Light-assisted synthesis and functionalization of silver nanoparticles with thiol derivative thioxanthones: new insights into the engineering of metal/chromophore nanoassemblies

Nanofluids are suspensions of nanometer-sized particles which significantly modify the properties of the base fluids. Nanofluids exhibit attractive properties, such as high thermal conductivity, tunable surface tension, viscosity, and rheology. Various attempts have been made to understand the mechanisms for these property modifications caused by adding nanoparticles; however, due to the lack of direct nanoscale evidence, these explanations are still controversial. This work calculated the surface tension, viscosity, and rheology of gold–water nanofluids using molecular dynamics simulations which provide a microscopic interpretation for the modified properties on the molecular level. The gold–water interaction potential parameters were changed to mimic various nanoparticle types. The results show that the nanoparticle wettability is responsible for the modified surface tension. Hydrophobic nanoparticles always tend to stay on the free surface so they behave like a surfactant to reduce the surface tension. Hydrophilic nanoparticles immersed into the bulk fluid impose strong attractive forces on the water molecules at the free surface which reduces the free surface thickness and increases the surface tension of the nanofluid. Solid-like absorbed water layers were observed around the nanoparticles which increase the equivalent nanoparticle radius and reduce the mobility of the nanoparticles within the base fluid which increases the nanofluid viscosity. The results show the water molecule solidification between two or many nanoparticles at high nanoparticle loadings, but the solidification effect is suppressed for shear rates greater than a critical shear rate; thus Newtonian nanofluids can present shear-thinning non-Newtonian behavior.     

The effect of different types of carbon blacks on the rheological and thermal properties of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber

The influence of two types of carbon black filler N330 and N990 (primary particle size 46 nm and >230 nm) on elastomeric composites based on acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) have been investigated. The activation energy (E _a) were determined from two high temperature rheokinetic curves (T ₁ = 180 °C and T ₂ = 190 °C). For tensile testing, the compounds with different content of carbon black were vulcanized in a hydraulic press at 150 °C. The stress-strain experiments were performed before and after ageing the specimens in an air-circulating oven at 100 °C for 168 h. The thermal degradation and thermal stability of carbon black filled NBR rubber was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis in a flowing nitrogen atmosphere at a heating rate of 10 °C/min.     

Active site structures and the redox properties of blue copper proteins: atomic resolution structure of azurin II and electronic structure calculations of azurin, plastocyanin and stellacyanin

Understanding how the active site structures of blue copper proteins determine their redox properties is the central structure-function relationship question of this important class of protein, also referred to as cupredoxins. We here describe both experimental and computational studies of azurin, plastocyanin and stellacyanin designed to define more accurately the geometric structures of the active site of the reduced and oxidized species, and thus to understand how these structures determine the redox potentials of these proteins. To this end the crystal structure of reduced azurin II has been determined at an atomic resolution of 1.13 Angstrom and is presented here. Co-ordinates and structure factors have been deposited in the RCSB Protein Data Bank with accession codes 2ccw and r2ccwsf respectively. The improved accuracy provided by the atomic resolution for the metal stereochemistry are utilised in conjunction with the EXAFS data for theoretical calculations. Multilevel calculations involving density functional theory and molecular mechanical potentials are used to predict both the geometric and electronic structure of the active sites of azurin, plastocyanin and stellacyanin and to estimate the relative redox potentials of these three proteins. We have also compared the relative energies of the structures obtained from experiment at varying resolutions, and from the isolated and embedded cluster calculations. We find significant energy differences between low and high (atomic) resolution structures arising primarily due to inaccuracies in the Cu-ligand distances in the lower resolution structures, emphasising the importance of accurate, very high resolution structural information. QM/MM structures are only approximately 1 kcal mol(-1) lower in energy than the 1.13 Angstrom structure while the optimized gas phase structure is 13.0 kcal mol(-1) lower in energy.     

Polymer coatings for sensitive analysis of colloidal silica nanoparticles in water

A new analytical approach has been developed for the sensitive detection of trace nanomaterials in water using silica as model inorganic nanoparticles. Our novel approach is based on coating of the nanoparticles with a polymer to make them larger in size for better ultraviolet (UV) light absorption. These polymer-coated nanoparticles can be separated from the monomer and polymer by capillary electrophoresis (CE) due to differences in their ionic charge, size, and surface functionality. Controlled polymerization of 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) on silica nanoparticles increased their UV detection sensitivity by 5–7-fold. A second coating with polydopamine produced an extra 2-fold increase of the UV detection sensitivity. With both polyhydroxypropyl methacrylate and polydopamine coatings, a significant total enhancement of 10–14-fold in detection sensitivity was attained. Alternatively, addition of bisphenol A or polyvinyl alcohol to the HPMA polymerization mixture resulted in 9–10-fold increase of SiO₂ detection sensitivity due to additional absorption of the UV detector light.     

Distribution of deoxynivalenol in wheat,wheat flour,bran, and gluten,and variability associated with the test procedure

Analytical data obtained on deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration in naturally contaminated wheat during processing in an industrial mill were statistically analyzed, and the distribution functions of DON concentration in lots of wheat, bran, wheat flour, and gluten were estimated. The analytical method had acceptable precision (HORRAT 0.25-0.32) for each test sample. The total variance combined sampling, sample preparation, and analytical variances were 0.188, 0.033, 0.42, and 0.0014 ppm2 for wheat, 1.93; flour, 0.99; bran, 4.68; and gluten, 0.29, respectively. The distribution function of DON contamination presented an asymmetric tail for high values of concentration in wheat grains and wheat flour; in bran it seemed to be bimodal with 2 separated peaks of different concentrations; in gluten the normal distribution function gave a reasonably good fit to empirical data. The function eta(c) = -In(-Inp), where p (c) is the cumulative distribution function was linear with c in the so-called extreme-value type I distribution and could be fitted by a cubic polynomial in c in the distributions determined for all the products. This variability and distributional information contributes to the design of better sampling plans in order to reduce the total variability and to estimate errors in the evaluation of DON concentration in lots of wheat and wheat products.     

Synchronous Fluorescence as a Green and Selective Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Cetirizine and Azelastine in Aqueous Humor

A green, simple, quick and economical method is implemented for the first time for the simultaneous estimation of cetirizine (CTZ) and azelastine (AZE) as co-administered eye drops. The method relies on synchronous spectrofluorimetry with ?λ?=?60 nm. Cetirizine can be estimated at 231 nm and AZE can be measured at 294 nm, each at the other’s zero crossing point. All factors affecting the method were studied and properly optimized. Good correlation was obtained in the range of 0.1–2 µg mL^?1 for both drugs. The limits of detection were 0.014 and 0.010 µg mL^?1 and limits of quantitation were 0.043 and 0.029 µg mL^?1 for CTZ and AZE, respectively. Moreover, ICH guidelines were carried out to validate the adopted method. The method was suitable for the analysis of CTZ and AZE in synthetic mixtures, eye drops and aqueous humor. The mean percentage of recoveries of CTZ and AZE in spiked aqueous humor were 99.83 and 99.37, respectively. Furthermore, Green Analytical Procedure Index (GAPI) and analytical Eco-scale approaches were used to evaluate the greenness of the suggested method.

     

In vitro antimicrobial evaluation and in silico studies of coumarin derivatives tagged with pyrano-pyridine and pyrano-pyrimidine moieties as DNA gyrase inhibitors

Molecular Diversity - Several coumarin-containing substitute nitrogen heterocycles have recently received considerable importance due to their diverse pharmacological properties. One-pot and rapid...     

Flow-Injection Determination of Cephalosporin Antibiotic Cefixime in Pharmaceutical Formulations with Luminol-Diperiodatoargentate(III) Chemiluminescence Detection

Journal of Analytical Chemistry - A simple and sensitive flow injection chemiluminescence method was developed for the determination of cefixime trihydrate (CFX) based on its enhancing effect on...     

Novel dithiocarbamate–Hg(II) complexes containing mixed ligands: Synthesis,spectroscopic characterization,and H2 storage capacity

A tetrahedral Hg(II) diethyl dithiocarbamate (Et₂Dt) complex containing triphenylphosphine (PPh₃) of the composition [HgCl(κ²-Et₂Dt)₂(PPh₃)] ( 1 ) is prepared. Furthermore, complex ( 1 ) is used as a synthone to prepare a novel series of complexes of the following composition [Hg(Et₂Dt)L(PPh₃)] {L = saccharinate ( 2 ), thiosaccharinate ( 3 ), benzisothiazolinate ( 4 ), benzothiozole-2-thiolate ( 5 ), and benzooxazole-2-thiolate ( 6 ) anions}. The resulted complexes ( 1 )–( 6 ) are characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, powder X-ray diffraction, fourier transform Infrared, and NMR (¹H and ³¹P) spectroscopic techniques. The Et₂Dt ligand is coordinated as bidentate chelate through the sulfur atoms, whereas the L ligands are bonded as monodentate ligands to afford a tetrahedral geometry around the Hg(II) ion. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm for two of as-prepared complexes ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) are measured first to get their Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area. Moreover, the mentioned two complexes are evaluated for their ability to store hydrogen gas at 77 K. However, the results of the hydrogen storage tests proved that the selected complexes are all capable of storing hydrogen, but in varying degrees, where complex ( 2 ) exhibited a storage capacity of 4.22 wt% under 88 bar.     

Chemically Crosslinked pH- and Temperature-Sensitive (N-isopropylacrylamide-co-1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) Based on New Crosslinker: I. Swelling Behavior

Novel pH- and temperature-sensitive polymer matrices based on N-isopropylacrylamide have been developed. The hydrogels were prepared by bulk radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide and 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone in appropriate amounts of distilled water using different mol% of traditional N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) and the new synthesized N,N,N-tris acryloyl melamine (MAAm) crosslinkers. Lower critical solution transition temperatures (LCST) were measured by differential scanning calorimetry. The synthesized hydrogels have LCST lower than 40°C. The influence of environmental conditions such as temperature and pH on the swelling behavior of these polymeric gels was investigated. The swelling behaviors of the resulting gels show pH sensitivity. The crosslinked NIPAAm/VP with MAAm hydrogels exhibited more rapid deswelling rate than NIPAAm/VP hydrogels crosslinked with MBA in pure water in response to abrupt temperature changes from 20°C to 50°C.