Coexisting antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism in mechanically alloyed Fe-rich Fe–Ni alloys: implications regarding the Fe–Ni phase diagram below 400°C

Fe–Ni alloys below the Invar region with compositions Fe_100−xNi_x (x=21, 24, and 27 at%) were prepared by high-energy ball milling technique (mechanical alloying). The as-milled samples, characterized by X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy, contain a mixture of (BCC) and γ (FCC) phases, whereas the samples annealed at 650°C for 0.5 h show a single γ (FCC) phase displaying a single line Mössbauer spectrum at room temperature (RT). At low temperature, the Mössbauer spectra of annealed Fe₇₆Ni₂₄ and Fe₇₃Ni₂₇ alloys show the existence of a magnetically split pattern together with a broad singlet, which are ascribed to a high-moment ferromagnetic Ni-rich phase and a low-moment Fe-rich phase, respectively. The Fe-rich phase in annealed Fe₇₆Ni₂₄ alloy, which is paramagnetic at RT, undergoes antiferromagnetic ordering at 40 K, estimated from the dramatic line broadening of its spectrum, giving rise to a small hyperfine field (e.g. 2 T at 6 K). The coexistence of these phases is attributed to phase segregation occurring in these alloys as a result of enhanced atomic diffusion. The stability of these alloys towards martensitic (FCC→BCC) transformation at low temperatures is discussed in connection with the Fe–Ni phase diagram below 400°C.     

Synthesis,Antibacterial, and Antioxidant Evaluation of Novel Series of Condensed Thiazoloquinazoline with Pyrido,Pyrano, and Benzol Moieties as Five- and Six-Membered Heterocycle Derivatives

A novel synthesis of thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines 4(a–e), pyrido[2′,3′:4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines {5(a–e), 6(a–e), and 7(a–e)}, pyrano[2′,3′:4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolines 8(a–e), and benzo[4,5]thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazoloine9(a–e) derivatives starting from 2-(Bis-methylsulfanyl-methylene)-5,5-dimethyl-cyclohexane-1,3-dione 2 as efficient α,α dioxoketen dithioacetal is reported and the synthetic approaches of these types of compounds will provide an innovative molecular framework to the designing of new active heterocyclic compounds. In our study, we also present optimization of the synthetic method along with a biological evaluation of these newly synthesized compounds as antioxidants and antibacterial agents against the bacterial strains, like S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. Among all the evaluated compounds, it was found that some showed significant antioxidant activity at 10 μg/mL while the others exhibited better antibacterial activity at 100 μg/mL. The results of this study showed that compound 6(c) possessed remarkable antibacterial activity, whereas compound 9(c) exhibited the highest efficacy as an antioxidant. The structures of the new synthetic compounds were elucidated by elemental analysis, IR, ¹H-NMR, and ¹³C-NMR.     

Synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity of New Pyridothienopyrimidines and Pyridothienotriazines

5‐Acetyl‐3‐amino‐4‐aryl‐6‐methylthieno[2,3‐b]pyridine‐2‐carboxamides ( 5a,b ) were reacted with triethyl orthoformate or nitrous acid to give the corresponding pyrimidinones 6a,b and triazinones 7a,b . The reaction of 5a,b with acetic anhydride was carried out and its products were identified as a mixture of 8‐acetyl‐9‐aryl‐2,7‐dimethylpyrido[3′,2′:4,5]thieno[3,2‐d]pyrimidine‐4(3H)‐one ( 9a,b ) and related 5‐acetyl‐4‐aryl‐3‐biacetylamino‐6‐methylthieno[2,3‐b]pyridine‐2‐carbonitrile ( 10a,b ). Reaction of 7a with some halocompounds afforded the N‐alkylated triazinones 8a‐c . Chlorination of 6a,b and 9a,b with phosphorus oxychloride produced 4‐chloropyrimidines 11a‐d which were used as precursors for the rest of the target heterocycles. Some of the prepared compounds were tested in vitro for their antimicrobial activities.     

SYNTHESIS AND REACTIONS OF SOME NEW HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS CONTAINING THE THIENYLTHIENO[2,3-B]PYRIDINE MOIETY

(4-Aryl-3-cyano-6-(2-thienyl)pyridin-2-ylthio)acethydrazides (5a–c), 3-amino-4-aryl-6-(2-thienyl)thieno[2,3-b]pyridine-2-carbohydrazides (6a–c) and 3-amino-4-phenyl-6-(2-thienyl)thieno[2,3-b]pyridine-2-carboxylic acid (30) were prepared and employed as key intermediates in the synthesis of the title compounds.     

Conformational analysis of the electron-transfer kinetics across oligoproline peptides using N,N-dimethyl-1,4-benzenediamine donors and pyrene-1-sulfonyl acceptors

Photoinduced intramolecular charge separation across proline-bridged donor-acceptor complexes of the type Pyr-(Pro)n-DMPD (where Pyr=pyrene-1-sulfonyl and DMPD=N,N-dimethyl-1,4-phenylenediamine) was studied. The steady-state emission spectrum for n=0, 1, 2, 3 showed an increase in emission intensity with the number of proline residues. Time-dependent emission measured by streak camera showed increasing emission signal amplitude with increasing n, along with a decrease in decay rate. In all these studies, Pyr-Pro was used as a control complex for the decay of the excited pyrene acceptor moiety without the donor DMPD. Detailed photon counting experiments carried out in DMF/water, DMF, and toluene showed single-exponential kinetics for n=0, 1 and multiexponential kinetics for n=2, 3. Rate constants observed in DMF are for n=0, k=approximately 5x10(10) s(-1); n=1, k=9.70x10(8) s(-1); n=2, k=35.9x10(8) s(-1) (70%) and 5.58x10(8) s(-1) (30%); and n=3, k=16.6x10(8) s(-1) (55%) and 3.87x10(8) s(-1) (45%). These results show that a significant percentage of the n=2 and n=3 molecules undergo faster electron transfer than for the n=1 case. Conformational analysis for Pyr-(Pro)n-DMPD molecules in water showed that whereas only one conformation is possible for n=1, eight are possible for n=2, and 32 are possible for n=3. Calculation of the free energy and electronic coupling for these conformers in water showed that only a few of these conformations have the appropriate energy and electronic coupling to be observed in the experimental time window from 20 ps to 20 ns. Assignment of the conformers undergoing electron transfer in Pyr-(Pro)n-DMPD for n=2 and 3 was based on the values for the n=1 case, for which the measured rate constant is approximately 10(9) s(-1) and the calculated electronic coupling matrix element Hda is 297 cm(-1). The similarity in ground state energy between the cis and trans conformers for n=2 and 3, their use in aqueous-organic and organic solvents, and the nature of the Pyr and DMPD acceptor and donor groups could be contributing causes for the multiexponential kinetics, which was not observed for the metal ion derivatives of proline peptides studied earlier in aqueous solution.     

Evaluation of adaptive mesh refinement and coarsening for the computation of compressible flows on unstructured meshes

The compressible gas flows of interest to aerospace applications often involve situations where shock and expansion waves are present. Decreasing the characteristic dimension of the computational cells in the vicinity of shock waves improves the quality of the computed flows. This reduction in size may be accomplished by the use of mesh adaption procedures. In this paper an analysis is presented of an adaptive mesh scheme developed for an unstructured mesh finite volume upwind computer code. This scheme is tailored to refine or coarsen the computational mesh where gradients of the flow properties are respectively high or low. The refinement and coarsening procedures are applied to the classical gas dynamic problems of the stabilization of shock waves by solid bodies. In particular, situations where oblique shock waves interact with an expansion fan and where bow shocks arise around solid bodies are considered. The effectiveness of the scheme in reducing the computational time, while increasing the solution accuracy, is assessed. It is shown that the refinement procedure alone leads to a number of computational cells which is 20% larger than when alternate passes of refinement and coarsening are used. Accordingly, a reduction of computational time of the same order of magnitude is obtained. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrodeoxygenation of benzofuran over sulfided and reduced Ni–Mo/γ-Al2O3 catalysts: Effect of H2S

Effect of H₂S on the catalytic performance of the reduced and sulfided Ni–Mo/Al₂O₃ catalysts in hydrodeoxygenation of benzofuran is studied. The steady-state reaction experiments showed a decrease in activity for both reduced and sulfided catalysts when H₂S was introduced into the feed. The reaction conversion of benzofuran over the reduced catalyst still remained superior to that of the sulfided catalyst in the presence of H₂S, however, at high reaction temperatures, the product distribution over the pre-reduced catalyst is similar to the sulfided catalyst. The studies with temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), temperature-programmed reaction (TPRxn) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques showed a partial sulfidation of the reduced catalysts when exposed to H₂S under reaction conditions, however, the catalyst does not go through a complete conversion to a molybdenum sulfide phase. Instead oxygen–sulfur exchange on the surface leaves behind oxisulfide species, with catalytic activity closely resembling that of the reduced catalysts. The effect of H₂S on the reaction performance is mainly coming from the competitive adsorption between H₂S and benzofuran and the formation of SH groups with decomposition of H₂S at high temperatures.     

Effects of Sorafenib and Quercetin Alone or in Combination in Treating Hepatocellular Carcinoma: In Vitro and In Vivo Approaches

Sorafenib is the first drug approved to treat advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and continues as the gold-standard therapy against HCC. However, acquired drug resistance represents a main concern about sorafenib therapy. The flavanol quercetin found in plants has shown great anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. In this work, quercetin was used as a therapeutic agent alone or in combination with a sorafenib chemotherapy drug to improve the routine HCC treatment with sorafenib. The in vitro and in vivo results presented here confirm that quercetin alone or in combination with sorafenib significantly inhibited HCC growth, induced cell cycle arrest and induced apoptosis and necrosis. Further molecular data shown in this report demonstrate that quercetin alone or combined with sorafenib downregulated key inflammatory, proliferative and angiogenesis-related genes (TNF-α, VEGF, P53 and NF-κB). Combined quercetin/sorafenib treatment markedly improved the morphology of the induced liver damage and showed significant antioxidant and anti-tumor effects. The advantage of combined treatment efficacy reported here can be attributed to quercetin’s prominent effects in modulating cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, oxidative stress and inflammation.     

Rocket borne instrumentation for the measurement of electron density—height profile in the ionosphere

The present paper describes the construction and working of a high frequency capacitance rocket payload for the measurement of electron concentration in the ionosphere, designed and fabricated mostly with indigenous components. This payload was flight-tested in the first and second Indian Centaure test rocket launched on 26-2-1969 and 7-12-1969 from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station. The paper also presents the calibration procedures and some of the preliminary results obtained from the first flight to show the capabilities of the instrument.     

1,3,4-Oxadiazole-containing hybrids as potential anticancer agents: Recent developments,mechanism of action and structure-activity relationships

Chemotherapy is an important therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer. Currently, many anticancer drugs are available in the market that plays an important role in cancer treatment, but concerns such as, drug resistance and side effects create an urgent need for the development of new anti-tumor drugs with high potency and less side effects. Heterocycles are of great interest due to their fascinating anticancer activity. Among them, 1,3,4-oxadiazoles showed attracting anti-tumor activity and its derivatives are under clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. Hybridization of 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety with other heterocyclic pharmacophoresis a promising approach to overcome various disadvantages of current anticancer drugs such as drug resistance, toxicity, and other side effects. Thus, 1,3,4-oxadiazole-heterocycle hybrids occupy a significant position in the discovery of anti-tumor drugs. Among the reported oxadiazole-based hybrids reviewed here, compounds 45i, 59j, and 62x showed the highest anticancer activity with IC₅₀ values in the nanomolar range. This review summarizes the recent developments in the anticancer potential, structure–activity relationships, and mechanisms of actions of 1,3,4-oxadiazole-heterocycle hybrids.