Metal-doped apatitic calcium phosphates: preparation,characterization, and reactivity in the removal of hydrogen sulfide from gas phase

With the expansion of human activities, there are more and more living areas adjacent to industrial and/or agricultural activities such as chemical processes, petroleum processes, paint finishing, food processing, livestock farming, composting plants etc. Bad odor is part of several nuisances caused by industrial and/or agricultural activities. Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a typical odorous molecule which causes foul odor at very low concentration. This molecule is formed in different industrial installations, in particular in coal combustion, and petrochemical refinery. The separation and/or transformation of H₂S from gas phase to odorless products are important processes for sustainable development. In this paper, we communicate the preparation of new sorbents for the sorption of H₂S from a synthetic gas effluent. These sorbents consist in an inorganic phase (hydroxyapatite) as host particles, and well-dispersed particles of a metal oxide as guest particles which are the active phase for the removal of H₂S. At room conditions, iron, lead, and zinc doped calcium phosphates were found to be effective for the removal of H₂S. The performance of the sorbents depends on preparation method and the nature of active phases. This opens new prospects for the treatment of H₂S from gas phase.     

Inclusion of SWCNTs in Nb/Pt co-doped TiO2 thin-film sensor for ethanol vapor detection

Nb-Pt co-doped TiO₂ and the hybrid SWCNTs/Nb-Pt co-doped TiO₂ thin films have been prepared by the sol–gel spin-coating process for gas-sensor fabrication. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM, TEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterizations indicated that the SWCNTs inclusion did not affect the morphology of the TiO₂ thin film and the particle size. Additionally, the SWCNTs were well embedded in the TiO₂ matrix. The gas-sensing properties of Nb–Pt co-doped TiO₂ thin films with and without SWCNTs inclusion were investigated. The hybrid sensors with the inclusion of different SWCNTs contents are examined to elucidate the effect of SWCNTs content on the gas-sensing properties. Experimental results revealed that the responses to ethanol of Nb–Pt co-doped TiO₂ sensors with SWNCTs inclusion increase by factors of 2–5 depending on the operating temperature and the ethanol concentration, compared to that of the sensor without SWCNTs inclusion. Moreover, all hybrid sensors can operate with high sensitivity and stability at a relatively low operating temperature (<335 °C). The responses of the hybrid sensors are greatly affected by SWCNTs content inclusion. The optimized SWCNTs content of 0.01% by weight was obtained for our experiment. The improved gas-sensing performance should be attributed to the additional formation of the p/n junction between SWCNTs (p-type) and TiO₂ (n-type).     

Dimerisation and complexation of 6-(4′-t-butylphenylamino)naphthalene-2-sulphonate by β-cyclodextrin and linked β-cyclodextrin dimers

This study shows that stereochemical factors largely determine the extent to which 6-(4′-t-butylphenylamino)-naphthalene-2-sulphonate, BNS^?  and its dimer, (BNS^? )₂, are complexed by β-cyclodextrin, βCD, and a range of linked βCD dimers. Fluorescence and ¹H NMR studies, respectively, show that BNS^?  and (BNS^? )₂ form host–guest complexes with βCD of the stoichiometry βCD.BNS^?  (10^? 4 K ₁ = 4.67 dm³ mol^? 1) and βCD.BNS₂ ^2 ?  (10^? 2 K ₂′ = 2.31 dm³ mol^? 1), where the complexation constant K ₁ = [βCD.BNS^? ]/([βCD][BNS^? ]) and K ₂′ = [βCD. (BNS^? )₂]/([βCD.BNS^? ][BNS^? ]) in aqueous phosphate buffer at pH 7.0, I = 0.10 mol dm³ at 298.2 K. (The dimerisation of BNS^?  is characterised by 10^? 2 K _d = 2.65 dm³ mol^? 1.) For N,N-bis((2^AS,3^AS)-3^A-deoxy-3^A-β-cyclodextrin)succinamide, 33βCD₂su, N-((2^AS,3^AS)-3^A-deoxy-3^A-β-cyclodextrin)-N′-(6^A-deoxy-6^A-β-cyclodextrin)urea, 36βCD₂su, N,N-bis(6^A-deoxy-6^A-β-cyclodextrin)succinamide, 66βCD₂su, N-((2^AS,3^AS)-3^A-deoxy-3^A-β-cyclodextrin)-N′-(6^A-deoxy-6^A-β-cyclodextrin)urea, 36βCD₂ur, and N,N-bis(6^A-deoxy-6^A-β-cyclodextrin)urea, 66βCD₂ur, the analogous 10^? 4 K ₁ = 11.0, 101, 330, 29.6 and 435 dm³ mol^? 1 and 10^? 2 K ₂′ = 2.56, 2.31, 2.59, 1.82 and 1.72 dm³ mol^? 1, respectively. A similar variation occurs in K ₁ derived by UV–vis methods. The factors causing the variations in K ₁ and K ₂ are discussed in conjunction with ¹H ROESY NMR and molecular modelling studies.     

Modeling of interphase in composite materials: Characterization of epoxy resin/aminosilane system

The system studied here principally is γ-APS + BADGE (γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane + diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A). The reaction takes place even at −20°C. It is first the epoxy-amine autocatalytic second-order reaction, but we also have a cross-linking reaction which needs more time and higher temperature. The behaviour of this system is the same as γ-APS-PGE (phenylglycidyl ether) system: we can obtain the complete disappearance of OH groups. The thermomechanical properties of the reaction product considerably change with the temperature, moisture and curing time.     

Target Design of Novel Histone Deacetylase 6 Selective Inhibitors with 2-Mercaptoquinazolinone as the Cap Moiety

Epigenetic alterations found in all human cancers are promising targets for anticancer therapy. In this sense, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) are interesting anticancer agents that play an important role in the epigenetic regulation of cancer cells. Here, we report 15 novel hydroxamic acid-based histone deacetylase inhibitors with quinazolinone core structures. Five compounds exhibited antiproliferative activity with IC₅₀ values of 3.4–37.8 µM. Compound 8 with a 2-mercaptoquinazolinone cap moiety displayed the highest antiproliferative efficacy against MCF-7 cells. For the HDAC6 target selectivity study, compound 8 displayed an IC₅₀ value of 2.3 µM, which is 29.3 times higher than those of HDAC3, HDAC4, HDAC8, and HDAC11. Western blot assay proved that compound 8 strongly inhibited tubulin acetylation, a substrate of HDAC6. Compound 8 also displayed stronger inhibition activity against HDAC11 than the control drug Belinostat. The inhibitory mechanism of action of compound 8 on HDAC enzymes was then explored using molecular docking study. The data revealed a high binding affinity (−7.92 kcal/mol) of compound 8 toward HDAC6. In addition, dock pose analysis also proved that compound 8 might serve as a potent inhibitor of HDAC11.     

Monostability,bistability, periodicity and chaos in gene regulatory network

This letter gives a general review on the monostability, bistability, periodicity and chaos in gene regulatory network. Some simple motifs that generate monostability, bistability, periodicity and chaos are analytically and numerically reported. Further research directions of the nonlinear dynamics of gene regulatory network are discussed.     

Tomographic probability representation for quantum fermion fields

Tomographic probability representation is introduced for fermion fields. The states of the fermions are mapped onto the probability distribution of discrete random variables (spin projections). The operators acting on the fermion states are described by fermionic tomographic symbols. The product of the operators acting on the fermion states is mapped onto the star-product of the fermionic symbols. The kernel of the star-product is obtained. The antisymmetry of the fermion states is formulated as a specific symmetry property of the tomographic joint probability distribution associated with the states.     

Theoretical study of the substituent effects on the S-H bond dissociation energy and ionization energy of 3-pyridinethiol: Prediction of novel antioxidant

The S-H bond dissociation enthalpies [BDE(S-H)] of a set of 5-X- and 6-X-3-pyridinethiols (X = F, Cl, CH3, OCH3, NH2, N(CH3)2, CF3, CN, and NO2) have been computed using the density functional theory based (RO)B3LYP procedure with 6-311++G(2df,2p) basis set. The effects of substituents on the BDE(S-H), proton affinity of the pyridinethiol anion [PA(S-)] and ionization energy (IE) are analyzed and their correlations with Hammett's substituent constants are examined. Subsequently, a series of 6-substituted 3-pyridinethiols have been explored to find out their antioxidant potentials. Finally, a number of 3-pyridinethiol based compounds are theoretically proposed as novel antioxidants.