Electrochemical Sensing of Chemical Warfare Agent Based on Hybrid Material Silver‐aminosilane Graphene Oxide

The threat from chemical warfare agents (CWAs) imparts an alarming call for the global community not limited to human being but also extends as unprecedented environmental threat, hence, timely detection and degradation in the event of CWAs attack is very crucial. Herein, we describe a hybrid material of 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) modified graphene oxide (GO) on glassy carbon (GC) electrode along with electrodeposited silver nanodendrimers (AgNDs) for the electrochemical detection and degradation of CWA sulphur mustard (HD). The AgNDs/APTES‐GO hybrid material was characterized by SEM, EDX, BET, TGA, Raman, UV‐Vis, XPS and XRD techniques. The AgNDs/APTES‐GO modified GC electrode was also characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Electrochemical studies indicated presence of electrocatalysis owing to the synergistic effect of AgNDs and GO for sensing CWA HD via reductive dehalogenation. The AgNDs/APTES‐GO modified GC electrode exhibited linearity for CWA HD from 5.3 μM to 42.4 μM. Constant potential electrolysis was performed with modified electrode and degradation products were analysed using GC‐MS, highlighting the great potential of graphene based hybrid material. This new strategy provides an opportunity for the development of “detect and destroy” system for the CWAs and other environmental toxic pollutant, which could help in mitigation of on‐ site events for first responders.     

Quadratic electro-optic effect in the nonconjugated conductive polymer iodine-doped trans-polyisoprene, an organic nanometallic system

Thin films of 1,4-trans-polyisoprene have been prepared on various substrates from toluene solution and characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, optical absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction before and after doping with iodine. The optical absorption spectrum at low doping shows two peaks: one at 4.2 eV and the other at 3.2 eV. X-ray diffraction indicates an increase of (111) and (122) peak intensities upon doping. Quadratic electro-optic measurements have been made using field-induced birefringence. The Kerr coefficients as measured (3.5×10⁻¹⁰ m/V ² at 633 nm and 2.5×10⁻¹⁰ m/V ² at 1.55 μm) are exceptionally large, and they have been attributed to the subnanometer-size metallic domains formed upon doping and charge transfer.     

Investigation of chemical mechanical polishing of zinc oxide thin films

Zinc oxide has become an important material for various applications. Commercially available zinc oxide single crystals and as-grown zinc oxide thin films have high surface roughness which has detrimental effects on the growth of subsequent layers and device performance. A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process was developed for the polishing of zinc oxide polycrystalline thin films. Highly smooth surfaces with RMS roughness <6 Å (as compared to the initial roughness of 26 ± 6 Å) were obtained under optimized conditions with removal rates as high as 670 Å/min. Effects of various CMP parameters on removal rate and surface roughness were evaluated. The role of pH on the polishing characteristics was investigated in detail.     

Vector valued bilinear maximal operator and method of rotations

In this paper we obtain a bilinear analogue of Fefferman-Stein?s vector valued inequality for classical Hardy-Littlewood maximal function. Also, we prove the boundedness of bilinear Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator from Lp₁(Rn)×Lp₂(Rn)→L¹(Rn), where , by applying the method of rotations.     

Effector Kinase Coupling Enables High-Throughput Screens for Direct HIV-1 Nef Antagonists with Antiretroviral Activity

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Highlights? Nef is a critical HIV virulence factor lacking biochemical activity amenable to HTS ? HTS for inhibitors of Nef-mediated Hck kinase activation identified Nef antagonists ? Hit compound B9 blocks Nef-dependent HIV replication with submicromolar potency ? B9 binds directly to purified HIV Nef in vitro and blocks Nef dimerization in cells     

Solvent sensitivity of ortho substituent effect on 13C NMR chemical shift of the carboxyl carbon (δco) in benzoic acid

A reverse ortho effect is observed for the (13)C NMR chemical shifts of the carboxyl carbon (δ(co)) in benzoic acids measured in aprotic solvents of varying polarity. The ortho effect on δ(co) is best described by a combination of the reverse field and steric accelerating effects of the substituent in an 80: 20 pattern in apolar aprotic solvents and a 60: 40 pattern in dipolar aprotic ones. Interestingly, no good enough correlation was found between δ(co) and log k(1) of the acids measured in similar solvents. A critical analysis of the results clearly indicates the use of an apolar aprotic solvent and not a dipolar aprotic one as the solvent of choice for investigating intrinsic substituent effects on δ(c) in an aromatic system.     

Debye temperature and melting point of II‐VI and III‐V semiconductors

In this paper, simple relations are proposed for the calculation of Debye temperature θ_D and melting point T_mof II‐VI and III‐V zincblende semiconductors. Six relations are proposed to calculate the value of θ_D. Out of these six relations, two are based on plasmon energy data and the others on molecular weight, melting point, ionicity and energy gap. Three simple relations are proposed to calculate the value of T_m. They are based on plasmon energy, molecular weight and ionicity of the semiconductors. The average percentage deviation of all nine equations was calculated. In all cases, except one, it was estimated between 3.34 to 17.42 % for θ_D and between 2.37 to 10.45 % for T_m. However, in earlier correlations, it was reported between 10.59 to 33.38% for θ_D and 6.96 to 14.95% for T_m. The lower percentage deviation shows a significant improvement over the empirical relations proposed by earlier workers. The calculated values of θ_D and T_m from all equations are in good agreement with the available experimental values and the values reported by different workers. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)