Ambient temperature thermotropic liquid crystalline viologen bis(triflimide) salts

Two dicationic salts with bis(triflimide) as counterions exhibited crystal-to-smectic liquid crystalline phase transitions (T _m=41 and 37°C) and smectic-to-isotropic liquid phase transitions (T _i=112, 136°C). They had a broad liquid crystalline phase range (71–99°C) and an excellent range of thermal stability (360–364°C). Their mixtures of various compositions also displayed liquid crystalline properties from r.t. to an extended range of temperatures. They exhibited fluorescence in 1, 2-dimethoxyethane and methanol.     

Self-assembly of discotic liquid crystal porphyrin into more controllable ordered nanostructure mediated by fluorophobic effect

The novel nanoscale discotic liquid crystal porphyrin with partial chain perfluorination, which has the same basic structure as the best photoreceptor in nature (chlorophyll), shows an exceptionally enhanced tendency to self-assemble into ordered nanostructure. Defect-free homeotropically aligned fluorinated porphyrin thin films were, for the first time, fabricated and characterised. The ability to self-assemble large π-conjugated discotic molecules into highly ordered nanostructure via partial chain perfluorination provides new insight for the bottom-up nanofabrication of molecular devices. The controllable ordered porphyrin nanostructure with directed molecular arrangement holds great promise for use in high-performance electronic devices.     

Chiral and orientationally ordered fluid mesophases formed by oxadiazole bisaniline based achiral bent mesogens

Development of new liquid crystalline materials exhibiting interesting properties and phases continues to be an enabling enterprise in the forward march of their successful display and non-display applications. The design and synthesis of a homologous series of liquid crystalline bent-core compounds derived from the oxadiazole bisaniline moiety and the phase behavior of three members of the series that exhibit nematic, smectic C, and dark conglomerate phases is reported. The liquid crystalline phases exhibited by these mesogens are characterized using polarized optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray scattering techniques. All three homologs prepared exhibit the nematic phase. Interestingly, the homolog with short hexyl terminal chains exhibits only the nematic phase that is stable over a very broad, nearly 100 K wide, temperature range. The compound with terminal octyl chains shows the chiral dark conglomerate phase below the nematic phase despite the bent molecules being achiral. The homolog with dodecyl alkyl chains is found to possess the smectic-C and two additional lamellar phases besides the nematic phase. These compounds enrich the library of achiral bent-core materials capable of exhibiting chiral and nematic phases.     

Ficus carica Latex-Mediated Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Its Application as a Chemophotoprotective Agent

The present work provides scientific support on the use of latex of Ficus carica to synthesize stable silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). AgNPs synthesized immediately after the addition of latex to silver nitrate solution at room temperature. Synthesized nanoparticles were of spherical shape with average size of 163.7 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed capping of proteins and phenolic compound on AgNPs, while X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the fcc nature of AgNPs. Particles formed were stable for a long time (6 months). It was found that incorporation of AgNPs with 2 and 4 % concentration exhibits synergistic increase in sun protection factor of commercial sunscreen and natural extracts ranging from 01 to 12,175 % than control. Further characterization of latex and AgNPs revealed total phenolic content of 98.75 and 94.88 μg/ml. The ferric ion reduction potentials of latex and AgNPs were 79.69 and 18.79 %. Reduction potential of ascorbic acid was synergistically increased after cumulative preparation of ascorbic acid with latex and AgNPs and found to be 106.76 and 101.50 % for ascorbic acid + latex and ascorbic acid + AgNPs, respectively.     

Total synthesis of pachastrissamine (jaspine B) enantiomers from d-glucose

Synthesis of both enantiomers of pachastrissamine is described from a common chiral template. The stereoselective construction of the central tetrahydrofuran units was based on the pseudodesymmetrization of a pentodialdo-1,4-furanose derivative taking advantage of the latent symmetry present.     

Ambient temperature thermotropic liquid crystalline viologen bis(triflimide) salts

Two dicationic salts with bis(triflimide) as counterions exhibited crystal-to-smectic liquid crystalline phase transitions (T_m=41 and 37°C) and smectic-to-isotropic liquid phase transitions (T_i=112, 136°C). They had a broad liquid crystalline phase range (71-99°C) and an excellent range of thermal stability (360-364°C). Their mixtures of various compositions also displayed liquid crystalline properties from r.t. to an extended range of temperatures. They exhibited fluorescence in 1, 2-dimethoxyethane and methanol.     

Novel synthesis of nano‐calcium carbonate (CaCO3)/polystyrene (PS) core–shell nanoparticles by atomized microemulsion technique and its effect on properties of polypropylene (PP) composites

Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃)/polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles (<100 nm) with core–shell structure were synthesized by atomized microemulsion technique. The polymer chains were anchored onto the surface of nano‐CaCO₃ through triethoxyvinyl silane (TEVS) as a coupling agent. Ammonium persulfate (APS), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and n‐pentanol were used as initiator, surfactant, and cosurfactant, respectively. Polymerization mechanism of core–shell latex particles was discussed. Encapsulation of nano‐CaCO₃ by PS was confirmed by using transmission electron microscope (TEM). Grafting percentage of core–shell particles was investigated by Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). Nano‐CaCO₃/PS core–shell particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The results of FTIR revealed existence of a strong interaction at the interface of nano‐CaCO₃ particle and PS, which implies that the polymer chains were successfully grafted onto the surface of nano‐CaCO₃ particle through the link of the coupling agent. In addition, TGA and DSC results indicated an enhancement of thermal stability of core–shell materials compared with the pure nano‐PS. Nano‐CaCO₃/PS particles were blended with polypropylene (PP) matrix on Brabender Plastograph by melt process with different wt% of loading (i.e. 0.1–1 wt%). The interfacial adhesion between nano‐CaCO₃ particles and PP matrix was significantly improved when the nano‐CaCO3 particles were grafted with PS, which led to increased thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties of (nano‐CaCO₃/PS)/PP composites. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) images showed a perfect dispersion of the nano‐CaCO₃ particles in PP matrix. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microwave irradiation solvothermal technique: an optimized protocol for size‐control synthesis of Ru nanoparticles

Ruthenium (III) chloride salt and Poly (N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone) (PVP as a capping agent) was dissolved in ethylene glycol, which played a dual role for synthesis, as solvent and also as reducing agent. Microwave (MW) irradiation was applied to the solvent which provided controllable thermal activation for synthesis of ruthenium nanoparticles and also restricted the agglomeration of particles in presence of excess amount of solvent, which was recovered by distillation after completion of reaction. Synthesized particle was found to be in the range of 2–20 nm with narrow size distribution and average particle size was around 14 nm. Particle size and size distribution were studied by varying different parameters e.g. reaction temperature, time, PVP/RuCl₃ molar ratio and irradiation power and was characterized by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Mathematical model has been developed using matlab software to obtain the particle size as a function of microwave power.     

Robust sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear systems using inertial delay control

This paper proposes a robust sliding mode control strategy for an uncertain nonlinear system subjected to time-varying disturbance. The class of system considered includes state-dependent nonlinearity in the input vector (in addition to the plant matrix). The control scheme uses inertial delay control to estimate the lumped uncertainty. The proposed control enforces sliding without using the discontinuous control and without requiring the knowledge of uncertainties or their bounds. The overall stability of the system is proved. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified for model following and robust performance, by simulation of an illustrative example and an application to inverted pendulum system.     

Effect of Varying Viscosity on Two-Layer Model of Pulsatile Flow through Blood Vessels with Porous Region near Walls

Transport in Porous Media - The present work concerns the effect of hematocrit-dependent viscosity on pulsatile flow of blood through narrow tube with porous walls. Two-fluid model of blood is...