Simultaneous Determination of Pioglitazone and Glimepiride by High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC -     

Thin-Layer Chromatographic Determination of Alpha-Amyrin in the Bark of Mallotus philippensis Lamk

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A simple, precise, and accurate high-performance thin-layer chro-matographic method has been established for determination of...     

LESSER KNOWN MIRACLES OF BURGERS EQUATION

This article is a short introduction to the surprising appearance of Burgers equation in some basic probabilistic models.     

Structural investigation and Hirshfeld surface analysis of two polymorphs of 2-(4-Methylbenzamido)-5-(4-fluoro-3-phenoxyphenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles

In this report, the crystal structure of a new polymorphic form of 2-(4-Methylbenzamido)-5-(4-fluoro-3-phenoxyphenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole have been investigated and compared with the previously reported form. Crystallization experiments from a non-polar solvent resulted in the formation of a newly obtained polymorph of this substituted 1,3,4 thiadiazole compound. Structural differences and similarities in both the polymorphic forms were explored in terms of supramolecular building blocks present in the crystal packing and their influences on the supramolecular construct are investigated in terms of the nature and energetics of the associated interactions. In addition, Hirshfeld surface analysis and calculations on the enrichment ratio were carried out for both the forms to isolate the various types of interatomic contacts and differentiate their contribution towards the molecular assembly, as obtained from 2D fingerprint plots. Also, the interaction energies were computed for the new polymorph and compared with the reported form. The studies render quantitative insights into the role of strong H-bonds and weak intermolecular interactions acting cooperatively in the crystal. In addition, the role of both electrostatic and dispersion energies contributes to the overall stability in the crystal packing.     

Low temperature effects on electrical and optical properties of TTBNc thin films

Electrical and optical properties of thermally evaporated air annealed Tetra-Tert-Butyl 2,3 Naphthalocyanine (TTBNc) thin films are studied. From the Arrhenius plot, the thermal activation energy is calculated for intrinsic and extrinsic region. Different hopping conduction parameters are tabulated using the Variable Range Hopping (VRH) model in the low temperature region. The studies on the optical absorption spectra lead to the determination of optical band gap energy and Urbach’s energy of TTBNc thin films. Also the temperature dependence of steepness parameter is explained.     

Evaluation of preprocessing steps to compensate for magnetic field distortions due to body movements in BOLD fMRI

Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is currently the dominant technique for non-invasive investigation of brain functions. One of the challenges with BOLD fMRI, particularly at high fields, is compensation for the effects of spatiotemporally varying magnetic field inhomogeneities (ΔB₀) caused by normal subject respiration and, in some studies, movement of the subject during the scan to perform tasks related to the functional paradigm. The presence of ΔB₀ during data acquisition distorts reconstructed images and introduces extraneous fluctuations in the fMRI time series that decrease the BOLD contrast-to-noise ratio. Optimization of the fMRI data-processing pipeline to compensate for geometric distortions is of paramount importance to ensure high quality of fMRI data. To investigate ΔB₀ caused by subject movement, echo-planar imaging scans were collected with and without concurrent motion of a phantom arm. The phantom arm was constructed and moved by the experimenter to emulate forearm motions while subjects remained still and observed a visual stimulation paradigm. These data were then subjected to eight different combinations of preprocessing steps. The best preprocessing pipeline included navigator correction, a complex phase regressor and spatial smoothing. The synergy between navigator correction and phase regression reduced geometric distortions better than either step in isolation and preconditioned the data to make them more amenable to the benefits of spatial smoothing. The combination of these steps provided a 10% increase in t-statistics compared to only navigator correction and spatial smoothing and reduced the noise and false activations in regions where no legitimate effects would occur.     

A chromogenic calixarene hydroxamic acid for the sequential separation of Ti(IV) and Zr(IV)

A new chromogenic calixarene with hydroxamic acid as chelating agent was synthesized by partial reduction of nitrocalixarene which was subsequently coupled with coumarin chloride. The reagent showed selective and quantitative extraction of Ti(IV) into chloroform at 6 M HCl and that of Zr(IV) at 0.5 M HCl. A facile liquid-liquid extraction method for the separation and spectrophotometric determination of Ti(IV) and Zr(IV) has been proposed. The validity of the method was checked by separating several synthetic mixtures. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of piezoelectric lead-zirconium-titanate (PZT) samples. The method shows remarkable simplicity and selectivity. The method can also be used for the determination of Ti(IV) and Zr(IV) in various environmental samples. The article is published in the original.     

A new library of C-16 modified artemisinin analogs and evaluation of their anti-parasitic activities

A library of C-16 modified artemisinin analogs was prepared and their antimalarial as well as antileishmanial activities were evaluated. Synthesis of these compounds involved the conversion of artemisinin to its phenol derivatives 7 and 12, and subsequent parallel derivatization by introducing new chemical groups through ester, carbamate, sulfate, phosphate and isourea linkages. Comparison of in vitro antimalarial activities showed that C9-beta artemisinin analogs (8a-f) are more potent than the corresponding C9-alpha diastereomers (9a-f); however, their antileishmanial activities were in the same range. Many of the 10-deoxoartemisinin analogs studied here showed promising antiparasitic activities. For example, compounds 13a-e are approximately three times more active against drug resistant W2 strain of P. falciparum, compared to artemisinin (IC(50), approximately 0.2 - 0.6 nM; cf. artemisinin = 1.6 nM). Further, a number of compounds in this series were notably leishmanicidal, with activities comparable to or better than pentamidine (e.g., 13g and 13j). Detailed in vivo studies involving these active compounds are underway to identify lead candidates for further development.     

Ion-induced multiply reentrant liquid-liquid transitions and the nature of criticality in ethanol-water mixture

We report a quite unusual feature of four liquid-liquid reentrant transitions in ethanol (E)+water (W)+ammonium sulfate mixture by meticulous tuning of the ammonium sulfate concentration in a narrow range, as a function of temperature, at atmospheric pressure. Detailed exploration of the intricate phase behavior in terms of E/W sections shows that the range of triple reentrance shrinks with increasing E/W. The behavior of osmotic susceptibility is investigated by light scattering, near the critical point, in the one-phase region by varying the temperature at fixed concentration of the components, in a particular E/W section. The critical exponent of susceptibility (gamma) and correlation length (nu) are observed to have Fisher renormalized Ising values [Phys. Rev. 176, 237 (1968)], with gamma(r)=1.41 and nu(r)=0.718. The effective susceptibility exponent, gamma(eff), exhibits a sharp, nonmonotonic crossover from Ising to mean-field critical behavior, which is completed outside the critical regime. The amplitude of the correlation length, xi(o)(=21.2+/-0.4 A), deduced from light scattering experiment, is an order of magnitude larger than the typical values in usual aqueous electrolyte systems. This value of xi(o) is further verified from small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments and found to be consistent. SAXS experiments on the critical sample reveal the presence of long-ranged intermolecular correlations, leading to supramolecular structuring, at a temperature far away from the critical point. These results convincingly demonstrate that the finite length scale arising due to the structuring competes with the diverging correlation length of critical concentration fluctuations, which influences the nonasymptotic critical behavior in this aqueous electrolyte system. The sulphate ions play a dominant role in both structuring and the complex phase behavior.