An aptasensor for tetracycline using a glassy carbon modified with nanosheets of graphene oxide

Microchimica Acta - The authors describe an aptasensor for tetracycline (TET) based on the use of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with graphene oxide nanosheets. The latter were placed on...     

Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction in water in the presence of robust palladium immobilized on modified magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a recoverable catalyst

Aryl halides and especially inactive aryl chlorides were coupled to benzenoid aromatic rings in a Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction in the absence of organic solvents and toxic phosphine ligands. The reaction was catalysed by a recoverable magnetic nanocatalyst, Pd@Fe₃O₄, in aqueous media. This method is green, and the catalyst is easily removed from the reaction media using an external magnetic field and can be re‐used at least 10 times without any considerable loss in its activity. The catalyst was characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopies, thermogravimetric analysis, inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, CHN analysis, X‐ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry.     

Synthesis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-hydroxy-imidamide-functionalized graphene: an efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction

Metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are key to the development of efficient, durable, and low-cost alternatives to noble-metal-based electrocatalysts in fuel cell cathodes. In recent years, many efforts are directed to the metal-free catalyst based on heteroatom-doped graphene. In this work, we demonstrate that the graphene surface can be converted into the catalyst for the oxygen reduction by chemical functionalization. In this context, we first synthesized malononitrile-functionalized graphene oxide. Amidoximation of nitrile group and reduction in graphene oxide were then carried out by hydroxylamine in one step. The electrochemical behavior of functionalized graphene-modified electrode for the reduction in oxygen was studied. The results showed that the electrocatalyst fabricated by this method exhibited striking catalytic activities in alkaline solution. In alkaline solution, this catalyst showed a competitive activity to the commercial Pt catalyst via four-electron transfer pathway with better ORR selectivity and stability. In addition, this metal-free electrocatalyst exhibited tolerance to methanol crossover effect. Based on its outstanding performance, this functionalized graphene electrocatalyst showed the promising prospect of a metal-free catalyst for fuel cell with much lower cost than currently used Pt/C catalyst.     

1,3-Dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin(DBH)/kaolin:An efficient reagent system for the synthesis of 14-aryl-14H-dibenzo[a,j]xanthenes under solvent-free conditions

1,3-Dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin,has been used as an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of 14-aryl-14H-dibenzo[a,j]xanthenes in the presence of kaolin.All reactions are performed in the absence of solvent in relatively short reaction times in good to high yields.     

Eisenstein type series for Calabi–Yau varieties

In this article we introduce an ordinary differential equation associated to the one parameter family of Calabi–Yau varieties which is mirror dual to the universal family of smooth quintic three folds. It is satisfied by seven functions written in the q-expansion form and the Yukawa coupling turns out to be rational in these functions. We prove that these functions are algebraically independent over the field of complex numbers, and hence, the algebra generated by such functions can be interpreted as the theory of (quasi) modular forms attached to the one parameter family of Calabi–Yau varieties. Our result is a reformulation and realization of a problem of Griffiths around seventies on the existence of automorphic functions for the moduli of polarized Hodge structures. It is a generalization of the Ramanujan differential equation satisfied by three Eisenstein series.     

Parametric resonance and jump analysis of a beam subjected to periodic mass transition

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this paper, the dynamic stability of a simply supported beam excited by the transition of circulating masses is investigated by preserving nonlinear terms in the analysis....     

The effect of porosity on the laser induced damage threshold of TiO2 and ZrO2 single layer films

Monolayer ZrO₂ and TiO₂ films were prepared on BK7 glass by physical vapor deposition (PVD) and were subsequently annealed for 1 h at 300 °C. By using the transmission spectra of two samples and the envelope method, the refractive index dispersion and extinction coefficients have been calculated. Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) measurement shows that despite slight differences between the extinction coefficients of the two samples, the LIDT parameter of the ZrO₂ film is greater than that of the TiO₂ film. This fact leads us to consider thermal conductivity as an important parameter for interpreting the LIDT difference. According to our theoretical analysis, as a consequence of increase in the number of thermal barriers along poorer film, its thermal conductivity, and hence LIDT, decreased, which is in agreement with our experimental results. The measured porosity of the two samples shows higher porosity for TiO₂ single layer, which is in agreement with atomic force (AFM) images. The gradual and smooth damage morphology of ZrO₂ observed in optical images implies higher thermal conductivity than TiO₂.