Synthesis of a graphene‐based nanocomposite for the dispersive solid‐phase extraction of vancomycin from biological samples

The approach of this work was to study the capability of graphene‐based materials in the field of biological sample preparation. A polypyrrole/graphene composite was synthesized and characterized. The potential of the nanocomposite was investigated as a sorbent in dispersive solid‐phase extraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV detection for vancomycin as a model drug. The effect of different parameters influencing extraction efficiency such as sample pH and sample volume, ionic strength, extraction time, type, and volume of desorption solvent and desorption time were investigated. A comparison study was also conducted between polypyrrole/graphene and some different novel and classic sorbents. Under optimized conditions, the calibration curve for vancomycin showed linearity in the range of 0.05–10 μg/mL. In addition, limits of detection, and quantification were 0.003 and 0.01 μg/mL, respectively. The intraday and interday relative standard deviations at a concentration of 0.05 μg/mL (n = 3) were 1.6 and 2.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of vancomycin in plasma and urine samples. The relative recoveries indicated the feasibility of graphene‐based sorbents in biological sample analysis.     

Sensing behavior of BN nanosheet toward nitrous oxide: A DFT study

In order to develop a sensor for the detection of toxic N₂O molecules, the interaction of pristine and Aldoped BN nanosheets with an N₂O molecule was investigated using density functional theory calculations. It was found that unlike the pristine sheet, the Al-doped sheet can effectively interact with the N₂O molecule so that its electronic properties and conductivity are dramatically changed. Webelieve that replacing a B atom of the BN sheet with an Al atom may be a good strategy for improving the sensitivity of these nanosheets toward N₂O, which cannot be trapped and detected by the pristine sheet.     

Copper/Graphene/Clay Nanohybrid: A Highly Efficient Heterogeneous Nanocatalyst for the Synthesis of Novel 1,2,3‐Triazolyl Carboacyclic Nucleosides via ‘Click’ Huisgen 1,3‐Dipolar Cycloaddition

A very mild and highly efficient synthesis of some novel 1H‐1,2,3‐triazolyl carboacyclic nucleosides via a ‘Click’ Huisgen cycloaddition of N‐propargyl nucleobases and azido alcohols using Cu/aminoclay/reduced graphene oxide nanohybrid (Cu/AC/r‐GO nanohybrid) as nanocatalyst is described. The preparation and characterization of Cu/AC/r‐GO nanohybrid are discussed. This catalyst was characterized by X‐ray diffraction, FT‐IR, TEM, and energy‐dispersive analysis of X‐ray techniques. Cu/AC/r‐GO nanohybrid is a stable and highly efficient heterogeneous nanocatalyst that can be easily prepared, used, and restored from the reaction mixture by simple filtration, and reused for many consecutive trials without significant decrease in activity.     

Parallel vector analysis based soft resolution of spectral data from pH‐metric titration using symmetry constraint

In this study, a soft method is proposed to calculate concentration and spectral profiles for the two‐way spectral data from dissociation equilibria of polyprotic acids (H_nA). This method has four main distinct steps: (i) a fixed size moving window evolving factor analysis (FSMWEFA) was used to identify the local rank map, (ii) WFA was applied to calculate the concentration profiles of H_nA and Aⁿ⁻ (selection of the window for application of WFA was performed using EFA), (iii) PVA was used to calculate H_{n − 1}A to HA spectral profiles, and (iv) a symmetry constraint, in addition to the non‐negativity constraint, was utilized to obtain the unique concentration and spectral profiles from different acceptable sets of profiles. In the absence of any selective region in the spectral data, the proposed soft method resulted in unique solution without rotational ambiguity. This study is the first application of symmetry constraint on concentration profiles. The rotational ambiguity drastically decreased on considering the constraint of symmetry of the H_{n − 1}A and HA concentration profiles, in addition to non‐negativity of profiles. Simulated examples were used to confirm these approaches. Effect of closeness of dissociation constants on the estimated values of constants was investigated. The results showed that when the difference between pK_a values is more than 1.2, the obtained errors in the estimation of pK_a values are less than about 6.5%. The considered real data were from pH‐metric titration of fluorescein. The obtained spectral and concentration profiles and the estimated pK_a values for fluorescein were in good agreement with the previously reported data. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of fish scale derived hydroxyapatite silica propyl bis aminoethoxy ethane cuprous complex (HASPBAEECC) as a novel hybrid nano-catalyst for highly efficient synthesis of new benzimidazole-1,2,3-triazole hybrid analogues as antifungal agents

Molecular Diversity - The preparation, characterization and application of hydroxyapatite silica propyl bis aminoethoxy ethane cuprous complex (HASPBAEECC) as a novel hybrid nano-catalyst for...     

Exact Solutions of Five Complex Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations by Semi-Inverse Variational Principle

In this paper, we establish exact solutions for five complex nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The semi-inverse variational principle (SVP) is used to construct exact soliton solutions of five complex nonlinear Schrödinger equations. Many new families of exact soliton solutions of five complex nonlinear Schrödinger equations are successfully obtained.     

Normal and mixed partial second-order subdifferentials in variational analysis and optimization

A partial second-order subdifferential is defined here for extended real valued functions of two variables corresponding to its variables through coderivatives of first-order partial subdifferential mappings. In addition, some rules are presented to calculate these second-order structures along with defining some conditions to insure the equality \(\partial ^2_{yx}\) and \(\partial ^2_{xy}\). Moreover, as an application, some conditions are stated which show the relation between local minimum of a function and positiveness of principal minors of its hessian matrix.     

Turbulent Drag Reduction by a Near Wall Surface Tension Active Interface

In this work we study the turbulence modulation in a viscosity-stratified two-phase flow using Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of turbulence and the Phase Field Method (PFM) to simulate the interfacial phenomena. Specifically we consider the case of two immiscible fluid layers driven in a closed rectangular channel by an imposed mean pressure gradient. The present problem, which may mimic the behaviour of an oil flowing under a thin layer of different oil, thickness ratio h₂/h₁ =?9, is described by three main flow parameters: the shear Reynolds number Re _τ (which quantifies the importance of inertia compared to viscous effects), the Weber number We (which quantifies surface tension effects) and the viscosity ratio λ = ν₁/ν₂ between the two fluids. For this first study, the density ratio of the two fluid layers is the same (ρ₂ = ρ₁), we keep Re _τ and We constant, but we consider three different values for the viscosity ratio: λ =?1, λ =?0.875 and λ =?0.75. Compared to a single phase flow at the same shear Reynolds number (Re _τ =?100), in the two phase flow case we observe a decrease of the wall-shear stress and a strong turbulence modulation in particular in the proximity of the interface. Interestingly, we observe that the modulation of turbulence by the liquid-liquid interface extends up to the top wall (i.e. the closest to the interface) and produces local shear stress inversions and flow recirculation regions. The observed results depend primarily on the interface deformability and on the viscosity ratio between the two fluids (λ).     

Synthesis of Betti base derivatives catalyzed by nano-CuO-ionic liquid and experimental and quantum chemical studies on corrosion inhibition performance of them

Research on Chemical Intermediates - In this research, for the first time, aminonaphthol derivatives were introduced as efficient corrosion inhibitors. A linear polarization method was employed to...     

β-Tetra-brominated meso-tetraphenylporphyrin: A conformational study and application to the Mn-porphyrin catalyzed epoxidation of olefins with tetrabutylammonium oxone

X-ray crystallographic studies have shown that the free base β-tetra-brominated meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (H₂TPPBr₄) has a slightly ruffled structure with the dihedral angles of 70.1–79.2° between the phenyl groups and the porphyrin mean plane. The N(pyrrole)–N(pyrrolenine) distance is very similar to that of the standard planar porphyrins. The decreased N–H bond length of H₂TPPBr₄ with respect to that of meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (H₂TPP) seems to be due to the weaker intramolecular hydrogen bond of the former relative to the latter caused by the electron-withdrawing effects of the β-bromine substituents. The large red shifts of the Soret and Q(0,0) bands of H₂TPPBr₄ in comparison with those of H₂TPP, in spite of the nearly planar porphyrin core of the compound, also may be explained on the basis of the electron-withdrawing effects of the bromine atoms. Oxidation of styrene, the para-substituted derivatives and cyclooctene with tetrabutylammonium oxone in the presence of catalytic amounts of β-tetra-brominated meso-tetraphenylporphyrinatomanganese(III) acetate immediately gives the epoxide as the sole product. Terminal double bonds and unconjugated ones are less reactive than the conjugated double bonds and show lower selectivities. Catalytic activity of the electron-deficient Mn(H₂TPPBr₄)OAc dramatically depends on the Co-catalytic activity of the nitrogen donors as the axial base. The best axial bases are the nitrogenous donors with mixed σ- and π-donor ability to the metal centre.