Silica sulfuric acid: an efficient reusable heterogeneous solid support for the synthesis of 3H,3′H-spiro[benzofuran-2,1′isobenzofuran]-3,3′-diones under solvent-free condition

A highly efficient protocol for the library synthesis of biologically important 3H,3′H-spiro[benzofuran-2,1′isobenzofuran]-3,3′-diones has been developed by employing silica sulfuric acid (SSA) as solid acid support under solvent-free condition. The dual characteristics of SSA, as an activating agent as well as oxidizing agent, have been well exposed in these syntheses. The intrinsic advantages of the methodology are the use of solvent-free reaction condition without using any toxic reagents or metal catalyst, operational simplicity, recyclability of the solid support, good availability of the starting materials, and excellent yields which make the method attractive, economic, and ‘benign by design’.     

Fabrication of surfactant-free quercetin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles: evaluation of hepatoprotective efficacy by nuclear scintigraphy

Journal of Nanoparticle Research - This paper investigates the global nanotechnology and nanoscience (NN) indicators in a developmental context, during three 5-year periods from 2000 to 2014....     

Efficient White‐Light Generation from Ionically Self‐Assembled Triply‐Fluorescent Organic Nanoparticles

Low cost, simple, and environmentally friendly strategies for white‐light generation which do not require rare‐earth phosphors or other toxic or elementally scare species remain an essentially unmet challenge. Progress in the area of all‐organic approaches is highly sought, single molecular systems remaining a particular challenge. Taking inspiration from the designer nature of ionic‐liquid chemistry, we now introduce a new strategy toward white‐light emission based on the facile generation of nanoparticles comprising three different fluorophores assembled in a well‐defined stoichiometry purely through electrostatic interactions. The building blocks consist of the fluorophores aminopyrene, fluorescein, and rhodamine 6G which represent blue, green, and red‐emitting species, respectively. Spherical nanoparticles 16(±5) nm in size were prepared which display bright white‐light emission with high fluorescence quantum efficiency (26 %) and color coordinate at (0.29, 0.38) which lie in close proximity to pure white light (0.33, 0.33). It is noteworthy that this same fluorophore mixture in free solution yields only blue emission. Density functional theory calculations reveal H‐bond and ground‐state proton transfer mediated absolute non‐parallel orientation of the constituent units which result in frustrated energy transfer, giving rise to emission from the individual centers and concomitant white‐light emission.     

Robust 1D open rack-like architecture in coordination polymers of Anderson POMs [{Na4(H2O)14}{Cu(gly)}2][TeMo6O24] and [{Cu(en)2}3{TeW6O24}]: synthesis, characterization and heterogeneous catalytic epoxidation of olefines

Two novel organic-inorganic hybrid tungsto- and molybdo-telurates having formula [{Na(4)(H(2)O)(14)}{Cu(gly)}(2)][TeMo(6)O(24)] (1){gly = glycine} and [{Cu(en)(2)}(3){TeW(6)O(24)}]·6H(2)O {en = ethyline-diamine} (2) based on Anderson type heteropolyoxometalates (POMs) have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography. Common structural feature of both 1 and 2 is the presence of a unique 1D open rack-like architecture, where the disc shaped Anderson POMs act as steps and cationic Cu-organic complexes act as handles of the rack. In 1 the independent structural unit is a 1D coordination polymer with the above mentioned rack type architecture, while in 2, these independent rack-like architectures are further extended to a 2D coordination polymer. Heterogeneous catalysis for the epoxidation of cyclohexene and styrene by complexes 1 and 2 showed very good catalytic efficiency resulting epoxides of ~60% yield, with dialcohol formed by the hydrolysis of epoxides, as the other major product (~28%). Cyclic voltammetric studies of [{Na(4)(H(2)O)(14)}{Cu(gly)}(2)][TeMo(6)O(24)] (1) in aqueous KCl solution indicates that the redox changes occur only on the copper centers and supported by carrying out parallel experiments on the precursors like ([Cu(gly)(2)](2+) and [TeMo(6)O(24)](6-), under the identical experimental conditions. The E(1/2) = 0.662, -0.142 and -0.332 V(vs. SCE) correspond to Cu(III) → Cu(II), Cu(II) → Cu(I) and Cu(I) → Cu(0) reductions, respectively. Thermal analyses reveal identical phase transition reactions with an exothermic peak in the DTA curve at 380 °C for 1 and an endothermic peak appears at comparatively higher temperature (408 °C) for 2 manifesting the higher stability of tungstane based POM over the molybdenum ones. EPR as well as magnetic moment results indicate that both the complexes 1 and 2 are paramagnetic with one unpaired electron per copper(II) ion.     

Solid‐State Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles at Room Temperature: Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) as a Tool

Silver nanoparticles have been used for a long time and recently various methods have been additionally developed for their production. Here we report for the first time a solid‐state high‐speed vibration milling method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles, in which poly(vinylpyrrolidone) is used for the reduction of the silver salt. The synthesis is performed at room temperature and no surfactant to direct the anisotropic growth of the nanoparticles is required. The formation of the nanoparticles was studied by UV–Visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and powder X‐ray diffraction techniques. The nanoparticles synthesized were found to be uniform in size and shape with an average diameter of less than 5 nm. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of these silver nanoparticles was investigated against Escherichia coli and found to be positive.

     

Synergistic effect of doping and defect in achieving white light emission and oxygen reduction catalysis in Ce1-xSmxPO4

Multifunctional materials owing to their efficacy to perform more than one job have attracted the attention of global materials science community to resolve the issue of material crunch and reduce the work load. Here, in this work, we have demonstrated the suitability of CePO₄:Sm³⁺ (CPOS) phosphor for white light luminophore and oxygen reduction catalyst. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the stabilization of monoclinic phase for CPOS. White light emission with correlated color temperature (CCT) favoring cool white feature in CPOS is endowed by inefficient host to dopant energy transfer (HDET). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) suggested presence of both Ce³⁺ and Ce⁴⁺ in CPOS with later in lower fraction. XPS results also showed the presence of surface oxygen in CPOS which along with mixed oxidation state of cerium on the surface may be aiding CPOS to work as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The best electrocatalytic performance was achieved with 1.0% Sm doped sample which has higher concentration of oxygen associated with Ce (IV) on the surface.     

On unsteady hydromagnetic flows of a dusty fluid between two oscillating plates

An initial value investigation is made of the motion of an incompressible viscous conducting fluid with embedded small spherical particles bounded by two infinite rigid non-conducting plates. The flow is generated in the fluid-particle system due to rectilinear oscillations of given frequencies superimposed on the plates in presence of an external transverse magnetic field. The operational method is used to derive exact solutions for the fluid and the particle velocities and the wall shear stress. It is shown that the effect of the dust particles on the fluid velocity depends on the time periods of the oscillating plates. When the time-periods are small, i.e., when the plates oscillate with high frequency, the fluid motion is found to be retarded by the particles. However, when the plates oscillate with larger time periods (smaller frequencies), the fluid velocity is increased by the presence of the particles at the early stage of the motion, and this effect persists until the equilibrium is reached when the particles exert their influence to resist the flow.