Photoactive Titania Float for Disinfection of Water; Evaluation of Cell Damage by Bioanalytical Techniques

A photoactive float was fabricated with the modified titania to cause a feasible disinfection of water, contaminated with E. coli. The commercially available titania was doped with neodymium by pulverization technique to enhance its activity in sunlight and a multiapproach technique was used to evaluate the extended efficiency of the doped sample. X‐ray diffraction patterns depicted the retention of anatase phase on doping and the existence of neodymium was confirmed by the energy dispersive atomic X‐ray analysis and the X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy and Bruner–Emmett–Teller analysis depicted a marginal increase in the particle size and a decrease in the surface area, respectively. Doping induces semiconductor behavior with lower band energy that could respond to visible light and exhibit better disinfection activity. The “f” and “d” transitions of the lanthanide in doped sample caused new electronic behavior of trapping/detrapping effect together with bandgap narrowing. The amount of malondialdehyde, protein, DNA and RNA released on destruction of E. coli was observed to be 0.915 × 10^?3 μg mL^?1, 859.912 μg mL^?1, 20.173 μg mL^?1 and 1146.073 μg mL^?1, respectively. The above analytical methods along with standard plate count method substantiated the enhanced disinfection efficiency of the doped sample in sunlight.     

Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan Thin Films on Mixed-Matrix Membranes for Complete Removal of Chromium

Herein we present a new approach for the complete removal of Cr^VI species, through reduction of Cr^VI to Cr^III, followed by adsorption of Cr^III. Reduction of chromium from water is an important challenge, as Cr^IV is one of the most toxic substances emitted from industrial processes. Chitosan (CS) thin films were developed on plain polysulfone (PSf) and PSf/TiO₂ membrane substrates by a temperature-induced technique using polyvinyl alcohol as a binder. Structure property elucidation was carried out by X-ray diffraction, microscopy, spectroscopy, contact angle measurement, and water uptake studies. The increase in hydrophilicity followed the order: PSf < PSf/TiO₂ < PSf/TiO₂/CS membranes. Use of this thin-film composite membrane for chromium removal was investigated with regards to the effects of light and pH. The observations reveal 100 % reduction of Cr^VI to Cr^III through electrons and protons donated from OH and NH₂ groups of the CS layer; the reduced Cr^III species are adsorbed onto the CS layer via complexation to give chromium-free water.     

Biosynthesis and characterization of Dillenia indica-mediated silver nanoparticles and their biological activity

Dillenia indica L. is a traditional medicinal plant well known for its ability to cure various human diseases. In the current study, silver nanoparticles have been synthesized by simple and eco-friendly method using Dillenia indica extract. The green synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV–visible spectroscopy, Atomic force microscopy (AFM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Zeta Potential and Size Distribution. UV–visible and FTIR spectra, AFM, HR-TEM and Zeta Potential readings and size distribution conformed that the synthesized silver particles were in the size of nano. The green synthesized silver nanoparticles were subjected for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis and Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli by agar well diffusion method. The synthesized AgNPs exhibited significant inhibition of 27 and 16 mm against the test bacteria at 0.25 mg/ml. Further the antibacterial activity was confirmed by live and dead cell assay by fluorescence microscopy and morphological changes of bacteria were studied by Scanning electron microscope (SEM). The study recommends that the synthesized silver nanoparticles using Dillenia indica extract have potential application in inhibition of bacteria owing to their potent antibacterial activity.     

Biosensing and drug delivery by polypyrrole

Conducting polypyrrole is a biological compatible polymer matrix wherein number of drugs and enzymes can be incorporated by way of doping. The polypyrrole, which is obtained as freestanding film by electrochemical polymerization, has gained tremendous recognition as sophisticated electronic measuring device in the field of sensors and drug delivery. In drug delivery the reversing of the potential 100% of the drug can be released and is highly efficient as a biosensor in presence of an enzyme. In this review we discuss the applications of conducting polypyrrole as biosensor for some biomolecules and drug delivery systems.     

Photoinduced phase transitions

Employing actinic light to alter/stabilise a particular thermodynamic phase via the photo-isomerisation of the constituent molecules is an interesting tool to investigate soft matter from a new dimension. This article focuses on our recent results on several aspects of these non-equilibrium phase transitions, which are isothermal in nature. We specifically discuss (i) the influence of different parameters, such as confinement, applied electric field, pressure etc., on the dynamics associated with both the photochemical transition driving the equilibrium nematic to the non-equilibrium isotropic phase and the thermal back relaxation recovering the nematic phase, (ii) unique light-driven disorder–order transition in a reentrant system, (iii) dynamic self-assembly of the smectic A phase, which is stabilised only in the presence of actinic light, (iv) novel temperature-intensity phase diagrams and an example of primary and secondary photo-ferroelectric effects in an antiferroelectric smectic C system. These results highlight the fact that the actinic light can be used as a new tool to study phase transitions and the associated critical phenomena that could also bring about effects that are not seen in equilibrium situations.     

The isomeric compounds nimbolide and isonimbolide

Nimbolide [systematic name: (4α,5α,6α,7α,15β,17α)‐7,15:21,23‐diepoxy‐6‐hydroxy‐4,8‐dimethyl‐1‐oxo‐18,24‐dinor‐11,12‐secochola‐2,13,20,22‐tetraene‐4,11‐dicarboxylic acid γ‐lactone methyl ester], C₂₇H₃₀O₇, was isolated from the leaves of Azadirachta indica, and its isomer, isonimbolide [systematic name: (4α,5α,6α,7α,15α)‐7,15:21,23‐diepoxy‐6‐hydroxy‐4,8‐dimethyl‐1‐oxo‐18,24‐dinor‐11,12‐secochola‐2,16,20,22‐tetra­ene‐4,11‐dicarboxylic acid γ‐lactone methyl ester], was prepared from a novel rearrangement reaction of nimbolide, using boron trifluoride etherate and tetra­butyl­ammonium bromide. The reaction conditions are probably responsible for the ether cleavage, double‐bond rearrangement and reformation of the ether linkage. As a result, there are conformational changes in two cyclo­pentane rings and the side‐chain –CH₂COOMe group. In isonimbolide, an (24) hydrogen‐bond motif is observed.     

An analysis of overlapping Schwarz method for a weakly coupled system of singularly perturbed convection-diffusion equations

In this article, we have developed an overlapping Schwarz method for a weakly coupled system of convection-diffusion equations. The method splits the original domain into two overlapping subdomains. A hybrid difference scheme is proposed in which on the boundary layer region, we use the central finite difference scheme on a uniform mesh, whereas on the nonlayer region, we use the mid-point difference scheme on a uniform mesh. It is shown that the numerical approximations converge in the maximum norm to the exact solution. We have proved that, when appropriate subdomains are used, the method produces almost second-order convergence. Furthermore, it is shown that two iterations are sufficient to achieve the expected accuracy. Numerical examples are presented to support the theoretical results. The main advantage of this method used with the proposed scheme is that it reduces iteration counts very much and easily identifies in which iteration the Schwarz iterate terminates.