Preparation and properties of cellulose/silver nanoparticle composites with in situ-generated silver nanoparticles using Ocimum sanctum leaf extract

In the present work, silver nanoparticles were in situ-generated in cellulose matrix using Ocimum sanctum leaf extract as a reducing agent. Regenerated wet cellulose films were first immersed in O. sanctum leaf extract and then it was allowed to diffuse into the films. The leaf extract–diffused wet films were dipped in different concentrated aq.AgNO₃ solutions. The leaf extract inside the wet films reduced AgNO₃ into nanosilver. The dry composite films were black in color. Some of the nanoparticles were also formed outside the film in the solution. The nanoparticles were viewed by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy techniques. The composite films showed good antibacterial activity. The cellulose, matrix, and the composite films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis techniques. The tensile properties of the composite films were higher than those of the matrix. These biodegradable films can be used for packaging and medical purposes.     

A new cytotoxic diterpenoid glycoside from the leaves of Blumea lacera and its effects on apoptosis and cell cycle

A new diterpenoid glycoside, 6E,10E,14Z-(3S)-17-hydroxygeranyllinalool-17-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1?→?2)-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1?→?6)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (1) together with the known diterpenoid glycoside (2) and two known flavonoid glycosides (3, 4) were isolated from the methanol extract of Blumea lacera leaves. The structures were determined by the interpretation of their spectroscopic data and comparison with the literature. All compounds were isolated for the first time from B. lacera and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity. Only the new compound (1) showed strong cytotoxic activity with the lowest IC₅₀ value (8.3 μM) being displayed against MCF-7 breast cancer cells. In apoptosis and cell cycle analysis, 1 revealed strong apoptotic activity against MCF-7 cells (45.5% AV⁺/PI^?) after 24 h, but showed no arresting of any of the cell cycle phases in MCF-7.     

Statistical mixture design--principal component optimization for selective compound extraction from plant material

A simplex centroid design is used to optimize solvent mixtures for selective extraction of compounds from Erythrina speciosa Andrews leaves. Three main groups of compounds characterized by chromatographic retention times of 1.7, 3.1, and 6.6 min were extracted. The chromatographic peak heights registered at 1407 equally spaced times for each design extract were converted into principal components (PCs). Three PCs account for 89.1% of the data variance and have important loading values at the above retention times. Quadratic mixture models were found to adequately describe the response surfaces of their PC score values. Maximizing the first PC scores while minimizing the second and third ones results in an optimum 83% dichloromethane-17% acetone mixture that selectively extracts the group of compounds with retention times around 3.1 min. Maximizing the second PC scores and minimizing the third PC scores leads to a 78% hexane-22% acetone mixture adequate for extracting the 6.6 min retention time compounds as well as other compounds with high retention times. The 1.7 min group of compounds is most efficiently extracted on maximizing the third PC that results in a 50% ethanol-50% acetone mixture. The Derringer-Suich algorithm confirmed the determination of these optimized mixtures.     

Recursion relations for the three‐electron subsidiary integral W (l,m, n; α, β, γ)

The subsidiary integral W (l, m, n; α, β, γ) is a key integral that appears in the variational calculation of a three‐electron atomic system using Hylleraas coordinates. For the case where the ratio α/(α + β + γ) ～ 1, an important special situation that may occur in the evaluation of the Bethe logarithm, existing approaches for calculating the W integral become impractical due to the problem of slow convergence. In this article, we present a computationally efficient and numerical stable method, in which the W integral can be expressed in terms of either a finite series or a finite recursion relation. Numerical tests are given. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spanning Trees with Few Leaves

In this paper, we prove that an m-connected graph G on n vertices has a spanning tree with at most k leaves (for k ≥ 2 and m ≥ 1) if every independent set of G with cardinality m + k contains at least one pair of vertices with degree sum at least n − k + 1. This is a common generalization of results due to Broersma and Tuinstra and to Win.     

Separation of proanthocyanidins isolated from tea leaves using high-speed counter-current chromatography

The proanthocyanidin extract from tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves was purified for the further study of the biological role of proanthocyanidins in blister blight leaf disease of tea, which is caused by the fungus Exobasidium vexans. An aqueous acetone extract of proanthocyanidins prepared from healthy tea leaves was partially purified using Sephadex LH-20 chromatography. The crude proanthocyanidin extract obtained was fractionated with high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) using the solvent system n-hexane–EtOAc–MeOH–water (1:5:1:5). The purity of the each isolated fraction after a single HSCCC run was evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Seven fractions of high purity were isolated. The identity of the compound present in each fraction isolated was established using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Five proanthocyanidins and two flavanol digallates, (−)-epigallocatechin digallate (EGCDG) and (−)-epicatechin digallate (ECDG) were isolated. Comparison of spectral data of the proanthocyanidins isolated with those previously reported indicated that all five were known B-type proanthocyanidins with 2,3-cis stereochemistry in both the upper (u-unit) and the terminal (t-unit) units, and 4R configuration of the C-ring in the u-unit. The proanthocyanidins were established to be dimers composed of (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (−)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) and (−)-epiafzelechin gallate (EAG) units with the following structures: EGCG-(4β → 6)-EGCG, ECG-(4β → 6)-EGCG, EGCG-(4β → 6)-ECG, EAG-(4β → 6)-EGCG, ECG-(4β → 6)-ECG by analysis of spectral data. Therefore HSCCC offers a powerful method for the separation of a group of closely related naturally occurring compounds.     

Artificial Leaves via Reproduction of Hierarchical Structures by a Fast Molding and Curing Process

In this work, we have developed a practical approach for the replication of hierarchical structures on a native leaf surface via a fast two‐step molding process combining both the fast curability to prevent shrinkage of cells and the strong resistance to chemical compounds for further applications. The negative replica of the leaf was produced from perfluoropolyether (PFPE) by precise molding followed by a fast curing with UV. A liquid ceramic precursor material (polyvinylsilazane, PVSZ) was used to fabricate the positive leaf structure through the same process as applied for the negative imprint of the surface yielding a highly detailed replica of the native leaf surface structure. Static water contact angle measurements show that the biomimetic surfaces exhibit a wettability similar to the native leaves.     

反相高效液相色谱法同时测定沙棘叶中绿原酸和芦丁

建立了同时测定沙棘叶中绿原酸和芦丁含量的反相高效液相色谱(RP-HPLC)法。采用Kromasil C18色谱柱(150×4.6mm,5μm),流动相为体积比20∶80的乙腈-1%乙酸水溶液,检测波长358nm。结果表明:绿原酸、芦丁的浓度分别在0.0284～0.1704mg.mL-1(r=0.9995)和0.0566～0.3396mg.mL-1(r=0.9992)范围内与色谱峰面积呈良好线性关系;平均加标回收率分别为100.5%(n=5)和98.5%(n=5)。该方法快速、准确,重现性好,可用于同时测定沙棘叶中绿原酸和芦丁含量。     

Effect of On-Axis Dip in Refractive-Index Profile on the Cutoff Frequency of Modes of Few Mode Fibers: A Numerical Approach

Abstract

The normalized cutoff frequencies of the linearly polarized (LP) modes of a graded-index few mode fiber have been calculated as a function of profile shape parameters using a simple numerical method. The effect of refractive-index dip on these cutoff frequencies and on the order of appearance of these modes has been investigated. The presence of dip causes an increase in the cutoff V values of all the modes, and the maximum shift in the cutoff V value is found to be even 20% for some modes. The order of appearance of some modes also gets drastically affected.