Effect of Various Deposition Techniques,Electrode Materials and Posttreatment with Tetrabutylammonium and Tetrabutylphosphonium Salts on the Electrochemical Behavior and Stability of Various Prussian Blue Modified Electrodes

The effect of various deposition techniques, electrode materials and posttreatment with tetrabutylammonium and tetrabutylphosphonium salts on the electrochemical behavior and stability of various Prussian blue (PB) modified electrodes, namely PB modified glassy carbon electrodes, silicate‐film supported PB modified glassy carbon electrodes, PB‐doped silicate glassy carbon electrodes, PB modified carbon ceramic electrodes using electrochemical deposition and PB modified carbon ceramic electrodes using chemical deposition is reported. Cyclic voltammetry and amperometric measurements of hydrogen peroxide were performed in a flow injection system while the carrier phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with a flow rate of 0.8 mL min^?1 was propelled into the electrochemical flow through cell housing the PB modified working electrode as well as an Ag|AgCl|0.1 M KCl reference and a Pt auxiliary electrode. The results showed that the deposition procedure, electrode material and posttreatment with additional chemicals can significantly alter the stability and electrochemical behavior of the PB film. Among the studied PB modified electrodes, those based on carbon ceramic electrodes modified with a film of electropolymerized PB showed the best electrochemical stability.     

Screening of adulteration in packaging biocomposites by infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics was employed to detect packaging polylactic acid-based biocomposite samples adulterated with polypropylene (PP) 30–45% and linear low-density polyethylene 2–10%. Principal component analysis, soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) and partial least square discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) chemometric techniques were utilized to classify samples in different classes. Totally, 362 samples were modeled in three different classes (two adulterated and one non-adulterated). The obtained results revealed that PLS-DA is the most suitable chemometric approach for prediction of probable adulteration in biocomposite samples with reliable specificity and selectivity. It could provide 99% correct class prediction rate between non-adulterated biocomposite samples and adulterated ones, while SIMCA methods provided 73.33% prediction accuracy in classification.     

Nano TiO2 Modified Carbon‐ceramic Electrode and Its Application for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of NADH

The electrocatalytic oxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) was studied on nanoTiO₂ modified sol‐gel electrode, using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and differential pulse voltammetry as diagnostic techniques. It is demonstrated that TiO₂ nanoparticles on sol‐gel network catalyze the oxidation of NADH in the absence of any electron transfer mediators. Effect of various parameters such as pH, scan rate, TiO₂ percentage on the response of modified electrode was studied. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the surface morphology of the spots. A dynamic range between 0.5–50 μM with detection limit of 0.35 μM was obtained with DPV studies. This method was successfully used for determination of NADH in cucumber cotyledons samples. The electrode showed relatively good stability over more than 2 months.     

Recent Developments in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

The knowledge of dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs) has expanded considerably in recent years. They are multiparameter and complex systems that work only if various parameters are tuned simultaneously. This makes it difficult to target to a single parameter to improve the efficiency. There is a wealth of knowledge concerning different DSC structures and characteristics. In this review, the present knowledge and recent achievements are surveyed with emphasis on the more promising cell materials and designs.     

Phosphoric acid supported on alumina (H3PO4/Al2O3) as an efficient and reusable catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of benzoxanthene pigments

Phosphoric acid supported on alumina (H₃PO₄/Al₂O₃) is an efficient catalyst for the catalytic multi-component condensation reaction and a wide variety of syntheses of benzoxanthene pigments in good yields. The remarkable features of this new procedure are high conversions, shorter reaction times, cleaner reaction, and simple experimental and work-up procedures.     

New applications of phosphoric acid supported on alumina (H3PO4–Al2O3) as a reusable heterogeneous catalyst for preparation of 2,3-dihydroquinazoline-4(1H)-ones, 2H-indazolo[2,1-b]phthalazinetriones,and benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidines

An eco-friendly procedure for synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazoline-4(1H)-one, 2H-indazolo[2,1-b]phthalazinetrione, and benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives by three-component reaction, with phosphoric acid supported on alumina as catalyst, is described. Noticeable features of the method are that it is solvent-free, work-up is easy, yields are excellent, and the catalyst is reusable.     

A new optimized iterative method for solving M-matrix linear systems

In this paper, we present a new iterative method for solving a linear system, whose coefficient matrix is an M-matrix. This method includes four parameters that are obtained by the accelerated overrelaxation (AOR) splitting and using the Taylor approximation. First, under some standard assumptions, we establish the convergence properties of the new method. Then, by minimizing the Frobenius norm of the iteration matrix, we find the optimal parameters. Meanwhile, numerical results on test examples show the efficiency of the new proposed method in contrast with the Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting (HSS), AOR methods and a modified version of the AOR (QAOR) iteration.

     

DNA-binding Studies of Daunorubicin in the Presence of Methylene Blue by Spectroscopy and Voltammetry Techniques

The interaction of daunorubicin with calf thymus DNA has been investigated with the use of methylene blue dye as a spectral probe by the application of UV-Vis spectrophotometry, spectrofluorometry and voltammetry. The voltammetric behavior of daunorubicin has been investigated at a glassy carbon electrode using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. Both UV-vis spectrophotometry and cyclic voltammetry studies confirmed the intercalation reaction. The results showed that both daunorubicin and methylene blue molecules could intercalate into the double helix of DNA. The apparent binding constant of daunorubicin with DNA has been found to be 7.8 ×104 L•mol－1. The fluorescence signal of daunorubicin and methylene blue was quenched with DNA addition. The Stern-Volmer equation was plotted based on the quenching fluorescence signal of daunorubicin.     

Silver-catalyzed facile decarboxylation of coumarin-3-carboxylic acids

A simple and highly efficient protocol with mild reaction conditions has been developed that allows the smooth protiodecarboxylation of diversely functionalized coumarin-3-carboxylic acids. In the presence of catalytic amounts of Ag₂CO₃ and acetic acid, even un-activated coumarin-3-carboxylic acids were converted in good to excellent yields and with great preparative ease to the corresponding coumarin derivatives.