Improvement of Ethanol Production Using <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> by Enhancement of Biomass and Nutrient Supplementation

Optimization of ethanol production through addition of substratum and protein-lipid additives was studied. Oilseed meal extract was used as protein lipid supplement, while rice husk was used as substratum. The effect of oil seed meal extract and rice husk was observed at varying concentration of medium sugar from 8% to 20%. Of the three oil seed meal extracts used, viz. groundnut, safflower, and sunflower, safflower was found to be most efficient. The use of oilseed meal extract at 4% was found to enhance ethanol production by almost 50% and enhanced sugar tolerance from 8% to 16%. A further increase of almost 48% ethanol was observed on addition of 2 g of rice husk per 100 ml of medium. An increase in cell mass with better sugar attenuation was observed. Further optimization was sought through use of sugarcane juice as the sugar source. While 8.9% ethanol yield with 75% sugar attenuation was observed at 20% sucrose concentration, it was found to increase to 12% (v/v) with almost complete utilization of medium sugar when sugarcane juice was used. Cell weight was also observed to increase by 26%.     

From highly enantioselective catalytic reaction of 1,3-diynes with aldehydes to facile asymmetric synthesis of polycyclic compounds

(S)-1,1'-Binaphth-2-ol (BINOL) in combination with ZnEt(2), Ti(O(i)Pr)(4), and biscyclohexylamine was found to catalyze the highly enantioselective (83-95% ee) addition of various 1,3-diynes to aldehydes of diverse structures. This method provides a convenient pathway to generate a number of optically active dienediynes as the acyclic precursors to polycyclic compounds. The chiral dienediynes undergo highly chemoselective Pauson-Khand (PK) cycloaddition in benzaldehyde by using [Rh(cod)Cl](2) as the catalyst in the presence of rac-BINAP. High diastereoselectivity (up to >20:1) has also been achieved with the chiral dienediyne substrates containing a bulky substituent adjacent to the chiral center. In the presence of the Grubbs II catalyst, ring-closing enyne metathesis of the PK cycloaddition products led to the formation of the desired 5,5,7- and 5,5,8-fused tricyclic compounds. Further highly diastereoselective Diels-Alder reaction of a 5,5,7-tricyclic compound with maleic anhydride produced a 5,5,7,6-polycyclic product. The asymmetric synthesis of polycyclic compounds from optically active dienediynes has established a novel and efficient synthetic route to the structural framework of many biologically significant molecules.     

Simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for determination of tricyclic antidepressant imipramine using Fe(III)-SCN<Superscript>−</Superscript> complex

A new simple procedure for the spectrophotometric determination of tricyclic antidepressant drug imipramine is proposed. The method is based on the enhancement of the colour intensity of the Fe(III)-SCN⁻ complex due to the addition of the drug imipramine. The value of molar absorptivity of the Fe(III)-SCN⁻ imipramine complex in terms of the drug lies in the range of (2.77–3.16) × 10³ L/mol cm at the absorption maximum 460 nm. The detection limit of the method was 250 μg/L. The slope, intercept, and correlation co-efficient for the present method were found to be 0.008, 0.005, and 0.998, respectively. The effect of analytical variables on the determination of the drug and the composition of the complex are discussed. The method is applicable to the determination of imipramine in the drug samples.     

Effect of Donor-Acceptor Chromophores on Photophysical Properties of Newly Synthesized Pyrazolo-Pyrrolo-Pyrimidines (PPP)

Novel pyrazolo-pyrrolo-pyrimidine (PPP) derivatives having remarkable photophysical properties are designed with the help of theoretical semiempirical calculations. These compounds then synthesized successfully and studied effect of substituents on its photophysical properties.

Effect of solar features and interplanetary parameters on geomagnetosphere during solar cycle-23

The dependence of geomagnetic activity on solar features and interplanetary (IP) parameters is investigated. Sixty-seven intense (−200 nT ≤ Dst < −100 nT) and seventeen superintense (Dst < −200 nT) geomagnetic storms (GMSs) have been studied from January 1996 to April 2006. The number of intense and superintense GMSs show three distinct peaks during the 11-year period of 23rd solar cycle. The largest number of high strength GMSs are observed during maximum phase of solar cycle. Halo and partial halo CMEs are likely to be the major cause for these GMSs of high intensity. No relationship is observed between storm duration and the number of CMEs involved in its occurrence. The intensity of the GMS is also independent of the number of CMEs causing the occurrence of storm. These geoeffective CMEs show western and northern bias. Majority of the geoeffective CMEs are associated with X-ray solar flares (SFs). Solar and IP parameters, e.g., V _CME, V _SW, B, B _z (GSE and GSM coordinates) and their products, e.g., V _SW · B and V _SW · B _z are observed and correlated to predict the occurrence of intense GMSs. V _CME does not seem to be the appropriate parameter with the correlation coefficient, r = −0.2 with Dst index, whereas the correlation coefficient, r = −0.57, −0.65, 0.75, −0.68 and 0.77 of the parameters V _SW, B, B _z , V _SW · B and V _SW · B _z respectively, with Dst indicating that V _SW · B _z and B _z may be treated as the significant contributors in determining the strength of GMSs.      

Inverted neutrino mass hierarchy and new signals of a chromophobic charged Higgs at the Large Hadron Collider

We explore the signals of a charged Higgs arising in a two Higgs doublet model respecting SUL₍₂₎×U(1)×Z₂$\mathit{SU}{(2)}_L\times U(1)\times Z_2$ symmetry with three singlet right-handed neutrinos, NR$N_R$. The charged Higgs in this model has negligible coupling with quarks, and has unsuppressed coupling to leptons and neutrinos. This leads to novel signatures of the charged Higgs at the LHC, especially in the case of an inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, in the form of electrons and muons with missing energy.     

Finite volume Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami theory

We study the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami theory of phase conversion in finite volumes. For the conversion time we find the relationship tau(con)=tau(nu)[1+f(d)(q)]. Here d is the space dimension, tau(nu) the nucleation time in the volume V, and f(d)(q) a scaling function. Its dimensionless argument is q=tau(ex)/tau(nu), where tau(ex) is an expansion time, defined to be proportional to the diameter of the volume divided by expansion speed. We calculate f(d)(q) in one, two, and three dimensions. The often considered limits of phase conversion via either nucleation or spinodal decomposition are found to be volume-size dependent concepts, governed by simple power laws for f(d)(q).     

Hydrophobically modified chitosan/gold nanoparticles for DNA delivery

Present study dealt an application of modified chitosan gold nanoparticles (Nac-6-Au) for the immobilization of necked plasmid DNA. Gold nanoparticles stabilized with N-acylated chitosan were prepared by graft-onto approach. The stabilized gold nanoparticles were characterized by different physico-chemical techniques such as UV-vis, TEM, ELS and DLS. MTT assay was used for in vitro cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles into three different cell lines (NIH 3T3, CT-26 and MCF-7). The formulation of plasmid DNA with the nanoparticles corresponds to the complex forming capacity and in-vitro/in-vivo transfection efficiency was studied via gel electrophoresis and transfection methods, respectively. Results showed the modified chitosan gold nanoparticles were well-dispersed and spherical in shape with average size around 10～12 nm in triple distilled water at pH 7.4, and showed relatively no cytotoxicity at low concentration. Addition of plasmid DNA on the aqueous solution of the nanoparticles markedly reduced surface potential (50.0～66.6%) as well as resulted in a 13.33% increase in hydrodynamic diameters of the formulated nanoparticles. Transfection efficiency of Nac-6-Au/DNA was dependent on cell type, and higher β-galactosidase activity was observed on MCF-7 breast cancer cell. Typically, this activity was 5 times higher in 4.5 mg/ml nanoparticles concentration than that achieved by the nanoparticles of other concentrations (and/or control). However, this activity was lower in in-vitro and dramatically higher in in-vivo than that of commercially available transfection kit (Lipofectin®) and DNA. From these results, it can be expected to develop alternative new vectors for gene delivery.     

Induced voltage due to time-dependent magnetisation textures

We determine the induced voltage generated by spatial and temporal magnetisation textures (inhomogeneities) in metallic ferromagnets due to the spin diffusion of non-equilibrium electrons. Using time dependent semi-classical theory as formulated in Zhang and Li [1] and the drift-diffusion model of transport it is shown that the voltage generated depends critically on the difference in the diffusion constants of up and down spins. Including spin relaxation results in a crucial contribution to the induced voltage. We also show that the presence of magnetisation textures results in the modification of the conductivity of the system. As an illustration, we calculate the voltage generated due to a time dependent field driven helimagnet by solving the Landau-Lifshitz equation with Gilbert damping and explicitly calculate the dependence on the relaxation and damping parameters.     

Self-assembled neutral and ionic [2 + 2] metallomacrocycles using a new flexible ditopic Pt(II)-based organometallic tecton bearing a pyrimidine motif: Facile syntheses and enhanced anticancer potency

A new di-platinum(II) organometallic compound ( 3 ) has been synthesized from a readily available pyrimidine derivative in two steps. 3 is a conformationally flexible molecule due to the presence of ethereal linkages. The application of 3 as an acceptor tecton in supramolecular chemistry was explored using coordination-driven self-assembly protocol. Thus, three neutral ( M ₁ – M ₃ ) and two ionic ( M ₄ and M ₅ ) metallomacrocycles were obtained in high yields, the structures of which included biologically active pyrimidine and π-conjugated trans-Pt(II)-alkynyl motifs. Formation of these five flexible [2 + 2] ensembles ( M ₁ – M ₅ ) was confirmed using FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy (¹H, ³¹P{¹H}, ¹³C{¹H}, and ¹H DOSY) as well as HRMS experiments. DFT calculations suggest that the macrocycles have nano-scalar dimensions with well-defined cavities. Cytotoxicity of 3 and macrocycles ( M ₁ – M ₅ ) were estimated against A549 human lung cancer cell line. Results indicate improvement in cytotoxicity upon self-assembly of 3 with neutral and ionic donor tectons to yield, respectively ionic and neutral macrocycles ( M ₁ – M ₅ ). Although the organometallic molecule 3 is almost seven times more potent than cisplatin, the antiproliferative potencies of the macrocycles ( M ₁ – M ₅ ) are up to 17 times better than cisplatin. Annexin V-FITC assay studies show that post-treatment with the organometallic 3 , or the macrocycles ( M ₁ – M ₅ ), the A549 cancer cells are present in the early apoptosis stage.