Modification of statistical threading in two-component pseudorotaxane melts using the amphiphilic approach and variations in the confinement geometry

Recently we described a coarse-grained model of poly(ethylene oxide) and then employed that model to study the amount of spontaneous threading of cyclic molecules by linear chains in the melt [C. A. Helfer, G. Xu, W. L. Mattice, and C. Pugh, Macromolecules 36, 10071 (2003)]. Since the amount of statistical threading at equilibrium is small, there is interest in identifying physical changes in the system that will increase the threading. We now use that coarse-grained model to investigate the effect on threading of various hypothetical (but feasible) modifications to the two-component system of macrocycles and linear chains in the melt, and different confinement geometries, that can bring about correlations in the arrangement of the rings. Our work follows on the concept of an amphiphilic approach [C. Pugh, J.-Y. Bae, J. R. Scott, and C. L. Wilkins, Macromolecules 30, 8139 (1997)] for increasing the statistical threading in homopolyrotaxane melts. We investigate whether introducing such correlations in the macrocycles can increase the spontaneous threading. This paper shows that some of our modifications can yield more than double the amount of threading seen in purely statistical mixing.     

Molecular docking,synthesis and anticonvulsant activity of some novel 3-(2-substituted)-4-oxothiazolidine-3-yl)-2-phenylquinazoline-4(3H)-ones

Research on Chemical Intermediates - As the therapeutic potential of quinazolinone and thiazolidinone is well mentioned in literature for their versatile biological activities, their related...     

Dipodal fluorescent chemosensor for Cu and resultant complex as a chemosensor for iodide

A dipodal receptor was synthesized by condensation of isophthalaldehyde and p-toluenesulfonylhydrazide. The receptor was found to be selective for Cu²⁺ recognition in CH₃CN. The resultant Cu²⁺ receptor complex selectively recognized iodide through cation displacement assay in a CH₃CN/H₂O (8:2, v/v) solvent system.     

Estimation of plutonium present in 200 litre waste drums containing high amount of beta gamma activity

The segmented gamma ray scanning system developed for the assay of plutonium present in 200?L waste drums was modified for the estimation of gram amounts of plutonium in the presence of high beta gamma activity. A multi gamma ray source of ¹⁵²Eu having?~1?mCi activity was used for the determination of attenuation correction factors for high count rate drums. Dead time corrections were applied to arrive at the corrected count rates for all the gamma rays. Present study has shown that the estimation of?~1?g of ²³⁹Pu in a waste drum can be carried out in the presence of ¹³⁷Cs up to an activity level of 20?mCi.     

Surfactant-Assisted Acid Pretreatment of Sugarcane Tops for Bioethanol Production

Sugarcane tops is one of the largest biomass resources in India and in tropical countries such as Brazil in terms of surplus availability. Conversion of this feedstock to ethanol requires pretreatment to make it more accessible for the enzymes used in saccharification. Though several pretreatment regimens have been developed for addressing biomass recalcitrance, very few seem to be promising as an industrial process. A novel hybrid method involving use of mild acid and surfactant was developed which could effectively remove lignin and improve the sugar yield from sugar cane tops. Operational parameters that affect the pretreatment efficiency (measured as yield of sugars) were studied and optimized. Changes in structural properties of the biomass were studied in relation to the pretreatment process using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis, and the changes in chemical composition was also monitored. The biomass pretreated with the optimized novel method could yield 0.798?g of reducing sugars per gram of pretreated biomass upon enzymatic hydrolysis.     

Physicochemical and structural properties of bacteriostatic sulfonamides: Theoretical study

A theoretical study at the Hartree–Fock and density functional theory levels is performed on sulfonamide‐type bacteriostatic compounds with the aim to provide an insight into their structure–activity relationship. The basicity of the p‐amino group is analyzed by means of the proton affinities and the protonation energies, showing that molecules presenting bacteriostatic activity are less basic, i.e., they are characterized by larger protonation energies and smaller proton affinities. The acidity of the amide group is analyzed through the deprotonation energy. The results reveal that the more acidic molecules present a larger bacteriostatic activity. This result is also confirmed from a study of bond orders. A bond order analysis of the amide group suggests that the electron attracting group in these molecules is responsible for the increase in acidity. The charge of the SO₂ group is also shown to be affected by the presence of the electron attracting group and consequently related to the acidity of the molecules. A geometric analysis shows that structures in which the amino group is more coplanar with respect to the benzenic ring possess larger bacteriostatic activity. A conformational analysis of these molecules illustrates that active molecules have relatively larger torsion energy barriers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 94: 165–172, 2003     

Recovery of americium from nitric acid solutions containing calcium by different co-precipitation methods

Recovery of americium from nitric acid solutions was studied by co-precipitation as hydroxide with various ions like calcium, ferric, nickel using sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide. Studies were also carried out to recover americium using lanthanum fluoride and bismuth phosphate co-precipitation. All the methods are able to co-precipitate Am quantitatively. However, co-precipitation of Am with optimum concentration iron using ammonia is found to be better from nitric acid solutions containing large concentrations of calcium ions. Approximately 2 g of Am was recovered from 150 litres of solution batch wise using iron.     

α-Glucosidase inhibitory activity of marine sponges collected in Mauritius waters

This report describes the use of α-glucosidase to evaluate the anti-diabetic potential of extracts from marine sponges collected in the Mauritius waters. Initial screening at 1.0 mg/mL of 141 extracts obtained from 47 sponge species revealed 10 extracts with inhibitory activity greater than 85%. Seven of the 10 extracts were further tested at 0.1 and 0.01 mg/mL and only the methanol extract of two sponges namely Acanthostylotella sp. (ASSM) and Echinodictyum pykei (EPM) showed inhibition activity greater than 60% at 0.1 mg/mL with an IC₅₀ value of 0.16 ± 0.02 and 0.04 ± 0.01 mg/mL, respectively, while being inactive at 0.01 mg/mL.