Dual Spinneret Electrospun Polyurethane/PVA-Gelatin Nanofibrous Scaffolds Containing Cinnamon Essential Oil and Nanoceria for Chronic Diabetic Wound Healing: Preparation,Physicochemical Characterization and In-Vitro Evaluation

In this study, a dual spinneret electrospinning technique was applied to fabricate a series of polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl alcohol–gelatin (PVA/Gel) nanofibrous scaffolds. The study aims to enhance the properties of PU/PVA-Gel NFs loaded with a low dose of nanoceria through the incorporation of cinnamon essential oil (CEO). The as-prepared nCeO₂ were embedded into the PVA/Gel nanofibrous layer, where the cinnamon essential oil (CEO) was incorporated into the PU nanofibrous layer. The morphology, thermal stability, mechanical properties, and chemical composition of the produced NF mats were investigated by STEM, DSC, and FTIR. The obtained results showed improvement in the mechanical, and thermal stability of the dual-fiber scaffolds by adding CEO along with nanoceria. The cytotoxicity evaluation revealed that the incorporation of CEO to PU/PVA-Gel loaded with a low dose of nanoceria could enhance the cell population compared to using pure PU/PVA-Gel NFs. Moreover, the presence of CEO could inhibit the growth rate of S. aureus more than E. coli. To our knowledge, this is the first time such nanofibrous membranes composed of PU and PVA-Gel have been produced. The first time was to load the nanofibrous membranes with both CEO and nCeO₂. The obtained results indicate that the proposed PU/PVA-Gel NFs represent promising platforms with CEO and nCeO₂ for effectively managing diabetic wounds.     

The temperature-dependent phase diagrams of the spin-3/2 Ising model on a FM/AFM two-layer lattice with a crystal field

The temperature-dependent phase diagrams of the spin-3/2 Ising model on a two-layer Bethe lattice with ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) intra-layer and either FM or AFM type inter-layer interactions are investigated under a constant magnetic field (H) and in the presence of a crystal field (D) by using exact recursion equations in a pairwise approach for coordination numbers q=3,4 and 6, in detail. In the light of the ground-state (GS) phase diagrams, the temperature-dependent phase diagrams of the model are obtained by studying the thermal variations of the order parameters, response functions and free energy. Then, they are illustrated on the (kT/J₁,J₃/J₁) and (kT/J₁,J₂/J₁) planes for the given system parameters. It is observed that the system exhibits first- and second-order phase transitions for all q values, and hence, in some cases, tricritical points. The existence of critical-end points and that of isolated points are also observed. The re-entrant behavior owes its presence to the two Néel temperatures, T_N, that are present for all q.     

Comparison of high-performance liquid chromatography of cyclotriphosphazene derivatives with one or two equivalent stereogenic centres

High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods have been developed for investigating the stereogenic properties of two analogous series of dibenzylamino derivatives of cyclotriphosphazene containing either one or two equivalent stereogenic centres. Separation of the enantiomers of all the racemic compounds has been investigated by chiral HPLC using Whelk-01 and Chiralcel OD columns. In all cases, conditions for separation of enantiomers have been found using a Whelk-01 column with different ratios of tetrahydrofuran in n-hexane as the mobile phase. It is found that both the separation factor (alpha) and resolution factor (R(S)) of molecules with two equivalent stereogenic centres are greater than those for analogues with only one centre.     

Mechanistic investigations of the reaction network in chemo-bio catalyzed synthesis of R-1-phenylethyl acetate

The kinetics and reaction network of the one-pot synthesis of R-1-phenylethyl acetate was investigated at 70°C in toluene over a combination of three different catalysts: PdZn/Al₂O₃ as a catalyst for acetophenone hydrogenation, lipase as an enzymatic catalyst for R-1-phenylethanol acylation with ethyl acetate and Ru/Al₂O₃ as a racemization catalyst for S-1-phenylethanol. In addition to the desired reactions, other reactions, namely hydrogenolysis and dehydration of (R, S)-1-phenylethanol and debenzylation of (R, S)-1-phenylethyl acetate also occurred. The kinetic results revealed that ethylbenzene formation was enhanced with higher amounts of PdZn/Al₂O₃, whereas lipase did not catalyze ethylbenzene formation. Furthermore, ethylbenzene was formed in the hydrogenolysis of (R, S)-phenylethanol and in the debenzylation of (R, S)-1-phenyl-ethylacetate over Pd/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The presence of Ru/Al₂O₃ catalyst, in which Ru was in the oxidation state of 3⁺, enhanced the formation of R-1-phenylethyl acetate, although no clear racemization of S-1-phenylethanol during the one-pot synthesis of R-1-phenylethyl acetate was observed. Dynamic kinetic resolution of (R, S)-1-phenylethanol in toluene, was, however, demonstrated over Ru/Al₂O₃ and lipase.     

Chemical composition and In vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Dehnh. essential oil

The present study was designed to determine the composition of the essential oil of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. leaves and to examine its in vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. The chemical composition of the essential oil from Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. leaves was analyzed by GC/GC-MS, twenty-nine compounds representing 99.10% of the total oil were identified. The major components of the oil were p-cymene (68.43%), 1,8-cineole (13.92%), 1-(S)-α-pinene (3.45%) and R-(+)- limonene (2.84%). The antioxidant features of the essential oil were evaluated using inhibition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, hydroxyl, and superoxide radicals, inhibition of hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation assays. We also studied α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition in vitro to assess the antidiabetic properties of the essential oil. Both α-amylase and α-glucosidase were inhibited by a non-competitive mechanism.     

Synthesis and fluorescence sensing properties of a new naphthalimide derivative of calix[4]arene

A new naphthalimide derivative of calix[4]arene was synthesized as a highly selective fluorescent compound for Cu²⁺ among the selected metal ions. This compound was examined for its fluorescent properties toward different metal ions (Na⁺, Li⁺, Mg²⁺, Ni²⁺, Ba²⁺, Ca²⁺, Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺) and anions (F^?, Cl^?, Br^?, ${\text{H}}_2{\text{PO}}_4^{-}$, ${\text{NO}}_3^{-}$, I^?, ${\text{HSO}}_4^{-}$, CH₃COO^?) by UV, NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy.     

TiO2 embedded hydrothermally synthesized carbon composite as interlayer for lithium-sulfur batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Lithium-sulfur battery chemistry is one of the best alternatives to meet the demand of future electric vehicles providing high theoretical capacity and...     

A face-based monolithic approach for the incompressible magnetohydrodynamics equations

A novel numerical algorithm has been developed to solve the incompressible resistive magnetohydrodynamics equations in a fully coupled form. The numerical method is based on the face-centered unstructured finite volume approximation, where the velocity and magnetic field vector components are defined at the center of edges/faces; meanwhile, the pressure term is defined at element centroid. In order to enforce a divergence-free magnetic field, the gradient of a scalar Lagrange multiplier is introduced into the induction equation. A special attention will be given to satisfy the continuity equation and the Gauss' law for magnetism within each element and the summation of the equations can be exactly reduced to the domain boundary. The first modification to the original algorithm involves the evaluation of the convective fluxes over the two neighboring elements, where the discrete continuity equations are exactly satisfied. The second modification is based on the neglecting electric field term from the Lorentz force in two dimensions. The resulting large-scale algebraic linear equations are solved in a fully coupled manner using the one- and two-level restricted additive Schwarz preconditioners to avoid any time step restrictions forced by stability requirements. The spatial convergence of the algorithm is confirmed by solving the Hartmann flow, and then the algorithm is applied to the classical lid-driven cavity and backward facing step benchmark problems in two and three dimensions. The lid-driven cavity flow calculations at relatively high Stuart numbers indicate the perfect braking effect of the magnetic field in two dimensions.