Effect of andrographolide on cysteamine-induced duodenal ulcer in rats

The aim of this study was to evaluate the gastroprotective efficacy of andrographolide isolated from Andrographis paniculata in rats induced with duodenal ulcers. Duodenal ulcers were induced by cysteamine administration in rats pretreated with 3?mg?kg?1 BW?day?1 of andrographolide for 30 days. Ulcer score, myeloperoxidase activity, TBARS level, GSH/GSSG ratio and enzyme antioxidants were measured in the duodenal tissue. Brush border and basolateral membranes were isolated to assay sucrase, maltase, alkaline phosphatase and total ATPases. Ulcer score was significantly minimised in rats pretreated with andrographolide. Elevation in myeloperoxidase and TBARS levels were found to be minimised significantly due to andrographolide treatment. Membrane-bound enzyme activities and the thiol redox status of glutathione were significantly maintained in duodenal mucosa of rats that received andrographolide. This study reveals that the major component of A. paniculata, andrographolide, has potent antiulcer properties that are most likely caused by minimising inflammatory changes, counteracting free radical formation and maintaining the thiol redox status in the duodenum.     

Synthesis of cubic Li<Subscript>7</Subscript>La<Subscript>3</Subscript>Zr<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> by modified sol–gel process

Polycrystalline cubic Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (LLZ) with garnet-related type structure has been synthesized at 700 °C by modified sol–gel processes using citric acid as organic complexing agent and butan-1-ol or propan-2-ol as surface active agent. Thermal analysis (thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis) indicated that the gel must be annealed at around 700 °C to completely remove the organic solvent. X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopic investigations revealed that Al may not be essential to form cubic-phase LLZ; however, the addition of Al₂O₃ led to enhanced sintering of LLZ.     

Charge transport and optical properties of discotic liquid crystalline molecules THDDP and substituted THDP

The theoretical investigations have been carried out on the discotic liquid crystalline molecules, 2,3,6,7‐tetrakis‐hexyloxy‐9,16‐diaza‐dibenzo[a,c]phenazine (THDDP) and different substituted 2,3,6,7‐tetrakis‐hexyloxy‐dibenzo[a,c]phenazine (THDP) to study their charge transport and optical properties. The key parameters of charge transport such as charge transfer integrals and site energies have been calculated from the matrix elements of Kohn‐Sham Hamiltonian. The reorganization energy for the presence of excess charge and the rate of charge transfer calculated from Marcus theory have been used to find the mobility of the charge carrier in the studied molecules. The results show that the substitution and stacking angle change strongly affect the charge carrier mobility in π‐stacked THDDP and substituted THDP molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to find the most favorable conformation. The time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations reveal that for these molecules the different substitutions does not alter the main features of optical properties and the molecules may be used as blue light emitters. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Phosphonated mesoporous silica based composite membranes for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Mesoporous Santa Barbara Amorphous (SBA-15) was synthesized, and it was grafted with phosphonate functionality using a simple two-step process involving...     

Synthesis and characterization of dextrin-based polymer electrolytes for potential applications in energy storage devices

An attempt has been made to synthesise a new proton conducting polymer electrolyte using the biopolymer dextrin doped with ammonium thiocyanate salts using solution casting technique. The complexation has been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms of dextrin with NH₄SCN showed that T_g value increases with respect to the increase of NH₄SCN concentration. The electrical conductivity was measured using AC impedance analyser which showed that ionic conductivity increases with increase in salt concentration up to 40%. Transference number measurement was carried out to investigate the nature of the charge transport species in the polymer electrolyte. Surface morphology of the electrolytes was determined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies, and the chemical composition of the elements present was determined using EDAX. The proton battery was constructed with the highest conducting polymer electrolyte Dex-40%NH₄SCN and its open circuit voltage with load were carried out.     

Synthesis of 5-phenyl-3-(10H-phenothiazinyl)-Δ2-cyclohexen-1-ones by conventional and microwave-assisted methods and their antifungal activity

A series of 5-phenyl-3-(10H-phenothiazinyl)-Δ²-cyclohexen-1-ones were prepared using conventional and microwave-assisted methods. The condensation between 3-phenyl-1-(10H-phenothiazinyl) prop-2-en-1-one derivatives (3a–g) and acetyl acetone yielded 5-phenyl-3-(10H-phenothiazinyl)-Δ²-cyclohexen-1-one derivatives (7a–g). The products were characterized by UV, IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, 2D-NMR, MS, and elemental analysis. In vitro antifungal activity was carried out by zone of inhibition method against four species, namely Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Microsporum gypseum, and Aspergillus flavus. Compounds 7a and 7d showed good antifungal activity with zones of inhibition of 17 and 18 mm, respectively, and comparable with the standard substance, Bavinston, with 20 mm.     

Opto-electronic properties of low band gap fused-ring thieno[3,4-b]pyrazine analogues – A theoretical study

The structural, optical and ionic properties of thieno[3,4-b]pyrazine (TP) analogues have been studied using quantum chemical methods. The density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) methods were employed to optimise the ground- and excited-state geometries of TP analogues. Based on the ground- and excited-state geometries, the absorption and emission spectra have been calculated by using TD-DFT method with 6-311G(d,p) basis set. All the calculations were carried out in gas phase and in acetonitrile and chloroform medium. The solvent-phase calculations were performed using the polarisable continuum model (PCM). It has been observed that the effect of medium on the calculated absorption and emission spectra of these analogues is negligible. The calculated absorption and emission spectra are in good agreement with the available experimental results. This theoretical investigation shows that the fused-ring thieno[3,4-b]pyrazine analogues dibenzo[f,h]thieno[3,4-b]quinoxalines and thieno[3′,4′:5,6]pyrazino[2,3-f][1,10] phenanthroline have lower band gap than the thieno[3,4-b]pyrazine. Hence, these analogues can be used for the production of low band gap conjugated polymers.     

Rational design and first-principles studies of phenothiazine-based dyes for dye-sensitised solar cells

We investigate a series of phenothiazine (PT)-based organic dyes by adopting different donors and different donor substitution positions as photosensitisers for application in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs). First-principles calculations reveal systematic improvements of key parameters including light-harvesting efficiency, redox potential, electron injection and non-linear optical properties with donor substitutions. The non-planar structure also suppresses dye aggregation and reduces the rate of internal charge recombination. In particular, photosensitisers with combination of donor functional groups show outstanding performance on these key parameters. This study demonstrates that PT-based dyes with the studied donor groups could serve as excellent candidates of photosensitisers for future DSSC applications.     

Propargylamine (secondary) as a building block in indole synthesis involving ultrasound assisted Pd/Cu-catalyzed coupling-cyclization method: Unexpected formation of (pyrazole)imine derivatives

Propargylamine (secondary) has been explored as a building block in synthesizing indoles via an ultrasound assisted Pd/Cu-catalyzed coupling-cyclization method. Indoles containing a pyrazole moiety at C-2 attached via the –CH₂NH– linker (designed as potential anti-tubercular agents) were synthesized first and then generality/scope of the methodology was expanded by synthesizing other indoles. Unexpected formation of imine side products in first cases helped in synthesizing related (pyrazole)imines via a Cu catalyzed ultrasound assisted aerobic oxidation of precursor amines.