Electrocatalytic one pot synthesis of medicinally relevant 4H-benzo[g]chromene and pyrano[2,3-g]chromene scaffold via multicomponent-domino approach

A highly efficient one pot, multicomponent synthesis of 4H-benzo[g]chromene and pyrano[2,3-g]chromene derivatives are reported by electrochemically stimulated condensation of an aromatic aldehyde, malononitrile and some enolizable acidic compounds in ethanol at room temperature under constant current density. By utilizing common electrode materials and a simple constant current protocol, this method is a new alternative to conventional methods.     

Transverse Transport of Polymeric Nanofluid under Pure Internal Heating: Keller Box Algorithm

The present work aims to investigate transverse Oldroyd-B nanofluid flow on a stretched panel with consideration of internal heat generation. Buongiorno model is utilized to study influence of thermophoresis and Brownian motion effects. A numerical procedure known as Keller box algorithm is used to solve the governed physical model.Graphically velocity, temperature and concentration of nanoparticles are expressed. Also, concerned physical measures such as heat and mass transfer are investigated numerically. The simulations performed revealed that fluid parameters play a significant role in heat transfer under Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects. Local heat flux is elevated while local mass flux is suppressed with enhancing Brownian motion parameter. Streamlines pattern exhibits that flow is more inclined in the presence of Deborah number effects. To the best of our knowledge, transverse flow of an Oldroyd-B type fluid which incorporates the thermal relaxation effects has never been reported before in the presence of Brownian motion and internal heating phenomenon. Therefore we intend to discuss these features in detail. The obtained results are a novel contribution, which can be benchmark for further relevant academic research related to polymer industry.     

Polymer nanoparticles: their effect on rheological,thermal, and mechanical properties of linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE)

Rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties of polymer particle/LLDPE blends were studied in this paper. The blends were prepared individually by incorporating nanoparticles of polystyrene (nPS) of ～60 nm and polymethyl methacrylate (nPMMA) of ～50 nm with different wt% loading (i.e., 0.10–0.5%). It was shown from the experimental results that rheological, thermal and mechanical properties were increased as polymer particles blended with LLDPE. Blends with 0.25 wt% loading of nPS and 0.5 wt% loading of nPMMA exhibited better rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties compared with that of other wt% loadings. The improvements in properties were due to the close packing of LLDPE chains as recorded by improvement in crystallinity of LLDPE with addition of nPS and nPMMA as shown by SEM. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a Bacterial Enzyme-Based Biosensor for the Detection and Quantification of Selenate

An enzymatic biosensor has been developed for the determination of selenate (SeO₄²⁻), in which selenate reductase (SeR) is chemically attached to a gold disk electrode by lipoic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester as linker, allowing the catalytic reduction of the SeO₄²⁻ to SeO₃²⁻. Modification of the gold electrode was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS), and electrochemistry. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurements were performed in different buffers for selenate determination. Under optimum conditions, the calibration curve was linear over the range 7.0–3900.0 μg L⁻¹ with limits of detection and quantification of 4.97 and 15.56 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The possible interference of the relevant oxyanions SO₄²⁻, NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻, PO₄³⁻ and AsO₄³⁻ in the determination of SeO₄²⁻ was studied. Finally, the proposed biosensor was used to determine SeO₄²⁻ with recovery between 95.2 and 102.4 % in different real water samples.     

Study and investigation of long period grating as refractive index sensor

In this paper, we have investigated the response of long period grating (LPG) as refractive index sensor. The response has been studied for refractive index variation ranging from 1 to 1.45. In this work, we found that the sensing mechanism is based on two different aspects. First is the change of coupling power from the guided core mode to other co-propagating cladding modes and second is the wavelength shift of the peak resonant wavelengths from their original positions due the change of refractive index of the environmental (external) medium surrounding the cladding of the grating.     

The influence of linking group in exterior point on mesogenic properties of the basket moulded molecules: calix[4]arene

Novel basket-shaped molecules having calix[4]arene as central rigid core possessing azomaterial in outer space unit in the lengthening arm were synthesised and characterised by elemental analysis and different spectroscopic methods such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), electron spin ionization (ESI)-MASS, ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ¹³C NMR. Mesomorphism behaviour of novel materials was studied using optical polarising microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and higher-temperature powder X-ray diffraction method to confirm smectic C phase. In most of the compounds, we found rod-like mosaic texture and focal conic textures of smectic C phases. Nematic phases were also quite often found in materials during cooling and heating stage from isotropic phases. The dielectric measurements have been carried out for the determination of real and imaginary parts of the permittivity of the newly designed scaffolds. These studies will give adequate prospects in the field of supramolecular system, especially in calixarene organisation to explore new epoch of calixarene-based liquid crystals with different linking groups.     

Silk‐Ion Jelly: a novel ion conducting polymeric material with high conductivity and excellent mechanical stability

In this work, a thin, flexible and mechanically stable polymer conducting material (Silk‐Ion Jelly) was developed though application of Ion Jelly on to silk fabrics. Ion Jelly was prepared through jellification of a room temperature ionic liquid, 1‐butyl‐3‐methyl‐imidazolium dicyanamide ([bmim][dca]) using gelatin and water and applied to silk fabrics using two different processes: impregnation and in‐situ. Various parameters influencing ionic conductivity such as Ion Jelly composition (ratio of [bmim][dca], water and gelatin) and incorporation as well as the type of application process were thoroughly investigated. It was observed that the Ion Jelly compositions containing lower gelatin and water ratio as well as application through in‐situ process at high temperature (200 °C) led to considerable improvement in conductivity, mainly due to increased [bmim][dca] concentration, structural flexibility and reduced silk crystallinity. Silk‐Ion Jelly prepared using optimized conditions showed excellent mechanical stability and possessed high room temperature conductivity (2.9 × 10^?3 S. cm^?1), similar to [bmim][dca], and therefore, this novel ion conducting material may find potential applications in electrochemical devices due to its eco‐friendly preparation route using biomaterials and green solvents. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization and Evaluation of Thermal,Morphological, and Physicochemical Properties of Chemically Modified Lignocellulosic Biomass

A novel redox system, ascorbic acid-hydrogen peroxide, was employed to initiate graft copolymerization of ethyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate binary monomer mixtures onto Abelmoschus esculentus fibers at a temperature of 45°C for 90 min in an aqueous medium. Factors affecting grafting such as feed molarity and comonomer composition were investigated. Contrary to the lower affinity of methyl methacrylate for grafting on Abelmoschus fibers, a synergistic effect of ethyl acrylate on methyl methacrylate was observed when graft copolymers were prepared using different feed compositions (f_MMA). The percentage of grafting increased from 40.2% to 89.74% at 0.4 mole fraction of f_MMA. The graft copolymers were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, and SEM techniques.