Thermal and morphological characterization of highly porous nanocomposites for possible application in potassium controlled release

The use of fertilizer and water availability are essential factors limiting the agricultural production. The controlled release technology is very promising because it allows the maintenance of fertilizer concentrations within an ideal range avoiding inefficiency and toxicity problems, minimizing the environmental impacts and improving their efficiency. In this context, the nanostructured hydrogels appear as a possible carrier vehicle for these controlled release systems due to their inherent properties, such as biodegradability, low toxicity, and cost, rapid absorption and desorption controlled capacity of water and solutes. In this work, we performed the synthesis of nanostructured hydrogels based on poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA)/Cloisite-Na⁺ via free radical polymerization. SEM images indicated a similarity in the basic structure of all nanocomposites. The porous diameter of the hydrogels increased with increasing of nanoclay content. EDS analysis showed the ions belonging to nanoclay present in the nanocomposites, confirming the formation of true nanocomposites. TG–DTG and DSC techniques confirmed an improvement in the thermal stability of nanocomposites caused by the addition of nanoclay. For instance, the degradation initial temperature of the hydrogel was increased from 198.5 to 203.5 °C, and inversely, the degradation rate of the 2° thermal event was decreased from 0.694 to 0.472% min °C^?1, when the nanoclay was increased from 0 to 20 mass/%. Moreover, the controlled release investigation showed an improvement in the release time and quantity of the fertilizer released with nanoclay content. This result is very required for this specific application.     

Synthesis of Ethyl 2‐Amino‐4‐benzoyl‐5‐oxo‐5,6‐dihydro‐4H‐pyrano[3,2‐c]quinoline‐3‐carboxylates by a One‐pot,Three‐Component Reaction in the Presence of TPAB

In this research, in order to synthesize a series of ethyl 2‐amino‐4‐benzoyl‐5‐oxo‐5,6‐dihydro‐4H‐pyrano[3,2‐c]quinoline‐3‐carboxylates, a green and an efficient method is proposed through one‐pot three‐component reaction of substituted arylglyoxals, ethyl cyanoacetate, and 4‐hydroxyquinolin‐2(1H)‐one in the presence of terapropylammonium bromide as a catalyst in good yields. All synthesized new substances were characterized by FTIR, ¹H‐NMR, and ¹³C‐NMR spectral data and elemental analysis.     

Characterization of Various Air Plasma Discharge Modes in Contact with Water and Their Effect on the Degradation of Reactive Dyes

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Plasma in- or in-contact-with liquid is an emerging technology that has high potential for use in liquid treatment applications. Due to the simultaneous...     

Synthesis and characterization of novel polymeric organic–inorganic complex framework based on sodium 2,4-dioxo-6-aryl-3-oxa-bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-1,5-dicarboxylate (SDAOBDC) with three-dimensional hybrid networks

Synthesis and characterization of novel polymeric organic–inorganic complex based on sodium 2,4-dioxo-6-aryl-3-oxa-bicyclo[3,1,0]hexane-1,5-dicarboxylate with three-dimensional hybrid networks were reported. The polymeric complex was crystallizing in the triclinic, space group P1. As determined by X-ray single-crystal analysis, in this compound each Na ion is coordinated by six O atoms: two from different carbonyl oxygen atom of carboxylic acid groups, two from bridged carbonyl oxygen atom of carboxylic acid groups, one from the carbonyl oxygen atom of cyclic anhydride and one from water molecule. The structure characterization was done by means of IR, ¹H, ¹³C NMR, UV–Vis spectroscopies, Tg, flame photometry and X-ray crystallographic analysis.     

Synthesis of Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>@PPy–MWCNT nanocomposite and its application for extraction of ultra-trace amounts of PAHs from various samples

In the present study, multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide was immobilized on the pyrrole magnetic nanoparticles. Application of the synthesized material was investigated for the magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from the environmental samples. Determinations of the analytes were performed with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The structure and morphology of Fe₃O₄@PPy–MWCNT were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometer. Performance of MSPE is mainly affected by extraction time, sorbent amount, sample solution volume, and eluent type and volume. In this study, the best possible performance of MSPE has been achieved using a combination of central composite design and Bayesian regularized artificial neural network technique. Under the optimum extraction conditions, linear range between 0.5 and 250 µg L^?1 (R ² > 0.994), preconcentration factors from 232 to 403 and limits of detection ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 µg L^?1 were obtained. Relative standard deviations for intra-day and inter-day precision were 3.3–5.1% and 3.7–5.6%, respectively. In addition, feasibility of the method was demonstrated by extraction and determination of PAHs from some real samples containing tap water, hookah water as well as soil samples, and relative recovery in the range of 85.4–106.8% was obtained. This MSPE method provides several advantages, such as high extraction efficiency, minimum sorbent for extraction of the analytes from high sample volumes, convenient extraction procedure, and short analysis times.     

Application of bar adsorptive microextraction to determine trace organic micro-pollutants in environmental water matrices

The present work proposes the application of bar adsorptive micro-extraction (BAµE) coated with an N-vinylpyrrolidone polymer (NVP) combined with micro-liquid desorption (200 µL) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (BAµE(NVP)-µLD/HPLC-DAD) for the determination of trace levels of emerging organic micro-pollutants in environmental water matrices. The model compounds selected include an antibacterial/antifungal agent (triclosan), two pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine and diclofenac) and two steroid hormones (17α-ethinylestradiol and 17β-estradiol), in which the latter three were recently included in the European Union watch list of substances to be monitored in the field of water policy. Assays performed on 25 mL of ultrapure water samples spiked at the 8.0 µg L^?1 level yielded average recoveries ranging from 81.9 to 102.4% for the compounds studied using optimised experimental conditions. The proposed analytical methodology demonstrated suitable detection limits (0.02–0.10 µg L^?1) and good linear dynamic ranges (0.1–20.0 µg L^?1) with determination coefficients higher than 0.9909. Using the standard addition method (SAM), the present analytical approach was applied on environmental water matrices, including surface, sea, river and groundwaters. The proposed method proved to be a suitable and alternative sorption-based static micro-extraction technique for monitoring trace levels of organic micro-pollutants in environmental water matrices.     

Functional Analysis of Ribonucleotide Reductase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cordyceps militaris</Emphasis> Expressed in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

Cordyceps militaris produces cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine), which has various activities, including anti-oxidant, anti-tumoral, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory. Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) seems to be a candidate to produce cordycepin in C. militaris because RNR catalyzes the reduction of nucleotides to 2′-deoxynucleotides, whose structures are similar to that of cordycepin. However, the role of RNR has not been confirmed yet. In this study, complementary DNAs (cDNAs) of C. militaris RNR (CmRNR) large and small subunits (CmR1 and CmR2) were cloned from C. militaris NBRC9787 to investigate the function of CmRNR for its cordycepin production. C. militaris NBRC9787 began to produce cordycepin when grown in a liquid surface culture in medium composed of glucose and yeast extract for 15 days. CmR1 cDNA and CmR2 cDNA were obtained from its genomic DNA and from total RNA extracted from its mycelia after cultivation for 21 days, respectively. Recombinant CmR1 and CmR2 were expressed individually in Escherichia coli and purified. Purified recombinant CmR1 and CmR2 showed RNR activity toward adenosine diphosphate (ADP) only when two subunits were mixed but only show the reduction of ADP to 2′-deoxyADP. These results indicate that the pathway from ADP to 3′deoxyADP via CmRNR does not exist in C. militaris and cordycepin production in C. militaris may be mediated by other enzymes.     

A one-pot multi-component reaction for the facile synthesis of some novel 2-aryl thiazolidinones bearing benzimidazole moiety using La(NO<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>3</Subscript>·6H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O as an efficient catalyst

A series of new derivatives of 3-benzimidazolyl-2-aryl thiazolidinones, 4a–j are synthesized via a rapid, one-pot, three-component reaction by using La(NO₃)₃·6H₂O as an efficient catalyst from the reaction of 2-aminobenzimidazole, aromatic aldehydes and thioglycolic acid in ethanol at room temperature. These new compounds were characterized by IR, ¹H, ¹³C NMR and mass spectroscopies. An inexpensive and available catalyst, short reaction time, easy workup, good to excellent yields and nontoxic solvent are the advantages of this reaction.