Group analysis for the effects of the temperature-dependent fluid viscosity and chemical reaction on free convective heat and mass transfer

A group analysis has been carried out to study heat and mass transfer characteristics of an incompressible Newtonian fluid having a temperature-dependent viscosity over a vertical stretching surface in the presence of thermal radiation and a chemical reaction. The Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. The vertical surface is assumed to be permeable so as to allow for possible wall suction or injection. The governing differential equations are derived and transformed using the Lie group analysis. The transformed equations are solved numerically by applying the Runge—Kutta—Gill scheme with the shooting technique. Favorable comparisons with previously published works on various special cases of the problem are obtained     

ZnO thin film deposition on butterfly shaped electrodes for ultraviolet sensing applications

ZnO thin film was deposited on patterned gold electrodes using sol–gel spin coating technique. Conventional photo-lithography with wet etching process was used to create butterfly shaped 13 μm gap from zero gap chrome mask. The deposited thin film was characterized structurally, morphologically and electrically using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and Kiethly sourcemeter. Current–voltage (I–V) characterization was captured in dark and UV conditions. The current gain of the fabricated device was 1.36 and the response and recovery time of the sensor was 76 s and 104 s, respectively, showed the fabricated device can be used for UV applications.     

Introducing variational iteration method to a biochemical reaction model

A basic enzyme kinetics is used to test the effectiveness of an analytical method, called the variational iteration method (VIM). This enzyme–substrate reaction is formed by a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We shall compare the classical VIM against a modified version called the multistage VIM (MVIM). Additional comparison will be made against the conventional numerical method, Runge–Kutta (RK4)(fourth-order). Numerical results were obtained for these three methods and we found that MVIM and RK4 are in excellent conformance.     

Simultaneous Determination of Tranexamic Acid and Losartan Potassium in Dosage Formulations and Human Serum by RP-LC

Rapid liquid chromatographic procedure for analytical quality control of pharmaceutical preparations and human serum containing drugs, tranexamic acid together with losartan potassium are proposed, using acetonitrile: water (50:50), adjusting pH to 2.6 with phosphoric acid as a mobile phase, UV detection at 205 nm and propylparaben sodium was used as internal standard. The results obtained showed a good agreement with the declared contents. The method shows good linearity in the range of 40–10,000 ng mL^?1 for tranexamic acid serum concentrations with a correlation coefficient 0.9999 (inter- and intra-day CV <3.18) and in the range 5–10,000 ng mL^?1 for losartan potassium serum concentrations with a correlation coefficient 0.9999 (inter- and intra-day CV <3.61). The recovery was >97.8%. The proposed method may be used for the quantitative analysis of tranexamic acid and losartan potassium alone or in combination from raw materials, in bulk drugs, dosage formulations and in serum.     

On a new reliable modification of homotopy analysis method

In this paper, a new modification of the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is presented and applied to homogeneous or non-homogeneous differential equations with constant or variable coefficients. A comparative study between the new modified homotopy analysis method (MHAM) and the classical HAM is conducted. The main advantage of MHAM is that one can avoid the uncontrollability problems of the non-zero endpoint conditions encountered in the traditional HAM. Several illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of MHAM.     

Enantioselective analysis of ibuprofen, ketoprofen and naproxen in wastewater and environmental water samples

A highly sensitive and reliable method for the enantioselective analysis of ibuprofen, ketoprofen and naproxen in wastewater and environmental water samples has been developed. These three pharmaceuticals are chiral molecules and the variable presence of their individual (R)- and (S)-enantiomers is of increasing interest for environmental analysis. An indirect method for enantioseparation was achieved by the derivatization of the (R)- and (S)-enantiomers to amide diastereomers using (R)-1-phenylethylamine ((R)-1-PEA). After initial solid phase extraction from aqueous samples, derivatization was undertaken at room temperature in less than 5 min. Optimum recovery and clean-up of the amide diastereomers from the derivatization solution was achieved by a second solid phase extraction step. Separation and detection of the individual diastereomers was undertaken by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Excellent analyte separation and peak shapes were achieved for the derivatized (R)- and (S)-enantiomers for all three pharmaceuticals with peak resolution, R(s) is in the range of 2.87-4.02 for all diastereomer pairs. Furthermore, the calibration curves developed for the (S)-enantiomers revealed excellent linearity (r(2) ≥ 0.99) for all three compounds. Method detection limits were shown to be within the range of 0.2-3.3 ng L(-1) for individual enantiomers in ultrapure water, drinking water, surface water and a synthetic wastewater. Finally, the method was shown to perform well on a real tertiary treated wastewater sample, revealing measurable concentrations of both (R)- and (S)-enantiomers of ibuprofen, naproxen and ketoprofen. Isotope dilution using racemic D(3)-ibuprofen, racemic D(3)-ketoprofen and racemic D(3)-naproxen was shown to be an essential aspect of this method for accurate quantification and enantiomeric fraction (EF) determination. This approach produced excellent reproducibility for EF determination of triplicate tertiary treated wastewater samples.     

Acuminatol and Other Antioxidative Resveratrol Oligomers from the Stem Bark of <em>Shorea acuminata</em>

A new resveratrol dimer, acuminatol (1), was isolated along with five known compounds from the acetone extract of the stem bark of Shorea acuminata. Their structures and stereochemistry were determined by spectroscopic methods, which included the extensive use of 2D NMR techniques. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant activity using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (RSA) and the β-carotene-linoleic acid (BCLA) assays, and compared with those of the standards of ascorbic acid (AscA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). All compounds tested exhibited good to moderate antioxidant activity in the DPPH assay (IC₅₀s 0.84 to 10.06 mM) and displayed strong inhibition of β-carotene oxidation (IC₅₀s 0.10 to 0.22 mM). The isolated compounds were evaluated on the Vero cell line and were found to be non-cytotoxic with LC₅₀ values between 161 to 830 μM.     

Prebiotic activity of polysaccharides extracted from Gigantochloa levis (Buluh beting) shoots

Bamboo shoot crude polysaccharides (BSCP) extracted from the shoots of Gigantochloa levis gave about 3.27 ± 0.18% on dry basis and a very minute percentage of protein (0.02 ± 0.01%). The molecular weight of BSCP estimated by gel chromatography was found to be around 7.49 × 103 Da, while the molecular weights of purified fractions (F1 to F5) were around 1550.96, 1471.63, 1685.78, 1691.61 and 1551.67 Da, respectively. The FTIR spectrum of BSCP revealed the possibility that the extract contains β-glucan, which can be considered a valuable compound for the medical and food industries. These relate to the resistance of BSCP towards artificial human gastric juice which is more than 99%. Prebiotic activity tested using BSCP as a carbon source showed significant increase in the growth of B. animalis ATCC 1053, B. longum BB 536 and L. acidophilus ATCC 4356 as compared to the use of FOS. Survivality of S. choleraesuis JCM 6977 was found to be slower in both BSCP and FOS. Study conducted reflects a good sign for the BSCP to be exploited as a promising prebiotic.     

Symmetrical bisquinolones via metal-catalyzed cross-coupling and homocoupling reactions

Functionalized 4,4'-bisquinolones can be efficiently synthesized by microwave-assisted palladium(0)-catalyzed one-pot borylation/Suzuki cross-coupling reactions or via nickel(0)-mediated homocouplings of 4-chloroquinolin-2(1H)-one precursors. Both methods are also applicable to other types of symmetrical biaryls.