Three gemini cationic surfactants as biodegradable corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel in HCl solution

Three gemini cationic surfactants with different hydrophobic spacer chain lengths were synthesized and characterized. The inhibition effect of N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-bis(2-(tetradecanoyloxy)ethyl)ethane-1,2-diaminium bromide (G-2); N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-bis(2-(tetradecanoyloxy)ethyl) hexane-1,6-diaminium bromide (G-6); and N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-bis (2-(tetradecanoyloxy) ethyl) dodecane-1,12-diaminium bromide (G-12) on the corrosion of carbon steel in 1.0 M HCl solution at 25–60 °C was studied by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show that the synthesized inhibitors are effective inhibitors even at very low concentration, and the adsorption on the carbon steel surface obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Potentiodynamic polarization curves reveal that the synthesized inhibitors behave as a mixed-type inhibitor. Adsorption of used inhibitors led to a reduction in the double layer capacitance and an increase in the charge transfer resistance. Thermodynamic parameters have been obtained by adsorption theory. Surface activity and corrosion inhibition relationship were discussed. The biodegradability of the synthesized surfactants showed their readily biodegradation in the open environment and were considered as environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitors.

     

Electron-transfer-catalyzed rearrangement of unsymmetrically substituted diiron dithiolate complexes related to the active site of the [FeFe]-hydrogenases

Novel asymmetrically substituted azadithiolate compounds [Fe2(CO)4(kappa2-dppe){micro-SCH2N(R)CH2S}] (R=iPr, 1a; CH2CH2OCH3, 1b; CH2C6H5, 1c) have been synthesized by treatment of [Fe2(CO)6(micro-adt)] [adt=SCH2N(R)CH2S, with R=iPr, CH2CH2OCH3, CH2C6H5] with dppe (dppe=Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2) in refluxing toluene in the presence of Me3NO. 1a-c have been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. The electrochemical investigation of 1a-c and of [Fe2(CO)4(kappa2-dppe)(micro-pdt)] (1d) [pdt=S(CH2)3S] in MeCN- and THF-[NBu4][PF6] has demonstrated that the electrochemical reduction of 1a-d gives rise to an Electron-transfer-catalyzed (ETC) isomerization to the symmetrical isomers 2a-d where the dppe ligand bridges the iron centers. Compounds 2a-d were characterized by IR and NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray crystallography for 2a.     

Synthesis and Reactions of 5-Amino-3-(3-methyl-5-oxo-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-4-yl)-7-phenyl-7 H -thiazolo[3,2- a ]pyrimidine-6-carbonitrile

5-Amino-3-(3-methyl-5-oxo-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-4-yl)-7-phenyl-7H-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine-6-carbonitrile was synthesized via the reaction of 4-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)-3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one with benzylidene malononitrile and was then transformed to related fused heterocyclic systems. The antifungal and antibacterial studies revealed in some cases excellent biocidal properties.     

Photoelectrochemical behavior of coupled SnO2|CdSe nanocrystalline semiconductor films

A photoelectrochemical cell with a coupled SnO₂|CdSe nanocrystalline semiconductor electrode has been prepared by sequential deposition of SnO₂ and CdSe films onto an optically transparent electrode (OTE), and its photoelectrochemical behavior has been studied. The results show that the coupling of CdSe with SnO₂ leads to an improvement in the performance of OTE|SnO₂|CdSe over OTE|CdSe cells in terms of increased incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency, increased stability and smaller reversal of current. The favorable positioning of the energy bands of SnO₂ and CdSe is responsible for the above observations. Various photoelectrochemical parameters of the OTE|SnO₂|CdSe cell obtained for an incident light power of 0.31 mW cm⁻² at 470nm, are as follows: I_sc ≈ 25–30 μA cm⁻², V_oc ≈ 0.5–0.6 V, ƒƒ = 0.47 and a power conversion efficiency of about 2.25%.     

Biochemical Properties of Tyrosinase from Aspergillus terreus and Penicillium copticola; Undecanoic Acid from Aspergillus flavus,an Endophyte of Moringa oleifera,Is a Novel Potent Tyrosinase Inhibitor

Tyrosinase is a copper-containing monooxygenase catalyzing the O-hydroxylation of tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine then to dopaquinone that is profoundly involved in melanin synthesis in eukaryotes. Overactivation of tyrosinase is correlated with hyperpigmentation that is metabolically correlated with severe pathological disorders, so, inhibition of this enzyme is the most effective approach in controlling the overproduction of melanin and its hazardous effects. Thus, searching for a powerful, selective inhibitor of human tyrosinase to limit the hyper-synthesis of melanin is a challenge. Unlike the difficulty of overexpression of human tyrosinase, using fungal tyrosinase as a model enzyme to the human one to evaluate the mechanistics of enzyme inhibition in response to various compounds is the most feasible strategy. Thus, the purification of highly catalytic-efficient fungal tyrosinase, exploring a novel inhibitor, and evaluating the mechanistics of enzyme inhibition are the main objectives of this work. Aspergillus terreus and Penicillium copticola were reported as the most potential tyrosinase producers. The biochemical properties suggest that this enzyme displays a higher structural and catalytic proximity to human tyrosinase. Upon nutritional bioprocessing by Plackett–Burman design, the yield of tyrosinase was increased by about 7.5-folds, compared to the control. The purified tyrosinase was strongly inhibited by kojic acid and A. flavus DCM extracts with IC₅₀ values of 15.1 and 12.6 µg/mL, respectively. From the spectroscopic analysis, the main anti-tyrosinase compounds of A. flavus extract was resolved, and verified as undecanoic acid. Further studies are ongoing to unravel the in vivo effect and cytotoxicity of this compound in fungi and human, that could be a novel drug to various diseases associated with hyperpigmentation by melanin.     

Determination of primordial radionuclide concentrations in UAE groundwater using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Groundwater is the most valuable resource in arid regions, such as UAE. Estimations of natural radionuclide concentrations are important to...     

Determination of Phenolic Compounds in Various Propolis Samples Collected from an African and an Asian Region and Their Impact on Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities

The biological activities of propolis samples are the result of many bioactive compounds present in the propolis. The aim of the present study was to determine the various chemical compounds of some selected propolis samples collected from Palestine and Morocco by the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Photodiode Array Detection (HPLC-PDA) method, as well as the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of this bee product. The chemical analysis of propolis samples by HPLC-PDA shows the cinnamic acid content in the Palestinian sample is higher compared to that in Moroccan propolis. The results of antioxidant activity demonstrated an important free radical scavenging activity (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH); 2,2′-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and reducing power assays) with EC₅₀ values ranging between 0.02 ± 0.001 and 0.14 ± 0.01 mg/mL. Additionally, all tested propolis samples possessed a moderate antibacterial activity against bacterial strains. Notably, Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) values ranged from 0.31 to 2.50 mg/mL for Gram-negative bacterial strains and from 0.09 to 0.125 mg/mL for Gram-positive bacterial strains. The S2 sample from Morocco and the S4 sample from Palestine had the highest content of polyphenol level. Thus, the strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties were apparently due to the high total phenolic and flavone/flavonol contents in the samples. As a conclusion, the activities of propolis samples collected from both countries are similar, while the cinnamic acid in the Palestinian samples was more than that of the Moroccan samples.     

Characterization of polyoxometalate/polymer photo-composites: A toolbox for the photodegradation of organic pollutants

Different inorganic/organic photocomposites based on polyoxometalate (POM) nanoparticles have been developed for photocatalytic applications. Currently, polyoxometalate nanoparticles have been successfully in-situ embedded into an acrylate polymer network by photopolymerization upon mild visible light irradiation at 405 nm. The proposed POM/polymer photocomposites have been characterized using complementary techniques for a better understanding of their photocatalytic activity. Interestingly, the obtained photocomposites exhibit high rigidity, excellent thermal stability, a non-negligible porosity and new functionalities such as light reactivity and redox properties. Moreover, developed composites showed efficient catalytic activity for the color removal of aqueous solutions of erythrosine and rose Bengal under Light Emitting Diodes LED@375 nm irradiation reaching 80 and 90% as a final color removal, respectively.     

Design of donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) type small molecule donor materials with efficient photovoltaic parameters

Four Donor–Acceptor–Donor (D–A–D) type of donor molecules (M1‐M4) with triphenylamine (TPA) as donor moiety, thiophene as bridge, and thiazolothiazole as acceptor unit were designed and its photovoltaic parameters were equated with reference molecule “R.” DFT functional CAM‐B3LYP/6‐31G (d,p) was found best for geometry optimization and TD‐CAM‐B3LYP/6‐31G (d,p) was found suitable for excited state calculations. Among designed donor molecules, M4 manifests suitable lowest band gap of 4.73 eV, frontier molecular orbital energy levels as well as distinctive broad absorption of 455.3 nm due to the stronger electron withdrawing group. The electron‐withdrawing substituents contribute to red shifts of absorption spectra and better stabilities for designed molecules. The theoretically determined reorganization energies of designed donor molecules suggested excellent charge mobility property. The lower λ_e values in comparison with λ_h illustrated that these four donor materials would be ideal for electron transfer and M4 would be best amongst the investigated molecules with lowest λ_e of 0.0177. Furthermore, the calculated Voc of M4 is 2.04 V with respect to PC₆₀BM (phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester). This study revealed that the designed donor materials are suitable and recommended for high performance organic solar cell devices.     

A genetic algorithm for optimizing defective goods supply chain costs using JIT logistics and each-cycle lengths

The competitive environment of global markets has forced many manufacturers to select the most appropriate supply chain network (SCN) for reduction of total costs and wasted time. Cost reduction and selection of the appropriate length of each period are two important factors in the competitive market that are often not addressed comprehensively by researchers. In our study, we proposed genetic algorithms (GAs) for optimising a novel mathematical model of the defective goods supply chain network (DGSCN). In the proposed model, we assumed that all imperfect-quality products are not repairable, whereas those considered as scrap are directly sold to customers at a low price. The objective of the proposed model is to minimise the costs of production, distribution, holding and backorder. In addition to minimising the costs, the model can determine the economic production quantity (EPQ), the appropriate length of each cycle (ALOEC) and the quantities of defective products, scrap products and retailer shortages using Just-In-Time logistics (JIT-L). We used the GAs and a Cplex solver with probability parameters and various dimensions for validation of the studied model in real-life situations, and we compared the outputs to demonstrate the performance of the model. Additionally, to identify the appropriate length of each cycle (ALOEC), we needed to solve the model using exact parameters and same dimensions and prefer to use Lingo for this application.