Jute as raw material for the preparation of microcrystalline cellulose

Cellulose was extracted at a yield of 59.8% from jute fibres based on the formic acid/peroxyformic acid process at an atmospheric pressure. The amounts of dissolved lignin and hemicelluloses were determined in the spent liquor. The results showed that the spent liquor contained 10.6% total sugars and 10.9% lignin (based on jute). Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was further prepared from the jute cellulose based on the acid hydrolysis technique. A very high yield, 48–52.8% (based on the jute raw material) was obtained. The acid hydrolysate of cellulose contained 2.7% glucose and 0.2% xylose. The MCC samples obtained from two different conditions, one at a low acidity and the other at a high acidity, were characterized by means of Thermo Gravimetric Analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared, X-ray detraction, Scanning Electron Micrograph, and Transmission Electron Micrograph techniques.     

Open charm mesons and charmonia in magnetized strange hadronic matter

We investigate the in-medium masses of open charm mesons (D(\begin{document}$ D^0 $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ D^+ $\end{document}), \begin{document}$ \bar{D} $\end{document}(\begin{document}$ \bar{D^0} $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ D^- $\end{document}), \begin{document}$ D_s $\end{document}(\begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^+ $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^- $\end{document})) and charmonium states (\begin{document}$ J/\psi $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \psi(3686) $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \psi(3770) $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \chi_{c0} $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \chi_{c2} $\end{document}) in strongly magnetized isospin asymmetric strange hadronic matter using a chiral effective model. In the presence of a magnetic field, the number and scalar densities of charged baryons have contributions from Landau energy levels. The mass modifications of open charm mesons result from their interactions with nucleons, hyperons, and the scalar fields (the non-strange field σ, strange field ζ, and isovector field δ) in the presence of a magnetic field. The mass modifications of the charmonium states result from the modification of gluon condensates in a medium simulated by the variation in the dilaton field (χ) in the chiral effective model. The effects of finite quark masses are also incorporated in the trace of the energy-momentum tensor in quantum chromodynamics to investigate the mass shifts of charmonium states. The in-medium masses of open charm mesons and charmonia are observed to decrease with an increase in baryon density. The charged \begin{document}$ D^+ $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ D^- $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^+ $\end{document}, and \begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^- $\end{document} mesons have additional positive mass shifts due to Landau quantization in the presence of a magnetic field. The effects of the strangeness fraction are observed to be more dominant for \begin{document}$ \bar{D} $\end{document} mesons compared with D mesons. The mass shifts of charmonia are observed to be larger in hyperonic media compared with nuclear media when the effect of the finite quark mass term is neglected. These medium mass modifications can have observable consequences on the production of the open charm mesons and charmonia in high-energy asymmetric heavy-ion collision experiments.     

Structure–Activity Relationships of the Antimalarial Agent Artemisinin 10. Synthesis and Antimalarial Activity of Enantiomers of rac-5β-Hydroxy-d-Secoartemisinin and Analogs: Implications Regarding the Mechanism of Action

An efficient synthesis of rac-6-desmethyl-5β–hydroxy-d-secoartemisinin 2, a tricyclic analog of R-(+)-artemisinin 1, was accomplished and the racemate was resolved into the (+)-2b and (−)-2a enantiomers via their Mosher Ester diastereomers. Antimalarial activity resided with only the artemisinin-like enantiomer R-(−)-2a. Several new compounds 9–16, 19a, 19b, 22 and 29 were synthesized from rac-2 but the C-5 secondary hydroxyl group was surprisingly unreactive. For example, the formation of carbamates and Mitsunobu reactions were unsuccessful. In order to assess the unusual reactivity of 2, a single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis revealed a close intramolecular hydrogen bond from the C-5 alcohol to the oxepane ether oxygen (O-11). All products were tested in vitro against the W-2 and D-6 strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Several of the analogs had moderate activity in comparison to the natural product 1. Iron (II) bromide-promoted rearrangement of 2 gave, in 50% yield, the ring-contracted tetrahydrofuran 22, while the 5-ketone 15 provided a monocyclic methyl ketone 29 (50%). Neither 22 nor 29 possessed in vitro antimalarial activity. These results have implications in regard to the antimalarial mechanism of action of artemisinin.     

Exploring the potential of fluoro-flavonoid derivatives as anti-lung cancer agents: DFT,molecular docking,and molecular dynamics techniques

The present investigation utilized in silico methodologies to explore the diverse pharmacological activities, toxicity profiles, and chemical reactivity of a series of fluoro-flavonoid compounds ( 1 – 14 ), which are secondary metabolites of plants known for their broad range of biological effects. A comprehensive strategy is utilized, incorporating methods such as prediction of activity spectra for substances (PASS) prediction, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) assessments, and density functional theory (B3LYP) calculations using three basis sets: 6-31G(d,p), 6-311G(d,p), and 6-311++G(d,p). Furthermore, the study employed molecular docking technique to identify target proteins, including HER2 (7JXH), EGFR (4UV7), FPPS (1YQ7), HPGDS (1V40), DCK (1P60), and KEAP1 on Nrf2 (1X2J), for the investigated compounds, with cianidanol and genistein serving as reference drugs for the docking process. The investigated fluoro-flavonoid compounds exhibited significantly greater binding affinities (ranging from −8.3 to −10.6 kcal mol⁻¹) toward HER2, HPGDS, and KEAP1 compared to the reference drugs, cianidanol and genistein, which displayed binding affinities ranging from −8.4 to −9.4 kcal mol⁻¹. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to assess the stability of the protein-ligand interaction, using the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD), root-mean-square fluctuation (RMSF), Radius of gyration (Rg) parameters and principle component analysis (PCA). Among the tested fluoro-flavonoid analogs, analog 11 showed a RMSD value of .15 nm with the HER2 protein target, indicating a stable interaction. Based on in silico results, it appears that the fluoro-flavonoid compound 11 has the potential to serve as a targeted anti-lung cancer drug. However, additional in vivo and in vitro studies are necessary to confirm this hypothesis.     

Zeros of p-adic forms

We show that all p-adic quintic forms in at least n>4562911 variables have a non-trivial zero. We also derive a new result concerning systems of cubic and quadratic forms.     

A Lower Bound on Longitudinal Structure Function at Small x from a Self-Similarity Based Model of Proton

Self-similarity based model of proton structure function at small x was reported in the literature sometime back. The phenomenological validity of the model is in the kinematical region 6.2 × 10-7 ≤ x ≤ 10-2 and 0.045 ≤ Q2 ≤ 120 GeV2. We use momentum sum rule to pin down the corresponding self-similarity-based gluon distribution function valid in the same kinematical region. The model is then used to compute bound on the longitudinal structure function FL（X, Q2） for A1tarelli-Martinelli equation in QCD and is compared with the recent HERA data.     

Transverse-and zero-field μSR investigation of magnetism and superconductivity in (Y1−xPr x )Ba2Cu3O7

Zero-field muon-spin-rotation (μSR) measurements on (Y₁? _x Pr _x )Ba₂Cu₃O₇ [x=1.0, 0.8, 0.6, and 0.54] show evidence for antiferromagnetic ordering of the Cu moments within the Cu?O planes, with Néel temperatures 285, 220, 35. 30 and 20 K, respectively. Forx=1.0 the local muon magnetic field is ≈16 mT, but decreases to ≈12 mT at 17K, due to additional magnetic ordering. The zero-field data, in conjunction with transport data, allow construction of a complete phase diagram for this system. Transverse-field (1 kOe) μSR data forx=0.2 (T _c =75 K) show that the muon depolarization is determined primarily by the Cu nuclear moments forT>T _c , and by the vortex state forT _c . Fitting the superconducting-state data to a BCS model yields an extrapolated zero-temperature magnetic penetration depth of 2170 Å.     

Determination of copper ion by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry at antimony trioxide-modified carbon nanotube paste electrode

In this work, an antimony trioxide-modified multi-walled carbon nanotube paste electrode (Sb₂O₃/CNTPE) was employed for determination of Cu²⁺ ions by using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) in the presence of 8-hydroxy-7-iodo-5-quinoline sulfonic acid (HIQSA) as a chelating agent. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods were applied to estimate the morphology and properties of the modified electrode. Measurements related to SWASV were taken in 0.6 M HCl at ?1.0 V versus Ag|AgCl|KCl (3 M) for 90 s (deposition step). After equilibrium time of 15 s, an ASV appeared at 0.0 V versus Ag|AgCl|KCl (3 M) (stripping step). The sensor depicted a fairly linear response for Cu²⁺ in the concentration range of 2–100 ppb with appropriate detection limit about 0.39 ppb and limit of quantification about 1.3 ppb. The stability of the modified electrode during 7 weeks and its behavior in the presence of some metal ions was evaluated. The practical applicability of the Sb₂O₃/CNTPE was established on the voltammetric determination of Cu²⁺ in tap water as a sample.     

A combined structure-based pharmacophore modeling and 3D-QSAR study on a series of N-heterocyclic scaffolds to screen novel antagonists as human DHFR inhibitors

Structural Chemistry - Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) is an essential enzyme that participates in folate metabolism and purine and thymidylate synthesis in cell proliferation. It converts...