potent antibacterial and antifungal activity than their uncomplexed parent Schiff bases against one or more bacterial and fungal species. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Double Suzuki cross‐coupling reaction of pyrimidine boronic acid: synthesis of new versatile dielectrophile

The double Suzuki cross‐coupling reaction has successfully been applied for the synthesis of 5,5′‐(5‐butoxy‐1,3‐phenylene)bis(2‐chloropyrimidine) with two reactive chloro groups and an alkoxy side chain starting from 2‐chloropyrimidin‐5‐ylboronic acid and 1,3‐dibromo‐5‐butoxybenzene. The reactivity of this dielectrophile was tested by reaction with aniline and phenol, a nitrogen and oxygen nucleophile, respectively. The new dielectrophile would further provide an ideal platform for the construction of large hetero‐atom bridged macrocycles for desired properties and functions in supramolecular and material chemistry. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cobalt titanate–cobalt oxide composite thin films deposited from heterobimetallic precursor

A single molecular heterobimetallic complex, [Co₂Ti(μ₃‐O)(TFA)₆(THF)₃] (1) [TFA = trifluoroacetate, THF = tetrahydrofuran], was synthesized, structurally and spectroscopically characterized and implemented as a single‐source precursor for the preparation of CoTiO₃–CoO composite thin films by aerosol‐assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). The precursor complex was prepared by interaction of Co(OAc)₂.4H₂O [OAc = (CH₃COO^?)] with Ti(iso‐propoxide)₄ in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid in THF, and was analysed by melting point, CHN, FT‐IR, single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The precursor complex thermally decomposed at 480 °C to give a residual mass corresponding to a CoTiO₃–CoO composite material. Good‐quality crystalline CoTiO₃–CoO composite thin films deposited at 500 °C by AACVD and characterized through powder X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy/energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy show that the crystallites have a rose‐flower‐like morphology with an average petal size in the range of 2–6 µm. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis,anti‐migration and burning rate catalytic mechanism of ferrocene‐based compounds

One of the most important components of solid rocket propellant is the burning rate catalysts (BRC) which enhance burning rate of solid composite propellant. Low‐pressure exponents and stable burning rate are the key features of an excellent solid propellant. Addition of BRC to the propellant results in the increase of burning rate of the propellant and decrease in pressure exponents. Among all BRC, ferrocene‐based BRC have attracted much attention because of their better microscopic homogeneities in distribution, ignitability of the propellants and good compatibility with organic binder. However, the main barrier for the development and practical applications of ferrocene‐based BRC is their migration property. This article reviews the field and highlights recent progress. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.