Polysulfone/Brij‐58 blend nanofiltration membranes: preparation,morphology and performance

In present research, novel asymmetric polysulfone (PSF) membranes with high hydrophilicity and noticeable rejection of arsenic, as one of the major environmental problems, were prepared from PSF/Brij‐58/NMP (1‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone) system via immersion precipitation. Pure water was used as gelation media. The variation effect of coagulation bath temperature (CBT) and addition of Brij‐58 on morphology, wettabiliy, pure water permeation flux and rejection of As (III) and As (V), as two dominant states of arsenic in the nature, were studied by scanning electron microscopy, contact angle measuring instrument and experimental setup. The results demonstrated that both hydrophilicity and rejection properties of the prepared membranes were significantly enhanced by small addition of Brij‐58 surfactant in the casting solution along with using the lowest level of CBT. Addition of 4 wt. % of Brij‐58 and using cold coagulation bath resulted in the highest rejection of As (V). Initial increase in Brij‐58 concentration, from 0 wt. % to 2 wt. %, resulted in higher rejection of As (III). However, higher Brij‐58 concentrations than 2 wt. % (increase from 2 wt. % to 6 wt. %) led to lower rejection of As (III). Also, it was found out that addition of Brij‐58 in the casting solution along with increasing the CBT resulted in formation of membranes with high permeability and sub‐layer porosity and thin top layer. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nano‐Gold Modified Genosensor for Direct Detection of DNA Hybridization

In this paper, nano‐gold modified carbon paste electrode (NGMCPE) was employed to develop an electrochemical DNA hybridization biosensor. The proposed sensor was made up by immobilization of 15‐mer single stranded oligonucleotide probe for detection of target DNA. Hybridization detection relies on the alternation in guanine oxidation signal following hybridization of the probe with complementary genomic DNA. The guanine oxidation was monitored using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Different factors such as activation potential, activation time and probe immobilization conditions were optimized. The selectivity of the sensor was investigated by non‐complementary oligonucleotides. Diagnostic performance of the biosensor was described and the detection limit was found 1.9 × 10^?13 M at the NGMCPE surface. All of the investigations were performed in both CPE and NGMCPE and finally their results were compared.     

4,6-Diacetylresorcinol in Heterocyclic Synthesis,Part I: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Some New Linearly and Angularly Substituted Pyrano[3,2-g] Chromenes via Vilsmeier–Haack Formylation of 4,6-Diacetylresorcinol,Its Schiff Bases,and Hydrazones

Application of Vilsmeier–Haack reaction on 4,6-diacetylresorcinol (1) led to the formation of 4,6-dioxo-4H,6H-pyrano[3,2-g]chromene-3,7-dicarboxaldehyde (2) in good yield. The dicarboxaldehyde 2 was condensed with some carbon and nitrogen nucleophiles. Some aliphatic and aromatic Schiff bases of 4,6-diacetylresorcinol (1) were subjected to Vilsmeier–Haack formylation reaction to afford 4,6-bis(alkyl/arylimino)-4H,6H-pyrano[3,2-g]chromene-3,7-dicarbaldehydes 10, 14, and 15. Also, treatment of some bis-hydrazones of 4,6-diacetylresorcinol 16–19 with Vilsmeier–Haack reagent afforded the corresponding 4,6-bis(4-formylpyrazol-3-yl)resorcinols 20 and 21, which underwent oxidation with iodine to yield the pyrano[3,2-g]chromeno[4,3-c:7,6-c]dipyrazole-4,8-diones 22 and 23, respectively. Most of the synthesized compounds revealed weak antimicrobial activities. It was noticed that the dicarboxaldehydes 2, 10, 14, and 15 exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, yeast, and fungus.

[Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® for the following free supplemental resource(s): Full experimental and spectral details.]     

Electrically enhanced liquid‐phase microextraction of three textile azo dyes from wastewater and plant samples

An electromembrane extraction procedure coupled with HPLC and visible detection was applied for the extraction of three textile azo dyes as organic salts. The extraction parameters such as extraction time, applied voltage, pH range, and concentration of salt added were optimized. A driving force of 60 V was applied to extract the analytes through 2‐nitrophenyl octyl ether, used as the supported liquid membrane, into a neutral aqueous solution. This method required 20 min extraction time from a neutral sample solution. The proposed microextraction technique provided good linearity with correlation coefficients from 0.996 to 0.998 over a concentration range of 1.0–1000.0 ng/mL. The LODs of dyes were 0.30–0.75 ng/mL, while the reproducibility ranged from 6.7 to 12.9% (n = 6). Also, enrichment factors of 96–162 that corresponded to the recoveries ranging from 48 to 81% were achieved. Finally, the application of this new method was demonstrated on wastewater samples and some plants grown in contaminated environments. Excellent selectivity was obtained as no interfering peaks were detected.     

Quantum-mechanical effects in a linear time-dependent potential

The solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is discussed fora particle confined in half-space x>0 with a linear potential V(x)=Kx in the following situations:(a) sudden removal of the wall and switching on the linear potential V(x)=Kx at x ≤0,(b) sudden removal of the wall and the potential and(c) sudden removal of the potential.A brief discussion of quantum statistics is presented.     

Nonlocality and local causality in the Schrödinger equation with time-dependent boundary conditions

We investigate the nonlocal dynamics of a single particle placed in an infinite well with moving walls. It is shown that in this situation, the Schrödinger equation (SE) violates local causality by causing instantaneous changes in the probability current everywhere inside the well. This violation is formalized by designing a gedanken faster-than-light communication device which uses an ensemble of long narrow cavities and weak measurements to resolve the weak value of the momentum far away from the movable wall. Our system is free from the usual features causing nonphysical violations of local causality when using the (nonrelativistic) SE, such as instantaneous changes in potentials or states involving arbitrarily high energies or velocities. We explore in detail several possible artifacts that could account for the failure of the SE to respect local causality for systems involving time-dependent boundary conditions.     

Chrysosporazines Revisited: Regioisomeric Phenylpropanoid Piperazine P-Glycoprotein Inhibitors from Australian Marine Fish-Derived Fungi

A library of fungi previously recovered from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of several fresh, commercially sourced Australian mullet fish was re-profiled for production of a rare class of phenylpropanoid piperazine alkaloids (chrysosporazines) using an integrated platform of; (i) miniaturized 24-well plate cultivation profiling (MATRIX), (ii) UPLC-DAD and UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS (GNPS) chemical profiling, and; (iii) precursor directed biosynthesis to manipulate in situ biosynthetic performance and outputs; to detect two new fungal producers of chrysosporazines. Chemical analysis of an optimized PDA solid phase cultivation of Aspergillus sp. CMB-F661 yielded the new regioisomeric chrysosporazine T (1) and U (2), while precursor directed cultivation amplified production and yielded the very minor new natural products azachrysosporazine T1 (3) and U1 (4), and the new unnatural analogues neochrysosporazine R (5) and S (6). Likewise, chemical analysis of an optimized M1 solid phase cultivation of Spiromastix sp. CMB-F455 lead to the GNPS detection of multiple chrysosporazines and brasiliamides, and the isolation and structure elucidation of chrysosporazine D (7) and brasiliamide A (8). Access to new chrysosporazine regioisomers facilitated structure activity relationship investigations to better define the chrysosporazine P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitory pharmacophore, which is exceptionally potent at reversing doxorubrin resistance in P-gp over expressing colon carcinoma cells (SW600 Ad300).     

Impacts of external electric fields on the permeation of glycerol and water molecules through aquaglyceroporin-7: molecular dynamics simulation approach

The European Physical Journal E - The current research numerically investigates the Marangoni convection in a cylindrical annulus filled with hybrid nanofluid saturated porous media. The interior...     

On the average degree of some irreducible characters of a finite group

Let G be a finite group and N be a non-trivial normal subgroup of G, such that the average degree of irreducible characters in $\mathrm{Irr}(G|N)$ is less than or equal to 16/5. Then, we prove that N is solvable. Also, we prove the solvability of G, by assuming that the average degree of irreducible characters in $\mathrm{Irr}(G|N)$ is strictly less than 16/5. We show that the bounds are sharp.     

Electrochemical characterization of naproxen and the adsorbed naproxen oxidation products at glassy carbon electrode modified with carboxyl functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes and introducing a new route for naproxen determination

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - In the present work, a glassy carbon electrode was modified with carboxyl functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) to investigate the...