Spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid in pharmaceuticals by background correction and flow injection

Background correction has been shown to be an effective and indispensable modification in the spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid. The decomposition of ascorbic acid in pharmaceutical samples was carried out by incubation with sodium hydroxide to give products that were insensitive to ultraviolet light. The rapid oxidation in air of ascorbic acid, especially in dilute solutions, was avoided by the use of the flow injection principle for spectrophotometric determination and by employing a carrier stream of an anti-oxidizing nature consisting of 6 micrograms ml(-1) of 2-mercaptoethanol in 0.25% sulphuric acid. The optimized method with a single channel manifold made use of a carrier stream flow rate of 1.1 ml min(-1), an injection volume of 50 microl, a delay coil of 50 cm (0.5 mm i.d.) and detection at 245 nm. The throughput was at least 180 injections h(-1). The proposed flow injection method yielded results for the analysis of 0-20 micrograms ml(-1) of ascorbic acid that were 99-102% (relative standard deviation 0.6% or better) in agreement with those produced by comparable methods involving titration with iodine, chloranil or 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol [4-(2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenylimino)cyclohexa-2,5-dieno ne], and high-performance liquid chromatography. When the agreement was not good (as low as 14% with respect to the method being compared), this was traced to the presence of substances which are known to interfere in one or other of the methods of comparison.     

Trends and Technological Advancements in the Possible Food Applications of Spirulina and Their Health Benefits: A Review

Spirulina is a kind of blue-green algae (BGA) that is multicellular, filamentous, and prokaryotic. It is also known as a cyanobacterium. It is classified within the phylum known as blue-green algae. Despite the fact that it includes a high concentration of nutrients, such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids—in particular, the necessary omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids—the percentage of total fat and cholesterol that can be found in these algae is substantially lower when compared to other food sources. This is the case even if the percentage of total fat that can be found in these algae is also significantly lower. In addition to this, spirulina has a high concentration of bioactive compounds, such as phenols, phycocyanin pigment, and polysaccharides, which all take part in a number of biological activities, such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. As a result of this, spirulina has found its way into the formulation of a great number of medicinal foods, functional foods, and nutritional supplements. Therefore, this article makes an effort to shed light on spirulina, its nutritional value as a result of its chemical composition, and its applications to some food product formulations, such as dairy products, snacks, cookies, and pasta, that are necessary at an industrial level in the food industry all over the world. In addition, this article supports the idea of incorporating it into the food sector, both from a nutritional and health perspective, as it offers numerous advantages.     

Can Natural Products Targeting EMT Serve as the Future Anticancer Therapeutics?

Cancer is the leading cause of death and has remained a big challenge for the scientific community. Because of the growing concerns, new therapeutic regimens are highly demanded to decrease the global burden. Despite advancements in chemotherapy, drug resistance is still a major hurdle to successful treatment. The primary challenge should be identifying and developing appropriate therapeutics for cancer patients to improve their survival. Multiple pathways are dysregulated in cancers, including disturbance in cellular metabolism, cell cycle, apoptosis, or epigenetic alterations. Over the last two decades, natural products have been a major research interest due to their therapeutic potential in various ailments. Natural compounds seem to be an alternative option for cancer management. Natural substances derived from plants and marine sources have been shown to have anti-cancer activity in preclinical settings. They might be proved as a sword to kill cancerous cells. The present review attempted to consolidate the available information on natural compounds derived from plants and marine sources and their anti-cancer potential underlying EMT mechanisms.     

Improvement on Quantum Teleportation of Three and Four Qubit States Using Multi-Qubit Cluster States

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - In 2016, Li et al. [Int. J. Theor. Phys. 55, 1820–1823 (2016)] proposed schemes for quantum teleportation of certain class of three and four...     

Applications of Fruit Polyphenols and Their Functionalized Nanoparticles Against Foodborne Bacteria: A Mini Review

The ingestion of contaminated water and food is known to cause food illness. Moreover, on assessing the patients suffering from foodborne disease has revealed the role of microbes in such diseases. Concerning which different methods have been developed for protecting food from microbes, the treatment of food with chemicals has been reported to exhibit an unwanted organoleptic effect while also affecting the nutritional value of food. Owing to these challenges, the demand for natural food preservatives has substantially increased. Therefore, the interest of researchers and food industries has shifted towards fruit polyphenols as potent inhibitors of foodborne bacteria. Recently, numerous fruit polyphenols have been acclaimed for their ability to avert toxin production and biofilm formation. Furthermore, various studies have recommended using fruit polyphenols solely or in combination with chemical disinfectants and food preservatives. Currently, different nanoparticles have been synthesized using fruit polyphenols to curb the growth of pathogenic microbes. Hence, this review intends to summarize the current knowledge about fruit polyphenols as antibacterial agents against foodborne pathogens. Additionally, the application of different fruit extracts in synthesizing functionalized nanoparticles has also been discussed.     

Enhancement of electrical conductivity,director relaxation frequency and slope of electro-optical characteristics in the composites of single-walled carbon nanotubes and a strongly polar nematic liquid crystal

In the present work, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were dispersed in a room temperature nematic liquid crystal 4-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl at the concentration of 0.02 and 0.05 wt%. Differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-dependent dielectric studies suggest decrease in clearing temperature of the composite materials as compared to the pure material. Ionic conductivity increases by two orders of magnitude due to the dispersion of such a low concentration (0.05 wt%) of SWCNTs. Dielectric studies also show that the presence of the SWCNTs decreases the effective longitudinal as well as transverse components of the dielectric permittivity. For homeotropic aligned samples, a relaxation mechanism has been detected in the lower MHz region both for the pure as well as dispersed samples. Presence of SWCNTs increases the relaxation frequency corresponding to flip-flop motion of molecules around their short axes. From frequency-dependent dielectric studies, important dielectric parameters such as relaxation frequency, dielectric strength and distribution parameters have been determined. Electro-optical experiments show that the threshold voltage decreases and the steepness of the transmission voltage curve improves due to the dispersion of SWCNTs.     

Microwave assisted highly efficient one-pot multi-component synthesis of novel 2-(tetrasubstituted-1H-pyrrol-3-yl)-4H-chroman-4-ones catalyzed by heterogeneous reusable silica gel supported polyphosphoric acid (PPA/SiO2)

A solvent-free, eco-friendly and facile approach for the synthesis of highly functionalized tetrasubstituted pyrroles has been reported through one-pot four-component reaction of aldehyde, amine, nitroalkane and 1,3-diketone using silica gel supported polyphosphoric acid (PPA–SiO₂) under microwave condition. The reaction occured through the in situ formation of β-keto enamine and nitrostyrene analog following Michael addition and finally intramolecular annulation affording the products in good yields. The key features of the present method include clean reaction, mild conditions, low catalyst loading, straightforward, high to excellent yields, short reaction time, avoiding use of harmful metal catalyst and organic solvent, environmentally friendly compared to the existing methods, recovery and reusability of catalyst and easy workup procedure.