Chemical constituents of malagasy liverworts, part V: prenyl bibenzyls and clerodane diterpenoids with nitric oxide inhibitory activity from Radula appressa and Thysananthus spathulistipus

3Beta,4beta:15,16-diepoxy-13(16),14-clerodadiene (1) and a new clerodane diterpenoid designated thysaspathone (2) were isolated from the liverwort Thysananthus spathulistipus, while Radula appressa produced radulannin A (3), radulannin L (4), 2-geranyl-3,5-dihydroxybibenzyl (5), 2(S)-2-methyl-2-(4-methyl-3-pentenyl)-7-hydroxy-5-(2-phenylethyl) chromene (o-cannabichromene) (6), 6-hydroxy-4-(2-phenylethyl) benzofuran (7), and o-cannabicyclol (8). All of the isolated compounds inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and the greatest inhibition was attributed to compound 5, with an IC50 value of 4.5 microM.     

A new alternative approach of all optical frequency encoded clocked S-R flip-flop exploiting the non-linear character of semiconductor optical amplifiers

In all optical networking and computing system, the role of all-optical flip-flops is very much essential. For signal synchronization with a reference clock and for storage of digital bits the flip-flop has no alternative. In this communication the authors propose a method of developing an all optical frequency encoded clocked R-S flip-flop using the non-linear character of semiconductor optical amplifiers. Frequency is the basic character of light and several encoding/decoding problems in computations and communications can be solved using the frequency encoding principle of optical data. The proposed system is all-optical and therefore it can extend a super fast speed of operation (far above THz limit).     

Use of reactive surfactants in basalt fiber reinforced polypropylene composites

Basalt fibers, similarly to other silicate fibers, can be introduced into both thermoplastic and thermosetting polymer matrices. In this work some basalt fiber reinforced polypropylene composites were investigated. The fiber-matrix adhesion was improved by commercial and non-commercial maleic anhydride derivatives. The latter types, called reactive surfactants, were prepared in laboratory scale and the progress of the syntheses was determined by Raman microscopy. The additives allowed performing reactive interface modification during the compounding process. Due to the interface modification with the additives in low concentration the mechanical properties improved. The boundary layers on the surface of the reinforcing fibers were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).