3′-Hydroxy-4-methoxychalcone as a potential antibacterial coating on polymeric biomaterials

Antimicrobial property of chalcone coated high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polyurethane (PU) against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is reported here. The presence of chalcone on the surface was confirmed from fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Bacterial adhesion decreased considerably on all the coated surfaces. Bacterial adhesion was highest on PU surface (most hydrophobic) and lowest on HDPE (most hydrophilic) surface. Chalcone seems to damage the membrane of the bacteria as well as exhibit slimicidal activity. Reasonably good correlation was observed between the CFU (Colony Forming Units) ratio (it is defined as the ratio of CFU on coated surface to the chalcone uncoated surface) at the 24th hour against both hydrophobicity of the microorganism and roughness of the coated polymeric surfaces. Increasing roughness of the polymer and hydrophobicity of the microorganisms were positively and negatively correlated respectively with CFU ratio. Hence, the chalcone coated polymers can be used in the development of newer biomaterials.     

Development of a high order discretization scheme for solving fully nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic equations

We have developed fully fourth order accurate compact finite difference discretization scheme for the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with Maxwell''s equations. The implementation is done in cylindrical polar geometry. Due to the full-MHD modeling of physical flow, the modeled equations are fully nonlinear coupled hydrodynamic equations which are again coupled with Maxwells equations. In our computations, we have accounted for the induced magnetic field in the flow of an electrically conducting fluid in an external magnetic field. The code is tested against available experimental and theoretical data where applicable. It is observed that a smaller grid of $64 \times 64$ is sufficient for weakly nonlinear problems and higher grids up to $512 \times 512$ are needed as the degree of nonlinearities grow in the modeled equation. In the absence of magnetic field, a discontinuity of total drag coefficient and separation length is noted for $Re=73$ which is in agreement with literature. When the magnetic Reynolds number $Rm<1$ separation length decreases linearly with strength of magnetic field on a log-log scale whereas if $Rm>1$, it decreases nonlinearly, at a much faster rate. Thermal boundary layer thickness decreases as the strength of magnetic field increases and it forces the thermal convection to take place in a laminar structure as observed from thermal contour lines. Finally, using divided differences, we establish that the accuracy of the proposed numerical scheme is in fact fourth order.     

Novel two step synthesis of bis/Mono 1-aryl-1H-tetrazole-5-carboxylic acid

Some novel compounds of bis/mono 1-aryl-1H-tetrazole-5-carboxylic acid are synthesized by the hydrolysis of two different synthesized esters, they are ethyl-1-aryl-1H-tetrazole-5-carboxylate and ethyloxo(1-aryl-1H-tetrazol-5-yl)acetate. The ethyl-1-aryl-1H-tetrazole-5-carboxylate is resistant to get hydrolyzed, whereas the ethyloxo(1-aryl-1H-tetrazol-5-yl) acetate undergoes hydrolysis process and converts the ester to title compound. All the synthesized compounds are characterized by IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR, mass and elemental analysis.The ethyl-1-aryl-1H-tetrazole-5-carboxylateis optimized by DFT B3LYP method and the HOMO and LUMO energy is 5.14?eV and also there is a formation of a weak bond between O₁₈ and C₈ as observed from the AIM analysis result.     

Optical,structural, enhanced local vibrational and fluorescence properties in K-doped ZnO nanostructures

We studied structural, optical and vibrational properties of K-doped ZnO nanostructures. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the prepared particles are hexagonal wurtzite in structure. Increase in lattice parameters and unit cell volume is observed after K doping. Dopant influences on stress, strain of the system are studied using W–H plots. Band gap variation by doping of K is identified from optical absorption studies. Photoluminescence studies have given insight into the enhancement in blue emission observed by K doping along with the near band emission of nano ZnO. From Fourier transform infrared spectral measurements, K-related local vibration mode is observed along with the information related to influence of doping on characteristic vibrational modes of ZnO.