Optimized Green Extraction of Polyphenols from Cassia javanica L. Petals for Their Application in Sunflower Oil: Anticancer and Antioxidant Properties

The total phenolic content (TPC) from Cassia javanica L. petals were extracted using ethanolic solvent extraction at concentrations ranging from 0 to 90% and an SCF-CO₂ co-solvent at various pressures. Ultrasound-assisted extraction parameters were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Antioxidant and anticancer properties of total phenols were assessed. An SCF-CO₂ co-solvent extract was nano-encapsulated and applied to sunflower oil without the addition of an antioxidant. The results indicated that the best treatment for retaining TPC and total flavonoids content (TFC) was SCF-CO₂ co-solvent followed by the ultrasound and ethanolic extraction procedures. Additionally, the best antioxidant activity by β-carotene/linoleic acid and DPPH free radical-scavenging test systems was observed by SCF-CO₂ co-solvent then ultrasound and ethanolic extraction methods. SCF-CO₂ co-solvent recorded the highest inhibition % for PC3 (76.20%) and MCF7 (98.70%) and the lowest IC₅₀ value for PC3 (145 µ/mL) and MCF7 (96 µ/mL). It was discovered that fortifying sunflower oil with SCF-CO₂ co-solvent nanoparticles had a beneficial effect on free fatty acids and peroxide levels. The SCF-CO₂ method was finally found to be superior and could be used in large-scale processing.     

Characterization of bronze Roman coins of the fifth century called <Emphasis Type=Italic>nummi</Emphasis> through different analytical techniques

Mixing of different organic charge-transfer-complexes (CT-complexes) might allow the adjustment of the optical and morphological properties of the resulting material system. In this work, a study of two CT-complexes, mixed by thermal coevaporation at different concentrations by substituting only the acceptor molecules, is presented. Electron diffraction patterns, which were collected on samples of the ternary system of the prototypical CT-complexes DBTTF-TCNQ and DBTTF-F₄TCNQ do not show any indication of a mixed crystalline phase or novel crystalline order. X-ray diffraction measurements additionally confirm the phase separation in the ternary system. However, upon mixing of the complexes, the degree of crystallinity of the individual phases is reduced. This effect correlates with the mixing ratio of the CT-complexes in the ternary compound. Furthermore, we do not observe a shift or the appearance of new peaks in the infrared spectra of (DBTTF-TCNQ) _x :(DBTTF-F₄TCNQ)_1?x . Hence, there is no indication for a pronounced or novel chemical interaction between the individual CT-complexes in the mixed compound.     

A damage constitutive model for sliding friction coupled to wear

Several new constitutive models are formulated for the planar interface of a soft body sliding on a rigid soil, describing stick-slip phenomena due to friction, and wear due to abrasion. Attention is focused on damage at the interface, by neglecting any interaction with damage of body and any propagation of damage inside the body. Models are formulated in the general framework of the Thermodynamics of the irreversible processes and account for suitable defined internal variables of phenomenological type, namely gap, isotropic friction hardening and wear. The main feature of the new presented models is that the formulation of the wear process at the interface is obtained in the contest of Damage Mechanics, and it is based on the formal analogy between abrasion of a soft body and ductile damage of an elastic-plastic material. By following this approach, a scalar wear field, an effective stress and appropriate state and dissipation potentials are defined, able to describe a tangential isotropic wear process due to stick-slip and to hardening mechanism. Both cases of linear and nonlinear friction hardening are formulated; moreover, wearable and no-wearable bodies are considered. Numerical results relevant to one-dimensional problems are illustrated for monotonic, forward-backward and cyclic displacement time-histories, showing evolution for stress, gap and wear. Results furnished by different models are compared and discussed.     

Electrochemical characterization of core@shell CoFe2O4/Au composite

Quantum dots (QDs) have received considerable attention due to their unique optical and electrical properties. Although substantial research has focused on the potential applications and toxicological impacts of QDs, far less effort has been directed toward understanding their fate and transport in the environment. In this work, the effect of four coatings, polyethylene glycol functionalized polymer (PEGP), carboxyl derivatized polymer (COOHP), linoleic acid (LA), and polyacrylic acid-octylamine (PAA-OA), on the transport and retention of QDs in porous media were evaluated under environmentally relevant conditions. Aqueous QD suspensions (ca. 10 nM) were introduced into water-saturated columns packed with 40–50 mesh Ottawa sand at a pore-water velocity of 7.6 m/day. At an ionic strength (IS) of 3 mM and pH of 7, PEGP-coated QDs were completely retained within the column, while more than 60 % of COOHP-coated QDs were transported through a column run under identical conditions. When PAA-OA and LA were used as coatings, effluent QD recoveries increased to more than 65 and 89 % of the injected mass, respectively. Additionally, a decrease in pH from 9.5 to 5.0, or an increase of IS from 0 to 30 mM reduced the eluted mass of PAA-OA-coated QDs by more than 2 and 15 times, respectively. The relative mobility of coated QDs (LA > PAA-OA > COOHP > PEGP) was consistent with total interaction energy profiles between QDs and sand surfaces calculated based on Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) theory. At an IS of 3 mM (NaCl) and pH 7, a linear correlation was obtained between the fraction of eluted QDs and the magnitude of the primary interaction energy barrier. These findings demonstrate the strong dependence of QD transport on coating type and indicate that interaction energies based on DLVO theory can be used to predict the relative mobility of QDs in porous media.     

A New Approach to The Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure 4-Deoxy Sugars

In a recent paper² we have reported the design and synthesis of 3-C-lithiated 5,6-dihydro-1,4-dithiin-2-yl[(4-methoxybenzyl)oxy]methane (1) which can be utilized as an allylic alcohol anion equivalent and leads to three-carbon elongations of various electrophiles by introduction of a fully protected hydroxypropenyl moiety. The latter contains a double bond, which can be unravelled to the cis configuration by diastereoselective removal³ of the dimethylene-disulfur bridge, as well as a protected primary hydroxyl group that, depending on the deprotection conditions used (DDQ/NaBH₄ or DDQ), may either lead to the free allylic alcohol or to an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde.     

Biomimetic Synthesis of 5,6-Dihydroxyindole-2-Carboxylic Acid and of its Benzyl Ester

Benzyl 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylate 3 and the free acid 4 were synthesized by oxidative cyclization of dopa benzyl ester with ceric ammonium nitrate and subsequent removal of the benzyl group by hydrogenation.     

Nickel-Catalyzed C-Br/C-H Bis-phenylation of Methyl 4-Bromocrotonate: A Stereoselective Entry to Methyl (E)-3,4-Diphenylbut-2-enoate

A method for C-Br/C-H bis-phenylation of methyl 4-bromocrotonate via nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction has been developed. This protocol involves commercially available catalyst components and furnishes a suitable doubly phenylated building block.     

A priori error estimates for nonstationary optimal control problems with gradient state constraints

We are concerned with the discretization of semilinear parabolic optimization problems subject to constraints on the first derivative of the solution of the PDE. Constructing sequences of feasible controls for the dG(0)-cG(1) discretization of the problem and relying on a quadratric growth condtion, we show convergence orders as temporal and spatial mesh tends to zero. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)