Development of Ciprofloxacin HCl-Based Solid Lipid Nanoparticles Using Ouzo Effect: An Experimental Optimization and Comparative Study

This study was performed to develop solid lipid nanoparticles of water soluble drug ciprofloxacin HCl using quick solvent diffusion evaporation technique (ouzo effect). A statistical central composite rotatable design was used to study the effect of independent variables. In the subsequent step, optimized SLN were further compared with nanostructured lipid carriers and nanoemulsion for particle size, zeta potential, drug entrapment, drug release, and stability. Comparative study revealed that the drug encapsulation efficiencies were enhanced by adding the Capmul MCM C8 into the solid lipid nanoparticles. The in vitro drug release study of all three formulations showed rapid release for nanoemulsion while controlled release for SLN. Stability study of all the formulation proved that nanostructured lipid carrier and SLN could prevent the drug expulsion during the storage period. Results of the study suggested that the SLN and nanostructured lipid carriers produced by the principle of ouzo effect could potentially be exploited for better drug entrapment efficiency and controlled drug release of water soluble actives.     

Studies on the additive performance of liquid crystal blended polyacrylate in lubricating oil

Homopolymer of decyl acrylate (D) was synthesised, characterised (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)) and evaluated for its additive performance as antiwear (AW), pour point depressant (PPD) and viscosity modifier (VM). Physical blends of the polymer were also made with three different types of liquid crystals (each containing three samples), evaluated and the results were compared. The study indicated that additive performances (AW, VM and PPD) of the blended composites were much better in comparison to the homopolymer of polydecyl acrylates.     

Formation, reactivity, and photorelease of metal bound nitrosyl in [Ru(trpy)(L)(NO)](n+) (trpy = 2,2':6',2'-terpyridine, L = 2-phenylimidazo[4,5-f]1,10-phenanthroline)

Nitrosyl complexes with {Ru-NO} (6) and {Ru-NO} (7) configurations have been isolated in the framework of [Ru(trpy)(L)(NO)] ( n+ ) [trpy = 2,2':6',2'-terpyridine, L = 2-phenylimidazo[4,5- f]1,10-phenanthroline] as the perchlorate salts [ 4](ClO 4) 3 and [ 4](ClO 4) 2, respectively. Single crystals of protonated material [ 4-H (+)](ClO 4) 4.2H 2O reveal a Ru-N-O bond angle of 176.1(7) degrees and triply bonded N-O with a 1.127(9) A bond length. Structures were also determined for precursor compounds of [ 4] (3+) in the form of [Ru(trpy)(L)(Cl)](ClO 4).4.5H 2O and [Ru(trpy)(L-H)(CH 3CN)](ClO 4) 3.H 2O. In agreement with largely NO centered reduction, a sizable shift in nu(NO) frequency was observed on moving from [ 4] (3+) (1953 cm (-1)) to [ 4] (2+) (1654 cm (-1)). The Ru (II)-NO* in isolated or electrogenerated [ 4] (2+) exhibits an EPR spectrum with g 1 = 2.020, g 2 = 1.995, and g 3 = 1.884 in CH 3CN at 110 K, reflecting partial metal contribution to the singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO); (14)N (NO) hyperfine splitting ( A 2 = 30 G) was also observed. The plot of nu(NO) versus E degrees ({RuNO} (6) --> {RuNO} (7)) for 12 analogous complexes [Ru(trpy)(L')(NO)] ( n+ ) exhibits a linear trend. The electrophilic Ru-NO (+) species [ 4] (3+) is transformed to the corresponding Ru-NO 2 (-) system in the presence of OH (-) with k = 2.02 x 10 (-4) s (-1) at 303 K. In the presence of a steady flow of dioxygen gas, the Ru (II)-NO* state in [ 4] (2+) oxidizes to [ 4] (3+) through an associatively activated pathway (Delta S++ = -190.4 J K (-1) M (-1)) with a rate constant ( k [s (-1)]) of 5.33 x 10 (-3). On irradiation with light (Xe lamp), the acetonitrile solution of paramagnetic [Ru(trpy)(L)(NO)] (2+) ([ 4] (2+)) undergoes facile photorelease of NO ( k NO = 2.0 x 10 (-1) min (-1) and t 1/2 approximately 3.5 min) with the concomitant formation of the solvate [Ru (II)(trpy)(L)(CH 3CN)] (2+) [ 2'] (2+). The photoreleased NO can be trapped as an Mb-NO adduct.     

Coordination polymers from the self-assembly of silver(I) salts and two nonlinear aliphatic dinitrile ligands, cis-1,3-cyclopentanedicarbonitrile and cis-1,3-bis(cyanomethyl)cyclopentane: synthesis, structures, and photoluminescent properties

Six coordination polymers with aliphatic dinitrile ligands, {[Ag(cpdcn)2]ClO4}n (6a), {[Ag(cpdcn)2]PF6}n (6b), {[Ag(cpdcn)2]SbF6}n (6c, cpdcn = cis-1,3-cyclopentanedicarbonitrile), {[Ag(bcmcp)2] ClO4}n (7a), {[Ag(bcmcp)2]PF6}n (7b), {[Ag(bcmcp)2]SbF6}n, (7c, bcmcp = cis-1,3-bis(cyanomethyl)cyclopentane) have been synthesized and structurally characterized by IR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray crystallography. Both ligands used in this study are meso-compounds; while the ligand cpdcn is structurally rigid, the ligand bcmcp has greater conformational flexibility. X-ray crystallography has revealed that structures 6a-c consist of chiral 1D-polymers. The structure of complexes 7a and 7b are best described as a 2D chiral (4,4) square mesh with 3-fold parallel interpenetration. Surprisingly, complex 7c was characterized to be an achiral 1D coordination polymer. The synthesis of the ligands, IR spectra of the free and coordinated CN groups, DSC and TGA, and the photoluminescent properties of complexes 6a-c and 7a-c are also discussed.     

Controlled Synthesis of Nanoporous Nickel Oxide with Two‐Dimensional Shapes through Thermal Decomposition of Metal–Cyanide Hybrid Coordination Polymers

The urgent need for nanoporous metal oxides with highly crystallized frameworks is motivating scientists to try to discover new preparation methods, because of their wide use in practical applications. Recent work has demonstrated that two‐dimensional (2D) cyanide‐bridged coordination polymers (CPs) are promising materials and appropriate for this purpose (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.­ 2013 , 52, 1235). After calcination, 2D CPs can be transformed into nanoporous metal oxides with a highly accessible surface area. Here, this strategy is adopted in order to form 2D nanoporous nickel oxide (NiO) with tunable porosity and crystallinity, using trisodium citrate dihydrate as a controlling agent. The presence of trisodium citrate dihydrate plays a key role in the formation of 2D nanoflakes by controlling the nucleation rate and the crystal growth. The size of the nanoflakes gradually increases by augmenting the amount of trisodium citrate dihydrate in the reaction. After heating the as‐prepared CPs in air at different temperatures, nanoporous NiO can be obtained. During this thermal treatment, organic units (carbon and nitrogen) are completely removed and only the metal content remains to take part in the formation of nanoporous NiO. In the case of large‐sized 2D CP nanoflakes, the original 2D flake‐shapes are almost retained, even after thermal treatment at low temperature, but they are completely destroyed at high temperature because of further crystallization in the framework. Nanoporous NiO with high surface area shows significant efficiency and interesting results for supercapacitor application.     

The probe technique far from equilibrium: Magnetic field symmetries of nonlinear transport

The probe technique is a simple mean to incorporate elastic and inelastic processes into quantum transport problems. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that this tool can be employed beyond the analytically tractable linear response regime, providing a stable solution for the probe parameters: temperature and chemical potential. Adopting four probes: dephasing, voltage, temperature, and voltage-temperature, mimicking different elastic and inelastic effects, we provide a systematic analysis of magnetic field and gate voltage symmetries of charge current and heat current in Aharonov-Bohm interferometers, potentially far from equilibrium. Considering electron current, we prove that in the linear response regime inelastic scattering processes do not break the Onsager symmetry. Beyond linear response, even (odd) conductance terms obey an odd (even) symmetry with the threading magnetic flux, as long as the system acquires a spatial inversion symmetry. When spatial asymmetry is introduced, particle-hole symmetry assures that nonlinear conductance terms maintain certain symmetries with respect to magnetic field and gate voltage. These analytic results are supported by numerical simulations. Analogous results are obtained for the electron heat current. Finally, we demonstrate that a double-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometer can act as a charge rectifier when two conditions are met simultaneously: (i) many-body effects are included, here in the form of inelastic scattering; and (ii) time reversal symmetry is broken.     

Late time acceleration in f(G) model

Late time transition is obtained with a function of Gauss Bonnet curvature $f(G)$ in the Einstein Hilbert action with a matter field in a FLRW spacetime assuming an ansatz without a specific $f(G)$ . Late time accelerating expansion is either a phantom era without Big Rip singularity or a quintessence era or a de-Sitter era of expansion. The equation of state parameter, jerk and snap parameters support observational data and the function $f(G)$ obtained from the solution supports earlier works.     

Circular‐Arc Bigraphs and Its Subclasses

In this article, we obtain two new characterizations of circular‐arc bigraphs. One of them is the representation of a circular‐arc bigraph in terms of two two‐clique circular‐arc graphs while another one represents the same as a union of an interval bigraph and a Ferrers bigraph. Finally, we introduce the notions of proper and unit circular‐arc bigraphs, characterize them and show that, as in the case of circular‐arc graphs, unit circular‐arc bigraphs form a proper subclass of the class of proper circular‐arc bigraphs.     

Stochastic persistence and stability analysis of a modified Holling–Tanner model

The article aims to study the basic dynamical features of a modified Holling–Tanner prey–predator model with ratio‐dependent functional response. We have proved the global existence of the solution for the deterministic model. The parametric restriction for persistence of both species is also obtained along with the proof of local asymptotic stability of the interior equilibrium point(s). Conditions for local bifurcations of interior equilibrium points are provided. The global dynamic behavior is examined thoroughly with supportive numerical simulation results. Next, we have formulated the stochastic model by perturbing the intrinsic growth rates of prey and predator populations with white noise terms. The existence uniqueness of solutions for stochastic model is established. Further, we have derived the parametric restrictions required for the persistence of the stochastic model. Finally, we have discussed the stochastic stability results in terms of the first and second order moments. Numerical simulation results are provided to support the analytical findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Almost periodic solution of a non-autonomous model of phytoplankton allelopathy

In this paper, a non-autonomous two species competitive allelopathic phytoplankton model in presence of a discrete time delay is considered. We have obtained the sufficient conditions for permanence along with existence-uniqueness of an almost periodic solution. Sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of unique almost periodic solution. Analytical findings are supported through exhaustive numerical simulations. With the help of the numerical example, we have demonstrated that initial density dependent almost periodic co-existence is possible in some situations when parameter values fail to satisfy all the conditions of permanence.