An optical fibre pH sensor based on dye doped mesostructured silica

This paper describes the synthesis and optical pH sensing properties of a pH indicator dye activated mesostructured silica coated optical fibre. The pH-sensitive dye bromothymol blue was incorporated into the mesostructure sol precursor and thin films/coatings were used for pH-sensing applications without prior removal of the surfactant. The pH sensitivity range and operating wavelength were analysed by absorption measurements on layer dip-coated on glass slides. The pH sensing properties of coated optical fibre were tested by evanescent wave method. Experiments were carried out by using a series of solutions of known pH. No leaching was observed (except at very high pH) and an excellent reversibility was obtained between pH=2 and 5.     

1,3,4-Oxadiazole, 1,3,4-thiadiazole and 1,2,4-triazole derivatives as potential antibacterial agents

Since the introduction of the first antibiotic (penicillin, 1942) into medical practice, to date, there has been an ongoing “race” between scientists creating new drugs and pathogenic bacteria. Antibiotic-bacteria are becoming progressively common, and to make matters worse, more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to all known antibiotics. The traditional method for this problem is to introduce new antibiotics that kill the resistant mutants. This specific “arms race” resulted into thousands of potentially active chemicals are synthesized in laboratories around the world every day.1,3,4-Oxadiazole; 1,3,4-thiadiazole; 1,2,4-triazole and some of their derivatives are involved in modifications at the following axes: First, attaching a thio-group into heterocyclic rings. Second, introducing different substitutions at position 5 which often are the residuals of the synthetic starting materials such as simple aliphatic, substituted aliphatic chains, aromatic carbocyclic and heterocyclic residues.     

Simulated fractal permeability for porous membranes

Fractal permeability model for bi-dispersed porous media is developed based on the fractal characteristics of pores in the membrane. The fractal permeability model is found to be a function of the tortuosity fractal dimension, pore area fractal dimension, sizes of particles and clusters, micro-porosity inside clusters, and the effective porosity of a medium. The pore area fractal dimension and the tortuosity fractal dimension of the porous membranes are determined by the box counting method. To verify the validity of the model, the predicted permeability were compared with the experimental data utilizing H₂ gas permeating through porous Pd-alumina, silicalite-1 and B-ZSM-5, and O₂ across perovskite-alumina membranes form the past effort.     

A topological characterization of the goldman prime spectrum of a commutative ring

A prime ideal p of a commutative ring R is said to be a Goldman ideal (or a G-ideal) if there exists a maximal ideal M of the polynomial ring R[X] such that p = M ∩ R. A topological space is said to be goldspectral if it is homeomorphic to the space Gold(R) of G-ideals of R (Gold(R) is considered as a subspace of the prime spectrum Spec(R) equipped with the Zariski topology). We give here a topological characterization of goldspectral spaces.     

Substituted quinolinones. 31. Some new pyrano[3,2‐c]quinoline‐3‐carboxamides and their antioxidant activity

1‐Ethyl‐4‐hydroxy‐2‐oxo‐1,2‐dihydroquinoline‐3‐carbaldehyde ( 1 ) was annulated using malonic acid and/or its ethyl ester to furnish pyrano[3,2‐c]quinoline‐3‐carboxylic acid 2 and its ester 3 . Interconversions between acid 2 and ester 3 were successfully carried out. The anticipated pyrano[3,2‐c]quinoline‐3‐carboxamides 5–12 were conveniently attained via condensation of ester 3 with the proper amine. Surprisingly, treatment of ester 3 with dimethylformamide (DMF) in acidic media led to the carboxamide 5 . All attempts to convert ester 3 to its corresponding acid hydrazides by interaction with the proper hydrazine derivative led to formation of pyrazolidinediones 15 and 17 . Ester 3 underwent cyclo‐condensation with malononitrile dimer affording pyrido[3′,4′:5,6]pyrano[3,2‐c]quinoline derivative 18 . The new compounds revealed significant antioxidant effect, which suggests that most of them are possible potent antioxidant agents.     

Stripe instabilities in the menisci of free-standing smectic films: influence of the phase sequence of the mesogenic material

We briefly report experimental observations of striped patterns in the menisci of free-standing smectic C films. The results were obtained with a mesogenic compound that transits directly from the nematic phase to the smectic C phase, without an intermediate smectic A phase. In this case, it is shown that stripes do not correspond to undulations of the smectic free surface and smectic layers, as was indeed evidenced in previous studies with other compounds and different phase sequences. Hence, our results show that the nature of striped patterns in free-standing films depends on the phase sequence of the considered materials. Further experimental and theoretical works are still required to fully elucidate the physical mechanisms that drive the onset of patterns in such systems.     

Crystal structure of 1,2,4,6-tetraphenylpyridinium tetrabromoferrate(III)

The title structure, which belongs to the triclinicP¯1 space group witha=13.901(4),b=10.732(1),c=10.570(8)Å=109.14(4),=96.17(4), =90.34(2)°, is refined toR=0.052 for 2985I3(I) reflections. The structure consists of a non-interacting 1,2,4,6-tetraphenylpyridinium and tetrahedral tetrabromoferrate (III) ions.     

AaTs-1: A Tetrapeptide from Androctonus australis Scorpion Venom,Inhibiting U87 Glioblastoma Cells Proliferation by p53 and FPRL-1 Up-Regulations

Glioblastoma is an aggressive cancer, against which medical professionals are still quite helpless, due to its resistance to current treatments. Scorpion toxins have been proposed as a promising alternative for the development of effective targeted glioblastoma therapy and diagnostic. However, the exploitation of the long peptides could present disadvantages. In this work, we identified and synthetized AaTs-1, the first tetrapeptide from Androctonus australis scorpion venom (Aa), which exhibited an antiproliferative effect specifically against human glioblastoma cells. Both the native and synthetic AaTs-1 were endowed with the same inhibiting effect on the proliferation of U87 cells with an IC₅₀ of 0.56 mM. Interestingly, AaTs-1 was about two times more active than the anti-glioblastoma conventional chemotherapeutic drug, temozolomide (TMZ), and enhanced its efficacy on U87 cells. AaTs-1 showed a significant similarity with the synthetic peptide WKYMVm, an agonist of a G-coupled formyl-peptide receptor, FPRL-1, known to be involved in the proliferation of glioma cells. Interestingly, the tetrapeptide triggered the dephosphorylation of ERK, p38, and JNK kinases. It also enhanced the expression of p53 and FPRL-1, likely leading to the inhibition of the store operated calcium entry. Overall, our work uncovered AaTs-1 as a first natural potential FPRL-1 antagonist, which could be proposed as a promising target to develop new generation of innovative molecules used alone or in combination with TMZ to improve glioblastoma treatment response. Its chemical synthesis in non-limiting quantity represents a valuable advantage to design and develop low-cost active analogues to treat glioblastoma cancer.