Au‐dimercaprol functionalized cellulose aerogel: Synthesis,characterization and catalytic application

A new derivative of cellulose aerogel was prepared via functionalization of cellulose with dimercaprol. Dimercaprol, as a chelating agent of Au(III), was applied for the loading of Au(III) on cellulose aerogel. The new organogold compound after characterization was used as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst in the oxidation reactions of aliphatic alcohols, benzyl alcohol, and ethylbenzene. Excellent selectivities and good conversions were obtained in the green oxidation reactions of alcohols and ethylbenzene. The high porosity of cellulose aerogel led to the good conversions with the low catalyst amounts. The significance of the presented work is the introducing of an environmentally benign process for the oxidation reactions based on a biocompatible catalyst.     

Synthesis and catalytic application of Pd/PdO/Fe3O4@polymer-like graphene quantum dots

A novel approach was achieved for growing citric acid towards polymer-like graphene quantum dots (PGQD) with high efficiency in the presence of sodium hydroxide as a base catalyst. This protocol is completely safe, simple, fast, and efficient by a bottom up strategy. Thermal treatment of a mixture containing citric acid with NaOH at 300 °C gave PGQD during 5 min. The reaction afforded a new heterogeneous catalyst, Pd/PdO/Fe₃O₄@PGQD, in the presence of Pd and Fe₃O₄. The magnetically recoverable catalyst showed high activity in the oxidation of alkylarenes and alcohols using H₂O₂ as a green oxidant at room temperature. Comparison of the results with previous reports showed the efficiency of the catalyst to have high turnover numbers in mild reaction conditions.     

Zn/MCM-41-catalyzed unsymmetrical Hantzsch reaction and the evaluation of optical properties and anti-cancer activities of the polyhydroquinoline products

The three-component Hantzsch condensation of various aryl aldehydes, dimedone, and methyl 3-aminocrotonate was investigated in the presence of MCM-41-supported ZnNO3. The polyhydroquinoline products which were obtained under mild conditions and very easy workup were evaluated for anti-cancer activities against MCF-7, SK-BR-3, and HT-29 of breast and colon cancer cells. The fluorescence emission of some products was also studied and their optical parameters were reported.     

Photocatalytic Oxidation Based on Modified Titanium Dioxide with Reduced Graphene Oxide and CdSe/CdS as Nanohybrid Materials

Photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanoparticles in the visible light region was enhanced. TiO₂–CdSe and TiO₂–CdSe/CdS nanohybrids were supported on the reduced graphene oxide. These nanohybrid materials were applied as photocatalyst toward oxidation of aromatic alcohols under a mild condition and the molecular oxygen as oxidant. A plausible mechanism for the photocatalytic oxidation was also proposed. Desired nanohybrids were obtained via in situ fixation of CdSe/CdS on the surface of nanosheets of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Finally, it was modified by TiO₂ sol nanoparticles through a hydrothermal method. The obtained nanomaterials, were characterized by SEM, TEM imaging, XRD, EDAX, DRS and XPS analyses. The size of nanohybrids materials were distributed mostly in a narrow range of 50–65 and 60–75 nm for TiO₂–rGO–CdSe and TiO₂–rGO–CdSe/CdS, respectively. These photocatalysts showed high catalytic activity under visible light irradiation in a short reaction time and even higher selectivity rather than UV irradiation. The yield of catalytic oxidation increased at least 25–30% for TiO₂–CdSe/CdS on rGO, which could be related to its higher light sensitivity and lower energy band gap. The photocatalysts were recycled and reused 8 times without significant loss of their activities due to their stability under visible light.     

Phenolic,flavonoid contents,anticholinesterase and antioxidant evaluation of Iris germanica var; florentina

This study was designed to investigate antioxidant and anticholinesterase potential of Iris germanica var; florentina. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory potential of plant samples were investigated by Ellman’s assay. Antioxidant activity was performed using DPPH, H₂O₂ and ABTS free radical scavenging assays. Total phenolics and flavonoids contents were expressed in mg GAE/g dry weight and mg RTE/g, respectively. In AChE inhibition assay, Ig.Fl, Ig.Sp and Ig.Cf fractions exhibited highest activity with IC₅₀ values of < 0.1, 5.64 and 19 μg/mL, respectively. In BChE inhibitory assay, Ig.Fl, Ig.Sp, Ig.Cf and Ig.Cr were most active with IC₅₀ of < 0.1, < 0.1, 31 and 78 μg/mL, respectively. In DPPH assay, Ig.Fl and Ig.Cf exhibited highest inhibition of free radicals, 80.52% (IC₅₀ = 9 μg/mL) and 78.30% (IC₅₀ = 8 μg/mL), respectively. In ABTS assay Ig.Cr, Ig.Cf, Ig.Fl and Ig.Sp exhibited IC₅₀ values of < 0.1, 2, 2 and 3 μg/mL, respectively.     

Pd(II) anchored to modified Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript> nanoparticles as a new magnetically recoverable catalyst for epoxidation of styrene

A new support for Pd(II) was synthesized via the functionalization of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with N-(2-aminoethyl)acetamide. PdCl₂ was anchored to the support for obtaining a heterogeneous magnetically recoverable catalyst for Pd(II). High yield and excellent selectivity were obtained for the green epoxidation of styrene derivatives using H₂O₂ as a green oxidant in H₂O as the solvent at 100 °C. Also, the recovered catalyst is applicable for four times without significant decrease in yield.     

Theoretical study of lepton events in the atmospheric neutrino experiments at SuperK

Super-Kamiokande has reported the results for the lepton events in the atmospheric neutrino experiment. These results have been presented for a 22.5kT water fiducial mass on an exposure of 1489 days, and the events are divided into sub-GeV, multi-GeV and PC events. We present a study of nuclear medium effects in the sub-GeV energy region of atmospheric neutrino events for the quasielastic scattering, incoherent and coherent pion production processes, as they give the most dominant contribution to the lepton events in this energy region. We have used the atmospheric neutrino flux given by Honda et al. These calculations have been done in the local density approximation. We take into account the effects of Pauli blocking, Fermi motion, Coulomb effect, renormalization of weak transition strengths in the nuclear medium in the case of the quasielastic reactions. The inelastic reactions leading to production of leptons along with pions is calculated in a $ \Delta$ -dominance model by taking into account the renormalization of $ \Delta$ properties in the nuclear medium and the final-state interaction effects of the outgoing pions with the residual nucleus. We present the results for the lepton events obtained in our model with and without nuclear medium effects, and compare them with the Monte Carlo predictions used in the simulation and the experimentally observed events reported by the Super-Kamiokande Collaboration.     

Lattice Boltzmann method on quadtree grids for simulating fluid flow through porous media: A new automatic algorithm

During the past two decades, the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method has been introduced as a class of computational fluid dynamic methods for fluid flow simulations. In this method, instead of solving the Navier Stocks equation, the Boltzmann equation is solved to simulate the flow of a fluid. This method was originally developed based on uniform grids. However, in order to model complex geometries such as porous media, it can be very slow in comparison with other techniques such as finite differences and finite elements. To eliminate this limitation, a number of studies have aimed to formulate the lattice Boltzmann on the unstructured grids. This paper deals with simulating fluid flow through a synthetic porous medium using the LB method and on the quadtree grid structure. To this end, the LB method was used on nonuniform grids coupled with a technique for image reconstruction which resulted in the quadtree grids for simulation of fluid flow through porous media. Accuracy and efficiency of this algorithm is compared against the conventional LB method based on uniform grids. While the decrease in computational time in the proposed LB method on nonuniform grids is found to be significant regarding the size of the initial and reconstructed images, the same level of accuracy is obtained when compared with the conventional LB method on uniform grids.     

Thermo-bioconvection transport of nanofluid over an inclined stretching cylinder with Cattaneo–Christov double-diffusion

In this paper, Newtonian nanofluid flow is observed under the effects of the magnetic field, activation energy and motile microorganisms over an inclined stretchable cylinder. The magnificent aspects of nanoliquid are demonstrated by enduring the Brownian motion and thermophoresis diffusion features.Nonlinear higher order partial differential equations are transformed into first-order ordinary differential equations with suitable similarity variables. The attained sets of governing equations are then cracked by bvp4 c procedure in MATLAB mathematical software. The numerical and graphical outcomes of controlling parameters such as Prandtl number, mixed convection, activation energy, thermophoresis,Brownian parameter, Biot number, Lewis number, Peclet number and motile concentration parameter against the velocity, temperature, volumetric concentration and motile concentration of nanoparticles of the fluid are discussed. The velocity is enhanced with the growth valuation in mixed convection and decay by rising variation of buoyancy ratio parameter, magnetic parameter and bio-convective Rayleigh parameter. The evolution in motile microorganisms is due to the increasing values of microorganisms Biot number. The presented data can be helpful in enhancement of manufacturing processes, biomolecules, extrusion systems applications and energy production improvement.