The application of high pressure–mild temperature processing for prolonging the shelf-life of strawberry purée

The aim of this study was to monitor the shelf-life and quality of strawberry purée preserved using combined high pressure processing (HPP)–mild temperature processing at 300 and 600?MPa for 15 min during cold storage (6°C). Increasing the pressure resulted in a prolonged shelf-life of from 4 to 28 weeks for HPP-preserved purée at 300 and 600?MPa, respectively. The highest inactivation of peroxidases, pectinesterases and polygalacturonases was noted when a higher pressure was used, whereas a lower pressure was more efficient for polyphenoloxidases. The degradation of vitamin C and anthocyanins was 20% and 5% higher at 600?MPa than at 300?MPa, respectively. Significantly fewer changes in the colour coefficient, expressed as ΔE, and the browning index, were observed in purée preserved at 600?MPa. Oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes are highly pressure-resistant, which suggests other inhibitors should be used to increase the shelf-life of good-quality fruit products.     

LC with Fluorimetric Detection for Sensitive Analysis of Reduced Flubendazole in Biological Samples

A validated LC method is proposed for analysis of flubendazole and its metabolites in biological samples of Haemonchus contortus. Two detectors were used—photodiode-array and spectrofluorimetric. The native fluorescence of reduced flubendazole, the key substance investigated during biological experiments, was used for its fluorimetric detection with a very low limit of quantification (0.63 nmol L^?1).     

Electrochemical Sensor for Detection of p-Nitrophenol Based on Nickel Oxide Nanoparticles/α-Cyclodextrin Functionalized Reduced Graphene Oxide

p-Nitrophenol (p−NP) is a high priority toxic pollutant and that has harmful effects on human, animals and plants. Thus, the detection and determination of p−NP present in the environment is an urgent as well as highly important requisite. The present article, therefore focused on the construction of a novel electrochemical sensor based on NiO nanoparticles/α-cyclodextrin functionalized reduced graphene oxide modified glassy carbon electrode (NiO−NPs-α-CD-rGO-GCE) for the selective and sensitive detection of p−NP. UV-vis, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the formation of highly pure NiO nanoparticles. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were used to characterize the step-wise electrode modification process. DPV was carried out to quantify p−NP within the concentration range of 1−10 μM and found the detection limit of 0.12 nM on the basis of the signal-to-noise ratio S/N=3. The electrode can able to detect different isomers of nitrophenols. Interferences of other pollutants such as phenol, p-aminophenol, o- and m- nitrophenol, 4-chlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol and ions like K⁺, Cd²⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻ did not affect the sensing of p−NP. The newly developed sensor exhibited diffusion controlled kinetics and had excellent sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility for the detection of p−NP. The electrode showed good recoveries in real sample analysis.     

Interfacial insights on the dibenzo-based crown ether assisted cesium extraction in [BMIM][Tf2N]–water binary system

The distribution coefficient of Cs is estimated using dibenzo-21-crown-7 (DB21C7) and di-benzo-18-crown-6 (DB18C6) in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (trifluroromethanesulphonyl) imide (BMIMTF2N) ionic liquid by performing solvent extraction experiments. In addition, molecular dynamics studies on the extraction of cesium (Cs⁺) ion transfer from the aqueous phase to the BMIMTF2N phase is reported. The experimental findings gave a cesium distribution coefficient of 0.218 and 0.326, which agrees closely with the values of 0.2 and 0.5 obtained from MD simulation for the ionophores DB18C6 and DB21C7, respectively. Thus MD simulation may be helpful in screening the solvents prior to the experiments.

     

A critical analysis of urea transporter B inhibitors: molecular fingerprints,pharmacophore features for the development of next-generation diuretics

Molecular Diversity - Urea transporter is a membrane transport protein. It is involved in the transferring of urea across the cell membrane in humans. Along with urea transporter A, urea...     

Transmetallation Versus β‐Hydride Elimination: The Role of 1,4‐Benzoquinone in Chelation‐Controlled Arylation Reactions with Arylboronic Acids

The formation of an atypical, saturated, diarylated, Heck/Suzuki, domino product produced under oxidative Heck reaction conditions, employing arylboronic acids and a chelating vinyl ether, has been investigated by DFT calculations. The calculations highlight the crucial role of 1,4‐benzoquinone (BQ) in the reaction. In addition to its role as an oxidant of palladium, which is necessary to complete the catalytic cycle, this electron‐deficient alkene opens up a low‐energy reaction pathway from the post‐insertion σ‐alkyl complex. The association of BQ lowers the free‐energy barrier for transmetallation of the σ‐alkyl complex to create a pathway that is energetically lower than the oxidative Heck reaction pathway. Furthermore, the calculations showed that the reaction is made viable by BQ‐mediated reductive elimination and leads to the saturated diarylated product.     

Building-up Remarkably Stable Magnesium Porphyrin Polymers Self-Assembled via Bidentate Axial Ligands: Synthesis, Structure, Surface Morphology, and Effect of Bridging Ligands

A series of supramolecular architectures of magnesium tetranitrooctaethylporphyrins mediated by several bidentate axial ligands have been synthesized in excellent yields and structurally characterized. Six conjugated axial ligand with increasing chain lengths have been utilized in the present investigations in which the Mg···Mg nonbonding distance between successive ions also increases from 0.73 to 2.70 nm in the series. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report where stable metallo-porphyrin polymers with such long spacers have been synthesized in one pot so easily. Linear one-dimensional (1D) polymeric chains were observed in the X-ray structure of the six-coordinated complexes in which porphyrin units are aligned parallel to each other to have so-called "shish kebab" like architectures to maintain offset-stacked overlap. However, after an optimum Mg···Mg nonbonding distance, these 1D chain do not continue, rather they form five-coordinated porphyrin dimers with "wheel-and-axle" like architectures which are then self-aggregated by π-π interactions in a perpendicular manner to fill space created by large bridging ligands more effectively which consequently results in spherical structures. The structures of the molecules in solution and their surface patterns on highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) have also been investigated.     

Transmetallation versus β-hydride elimination: the role of 1,4-benzoquinone in chelation-controlled arylation reactions with arylboronic acids

The formation of an atypical, saturated, diarylated, Heck/Suzuki, domino product produced under oxidative Heck reaction conditions, employing arylboronic acids and a chelating vinyl ether, has been investigated by DFT calculations. The calculations highlight the crucial role of 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) in the reaction. In addition to its role as an oxidant of palladium, which is necessary to complete the catalytic cycle, this electron-deficient alkene opens up a low-energy reaction pathway from the post-insertion σ-alkyl complex. The association of BQ lowers the free-energy barrier for transmetallation of the σ-alkyl complex to create a pathway that is energetically lower than the oxidative Heck reaction pathway. Furthermore, the calculations showed that the reaction is made viable by BQ-mediated reductive elimination and leads to the saturated diarylated product.     

Why Noether Symmetry of F(R) Theory Yields Three-Half Power Law?

Noether symmetry of F(R) theory of gravity in vacuum or in matter dominated era yields $F(R) \propto R^{\frac{3}{2}}$ . We show that this particular curvature invariant term is very special in the context of isotropic and homogeneous cosmological model as it makes the first fundamental form h _ij cyclic. As a result, it allows a unique power law solution, typical for this particular fourth order theory of gravity, both in the vacuum and in the matter dominated era. This power law solution has been found to be quite good to explain the early stage but not so special and useful to explain the late stage of cosmological evolution. The usefulness of Palatini variational technique in this regard has also been discussed.     

Viability of Noether Symmetry of F(R) Theory of Gravity

Recently, we have explored vices and virtues of $R^{\frac{3}{2}}$ term in the action which has in-built Noether symmetry and anticipated that a linear term might improve the situation (Sarkar et al., arXiv:1201.2987 [astro-ph.CO], 2012). In the absence of a conserved current it is extremely difficult to obtain an analytical solution of the said fourth order theory of gravity in the presence of a linear term. Here, we therefore enlarge the configuration space by including a scalar field in addition and also taking some of the anisotropic models (in the absence of a scalar field) into account. We observe that Noether symmetry remains obscure and it does not even reproduce the one that already exists in the literature (Sanyal, Gen. Relativ. Gravit., 37:407, 2005). However, there exists in general, a conserved current for F(R) theory of gravity in the presence of a non-minimally coupled scalar field (Sanyal, Phys. Lett. B, 624:81, 2005; Mod. Phys. Lett. A, 25:2667, 2010), which simplifies the field equations considerably. Here, we briefly expatiate the non-Noether conserved current and show that indeed the situation is modified.