Green synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles by Allium cepa L. to produce silver nano‐coated fabric and their antimicrobial evaluation

This research work was proposed to study the antimicrobial activity of the silver nanocoated fabric with the purpose of producing good dressing and clothing material. We synthesized simple, ecofriendly, cost‐effective and sustainable silver nanoparticles by using the aqueous extract of Allium cepa L. Here, A. cepa L. acts as a good reducing and capping agent that produced stable silver nanoparticles having particle size of range 36 ± 1 to 98 ± 2 nm, Poly dispersiblity index 0.234 ± 0.61 to 1.023 ± 0.33 and Zeta potential ‐12 ± 1.5 mV to ‐26 ± 1.2 mV. The effect of temperature and extract volume used was considered for optimization of synthetic procedure. The nanocoated fabric was characterized for morphological study, size (using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) and zeta‐potential (Zeta Potentiometer). The presence of functional groups were observed by using attenuated total reflection‐Fourier transform infrared (ATR‐FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. The crystallinity and structural property of the synthesized silver nanoparticles were studied in terms of Powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD). An IC₅₀ value and zone of inhibition was studied which demonstrate that the silver nanocoated fabric have an excellent antibacterial property against Gram‐negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram‐positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. Further nanocoated fabric material was washed (with function of time 0, 10, 25, and 50 laundry cycles) and still retained their anti‐bacterial activity towards both strain. Initially there was 52 μg/ml of silver nanoparticles on the cotton fabric but after 50 laundry cycle in 500 ml of distilled water the fabric showed 92% efficiency against gram positive and 90% efficacy toward gram negative bacteria. It was found that 4.16 μg/ml nano particles leached in case of S. Aureus and 5.2 μg/mL silver nanoparticles leached in case of E. coli. Nanocoated fabric material synthesized using green synthesis was found to be economical with good resistance to washing.     

Synthesis and In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Novel 1,3,4‐Oxadiazole‐Linked 1,2,3‐Triazole/Isoxazole Hybrids

A series of new 1,3,4‐oxadiazole‐linked 1,2,3‐triazole/isoxazole derivatives were designed and synthesized. All the synthesized compounds were screened for in vitro anticancer activity against four human cancer cells: HeLa (cervical), MDA‐MB‐231 (breast), DU‐145 (prostate), and HEPG2 (liver). Among 17 compounds tested, 7a , 7c , and 7d showed potent activity toward four cell lines.     

7‐Phenyl‐1‐oxa‐4‐thiaspiro[4.5]decan‐7‐ol stereoisomers

The stereoisomers of 7‐phenyl‐1‐oxa‐4‐thia­spiro­[4.5]­decan‐7‐ol, C₁₄H₁₈O₂S, have the same stereochemistry at the C atom bearing an OH group, i.e. axial OH and equatorial phenyl groups. However, the acetal S and O atoms are axial and equatorial, respectively, in one isomer and reversed in the second. Furthermore, the crystals of one isomer are composed of hydrogen‐bonded mol­ecules involving the hydroxyl H atom and the O atom of the five‐membered heterocyclic ring, with an O?O distance of 2.962 (3) Å, forming a polymeric chain along the b axis. The asymmetric unit of the other isomer is composed of two mol­ecules, wherein hydroxyl H atoms and the O atoms of the five‐membered heterocyclic rings display intramolecular O—H?O hydrogen bonds with O?O separations of 2.820 (2) and 2.834 (2) Å.     

Effect of nanoclay and barium sulfate nanoparticles on the thermal and morphological properties of polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposites

The thermal, morphological and optical studies of BaSO₄ and MMT (nanoclay) embedded in PVDF were investigated. Nanocomposites samples of PVDF–BaSO₄–MMT were prepared by varying the loadings (1–4 mass%) in case of BaSO₄ and MMT nanomaterials, respectively. Polyvinylidene fluoride–barium sulfate-montmorillonite (PVDF–BaSO₄–MMT) nanocomposites were prepared by solvent-mixing technique. Nanoparticles were synthesized by in situ deposition technique with the help of nonionic polymeric surfactant, and the particle size of nanoparticles was recognized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis which confirms that the particle has diameter of 80–90 nm. As prepared, nanocomposites films (thickness, 25 μm) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), SEM and electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS). FTIR shows that all the chemical constituents were present in the nanocomposites, whereas SEM analysis suggested that the nanofillers dispersed well in polymer matrix and EDS showed the elemental composition of nanocomposite samples. Thermal properties of nanocomposites were studied by using TG/DTA/DTG. TG/DTA studies showed decomposition temperature of pure PVDF is 473.5 °C. The decomposition temperature (T _d) of nanocomposites was increased by 93 °C in case of nanocomposites with addition of both BaSO₄ and MMT nanomaterials. The difference in the thermal degradation temperature was found to be 1.2% higher in case of addition of BaSO₄ nanoparticle as compared to nanoclay. The obtained transparent nanocomposite films were characterized by using UV–Vis spectrophotometer which shows that transparencies of nanocomposites are maintained in visible region, the intensity of absorption band in UV region is increased with the addition of BaSO₄ nanoparticles, while in case of addition of nanoclay the UV region does not show drastic changes. Addition of both nanoparticle and nanoclay shows higher absorption in comparison with the individual samples. But further, doubling the amount of nanoparticle and nanoclay shows decrease in UV absorption. Overall, the results of thermal studies show that the incorporation of BaSO₄ and MMT could significantly improve the thermal properties of nanocomposites.     

Binding studies of sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate with poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)

The binding of sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS) with poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) has been investigated at 303.15 and 313.15 K using equilibrium dialysis, surface tension, viscosity, ultrasound velocity and ultrasound absorption techniques. From each of these studies four distinct regions of SDBS-PVP interactions were observed. Interaction of SDBS with PVP was found to involve the binding of surfactant dimers with the polymer molecule followed by usual micellization. The binding data has been analyzed in terms of various models of polymer-surfactant interaction.     

Nonlinear free vibration analysis of simply supported piezo-laminated plates with random actuation electric potential difference and material properties

Studies are made on nonlinear free vibrations of simply supported piezo-laminated rectangular plates with immovable edges utilizing Kirchoff’s hypothesis and von Kármán strain–displacement relations. The effect of random material properties of the base structure and actuation electric potential difference on the nonlinear free vibration of the plate is examined. The study is confined to linear-induced strain in the piezoelectric layer applicable to low electric fields. The von Kármán’s large deflection equations for generally laminated elastic plates are derived in terms of stress function and transverse deflection function. A deflection function satisfying the simply supported boundary conditions is assumed and a stress function is then obtained after solving the compatibility equation. Applying the modified Galerkin’s method to the governing nonlinear partial differential equations, a modal equation of Duffing’s type is obtained. It is solved by exact integration. Monte Carlo simulation has been carried out to examine the response statistics considering the material properties and actuation electric potential difference of the piezoelectric layer as random variables. The extremal values of response are also evaluated utilizing the Convex model as well as the Multivariate method. Results obtained through the different statistical approaches are found to be in good agreement with each other.     

A higher order uniformly convergent method for singularly perturbed parabolic turning point problems

In this article, we study numerical approximation for a class of singularly perturbed parabolic (SPP) convection-diffusion turning point problems. The considered SPP problem exhibits a parabolic boundary layer in the neighborhood of one of the sides of the domain. Some a priori bounds are given on the exact solution and its derivatives, which are necessary for the error analysis. A numerical scheme comprising of implicit finite difference method for time discretization on a uniform mesh and a hybrid scheme for spatial discretization on a generalized Shishkin mesh is proposed. Then Richardson extrapolation method is applied to increase the order of convergence in time direction. The resulting scheme has second-order convergence up to a logarithmic factor in space and second-order convergence in time. Numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the theoretical results and the comparative study is done with the existing schemes in literature to show better accuracy of the proposed schemes.     

(S)-citramalic acid,a useful chiral synthon for the synthesis of 15-deoxy-16(S)-hydroxy-16-methylprostaglandins

(S)-Citramalic acid, a readily available microbial metabolite has been efficiently transformed into (2S)-2-methyl-2-hydroxy-1-hexanol ($\text{7}$), an important chiral synthon for the synthesis of 15-deoxy-16(S)-hydroxy-16-methylprostaglandins.     

Finite element analysis and approximation of Burgers’‐Fisher equation

In this article, the authors present finite element analysis and approximation of Burgers’‐Fisher equation. Existence and uniqueness of weak solution is proved by Galerkin's finite element method for non‐smooth initial data. Next, a priori error estimates of semi‐discrete solution in norm, are derived and the convergence of semi‐discrete solution is established. Then, fully discretization of the problem is done with the help of Euler's backward method. The nonlinearity is removed by lagging it to previous known level. The scheme is found to be convergent. Positivity of fully discrete solution is discussed, and bounds on time step are discovered for which the solution preserves its positivity. Finally, numerical experiments are performed on some examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the scheme. The proposed scheme found to be fast, easy and accurate.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 33: 1652–1677, 2017