Aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohols by MoVI compounds

Selective and controlled aerobic oxidation of activated benzyl alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes is achieved in refluxing CH₃CN using catalytic amounts of MoO₂Cl₂(L)₂ where L is DMSO, DMF or THF. The catalysis reactions are possible under open air in the absence of any other external co‐oxidants. However, bubbling of oxygen to the reaction mixture is useful in making the catalysis reaction sustained. Both activated and deactivated varieties of α‐substituted benzyl alcohols (secondary alcohols) give ketones in the same reaction conditions. The inexpensive catalyst is selective towards activated primary benzyl alcohols and also, being mild, stops the oxidation at the aldehyde stage, making it synthetically useful. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimating the limits for statistical process control charts: A direct method improving upon the bootstrap

This paper considers the problem of finding limits for a statistical process control (SPC) chart for the process mean, when the process distribution is unknown. The bootstrap method estimates these limits relying on Monte Carlo methods, which are subject to simulation errors. Therefore this paper develops a computationally efficient enumeration method for exact calculations of the control limits.     

Evaluation of Virucidal Efficacy of Cold Plasma on Bacteriophage Inside a Three-Layered Sterilization Chamber

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Traditional disinfection methods against pathogens have numerous shortcomings, and inventive methods like cold plasma are required for virus inactivation....     

Estimation of betulinic acid from wild fruit extracts of Ziziphus mauritiana and Ziziphus nummularia from different regions of North India by a validated high-performance thin-layer chromatography method

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - The Ziziphus fruits are recognized as a rich source of biologically active compounds, such as polysaccharides, phenolics,...     

DNA-Origami-Based Assembly of Au@Ag Nanostar Dimer Nanoantennas for Label-Free Sensing of Pyocyanin

Early-stage detection of diseases caused by pathogens is a prerequisite for expedient patient care. Due to the limited signal-to-noise ratio, molecular diagnostics needs molecular signal amplification after recognition of the target molecule. In this present study, we demonstrate the design of plasmonically coupled bimetallic Ag coated Au nanostar dimers with controlled nanogap using rectangular DNA origami. We further report the utility of the designed nanostar dimer structures as efficient SERS substrate for the ultrasensitive and label-free detection of the pyocyanin molecule, which is a biomarker of the opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The experimental results showed that the detection limit of pyocyanin with such nanoantenna based biosensor was 335 pM, which is much lower than the clinical range of detection. Thus, fast, sensitive and label-free detection of pyocyanin at ultralow concentration in an infected human body can pave a facile route for early stage warning for severe bacterial infections.     

An insight into the surface engineering of colloidal PbSe quantum dots for polymer hybrid photovoltaic applications

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - In this article, the beneficial effect of surface passivation rendered by the amalgamation of co-ordinating tri-n-octylphophine (TOP), oleylamine (OLA),...     

Effect of 100 MeV O7+ ions irradiation on ethanol sensing response of nanostructures of ZnO and SnO2

Tin dioxide nanoparticles and zinc oxide nanorods were synthesized chemically and thick film gas sensors on alumina substrates were fabricated of these materials. Morphology and crystallite size of synthesized powders were investigated by TEM. The fabricated sensors were irradiated with 100 MeV O⁷⁺ ions at fluences of 1×10¹¹, 1×10¹² and 1×10¹³ ions/cm². The X-ray diffraction analysis of the samples before and after ion bombardment was performed for structural characterization. The sensing response to ethanol before and after irradiation was carried out for each fabricated sensor. Investigation revealed that irradiated SnO₂ based sensor’s response and response time increased significantly. Results show that ZnO based sensor exhibit strong resistance to damage caused by ion irradiation which might be due to defects annihilation.