An Anthracene-Based Metal-Organic Framework for Selective Photo-Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid Coupled with Water Oxidation

A Zr-based metal-organic framework has been synthesized and employed as a catalyst for photochemical carbon dioxide reduction coupled with water oxidation. The catalyst shows significant carbon dioxide reduction property with concomitant water oxidation. The catalyst has broad visible light as well as UV light absorption property, which is further confirmed from electronic absorption spectroscopy. Formic acid was the only reduced product from carbon dioxide with a turn-over frequency (TOF) of 0.69 h⁻¹ in addition to oxygen, which was produced with a TOF of 0.54 h⁻¹. No external photosensitizer is used and the ligand itself acts as the light harvester. The efficient and selective photochemical carbon dioxide reduction to formic acid with concomitant water oxidation using Zr-based MOF as catalyst is thus demonstrated here.     

An Ultra-Microporous Metal–Organic Framework with Exceptional Xe Capacity

Molecular confinement plays a significant effect on trapped gas and solvent molecules. A fundamental understanding of gas adsorption within the porous confinement provides information necessary to design a material with improved selectivity. In this regard, metal–organic framework (MOF) adsorbents are ideal candidate materials to study confinement effects for weakly interacting gas molecules, such as noble gases. Among the noble gases, xenon (Xe) has practical applications in the medical, automotive and aerospace industries. In this Communication, we report an ultra-microporous nickel-isonicotinate MOF with exceptional Xe uptake and selectivity compared to all benchmark MOF and porous organic cage materials. The selectivity arises because of the near perfect fit of the atomic Xe inside the porous confinement. Notably, at low partial pressure, the Ni–MOF interacts very strongly with Xe compared to the closely related Krypton gas (Kr) and more polarizable CO₂. Further ¹²⁹Xe NMR suggests a broad isotropic chemical shift due to the reduced motion as a result of confinement.     

Nano-alumina by gel combustion, its thermal characterization and slurry-based coating on stainless steel surface

Gel combustion method was used to prepare nano-alumina from aluminum nitrate and stoichiometric amount of glycine as fuel. The TG–DTA pattern of the as-prepared powder (combustion product) exhibited exotherms with peaks around 500 and 900 °C accompanied with loss of weight of 25 and 5 % attributed to burning away of carbon left behind and decomposition of residual reaction intermediates left behind, respectively. Even though mass stability is attained above 900 °C, the DTA exhibited an exotherm around 1,150 °C attributed to transformation of gamma to alpha form of alumina. The XRD studies revealed that the powder heated to 900 °C was chemically pure nano-crystalline alumina while that heated above 1,150 °C was crystalline alpha form. As nano-crystalline powders are sinter-active, the nano-crystalline alumina formed by calcination at 900 °C was used to form the coating. A morphological feature of the agglomerates of nano-alumina powders were evaluated using SEM. The powder was de-agglomerated by wet grinding method. The dispersion conditions to form slurry using 900 °C calcined powder for slurry-based coating was optimized using zeta-potential studies, and it was found to exhibit a maximum value of ?45 mV at a pH of 9. After 8 h of grinding, the median agglomerate size reduced to 2 μm. Rheological studies exhibited desired pseudoplastic behavior in the range of 10–20 vol.% of solid while the slurry with 15 vol.% only form crack free, dense, and adherent coating after heat treatment at 1,150 °C. The morphology of the coating was found to be uniform and dense.     

Early detection of viral DNA in breast cancer using fingered aluminium interdigitated electrode modified by Streptavidin-biotin tetravalent complex

Human Mammary Tumor Virus (HMTV) or Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus holds similarity as an endogenous onco-retrovirus belongs to retroviridae family, predominantly infects the epithelial cell of human as well as mouse. With the recognition of nano-biosensor in nanotechnology, ideal interdigitated electrode (IDE) was genuinely performed for HMTV detection. Aluminium enriched IDE (AlIDE) was fabricated for high performance detection with a cost-effective photolithography technique. In this research, (3-glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane refined platform was selected to detect the conductivity with HMTV target DNA interaction on the designed AlIDE. Strong binding affinity of streptavidin-biotin with target DNA enhanced the sensitivity by empowering higher number of HMTV probe and target complementation on sensing surface. Furthermore, the target DNA was immobilized on probe modified AlIDE and a quantitative value of 100 aM attained as a lowest detection. A linear with dose-dependent duplex formation was shown with the regression coefficient value of 0.964. Negative control has shown insignificant detection at 10 pM, which justifies the higher fold discrimination with specificity. The excellence of AlIDE performance in detection of HMTV may pave the way for more verification on other diseases.     

Alternating Current Electrohydrodynamics Induced Nanoshearing and Fluid Micromixing for Specific Capture of Cancer Cells

We report a new tuneable alternating current (ac) electrohydrodynamics (ac‐EHD) force referred to as “nanoshearing” which involves fluid flow generated within a few nanometers of an electrode surface. This force can be externally tuned via manipulating the applied ac‐EHD field strength. The ability to manipulate ac‐EHD induced forces and concomitant fluid micromixing can enhance fluid transport within the capture domain of the channel (e.g., transport of analytes and hence increase target–sensor interactions). This also provides a new capability to preferentially select strongly bound analytes over nonspecifically bound cells and molecules. To demonstrate the utility and versatility of nanoshearing phenomenon to specifically capture cancer cells, we present proof‐of‐concept data in lysed blood using two microfluidic devices containing a long array of asymmetric planar electrode pairs. Under the optimal experimental conditions, we achieved high capture efficiency (e.g., approximately 90 %; % RSD=2, n=3) with a 10‐fold reduction in nonspecific adsorption of non‐target cells for the detection of whole cells expressing Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2). We believe that our ac‐EHD devices and the use of tuneable nanoshearing phenomenon may find relevance in a wide variety of biological and medical applications.     

Metal‐Free Triplet Phosphors with High Emission Efficiency and High Tunability

Design of highly efficient phosphorescent emitters based on metal‐ and heavy atom‐free boron compounds has been demonstrated by taking advantage of the singlet fission process. The combination of a suitable molecular scaffold and appropriate electronic nature of the substituents has been utilized to tailor the phosphorescence emission properties in solution, neat solid, and in doped PMMA thin films.     

Theoretical investigation of the molecular structure,vibrational spectra,and molecular docking of tramadol using density functional theory

The optimized molecular structures, harmonic vibrational wavenumbers, and the corresponding vibrational assignments of (1S,2S)-tramadol and (1R,2R)-tramadol are computationally examined using the B3LYP density functional theory method together with the standard 6–311++G(d,p) and def2-TVZP basis sets. The optimized structures show that phenolic rings of both 1R,2R and 1S,2S tramadol adopt planar geometry, which are slightly distorted due to the substitution at the meta-position; and the six-membered cyclohexane adopts a slightly distorted chair conformation. The 1S,2S enantiomer is energetically more favorable than 1R,2R with the energy differences of 1.32 and 1.03 kcal/mol obtained at B3LYP/6–311++G(d,p) and B3LYP/Def2-TVZP levels, respectively. The analysis of the binding pocket in the silico molecular docking with the m-opioid receptor shows that it originated two clusters with the 1S,2S enantiomer and one cluster with the 1R,2R enantiomer of tramadol. The results point to a more stable complex of the m-opioid receptor with the 1R,2R enantiomer of tramadol.     

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometric study of encapsulation of amino acids by cyclodextrins

Electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry has been used to study inclusion (host-guest) complexes of cyclodextrins (CDs) with amino acids. Host-guest complexes formed in solution are stable for characterization by ESI mass spectrometry: The relative abundances and the stoichiometry of the complexes formed in solution can, thus, be determined in the gas phase. The studies verified that β- and γ-cyclodextrin better accommodate protonated amino acids than α-cyclodextrin, and that chemically modified cyclodextrins such as heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (DM-β-CD) may show profound improvement in complexation. The preferential formation of DM-β-CD-aromatic amino acid over DM-β-CD-aliphatic amino acid complexes is confirmed by the experiments, and the relative gas-phase stabilities determined by repeller-collimator collision-induced dissociation show an identical trend to the complexation in solution. Although molecular mechanics studies also may predict the encapsulation preference of protonated amino acids by cyclodextrins, only small differences in the total complexation energies are obtained because of the inability of the calculations to consider hydrophobic interactions. An experimental approach based on ESI mass spectrometry is, therefore, more reliable in predicting host-guest interactions that involve cyclodextrins and amino acids than the theoretical calculations that employ molecular mechanics models.     

Concurrent determination of olanzapine,risperidone and 9‐hydroxyrisperidone in human plasma by ultra performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection method: application to pharmacokinetic study

A simple and sensitive ultra‐performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method has been developed and validated for simultaneous estimation of olanzapine (OLZ), risperidone (RIS) and 9‐hydroxyrisperidone (9‐OHRIS) in human plasma in vitro. The sample preparation was performed by simple liquid–liquid extraction technique. The analytes were chromatographed on a Waters Acquity H class UPLC system using isocratic mobile phase conditions at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min and Acquity UPLC BEH shield RP₁₈ column maintained at 40°C. Quantification was performed on a photodiode array detector set at 277 nm and clozapine was used as internal standard (IS). OLZ, RIS, 9‐OHRIS and IS retention times were found to be 0.9, 1.4, .1.8 and 3.1 min, respectively, and the total run time was 4 min. The method was validated for selectivity, specificity, recovery, linearity, accuracy, precision and sample stability. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range 1–100 ng/mL for OLZ, RIS and 9‐OHRIS. Intra‐ and inter‐day precisions for OLZ, RIS and 9‐OHRIS were found to be good with the coefficient of variation <6.96%, and the accuracy ranging from 97.55 to 105.41%, in human plasma. The validated UPLC method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of RIS and 9‐OHRIS in human plasma. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.