Development of a method for the estimation of low amount of plutonium in 200 L waste drums in presence of high amount of β γ activity due to 137Cs and 60Co

The waste drum monitoring system based on HPGe detector was used to study its performance for the estimation of low amounts of plutonium in presence of high activity of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁶⁰Co. The counting was carried out by keeping amount of plutonium constant at 100 mg level and varying the count rate for the γ rays of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁶⁰Co. Present study has shown that the estimation of low amount of ²³⁹Pu in a waste drum can be carried out using 129 keV γ ray in the presence of ¹³⁷Cs up to an activity level of 16 mCi and in the presence of ⁶⁰Co up to an activity level of 8 mCi.     

Optical and ESR studies in pure and Mn-doped LiF crystals

Growth of F absorption band with the time of X-irradiation at RT and the changes caused in the F absorption as a function of F light and thermal bleaching along with the simultaneous ESR studies in pure and Mn-doped LiF single crystals are reported.     

Gram‐Scale Synthesis and Highly Regioselective Bromination of 1,1,9,9‐Tetramethyl[9](2,11)teropyrenophane

An improved synthetic pathway to the nanobelt‐like 1,1,9,9‐tetramethyl[9](2,11)teropyrenophane has been developed, and enables the synthesis of gram quantities of material. Key innovations are the development of a sequential chlorination/Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction, a sequential iodination/Wurtz coupling reaction, and a room‐temperature teropyrene‐forming reaction. The teropyrenophane was found to form a very stable radical cation and undergo a completely regioselective fourfold bromination reaction.     

Synthesis and anticancer activity of new azo compounds containing extended π-conjugated systems

A series of novel azo compounds with extended π-conjugated systems were prepared by azo coupling reaction compounds trans-2-(4′-aminostyryl)-thiophene, 1-(4-aminophenyl)-4-phenyl-1,3-butadiene and 4-amino-4′-methoxystilbene with some phenols. The compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against breast cancer adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) and human embryonic kidney (HEK 293) cell lines using the MTT assay. The results showed all derivatives had more toxic effects than tamoxifen. Of all the compounds tested, the azo product obtained from coupling trans-2-(4′-Aminostyryl)-thiophene with 2-naphthol (compound 5b) exhibited the potent in vitro antiproliferative activity with IC₅₀ 27 ± 1 and 18 ± 0 µg/mL against MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines, respectively, while it was devoid of any cytotoxicity against normal HEK 293 cells even at 200 µg/mL.     

Melamine-mediated self-assembly of a Cu(II)–methylmalonate complex assisted by π+–π+ and anti-electrostatic H-bonding interactions

A Cu(II)-methylmalonate complex, (C₃H₇N₆)₄[Cu(II)(C₄H₄O₄)₂](H₂O)₄Cl₂ (1) (where C₃H₇N₆ = protonated melamine, C₄H₄O₄ = methylmalonic acid), has been synthesized from aqueous media and its crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The anionic Cu(II)-methylmalonate complex mediated formation of interesting supramolecular assemblies in the solid state by means of ionic interactions with protonated melamine. Moreover, other forces such as antielectrostatic H-bonding and π⁺–π⁺ interactions also play a crucial role in defining the final 3-D architecture of 1. An interesting stacking among protonated melamine molecules is studied by DFT calculations. Lattice water molecules and chlorides form various hydrogen bonds to take part in the self-assembly processes.     

Development of new <Superscript>116</Superscript>Cd/Pt target for cyclotron produced <Superscript>117m</Superscript>Sn as a medical radiometal

The radioisotope ^117mSn has recently attracted considerable attention because of its application in theranostics and its imaging using 159-keV γ-photons. In this study, we developed a target system that yielded ^117mSn via a ¹¹⁶Cd(α, 3n)^117mSn nuclear reaction. A separable Pt substrate was utilized to prepare the enriched ¹¹⁶Cd target to be irradiated, and the enriched ¹¹⁶Cd in a cadmium acetate solution was electroplated onto the Pt substrate. The substrate was thermally analyzed via ANSYS simulations, and the plating thickness was optimized through calculations with TALYS code. The production of ^117mSn was confirmed through the emission measurement of inherent gamma rays.