Development of an HPLC method for determination of pentachloronitrobenzene, hexachlorobenzene and their possible metabolites

Background

Pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) are highly toxic and widespread in every environmental compartment. Some of metabolic products such as amino/nitro containing chlorinated aromatic compounds can be determined by gas chromatography coupled with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). However, it is difficult to identify some of chlorophenolic and chloroquinolic intermediates produced from PCNB and HCB by the above mentioned technique. Therefore, for analysis of these compounds and their metabolites, we have developed a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based method.

Results

The extraction of PCNB and HCB from soil and minimal salt medium was carried out with ethyl acetate and hexane respectively with good recoveries (98% for PCNB and 97% for HCB). The validation of the proposed extraction and HPLC method was done by analysis of PCNB and HCB biodegradation and their metabolites identification from anaerobic enriched soil samples.

Conclusion

A rapid, sensitive and simple HPLC based analytical method was developed for the analysis of PCNB, HCB and their possible intermediates.     

Fuzzy goal programming for inventory management: A bacterial foraging approach

An efficient inventory planning approach in today’s global trading regime is necessary not only for increasing the profit margin, but also to maintain system flexibility for achieving higher customer satisfaction. Such an approach should hence be comprised of a prudent inventory policy and clear satisfaction of stakeholder’s goals. Relative significance given to various objectives in a supply chain network varies with product as well as time. In this paper, a model is proposed to fill this void for a single product inventory control of a supply chain consisting of three echelons. A generic modification proposed to the membership functions of the fuzzy goal-programming approach is used to mathematically map the aspiration levels of the decision maker. The bacterial foraging algorithm has been modified with enhancement of the algorithms’ capability to map integer solution spaces and utilised to solve resulting fuzzy multi-objective function. An illustrative example comprehensively covers various decision scenarios and highlights the underlying managerial insights.     

Synthesis and α‐glucosidase inhibitory,DPPH scavenging activity of substituted 2‐oxo‐2H‐chromen‐7‐yl‐dihydrogen phosphate derivatives

Series of phosphorylated coumarin derivatives ( 4a , 4b , 4c , 4d , 4e , 4f , 4g , 4h , 4i , 4j ) were synthesized by Pechmann condensation, phosphorylation, and debenzylation reactions in very good yields. Thus, synthesized compounds ( 4a , 4b , 4c , 4d , 4e , 4f , 4g , 4h , 4i , 4j ) were evaluated for their α‐glucosidase and 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl scavenging activities; few compounds showed moderate to good activity. J. Heterocyclic Chem., 00 , 00 (2011).     

Synthesis of BF2 complexes of prodigiosin type oligopyrroles

We developed a simple, facile route for the synthesis of BF(2) complexes of prodigiosin type oligopyrroles and their cholesterol conjugates. This route gives an access to synthesize any desired meso-aryl-substituted 3-pyrrolyl BODIPYs which were not easily accessible earlier.     

Synthesis and DNA binding studies of Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) metal complexes of N1,N5-bis[pyridine-2-methylene]-thiocarbohydrazone Schiff-base ligand

The thiocarbohydrazone Schiff-base ligand with a nitrogen and sulphur donor was synthesized through condensation of pyridine-2-carbaldehyde and thiocarbohydrazide. Schiff-base ligands have the ability to conjugate with metal salts. A series of metal complexes with a general formula [MCl2(H2L)]·nH2O (MNi, Co, Cu and Zn) were synthesized by forming complexes of the N1,N5-bis[pyridine-2-methylene]-thiocarbohydrazone (H2L) Schiff-base ligand. These metal complexes and ligand were characterized by using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy, physicochemical characterization, CHNS and conductivity. The biological activity of the synthesized ligand was investigated by using Escherichia coli DNA as target. The DNA interaction of the synthesized ligand and complexes on E. coli plasmid DNA was investigated in the aqueous medium by UV-Vis spectroscopy and the binding constant (Kb) was calculated. The DNA binding studies showed that the metal complexes had an improved interaction due to trans-geometrical isomers of the complexes than ligand isomers in cis-positions.     

Identification of Interaction Pressure Between Structure and Explosive with Inverse Approach

An inverse approach for the identification of the time-dependent localized interaction pressure between a structure and an explosive has been proposed and developed. In this approach, surface measurements of structural response (displacement and velocity) are integrated with numerical simulations to identify the spatial and time-dependent interaction pressure (i.e. the normal traction) on a structure surface. For verification and validation purposes, numerical simulations are used to (a) generate the time-dependent displacement and velocity fields on the free surface of the specimen at specified time intervals, (b) form a blast wave and compute the resulting interaction traction field between the structure and blast wave on the interaction interface for comparison to inverse predictions. In particular, validation of the proposed approach was performed using numerical simulation results for an underwater explosion, with excellent agreement between the identified interaction traction and the simulation generated interaction traction up to and including the maximum traction condition. To demonstrate the potential of the method, the proposed inverse procedure was employed to estimate the interaction traction field on a thin aluminum specimen subjected to transient pressure loading through detonation of explosive buried in sand.     

Experimental investigation into vortex structure and pressure drop across microcavities in 3D integrated electronics

Hydrodynamics in microcavities with cylindrical micropin fin arrays simulating a single layer of a water-cooled electronic chip stack is investigated experimentally. Both inline and staggered pin arrangements are investigated using pressure drop and microparticle image velocimetry (μPIV) measurements. The pressure drop across the cavity shows a flow transition at pin diameter–based Reynolds numbers (Re _d ) ~200. Instantaneous μPIV, performed using a pH-controlled high seeding density of tracer microspheres, helps visualize vortex structure unreported till date in microscale geometries. The post-transition flow field shows vortex shedding and flow impingement onto the pins explaining the pressure drop increase. The flow fluctuations start at the chip outlet and shift upstream with increasing Re _d . No fluctuations are observed for a cavity with pin height-to-diameter ratio h/d = 1 up to Re _d ~330; however, its pressure drop was higher than for a cavity with h/d = 2 due to pronounced influence of cavity walls.     

Performance limit for base-excited energy harvesting,and comparison with experiments

Nonlinear Dynamics - We consider the theoretical maximum extractable average power from an energy harvesting device attached to a vibrating table which provides a unidirectional displacement...     

Hilbert Space Methods in Quantum Mechanics,by Werner O. Amrein

This article, which is in two parts, surveys the wide application of scattering experiments to studies of the structures of solids and liquids. Part 1 outlines the general principles, and shows how the angular distribution of a scattered radiation is related by Fourier transform to correlations in the distributions of electrons and nuclei in the scattering target, citing the use of X-rays and of neutrons in determining time-averaged density distributions. Part 2 (to appear in the next issue) discusses the time-dependent aspects of the distributions for solids and liquids, including superfluid helium, and also of dynamical distributions of magnetization (or angular momentum) density, and examines the present limitations and future possibilities of scattering experiments.     

Investigation of optimum pulse shape for 112 Gbps DP-DQPSK in DWDM transmission

This paper reports the simulative analyses to investigate the impact of different pulse shapes on DP-DQPSK modulation for high-spectral efficient DWDM transmission at 112 Gbps per channel. In the simulation model we have considered three different pulse shapes viz. NRZ, 50% duty cycle RZ (RZ50) and 67% duty cycle RZ (RZ67) in symbol-aligned and symbol-interleaved format. The analysis has been carried out for various linear and nonlinear system impairments where the pulse is subjected to degradation under the influence of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, group velocity dispersion (GVD), cross-phase modulation (XPM) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and thus, limiting the system performance. Results show that the RZ50 pulse shape for DP-DQPSK with symbol interleaving shows the maximum tolerance for the various system degradations in long haul DWDM transmission. Even the system based on the NRZ pulse shape can gain significant improvement from the symbol-interleaving.