Vibrational Dynamics,Phonon Dispersion and Specific Heat in Gas Permeable Poly(4-Methyl-2-Pentyne)

Poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) (PMP) is an amorphous glassy disubstituted acetylene based polymer. The excellent gas-separation and mechanical properties of these polymers have stipulated their use as membrane material for vapor and gas separation. PMP is among the hydrocarbon disubstituted polyacetylenes which have been synthesized to date. This polymer combines excellent gas and vapor permeability with good resistance to organic solvents. As was shown recently, PMP offers promise in the manufacture of nanocomposite membranes for the separation of various hydrocarbon mixtures. It is also of importance as its monomer, 4-methyl- 2-pentyne, can be easily derived from commercial compounds, 4-methyl-2-pentene or methyl isobutyl ketone, produced on a large scale. It is known that PMP exists in cis and trans configurations. Synthetic conditions, e.g., the used catalyst, temperature, solvent etc., of substituted polyacetylenes decide percentage of different configurations (cis or trans). Different geometries of macromolecules can influence the supramolecular structure of the polymer, which primarily defines its properties, such as solubility, permeability, sorption, etc. Qualitative assignments of few bands of IR spectra are reported earlier. We present here, complete normal mode analysis and dispersion curves for PMP using Wilson GF matrix method modified by Higgs using Urey-Bradley force field. Dispersion curves for PMP are drawn and salient features are discussed. Predicted values of specific heat via density-of-states are also reported.     

RP–LC Simultaneous Determination of Aconitine, Solanine and Piperine in an Ayurvedic Medicine

By optimizing the extraction, separation and analytical conditions, a reliable, rapid, simple and accurate liquid chromatography method with UV detection was developed for the simultaneous quantitative determination of aconitine, solanine and piperine in an ayurvedic preparation prepared from Aconitum ferox, Solanum indicum, Piper nigrum and Piper longum. The separation of these alkaloids was achieved on an reversed phase C-18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm ID, 5 μm particle size), with isocratic elution using a mixture of acetonitrile–potassium hydrogen phosphate buffer (10 mM, pH 7.5)–methanol (60:25:15, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL min^?1 with UV detection at 227 nm for aconitine and solanine while 343 nm for piperine. The calibration curves were linear with correlation coefficients of 0.9990, 0.9942, 0.9989 for solanine, piperine and aconitine, respectively. The % Relative standard deviation (%RSD) values were less than 2% in the concentration range of 10–100 μg mL^?1 for all the three alkaloids. Intra-day assay and inter-day assay precision of the analytes were less than 2%, and the average recovery rates obtained were in the range of 98–102% for all with %RSD below 2%. Quantitative analysis of the alkaloids in the laboratory and marketed formulations showed that the contents of the alkaloids varied significantly. This method can provide a scientific and technical platform to the product manufacturers for setting up a quality control standard as well as to the public for quality and safety assurance of the proprietary ayurvedic formulations.     

Hydroxyapatite coating on stainless steel pre-coated with bovine serum albumin at ambient conditions

A biomimetic process for coating of nanosized hydroxyapatite on stainless steel, which capitalises the dual nature of the protein bovine serum albumin in both metal binding and a strong affinity for calcium ions, has been developed. The novelty of the process lies in pre-conditioning the metallic surface using the above protein prior to its mineralization with hydroxyapatite at ambient conditions. The microporous morphology of these coatings may provide favourable solubility and resorbability as desired by many orthopaedic and orthodontic applications.     

Extraction chromatographic studies of metal ions using N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyl diglycolamide as the stationary phase

N,N,N′,N′-tetraoctyl diglycolamide (TODGA) has been used as the stationary phase in the extraction chromatographic separation of actinides and other metal ions from pure nitric acid as well as from simulated high-level waste (SHLW). Chromosorb-W was found to be a better support material amongst the different solid supports evaluated viz. chromosorb-W, chromosorb-102, XAD-4 and XAD-7. Uptake profiles of various metal ions, such as U(VI), Pu(IV), Am(III), Eu(III), Fe(III), Sr(II) and Cs(I) were obtained as a function of acidity by batch studies using TODGA/chromosorb-W. Effect of macro concentration of Nd, Fe and U suggested that the uptake of Am(III) is mainly influenced by the presence of trivalent lanthanide ions. Breakthrough capacity of the resin material for Am(III) in presence of macro amount of Eu(III) was determined in the successive cycles of loading and elution. Loading capacity of the column was found to be 20 mg of Eu/g of the resin material. Elution studies of Am(III) suggested that 0.01 M EDTA was effective amongst different eluents used.     

Wigner distribution,nonclassicality and decoherence of generalized and reciprocal binomial states

There are quantum states of light that can be expressed as finite superpositions of Fock states (FSFS). We demonstrate the nonclassicality of an arbitrary FSFS by means of its phase space distributions such as the Wigner function and the Q-function. The decoherence of the FSFS is studied by considering the time evolution of its Wigner function in amplitude decay and phase damping channels. As examples, we determine the nonclassicality and decoherence of generalized and reciprocal binomial states.     

DNA interaction,anticancer, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity studies with potential pyrazine-bipyrazole dinuclear µ-oxo bridged Au(III) complexes

Molecular Diversity - Pyrazine-bipyrazole-based µ-oxo bridged dinuclear Au(III) complexes were synthesized and characterized by various spectrometric (1H-NMR, 13C (APT) NMR, FT-IR, Mass...     

Dinucleosides with non-natural backbones: a new class of ribonuclease A and angiogenin inhibitors

Ribonuclease?A (RNase A) serves as a convenient model enzyme in the identification and development of inhibitors of proteins that are members of the ribonuclease superfamily. This is principally because the biological activity of these proteins, such as angiogenin, is linked to their catalytic ribonucleolytic activity. In an attempt to inhibit the biological activity of angiogenin, which involves new blood vessel formation, we employed different dinucleosides with varied non-natural backbones. These compounds were synthesized by coupling aminonucleosides with dicarboxylic acids and amino- and carboxynucleosides with an amino acid. These molecules show competitive inhibition with inhibition constant (K(i)) values of (59±3) and (155±5) μM for RNase A. The compounds were also found to inhibit angiogenin in a competitive fashion with corresponding K(i) values in the micromolar range. The presence of an additional polar group attached to the backbone of dinucleosides was found to be responsible for the tight binding with both proteins. The specificity of different ribonucleolytic subsites were found to be altered because of the incorporation of a non-natural backbone in between the two nucleosidic moieties. In spite of the replacement of the phosphate group by non-natural linkers, these molecules were found to selectively interact with the ribonucleolytic site residues of angiogenin, whereas the cell binding site and nuclear translocation site residues remain unperturbed. Docked conformations of the synthesized compounds with RNase A and angiogenin suggest a binding preference for the thymine-adenine pair over the thymine-thymine pair.     

Magnetocaloric effect and multifunctional properties of Ni–Mn-based Heusler alloys

The studies of magnetocaloric properties, phase transitions, and phenomena related to magnetic heterogeneity in the vicinity of the martensitic transition (MT) in Ni–Mn–In and Ni–Mn–Ga off-stoichiometric Heusler alloys are summarized. The crystal structure, magnetocaloric effect (MCE), and magnetotransport properties were studied for the following alloys: Ni₅₀Mn_50−xIn_x, Ni_50−xCo_xMn₃₅In₁₅, Ni₅₀Mn_35−xCo_xIn₁₅, Ni₅₀Mn₃₅In₁₄Z (Z=Al, Ge), Ni₅₀Mn₃₅In_15−xSi_x, Ni_50−xCo_xMn_25+yGa_25−y, and Ni_50–xCo_xMn_32−yFeyGa₁₈. It was found that the magnetic entropy change, ΔS, associated with the inverse MCE in the vicinity of the temperature of the magneto-structural transition, TM, persists in a range of (125-5) J/(kg K) for a magnetic field change ΔH=5 T. The corresponding temperature varies with composition from 143 to 400 K. The MT in Ni₅₀Mn_50−xIn_x (x=13.5) results in a transition between two paramagnetic states. Associated with the paramagnetic austenite-paramagnetic martensite transition ΔS=24 J/(kg K) was detected for ΔH=5 T at T=350 K. The variation in composition of Ni₂MnGa can drastically change the magnetic state of the martensitic phase below and in the vicinity of TM. The presence of the martensitic phase with magnetic moment much smaller than that in the austenitic phase above TM leads to the large inverse MCE in the Ni₄₂Co₈Mn_32−yFeyGa₁₈ system. The adiabatic change of temperature (ΔT_ad) in the vicinity of TC and TM of Ni₅₀Mn₃₅In₁₅ and Ni₅₀Mn₃₅In₁₄Z (Z=Al, Ge) was found to be ΔT_ad=−2 K and 2 K for ΔH=1.8 T, respectively. It was observed that |ΔT_ad|≈1 K for ΔH=1 T for both types of transitions. The results on resistivity, magnetoresistance, Hall resistivity in some In-based alloys are discussed.