Aqueous media preparation of 2-amino-4,6-diphenylnicotinonitriles using cellulose sulfuric acid as an efficient catalyst

A convenient approach to the synthesis of 2-amino-4,6-diphenylnicotinonitriles via four-component reaction of aromatic aldehydes, acetophenone derivatives, malononitrile and ammonium acetate is described. The reactions were done in water as solvent using cellulose sulfuric acid as catalyst. This simple protocol offer advantages such as shorter reaction times, simple work-up procedure, excellent yields and catalyst recovery.     

Dynamics of loop soliton solutions of $${\pmb {\mathcal {PT}}}$$PT-symmetric nonlocal short pulse equation

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this article, we present a system of coupled short pulse equations as integrability condition of associated generalized linear eigenvalue problem. We obtain system of...     

MICELLIZATION STUDIES OF DODECYL BENZENESULFONIC ACID AND ITS INTERACTION WITH POLYVINYLPYRROLIDONE

Dodecyl benzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) surfactant was used in the present study to find the effect of concentration on its electrical conductance in solution from 293-323K above and below the critical micelle concentration (CMC). The micellization parameters i.e. degree of counter ion binding (β), aggregation number (n) and number of counter ion micelle(m) were measured. The interaction of DBSA with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was also studied at 293K throughconductance and surface tension measure ments. A number of important parameters i.e. critical aggregation concentration (CAC), Gibb‘s free energy (△G) and binding ratio (R) were determined and the effect of NaCl on the CAC and polymer saturation point (PSP) was also investigated.     

Water‐Splitting Catalysis and Solar Fuel Devices: Artificial Leaves on the Move

The development of new energy materials that can be utilized to make renewable and clean fuels from abundant and easily accessible resources is among the most challenging and demanding tasks in science today. Solar‐powered catalytic water‐splitting processes can be exploited as a source of electrons and protons to make clean renewable fuels, such as hydrogen, and in the sequestration of CO₂ and its conversion into low‐carbon energy carriers. Recently, there have been tremendous efforts to build up a stand‐alone solar‐to‐fuel conversion device, the “artificial leaf”, using light and water as raw materials. An overview of the recent progress in electrochemical and photo‐electrocatalytic water splitting devices is presented, using both molecular water oxidation complexes (WOCs) and nano‐structured assemblies to develop an artificial photosynthetic system.     

Virtual Screening,Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Streptococcus mutans Mediated Biofilm Inhibitors

Dental caries, a global oral health concern, is a biofilm-mediated disease. Streptococcus mutans, the most prevalent oral microbiota, produces extracellular enzymes, including glycosyltransferases responsible for sucrose polymerization. In bacterial communities, the biofilm matrix confers resistance to host immune responses and antibiotics. Thus, in cases of chronic dental caries, inhibiting bacterial biofilm assembly should prevent demineralization of tooth enamel, thereby preventing tooth decay. A high throughput screening was performed in the present study to identify small molecule inhibitors of S. mutans glycosyltransferases. Multiple pharmacophore models were developed, validated with multiple datasets, and used for virtual screening against large chemical databases. Over 3000 drug-like hits were obtained that were analyzed to explore their binding mode. Finally, six compounds that showed good binding affinities were further analyzed for ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) properties. The obtained in silico hits were evaluated for in vitro biofilm formation. The compounds displayed excellent antibiofilm activities with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 15.26–250 µg/mL.     

Graphene-Oxide-Based Fluoro- and Chromo-Genic Materials and Their Applications

Composite materials and their applications constitute a hot field of research nowadays due to the fact that they comprise a combination of the unique properties of each component of which they consist. Very often, they exhibit better performance and properties compared to their combined building blocks. Graphene oxide (GO), as the most widely used derivative of graphene, has attracted widespread attention because of its excellent properties. Abundant oxygen-containing functional groups on GO can provide various reactive sites for chemical modification or functionalization of GO, which in turn can be used to develop novel GO-based composites. This review outlines the most recent advances in the field of novel dyes and pigments encompassing GO as a key ingredient or as an important cofactor. The interactions of graphene with other materials/compounds are highlighted. The special structure and unique properties of GO have a great effect on the performance of fabricated hybrid dyes and pigments by enhancing the color performance of dyes, the anticorrosion properties of pigments, the viscosity and rheology of inks, etc., which further expands the applications of dyes and pigments in dyeing, optical elements, solar-thermal energy storage, sensing, coatings, and microelectronics devices. Finally, challenges in the current development as well as the future prospects of GO-based dyes and pigments are also discussed. This review provides a reference for the further exploration of novel dyes and pigments.     

Experimental investigation of the two-photon widths of the chi(c0) and the chi(c2) mesons

Using 12.7 fb(-1) of data collected with the CLEO detector at CESR, we observed two-photon production of the cc states chi(c0) and chi(c2) in their decay to pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-). We measured gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c))xB(chi(c)-->pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)) to be 75+/-13(stat)+/-8(syst) eV for the chi(c0) and 6.4+/-1.8(stat)+/-0.8(syst) eV for the chi(c2), implying gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c0)) = 3.76+/-0.65(stat)+/-0.41(syst)+/-1.69(br) keV and gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c2)) = 0.53+/-0.15(stat)+/-0.06(syst)+/-0.22(br) keV. Also, cancellation of dominant experimental and theoretical uncertainties permits a precise comparison of gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c0))/gamma(gammagamma)(chi(c2)), evaluated to be 7.4+/-2.4(stat)+/-0.5(syst)+/-0.9(br), with QCD-based predictions.     

First observation of the sigma(*+)(c) baryon and a new measurement of the sigma(*+)(c) mass

Using data recorded with the CLEO II and CLEO II.V detector configurations at the Cornell Electron Storage Rings, we report the first observation and mass measurement of the Sigma(*+)(c) charmed baryon, and an updated measurement of the mass of the Sigma(+)(c) baryon. We find M(Sigma(*+)(c))-M(Lambda(+)(c)) = (231.0+/-1.1+/-2.0) MeV, and M(Sigma(+)(c))-M(Lambda(+)(c)) = (166.4+/-0.2+/-0.3) MeV, where the errors are statistical and systematic, respectively.     

Measurement Error Correction for Distributed Properties – Filter Cake Thickness Measurements

The measurement of a distributed property is frequently encountered in engineering applications. The impact of a possible measurement error on the measured distribution is described and two methods to account for such an error are detailed: A Fourier transform based deconvolution procedure and a moment based deconvolution approach via kernel estimators are presented. The deconvolution methods can be used in many particle characterization and process applications where particle features or properties are commonly presented in a distributed form. In the current instance, these methods are carefully explored by using artificially generated data and applied to experimental data obtained from filter cake thickness measurements.