LC Method for the Determination of the Stability of Levetiracetam Drug Substance under Stressing Conditions

Levetiracetam is used in combination with other medications to treat certain types of seizures in people with epilepsy. Levetiracetam is in a class of medications called anticonvulsants and it works by decreasing abnormal excitement in the brain. A chromatographic separation was achieved on a YMC pack ODS AQ, 250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm column using diluted phosphoric acid and acetonitrile in the ratio 85:15 v/v. Forced degradation studies were performed on the levetiracetam drug substance. The drug substance was degraded to Imp-B during acid and base hydrolysis. When the stress samples were assayed, the mass balance was matching. The sample solution and mobile phase was found to be stable up to 48 h at 25 °C. The developed method was validated with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness.     

On the exact solutions of nonlinear Schrödinger equation with spin current

An integrable nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation driven by spin polarized current governing the magnetization dynamics of a ferromagnetic nanowire is considered. The exact soliton solution of the NLS equation propagating along the direction of wire axis which is also the current direction along which nonuniform magnetization occurs is obtained through the application of exponential function method. The solution of the system admits a class of solitons such as kink and periodic solitons in the nanowire along the direction of the electric current.     

Local structure of the high-temperature thermoelectric material PbTe using the maximum entropy method (MEM) and pair distribution function (PDF)

The electron density distribution and the local structure of the high temperature thermoelectric material PbTe has been studied. Powder X-ray data set of PbTe is analyzed in terms of cell parameter, thermal vibration parameters, 1D, 2D and 3-dimensional electron density distributions. The bonding between the atoms using the maximum entropy method (MEM) and bond-length distribution using pair distribution function (PDF) have been analyzed. Both the pictorial and the numerical results of electron density and PDF studies show mixed ionic and covalent characters in PbTe.     

The catalytic role of polyaniline salt in coumarins synthesis

Polyaniline‐sulfate salt acts as a simple and powerful polymer‐supported acid catalyst in the condensation of phenolic compounds and β‐keto esters into coumarin derivatives by a thermal heating process. This process is being reported for the first time. The catalytic use of polyaniline salt is quite feasible because of its easy preparation, activity, recovery, recyclability, stability and eco‐friendliness of the catalyst. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2‐[(E)‐(4‐Chloro­phenyl)­methyl­ene­amino]‐N‐(X‐methyl­phenyl)‐4,5,6,7‐tetra­hydro‐1‐benzo­thio­phene‐3‐carbox­amide,where X = 2 and 3

The title compounds, both C₂₃H₂₁ClN₂OS, are isomeric, with (I) and (II) being the N‐3‐methyl­phenyl and N‐2‐methyl­phenyl derivatives, respectively. The dihedral angle between the 4‐chloro­phenyl group and the thio­phene ring in (II) [38.1 (1)°] is larger than that in (I) [7.1 (1)°], indicating steric repulsion between the chloro­phenyl and o‐toluidine groups in (II). In both compounds, an intramolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bond forms a pseudo‐six‐membered ring, thus locking the molecular conformation. In the crystal structures, mol­ecules are connected via N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains along the b axis in (I) and along the c axis in (II). Intermolecular C—H⋯O/S and π–π interactions are also observed in (II), but not in (I).     

Voltammetric determination of nitroaromatic and nitramine explosives contamination in soil

The contamination of soil by nitroaromatic and nitramine explosives is widespread during the manufacture, testing and disposal of explosives and ammunitions. The analysis for the presence of trace explosive contaminants in soil becomes important in the light of their effect on the growth of different varieties of plants and crops. 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT), cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (Research Department explosive, RDX) and cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (high melting point explosive, HMX), other related explosive compounds and their by-products must be monitored in soil and surrounding waterways since these are mutagenic, toxic and persistent pollutants that can leach from the contaminated soil to accumulate in the food chain. In this study, a voltammetric method has been developed for the determination of explosive such as RDX, HMX and TNT. The electrochemical redox behavior of RDX, HMX and TNT was studied through cyclic voltammetry and quantitative determination was carried out by using square wave voltammetry technique. Calibration curves were drawn and were linear in the range of 63-129 ppm for RDX with a detection limit of 10 ppm, 49-182 ppm for HMX with a detection limit of 1 ppm and 38-139 ppm for TNT with a detection limit of 1 ppm. This method was applied to determine the contaminations in several soil samples that yielded a relative error of 1% in the concentrations.     

Effect of Varying Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction on the Bistable Nano-Scale Soliton Switching

The effect of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (D-M) interaction on the bistable nano-scale soliton switching offers the possiblity of developing a new innovative approach for data storage technology. The dynamics of Heisenberg ferromagnetic spin system is expressed in terms of generalized inhomogeneous higher order nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation. The bistable soliton switching in the ferromagnetic medium is established by solving the associated coupled evolution equations for amplitude and velocity of the soliton using the fourth order Runge-Kutta method numerically.     

Doping level of Mn in high temperature grown Zn<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Mn<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>O studied through electronic charge distribution,magnetization, and local structure

Mn inclusion in the oxide based diluted magnetic semiconductor Zn_1−x Mn _x O (x = 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10) grown by standard high temperature solid state reaction technique has been studied. The local and average structure of Zn_1−x Mn _x O was characterized by the super resolution technique maximum entropy method and pair distribution function analysis using the X-ray powder data. Magnetic studies on this material using a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer were also carried out to ascertain the doping level in Zn_1−x Mn _x O.     

Synthesis of dypnone by solvent free self condensation of acetophenone over nano-crystalline sulfated zirconia catalyst

Nano-crystalline sulfated zirconia catalyst, prepared by two-step sol–gel method, has been studied for the solvent free self condensation of acetophenone to dypnone. The influence of calcination temperature on the structural, textural and catalytic activity of sulfated zirconia has been analyzed. The surface acidity along with the structural and textural features of the catalyst influenced its activity. The conversion of acetophenone was found to be effected by the variation in the reaction and calcination temperature, however, the dypnone selectivity was not affected much. The catalyst calcined at 650 °C, showed maximum dypnone selectivity of 92% with 68.2% acetophenone conversion at 170 °C after 7 h. The catalyst was reused up to five cycles with marginal decrease in acetophenone conversion, however, without losing its selectivity for dypnone.     

Esterification of caprylic acid with alcohol over nano-crystalline sulfated zirconia

The catalytic activity of nano-crystalline sulfated zirconia catalyst, prepared by sol–gel method and characterized by various analytical tools, was evaluated for the esterification of caprylic acid with different short chain alcohols. The lower concentration of catalyst (0.5 wt%) exhibited 96–98% conversion of caprylic acid with methanol and 100% selectivity for methyl caprylate at 60 °C. The conversion was decreased with increasing carbon chain of alcohols namely with ethanol, n-propanol and n-butanol at 60 °C but increased significantly (91–98%) at higher reaction temperature. The selectivity for respective alkyl caprylate was observed to be 100% irrespective of the alcohol used. The activity of the catalyst was slightly decreased with successive five reaction cycles due to the water formed during the reaction.