Photolytic decarboxylation of α-arylcarboxylic acids mediated by HgF2 under a dioxygen atmosphere

Mercuric fluoride (HgF₂), as a light-sensitive inorganic compound, in the presence of dioxygen is able to convert various α-aryl- and α,α-diarylcarboxylic acids into the corresponding aldehydes and ketones selectively under photoirradiation via trapping of the benzylic radical by O₂.     

Molecular Architecture Manipulation in Free Radical Copolymerization: An Advanced Monte Carlo Approach to Screening Copolymer Chains with Various Comonomer Sequence Arrangements

A Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation approach has been adopted in this study to capture evolutionary events in the course of free radical copolymerization, through which batch and starved‐feed semibatch processes are compared. The implementation of the KMC code deve­loped in this work: (i) enables satisfactory control of the molecular weight of the copolymer by tracking the profiles of concentrations of macroradicals, monomers, and polymer as well as degree of polymerization, polydispersity, and chain length distribution; (ii) captures the bivariate distribution of chain length and copolymer composition; (iii) comprehensively tracks and analyzes detailed information on the molecular architecture of the growing chains, thus distinguishing between sequence length and polydispersity of chains produced in batch and starved‐feed semibatch operations; (iv) makes possible the screening of products, based on such details as the number and weight fractions of products having different comonomer units located at various positions along the copolymer chains. The aforementioned characteristics are achieved by stochastic calculations through code developed in‐house. This KMC simulator becomes a very useful tool for the development of tailored copolymers through free radical polymerization, with blocks separated with single units of a different type.

     

Preparation and characterization of NiO nanoparticles from thermal decomposition of the [Ni(en)3](NO3)2 complex: A facile and low-temperature route

NiO nanoparticles with an average size of 15 nm were easily prepared via the thermal decomposition of the tris(ethylenediamine)Ni(II) nitrate complex [Ni(en)₃](NO₃)₂ as a new precursor at low temperature, and the nanoparticles were characterized by thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Vis spectroscopy, BET specific surface area measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and magnetic measurements. The magnetic measurements confirm that the product shows a ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature, which may be ascribed to a size confinement effect. The NiO nanoparticles prepared by this method could be an appropriate photocatalytic material due to a strong absorption band at 325 nm. This method is simple, fast, safe, low-cost and also suitable for industrial production of high purity NiO nanoparticles for applied purposes.     

NiO nanoparticles prepared via thermal decomposition of the bis(dimethylglyoximato)nickel(II) complex: A novel reusable heterogeneous catalyst for fast and efficient microwave-assisted reduction of nitroarenes with ethanol

NiO nanoparticles with an average size of 12 nm and a high specific surface area of 88.5 m²/g were easily prepared via the thermal decomposition of the complex Ni(dmgH)₂ and were characterized by TGA, XRD, FT-IR, TEM and BET surface area measurement. This nanosized transition metal oxide was used as a new heterogeneous catalyst for the reduction of nitroarenes under microwave irradiation. The efficient and selective reduction of aromatic nitro compounds into their corresponding amines was observed by using ethanol as a hydrogen donor (reducing agent) and KOH as a promoter under microwave irradiation. This highly regio- and chemoselective method is fast, simple, inexpensive, high yielding, clean and compatible with several sensitive functionalities, such as halogens, -OH, -OCH₃, -CHO, -COCH₃, -COOH, -COOEt, -CONH₂, -CN, -CHCH₂ and -NHCOCH₃. This method is suitable for the large scale preparation of different substituted anilines as well as other arylamines. In addition, the catalytic activity of nanosized NiO is higher than that of the bulk sample.     

Fuzzy polynomial regression with fuzzy neural networks

Recently, fuzzy linear regression is considered by Mosleh et al. [1]. In this paper, a novel hybrid method based on fuzzy neural network for approximate fuzzy coefficients (parameters) of fuzzy polynomial regression models with fuzzy output and crisp inputs, is presented. Here a neural network is considered as a part of a large field called neural computing or soft computing. Moreover, in order to find the approximate parameters, a simple algorithm from the cost function of the fuzzy neural network is proposed. Finally, we illustrate our approach by some numerical examples.     

Spectrophotometric determination of the formation constants of some transition metal cations with a new synthetic Schiff base in dichloromethane and chloroform using rank annihilation factor analysis

The complex formation between a new synthesized Schiff base and the cations Ni²⁺, Co²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺ in dichloromethane (DCM) and chloroform solutions was investigated spectrophotometrically using rank annihilation factor analysis (RAFA). The results of mole ratio plots and continuous variation data show the stoichiometry of complexation were found to be 1:1, and 2:1 metal ion to ligand. The stoichiometry was obtained as 1:1 metal ion to ligand ratio for Co²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ in chloroform and 2:1 for Cu²⁺. In DCM the stoichiometry was obtained as 1:1 for Co²⁺ and 2:1 for Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ and a consecutive 2:1 metal ion to ligand ratio was obtained for Cu²⁺. Formation constants of these complexes were estimated by application of RAFA on spectrophotometric data. In this process the contribution of ligand was removed from the absorbance data matrix when the complex stability constant acts as an optimizing object and simply combined with the pure spectrum of the ligand, the rank of the original data matrix can be reduced by one by annihilating the information of the ligand from the original data matrix.     

Perturbation analysis of a modified second grade fluid over a porous plate

A modified second grade non-Newtonian fluid model is considered. The model is a combination of power-law and second grade fluids in which the fluid may exhibit normal stresses, shear thinning or shear thickening behaviors. The flow of this fluid is considered over a porous plate. Equations of motion in dimensionless form are derived. When the power-law effects are small compared to second grade effects, a regular perturbation problem arises which is solved. The validity criterion for the solution is derived. When second grade effects are small compared to power-law effects, or when both effects are small, the problem becomes a boundary layer problem for which the solutions are also obtained. Perturbation solutions are contrasted with the numerical solutions. For the regular perturbation problem of small power-law effects, an excellent match is observed between the solutions if the validity criterion is met. For the boundary layer solution of vanishing second grade effects however, the agreement with the numerical data is not good. When both effects are considered small, the boundary layer solution leads to the same solution given in the case of a regular perturbation problem.     

Synthesis and characterization of two new fluorescent macrocycles: A novel fluorescent chemosensor for zinc ion

Two new macrocyclic systems (L¹, L²) containing two emissive naphthalene were synthesized and characterized. The macrocycles were studied by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, COSY, HMQC, DEPT, microanalysis and mass spectroscopy. The influence of metal cations Na⁺, Cr³⁺, Mn²⁺, Fe³⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Hg²⁺ on the spectroscopic properties of the macrocyclic systems in acetonitrile/DMF 9:1 (v/v) mixtures were investigated by means of absorption and emission spectrophotometry. The macrocycle L¹ was found to be as an effective fluorescence sensor for Zn²⁺ ions. Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions show the most effects on the fluorescence intensity of L².     

Self-assembly of boehmite nanopetals to form 3D high surface area nanoarchitectures

A flower-like boehmite nanostructure was prepared through a template-free chemical route by the self-assembly process of nanosize petals 800–1000 nm long, 200–250 nm wide, 20–50 nm thick and having an average crystallite size of about 2.21 nm. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), DTA/TGA analyses and Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET-N₂) analyses were used in order to characterize the product obtained. XRD results exhibited that the obtained nanostructures composed of pure orthorhombic AlOOH phase. The effects of Cl⁻ ions and TEA on the growth of boehmite three-dimensional nanoarchitectures in the presence of NO₃^-\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-} ions were investigated. BET analyses of as-prepared material demonstrate that this nanostructure material has a high specific surface area, as high as 123 m² g⁻¹.