Pyrophthalones as blue wavelength absorbers in thermoplastic media

We have explored the utility of pyrophthalones as violet-blue light filtering dyes in polymer matrices for wavelengths below 450 nm. Further, we have investigated the photodegradation of these molecules in thermoplastic media and the mechanisms behind their degradation. Finally, a range of additives have been explored to improve the photostability of these molecules to achieve the desired performance.     

Simultaneous estimation of 16α-hydroxycleroda-3,13(14) Z-dien-15,16-olide from Polyalthia longifolia and its metabolite in hamster plasma: application to pharmacokinetic study

A selective and sensitive LC–MS‐MS method was developed and validated for simultaneous estimation and pharmacokinetic studies of 16α‐hydroxycleroda‐3,13(14) Z‐dien‐15,16‐olide (K‐09) obtained from Polyalthia longifolia and its metabolite (K‐9T), a novel antidyslipidemic agent. Sample clean‐up involved liquid–liquid extraction of both the analytes and internal standard (rosuvastatin) from 200 μL of hamster plasma. The analytes were chromatographically separated on a Symmetry‐Shield C₁₈ (5 µm, 4.6 × 150 mm) column, using acetonitrile–0.1% aqueous formic acid (92:08, v/v) as the mobile phase. Detection was performed using negative ion electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring mode. The MS/MS response was linear over the concentration range 1.56–200 ng/mL, with a correlation coefficient (r²) of 0.998 or better. The within‐ and between‐batch precisions (relative standard deviation, %RSD) and the accuracy (percentage bias) were within acceptable limits as per FDA guidelines. The validated method was successfully applied to reveal the pharmacokinetic parameters of K‐09 and metabolite after oral administration. This method will therefore be highly useful for future studies of K‐09 and metabolite K‐9T pharmacokinetics in preclinical and clinical studies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Indusrtial and Commercial Applications of Used Defense Technical Textiles Polymer Product Recycling

Summary: The global market for technical textiles is rising as never before. Although US and EU continue to be major manufacturers and consumers of technical textiles, the Asian countries like China and India have recently emerged as chief production centers of technical textiles. In the year 2000, the world market for technical textiles was estimated to have value of US $ 93 billion, which has already crossed US$126 billion in 2010. Also in last five years, the textiles disposed of in landfill sites have raised from 7% to 30% in US alone. Soon the technical textile will have similar story all over the world because this being very strong, durable and versatile material and hence, will not degrade or destroy easily in the nature. With increase of its demand and consumption, the problem for its disposal will also increase many fold. The technical textiles are grouped in 12 main categories. Out of it, Protech (personal and property protection) textile, broadly refers to “Defense Textile” has been given special reference in this paper. Experiments have shown that the major properties of these textiles do no deteriorate much even after its main use for years. Finally ways and means for innovative, added-value applications for recycled defense textiles and making desirable products out of recycled post-consumer materials are explained in this paper.     

Enhancement in UV emission and band gap by Fe doping in ZnO thin films

Enhancement of the optical band gap of ZnO from 3.14 to 3.29 eV has been obtained using Fe dopant. Undoped and doped ZnO films are deposited by sol-gel spin coating. XRD patterns indicate polycrystalline nature and hexagonal wurtzite structure of Zn_1?xFe_xO films. EDX analysis confirms the presence of iron dopant. The photoluminescence spectra show an ultraviolet emission peak at 398 nm (NBE emission) and defect emission peak at 485 nm. Intensity of the NBE emission is much higher for the doped samples with its ratio to defect emission intensity highest for 2 at. %doping. The NBE emission shifts to higher energy with increasing dopant concentration in a manner similar to that exhibited by the band gap. Surface morphology has been studied using FESEM.     

(N‐Salicylidene)aniline Derived Schiff Base Complexes of Methyltrioxorhenium(VII): Ligand Influence and Catalytic Performance

It′s a fine line : Methyltrioxorhenium(VII) (MTO) readily forms 1:1 adducts with several N‐(salicylidene)aniline derived Schiff bases. Steric and electronic effects of the ligands play a major role when it comes to stability and catalytic activity. Good donors on the Schiff base ligands, in general, lead to shorter Re? O(Schiff base) bridges and lower catalytic activity, while it is the opposite for acceptor ligands on the Schiff bases.

     

QMOD: physically meaningful QSAR

Computational methods for predicting ligand affinity where no protein structure is known generally take the form of regression analysis based on molecular features that have only a tangential relationship to a protein/ligand binding event. Such methods have utility in retrospective rationalization of activity patterns of substituents on a common scaffold, but are limited when either multiple scaffolds are present or when ligand alignment varies significantly based on structural changes. In addition, such methods generally assume independence and additivity of effect from scaffold substituents. Collectively, these non-physical modeling assumptions sharply limit the utility of widely used QSAR approaches for prospective prediction of ligand activity. The recently introduced Surflex-QMOD approach, by virtue of constructing physical models of binding sites, comes closer to a modeling approach that is congruent with protein ligand binding events. A set of congeneric CDK2 inhibitors showed that induced binding pockets can be quite congruent with the enzyme’s active site but that model predictivity within a chemical series does not necessarily depend on congruence. Muscarinic antagonists were used to show that the QMOD approach is capable of making accurate predictions in cases where highly non-additive structure activity effects exist. The QMOD method offers a means to go beyond non-causative correlations in QSAR analysis.     

Visible light initiated polymerization of styrenic monolithic stationary phases using 470 nm light emitting diode arrays

Poly(styrene‐co‐divinylbenzene) monolithic stationary phases have been synthesized for the first time by photoinitiated polymerization. An initiator composed of (+)‐(S)‐camphorquinone/ethyl‐4‐dimethylaminobenzoate/N‐methoxy‐4‐phenylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate was activated using a 470 nm light emitting diode array as the light source. Spatially controlled polymerization of styrenic monoliths has been achieved within specific sections of a 100 μm id polytetrafluoroethylene‐coated fused‐silica capillary using simple photo masking. The sharpness of the edges was confirmed by optical microscopy, while SEM was used to verify a typical porous, globular morphology. Flow resistance data were used to assess the permeability of the monoliths and they were found to have good flow through properties with a flow resistance of 0.725 MPa/cm at 1 μL/min (water, 20°C). Conductivity profiling along the length of the capillary was used to assess their lateral homogeneity. Monoliths which were axially rotated during polymerization were found to be homogeneous along the whole length of the capillary. The monolithic stationary phases were applied to the RP gradient separation of a mixture of proteins. Column fabrication showed excellent reproducibility with the retention factor (k) having a RSD value of 2.6% for the batch and less than 1.73% on individual columns.     

Gel-based optical waveguides with live cell encapsulation and integrated microfluidics

In this Letter, we demonstrate a biocompatible microscale optical device fabricated from agarose hydrogel that allows for encapsulation of cells inside an optical waveguide. This allows for better interaction between the light in the waveguide and biology, since it can interact with the direct optical mode rather than the evanescent field. We characterize the optical properties of the waveguide and further incorporate a microfluidic channel over the optical structure, thus developing an integrated optofluidic system fabricated entirely from agarose gel.     

Kac’s ring: Entropy and Poincaré recurrence

We study the entropy of an N$N$-site Kac ring in a non-equilibrium state. As the system dynamically evolves towards equilibrium and eventually to the initial state exhibiting Poincaré recurrence, we see that the entropy saturates over a period of time which is large for large N$N$. At about the time of order N$N$, the system starts to return to its initial state. We show that there is indeed a perfect “recurrence of statistical fluctuations”, which we are able to explore, as Kac’s ring possesses a finite recurrence time. Entropy is shown here to be a periodic function of the Poincaré recurrence time.     

Understanding the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall effect without the Pfaffian wave function

It is demonstrated that an understanding of the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall effect can be achieved within the composite fermion theory without appealing to the Pfaffian wave function. The residual interaction between composite fermions plays a crucial role in establishing incompressibility at this filling factor. This approach has the advantage of being amenable to systematic perturbative improvements, and produces ground as well as excited states. It, however, does not relate to non-Abelian statistics in any obvious manner.