Surprising Formation of Chlorinated Butenolides from Dialkyl Acetylenedicarboxylates and Hexachloro­acetone in the Presence of Triphenyl Phosphite

Triphenyl phosphite reacts smoothly with dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates and hexachloroacetone to produce alkyl 2‐(dichloromethylene)‐2,5‐dihydro‐5‐oxo‐4‐(trichloromethyl)furan‐3‐carboxylates in good yields.     

CuI-catalyzed Coupling Reactions of Aryl Iodides with Amides Using L-Proline and KF/Al2O3

An efficient experimentally simple and inexpensive catalyst system for the selective amidation of aryl iodides using 15 mol% of CuI as catalyst, 15 mol% of L-proline as ligand and KF/Al2O3 as a base in toluene is described.     

Kinetic modeling of aqueous phenol degradation by UV/H2O2 process

A dynamic kinetic model for the oxidation of phenol in water by an UV/H₂O₂ process is developed. The model is based on the elementary chemical and photochemical reactions, initiated by the photolysis of hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radicals. The model is validated by using experimental data obtained from the open literature for an actual UV/H₂O₂ process. Using those data and the developed kinetic model, kinetic rate constants for phenol intermediates, catechol and hydroquinone, are estimated. Moreover, the optimum initial hydrogen peroxide concentration is estimated by means of the validated model. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 40: 34–43, 2008     

Improvement in the protective performance and adhesion of polypyrrole coating on AZ31 Mg alloys

The electrochemical synthesis of polypyrrole (Ppy) coating on AZ31 magnesium alloy was successfully achieved in a solution containing sodium salicylate and monomer of pyrrole through cyclic voltammetry technique. The effect of potential range, passivation pretreatment and number of cycles of polymerization on the quality and protective performance of the coatings was evaluated using surface analysis and electrochemical techniques. Through taking the advantage of charge transfer resistance, current density, corrosion potential, optical microscopy images and SEM micrographs, the optimum condition of synthesis of a Ppy coating with the best adhesion and corrosion protection was determined. The optimal PPy coating synthesized over AZ31 increases the polarization resistance and decreases the corrosion current more than one order of magnitude and shift the corrosion potential about 200 mV toward nobler potentials. The SEM studies showed that Ppy coating have cauliflower morphology of Ppy grains with a diameter ranging from 20 nm to 60 nm.     

Microstructure of nickel nanoparticles embedded in carbon films: case study on annealing effect by micromorphology analysis

The presented study is aimed at analyzing the surface texture of amorphous hydrogenated carbon layers containing nickel nanoparticles (Ni‐NPs@a‐C:H) within their structure, which were deposited by Radio Frequency (RF) sputtering and RF‐Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (RF‐PECVD) methods on glass substrates. Prepared films were then used as research material following their annealing at two different temperatures of 250 °C and 350 °C in an inert argon atmosphere. Series of height samples were taken with the help of atomic force microscopy (AFM) operating in a non‐contact mode and examined in order to determine their fractal characteristics. Raw AFM data were first plane‐fitted to remove the surface bow exhibiting the so‐called residual surface, and then numerically processed to calculate the Areal Autocorrelation Function (AACF), which was later used to compute the Structure Function (SF). The log–log plots of the latter served for calculation of fractal properties of surfaces under investigation, including fractal dimension D, and pseudo‐topothesy K. The analysis of 3‐D surface texture helps to understand their essential characteristics and their implications as well as graphical models and their implementation in computer simulation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Oxidative coupling of methane over （Na2WO4＋Mn or Ce）/SiO2 catalysts： In situ measurement of electrical conductivity

The effects of manganese oxide or ceria promoters on the performance of Na2WO4/SiO2 catalysts for oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) are reported. The OCM reaction was performed in a continuous-flow microreactor at 800 ℃, atmospheric pressure and under GHSV = 13200 ml gC-1at h-1. Catalysts were characterized by in situ conductivity measurement, FT-IR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM and temperature programmed reduction analysis. Manganese oxide promoted Na2WO4/SiO2 is considered as one of the active and selective ca...     

Multispectroscopic DNA interaction studies of a water-soluble nickel(II) complex containing different dinitrogen aromatic ligands

The water-soluble Ni(II) complex, [Ni(bipy)₂(phen-dione)](OAc)₂·2H₂O (bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine and phen-dione = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione) has been synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical and spectroscopic methods. The binding interactions of this complex with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) were investigated using fluorimetry, spectrophotometry, circular dichroism and viscosimetry. In fluorimetric studies, the enthalpy and entropy of the reaction between the complex and CT-DNA showed that the reaction is exothermic (ΔH = −123.9 kJ mol⁻¹; ΔS = −323.5 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹). The competitive binding studies showed that the complex could not release methylene blue completely. The complex showed absorption hyperchromism in its UV–Vis spectrum with DNA. The calculated binding constant, K _b obtained from UV–Vis absorption studies was 2 × 10⁵ M⁻¹. Moreover, the complex induced detectable changes in the CD spectrum of CT-DNA, as well as changes in its viscosity. The results suggest that this nickel(II) complex interact with CT-DNA via a groove-binding mode.     

Sorted cell microarrays as platforms for high-content informational bioassays

We report on surface-engineered microarrays that provide in situ cell sorting, localization, and immobilization of various subsets of human primary lymphocytes, followed by an on-chip bioassay for ionizing-radiation-induced cytogenetic damage. The microarray format eliminates the necessity of separating cell sub-populations by alternative means (such as fluorescence- or magnetic-activated cell sorting) prior to performing informational bioassays. To exemplify the potential of this on-chip cytometry approach, we have integrated the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMNcyt) assay with the microarray platform for analysis of the chromosome damage profile of specific subsets of human peripheral lymphocytes. Microarray results were compared with data obtained from the traditional CBMNcyt assay on heterogeneous lymphocyte populations, and with flow cytometry data. Our results suggest that cytogenetic damage caused by ionizing radiation is not uniformly distributed across all lymphocytes subsets, but rather concentrated in specific subsets. The salient features of our approach are that it requires very small volumes of reagents, allows sorting of lymphocyte subsets in situ, increases parallelism of cell assays and is amenable to high content microscopy analysis. The on-chip cytometry format opens new vistas for advanced cell-based assays, potentially bringing to light important information which remains hidden with conventional assays and hence engendering new discoveries in cell biology.     

Fiber optic-linear array detection spectrophotometry in combination with dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for preconcentration and determination of copper

In this research, simple, rapid and efficient method, dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined fiber optic -linear array detection spectrophotometry (FO-LADS) was developed using a cylindrical micro-cell for preconcentration and determination of Cu(II) in samples. DLLME and FO-LADS methods have good matching conditions for being combined since FO-LADS is a suitable method for the determination of analytes in low volume of the remained phase obtained after DLLME. Molar absorptivity of complex Cu with (4-benzylp iperidineditiocarbamate potassium salt) (BPDC) was determined as 2.75 × 10⁴ L mol^-1 cm^-1 at 7nmax = 436 nm. Under the optimum conditions the calibration graph was linear in the rage of 2–70 fug L^-1 with detection limit of 0.34 fug L^-1. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to the determination of Cu(II) in real water samples and human urine sample.