Study of the Interaction Between Promazine Hydrochloride and Surfactant (Conventional/Gemini) Mixtures at Different Temperatures

In the present paper, the micellization of an amphiphilic drug, promazine hydrochloride, and gemini surfactants (16-s-16) with s = 4–6 and the monomeric hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) counterparts has been examined conductometrically in the pure and mixed states in aqueous solutions at different compositions and temperatures (298.15–308.15 K). Dicationic gemini surfactants provide much better environment for the micellization behavior than the corresponding monocationic counterpart CTAB. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) values are lower than the cmc for ideal mixing, cmc ^id, suggesting attractive interactions between the two components in mixed micelles. The micellar mole fractions of surfactants, evaluated by different models, show greater contributions of surfactants in mixed micelles and increase with increasing concentrations of these surfactants. The negative values of β suggest synergism in the mixtures, which is highly beneficial as it reduces the total amount of surfactants required in a particular application, leading to reductions of cost and environmental impact. Activity coefficients (f ₁ and f ₂) are always less than unity showing nonideality in the systems. The data have been also used for evaluation of thermodynamic parameters.     

Electrospun copper oxide nanoparticles as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for N-arylation of indole

The N-arylation of indoles with a variety of aryl bromides is reported using copper oxide nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst. These copper oxide nanoparticles, which were produced in a novel, facile, and scalable fashion via an electrospinning technique, resulted in an excellent product yield under mild conditions. Moreover, the catalyst was easily recovered and reused several times without significant loss of activity.     

Synthesis and application of silica and calcium carbonate nanoparticles in the reduction of organics from refinery wastewater

Oil refinery is one of the fast growing industries across the globe and it is expected to progress in the near future. The worldwide increase in the generation of refinery wastewater along with strict environmental regulations in the discharge of industrial effluent, persistent efforts have been devoted to recycle and reuse the treated water. The wastewater from the refining operation leads to serious environmental threat to the ecosystem. Therefore, this study aimed to synthesize silica (SiO₂) and calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CaCO₃) in the reduction of organics from refinery wastewater. The synthesized nanoparticles were employed in the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from refinery wastewater by studying the influence of solution pH, contact time, dosage of nanoparticles and stirring speed on adsorption performance. From the batch experimental studies, the optimized processing conditions for the reduction of COD using SiO₂ nanoparticles are pH 4.0, dosage 0.5 g, stirring speed 125 rpm and 90 min stirring time, and the corresponding values for CaCO₃ nanoparticles are pH 8.0, dosage 0.4 g, stirring speed 100 rpm and 90 min stirring time. The study demonstrates that SiO₂ and CaCO₃ nanoparticles have a promising future in the reduction organics from refinery wastewater in different pH regimes.     

Exploring the Role of Surface States in Emissive Carbon Nanodots: Analysis at Single-Particle Level

Fluorescent carbon nanodots (CDs) have been highlighted as promising semiconducting materials due to their outstanding chemical and optical properties. However, the intrinsic heterogeneity of CDs has impeded a clear understanding of the mechanisms behind their photophysical properties. In this study, as-prepared CDs are fractionated via chromatography to reduce their structural and chemical heterogeneity and analyzed through ensemble and single-particle spectroscopies. Many single particles reveal fluorescence intensity fluctuations between two or more discrete levels with bi-exponential decays. While the intrinsic τ₁ components are uniform among single particles, the τ₂ components from molecule-like emissions spans a wider range of lifetimes, reflecting the inhomogeneity of the surface states. Furthermore, it is concluded that the relative population and chemical states of surface functional groups in CDs have a significant impact on emissive states, brightness, blinking, stability, and lifetime distribution of photoluminescence.     

Malformin-A1 (MA1) Sensitizes Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancer Cells to Cisplatin-Induced Apoptosis

High-grade epithelial ovarian cancer is a fatal disease in women frequently associated with drug resistance and poor outcomes. We previously demonstrated that a marine-derived compound MalforminA1 (MA1) was cytotoxic for the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. In this study, we aimed to examine the effect of MA1 on human ovarian cancer cells. The potential cytotoxicity of MA1was tested on cisplatin-sensitive (A2780S) and cisplatin-resistant (A2780CP) ovarian cancer cell lines using AlamarBlue assay, Hoechst dye, flow cytometry, Western blot, and RT-qPCR. MA1 had higher cytotoxic activity on A2780S (IC50 = 0.23 µM) and A2780CP (IC50 = 0.34 µM) cell lines when compared to cisplatin (IC50 = 31.4 µM and 76.9 µM, respectively). Flow cytometry analysis confirmed the cytotoxic effect of MA1. The synergistic effect of the two drugs was obvious, since only 13% of A2780S and 7% of A2780CP cells remained alive after 24 h of treatment with both MA1 and cisplatin. Moreover, we examined the expression of bcl2, p53, caspase3/9 genes at RNA and protein levels using RT-qPCR and Western blot, respectively, to figure out the cell death mechanism induced by MA1. A significant down-regulation in bcl2 and p53 genes was observed in treated cells compared to non-treated cells (p < 0.05), suggesting that MA1 may not follow the canonical pathway to induce apoptosis in ovarian cancer cell lines. MalforminA1 showed promising anticancer activity by inducing cytotoxicity in cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant cancer cell lines. Interestingly, a synergistic effect was observed when MA1 was combined with cisplatin, leading to it overcoming its resistance to cisplatin.     

Functional Properties and Molecular Degradation of Schizostachyum Brachycladum Bamboo Cellulose Nanofibre in PLA-Chitosan Bionanocomposites

The degradation and mechanical properties of potential polymeric materials used for green manufacturing are significant determinants. In this study, cellulose nanofibre was prepared from Schizostachyum brachycladum bamboo and used as reinforcement in the PLA/chitosan matrix using melt extrusion and compression moulding method. The cellulose nanofibre(CNF) was isolated using supercritical carbon dioxide and high-pressure homogenisation. The isolated CNF was characterised with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR, zeta potential and particle size analysis. The mechanical, physical, and degradation properties of the resulting biocomposite were studied with moisture content, density, thickness swelling, tensile, flexural, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, and biodegradability analysis. The TEM, FT-IR, and particle size results showed successful isolation of cellulose nanofibre using this method. The result showed that the physical, mechanical, and degradation properties of PLA/chitosan/CNF biocomposite were significantly enhanced with cellulose nanofibre. The density, thickness swelling, and moisture content increased with the addition of CNF. Also, tensile strength and modulus; flexural strength and modulus increased; while the elongation reduced. The carbon residue from the thermal degradation and the glass transition temperature of the PLA/chitosan/CNF biocomposite was observed to increase with the addition of CNF. The result showed that the biocomposite has potential for green and sustainable industrial application.     

Bimetallic Iron–Palladium Catalyst System as a Lewis-Acid for the Synthesis of Novel Pharmacophores Based Indole Scaffold as Anticancer Agents

The Friedel–Crafts reaction between substituted indoles as nucleophiles with chalcones-based benzofuran and benzothiophene scaffolds was carried out by employing a highly efficient bimetallic iron–palladium catalyst system. This catalytic approach produced the desired bis-heteroaryl products with low catalyst loading, a simple procedure, and with acceptable yield. All synthesized indole scaffolds 3a–3s were initially evaluated for their cytotoxic effect against human fibroblast BJ cell lines and appeared to be non-cytotoxic. All non-cytotoxic compounds 3a–3s were then evaluated for their anticancer activities against cervical cancer HeLa, prostate cancer PC3, and breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines, in comparison to standard drug doxorubicin, with IC₅₀ values 1.9 ± 0.4 µM, 0.9 ± 0.14 µM and 0.79 ± 0.05 µM, respectively, and appeared to be moderate to weak anticancer agents. Fluoro-substituted chalcone moiety-containing compounds, 3b appeared to be the most active member of the series against cervical HeLa (IC₅₀ = 8.2 ± 0.2 µM) and breast MCF-7 cancer cell line (IC₅₀ = 12.3 ± 0.04 µM), whereas 6-fluroindol-4-bromophenyl chalcone-containing compound 3e (IC₅₀ = 7.8 ± 0.4 µM) appeared to be more active against PC3 prostate cancer cell line.     

A review on recent advances in hierarchically porous metal and metal oxide nanostructures as electrode materials for supercapacitors and non-enzymatic glucose sensors

The remarkable significance of electrode materials in industrial processes, energy, sustainability and diabetes monitoring has captivated scientists to develop advance nanomaterials for the benefit of life across the globe. Here in, the recent developments in nanostructured porous metal and metal oxide composite materials for supercapacitor applications and non-enzymatic glucose sensors (NEGS) has been extensively discussed. The essential and active electrode materials from the research and application perspective has been emphasized in detail. We have also evaluated the worthiness, taxonomical classification, efficiency, specific capacitance and sensitivity of these materials for the aforementioned potential applications. Eventually, we concluded the review by providing the aspect ratio, surface morphology, particle size and specific surface area of these materials that plays an indispensable role for their promising potential applications.     

Synthesis,Antibacterial, and Antioxidant Evaluation of Novel Series of Condensed Thiazoloquinazoline with Pyrido,Pyrano, and Benzol Moieties as Five- and Six-Membered Heterocycle Derivatives

A novel synthesis of thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines 4(a–e), pyrido[2′,3′:4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines {5(a–e), 6(a–e), and 7(a–e)}, pyrano[2′,3′:4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines 8(a–e), and benzo[4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazoloine9(a–e) derivatives starting from 2-(Bis-methylsulfanyl-methylene)-5,5-dimethyl-cyclohexane-1,3-dione 2 as efficient α,α dioxoketen dithioacetal is reported and the synthetic approaches of these types of compounds will provide an innovative molecular framework to the designing of new active heterocyclic compounds. In our study, we also present optimization of the synthetic method along with a biological evaluation of these newly synthesized compounds as antioxidants and antibacterial agents against the bacterial strains, like S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. Among all the evaluated compounds, it was found that some showed significant antioxidant activity at 10 μg/mL while the others exhibited better antibacterial activity at 100 μg/mL. The results of this study showed that compound 6(c) possessed remarkable antibacterial activity, whereas compound 9(c) exhibited the highest efficacy as an antioxidant. The structures of the new synthetic compounds were elucidated by elemental analysis, IR, ¹H-NMR, and ¹³C-NMR.     

Synthesis and antimicrobial evaluation of new 2-pyridinone and 2-iminochromene derivatives containing morpholine moiety

As trail to overcome on the antimicrobial drug-resistance problems, new functionalized 2-pyridinone and 2-iminochromene derivatives bearing morpholine moiety were designed and synthesized. The 2-pyridinone derivatives were obtained through the cyclization of cyanoacetohydrazone of 4-morpholinylacetophenone with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, α,β-unsaturated nitriles or 2-(arylidene)malononitriles. The 2-iminochromene derivatives were synthesized through the ring closure of cyanoacetohydrazonewith salicylaldehyde derivatives. The antibacterial and antifungal activities for the synthesized 2-pyridinone and 2-iminochromene derivatives were investigated. Most of the tested compounds showed moderate activity against P. vulgaris. Compounds 4a,b and 5a,b showed moderate activity against G −ve bacteria. All iminochromene derivatives showed moderate activity against C. albicans. Compound 8c was the most active compound.