Thermal studies of copolymers of styrene and maleic anhydride

Copolymers of styrene and maleic anhydride prepared by a charge transfer mechanism have been studied thermally by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. The copolymers degrade in two stages; the first stage accounts for about 85% of the degradation. Incorporation of maleic anhydride to styrene decreases the thermal stability of the later. Differential scanning calorimetric studies show two exotherms between 300° to 500 °C. Glass-transition temperatures for the copolymers are lower than that of polystyrene.     

A Comprehensive Review on the Techniques for Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Cannabis

Cannabis is well-known for its numerous therapeutic activities, as demonstrated in pre-clinical and clinical studies primarily due to its bioactive compounds. The Cannabis industry is rapidly growing; therefore, product development and extraction methods have become crucial aspects of Cannabis research. The evaluation of the current extraction methods implemented in the Cannabis industry and scientific literature to produce consistent, reliable, and potent medicinal Cannabis extracts is prudent. Furthermore, these processes must be subjected to higher levels of scientific stringency, as Cannabis has been increasingly used for various ailments, and the Cannabis industry is receiving acceptance in different countries. We comprehensively analysed the current literature and drew a critical summary of the extraction methods implemented thus far to recover bioactive compounds from medicinal Cannabis. Moreover, this review outlines the major bioactive compounds in Cannabis, discusses critical factors affecting extraction yields, and proposes future considerations for the effective extraction of bioactive compounds from Cannabis. Overall, research on medicinal marijuana is limited, with most reports on the industrial hemp variety of Cannabis or pure isolates. We also propose the development of sustainable Cannabis extraction methods through the implementation of mathematical prediction models in future studies.     

Study of two-phonon excitations in superfluid 4He

We explain the second branch of excitations in superfluid ⁴He observed by Cowley and Woods, by accounting for two-phonon contributions to the dynamic structure function, S(k, ω). Our theory gives a good fit with the experimental data in the high energy region for several values of momentum transfer. It is observed that the contribution to S(k, ω) due to two-phonon excitations is of the order of k² as against its k⁴ dependence reported in earlier theories.     

Isospin dependent properties of the isotopic chains of Scandium and Titanium nuclei within the relativistic mean-field formalism

Density-dependent nuclear symmetry energy is directly related to isospin asymmetry for finite and infinite nuclear systems. It is critical to determine the coefficients of symmetry energy and their related observables because they hold great importance in different areas of nuclear physics, such as the analysis of the structure of ground state exotic nuclei and neutron star studies. The ground state bulk properties of Scandium (Z = 21) and Titanium (Z = 22) nuclei are calculated, such as their nuclear binding energy (\begin{document}$ B.E. $\end{document}), quadrupole deformation (\begin{document}$ \beta_2 $\end{document}), two-neutron separation energy (\begin{document}$ S_{ {2n}} $\end{document}), differential variation in the two-neutron separation energy (\begin{document}$ {\rm d}S_{ {2n}} $\end{document}), and root-mean-square charge radius (\begin{document}$ r_{\rm ch} $\end{document}). The isospin properties, namely the coefficient of nuclear symmetry energy and its components, such as the surface and volume symmetry energy of a finite isotopic chain, from the corresponding quantities of infinite nuclear matter, are also estimated. Finally, we correlate the neutron-skin thickness with the coefficient of symmetry energy and the related observables corresponding to the isotopic chains of these nuclei. The coherent density fluctuation model (CDFM) is used to estimate the isospin-dependent properties of finite nuclei, such as symmetry energy, surface symmetry energy, and volume symmetry energy, from their corresponding component in infinite nuclear matter. The relativistic mean-field (RMF) formalism with non-linear NL3 and relativistic-Hartree-Bogoliubov theory with density-dependent DD-ME2 interaction parameters are employed in the analysis. The weight function \begin{document}$ \vert {\cal{F}}(x) \vert^{2} $\end{document} is estimated using the total density of each nucleus, which in turn is used with the nuclear matter quantities to obtain the effective symmetry energy and its components in finite nuclei. We calculate the ground state bulk properties, such as nuclear binding energy, quadrupole deformation, two-neutron separation energy, differential variation in the two-neutron separation energy, and root-mean-square charge radius, for the Sc- and Ti- isotopic chains using the non-linear NL3 and density-dependent DD-ME2 parameter sets. Furthermore, the ground state density distributions are used within the CDFM to obtain the effective surface properties, such as symmetry energy and its components, namely volume and surface symmetry energy, for both the parameter sets. The calculated quantities are used to understand the isospin dependent structural properties of finite nuclei near and beyond the drip line, which broadens the scope of discovering new magicity along the isotopic chains. A shape transition is observed from spherical to prolate near \begin{document}$ N \geq $\end{document} 44 and \begin{document}$ N \geq $\end{document} 40 for the Sc- and Ti- isotopic chains, respectively. Notable signatures of shell and/or sub-shell closures are found for the magic neutron numbers N = 20 and 28 for both isotopic chains using the nuclear bulk and isospin quantities. In addition to these, a few shell/sub-shell closure signatures are observed near the drip-line region at N = 34 and 50 by following the surface/isospin dependent observables, namely symmetry energy and its component, for both the isotopic chain of odd-A Sc- and even-even Ti- nuclei.     

Microwave-promoted efficient synthesis of spiroindenotetrahydropyridine derivatives via a catalyst- and solvent-free pseudo one-pot five-component tandem Knoevenagel/aza-Diels–Alder reaction

A microwave-assisted, one-pot pseudo five-component reaction strategy has been developed for the synthesis of some novel spiroindenotetrahydropyridine derivatives from 1,3-indanedione, an aromatic aldehyde, and ammonium acetate under catalyst- and solvent-free conditions via tandem Knoevenagel/aza-Diels–Alder reaction.     

Laser micro- and nanostructuring using femtosecond Bessel beams

We report the generation of femtosecond Bessel beams of conical half-angle 26 degrees using an axicon lens and a beam reduction imaging setup. The generated Bessel beams were applied to the micromachining of nanostructures in glass of length up to 100 μm. The effect of the incident pulse energy on the characteristics of the nano- structures was studied using optical microscopy.     

Green chemistry approaches to the regioselective synthesis of spiro heterobicyclic rings using iodine as a new and efficient catalyst under solvent-free conditions

Abstract  

Iodine catalyzes the pseudo four-component reaction of an aldehyde, a urea or thiourea, and cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds under microwave irradiation in a solvent-free condition to yield various σ symmetric spiro heterobicyclic rings in excellent yields.     

Observation of D+ → K(+)η(') and search for CP violation in D+ → π(+)η(') decays

We report the first observation of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays D(+)→K(+)η((')) using a 791 fb(-1) data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider. The ratio of the branching fractions of doubly Cabibbo-suppressed relative to singly Cabibbo-suppressed D(+)→π(+)η((')) decays are B(D(+)→K(+)η)/B(D(+)→π(+)η)=(3.06±0.43±0.14)% and B(D(+)→K(+)η')/B(D(+)→π(+)η')=(3.77±0.39±0.10)%. From these, we find that the relative final-state phase difference between the tree and annihilation amplitudes in D(+) decays, δ(TA), is (72±9)° or (288±9)°. We also report the most precise measurements of CP asymmetries to date: A(CP)(D(+)→π(+)η)=(+1.74±1.13±0.19)% and A(CP)(D(+)→π(+)η')=(-0.12±1.12±0.17)%.     

Viscosity scaling for the glassy phase of protein folding

Although commendable progress has been made in the understanding of the physics of protein folding, a key unresolved issue is whether Kramers' diffusion model of chemical reactions is generally applicable to activated barrier crossing events during folding. To examine the solvent viscosity effect on the folding transition of native-like trapped intermediates, laser flash photolysis has been used to measure the microsecond folding kinetics of a natively folded state of CO-liganded ferrocytochrome c (M-state) in the 1-250 cP range of glycerol viscosity at pH 7.0, 20 degrees C. The single rate coefficient for the folding of the M-state to the native state of the protein (i.e., the M --> N folding process) decreases initially when the solvent viscosity is low (<10 cP), but saturates at higher viscosity, indicating that Kramers model is not general enough for scaling the viscosity dependence of post-transition folding involving glassy dynamics. Analysis based on the Grote-Hynes idea of time dependent friction in conjunction with defect diffusion dynamics can account for the observed non-Kramers scaling.