Optimization of Lipid Extraction from Spirulina spp. by Ultrasound Application and Mechanical Stirring Using the Taguchi Method of Experimental Design

The present study uses the Taguchi method of experimental design to optimize lipid extraction from Spirulina spp. by ultrasound application and mechanical stirring. A Taguchi L₉ orthogonal array was used to optimize various parameters, such as methanol: chloroform (M:C) ratio, biomass: solvent ratio, and extraction time for lipid extraction. The results were analyzed using the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The biomass: solvent ratio significantly influenced lipid content (p < 0.05) with 92.1% and 92.3% contributions to the lipid and S/N ratio data, respectively. The extraction time presented a contribution value of 5.0%, while the M:C ratio presented the most negligible contribution of 0.4% for S/N data. The optimum extraction conditions were: M:C ratio of 1:1, biomass: solvent ratio of 1:60, and extraction time of 30 min. The predominant fatty acids were palmitic acid (44.5%), linoleic acid (14.9%), and gamma-linolenic acid (13.4%). The confirmation experiments indicated a lipid content of 8.7%, within a 95% confidence interval, proving the Taguchi method’s effectiveness in optimizing the process parameters for lipid extraction.     

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study of Iron Site Manganese Substituted Yttrium Orthoferrite

In this work, manganese (Mn)-doped YFeO₃, i.e., YFM_xO powders with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1, was synthesized by a hydrothermal method to study the influences of doping on its structural, morphological, optical, magnetic, and local electrical properties. The experimental results show that all the samples exhibit an orthorhombic structure with space group Pnma. Refined structure parameters are presented. Morphology images show the shape evolution from layered to multilayered with increasing Mn content. Infrared spectra reveal the characteristic vibrations of the obtained YFM_xO samples. From the magnetic study, an increased magnetic moment in the range of 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.075 is observed. The Fe and Y K-edge local structure studies indicate that the valency of Fe and Y is mainly found in the trivalent state, which also indicates that the substitution of Mn ions not only affects the nearest neighbor atomic shell of Fe but also affects the nearest neighbor’s local structure of Y atoms. Our results show that the addition of Mn exhibits an evident influence on the local structural and magnetic properties.     

Effects of Extraction Methods on the Bioactivities and Nutritional Value of Virginia and Valencia-Type Peanut Oil

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of peanut varieties cultivated in Morocco (Virginia and Valencia) and extraction methods (cold press, CP; Soxhlet, Sox and maceration, and Mac) on the fatty acid profile, phytosterol, and tocopherol contents, quality characteristics, and antioxidant potential of peanut seed oil. The DPPH method was used to determine the antioxidant activity of the oils. The results revealed that fatty acid content was slightly affected by the extraction technique. However, the CP method was shown to be an excellent approach for extracting oil with desirable quality features compared to the Sox and Mac methods. Furthermore, the peanut oil extracted via CP carried a higher amount of bioactive compounds and exhibited remarkable antioxidant activities. The findings also revealed higher oleic acid levels from the Virginia oil, ranging from 56.46% to 56.99%. Besides, a higher total phytosterol and tocopherol content and DPPH scavenging capacity were obtained from the Valencia oil. Analyzing the study, it can be inferred that extraction method and variety both affect the composition of the peanut oil’s bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. This information is relevant for extracting peanut oil with a greater level of compounds of industrial interest.     

Preparation of Nitrogen and Sulfur Co-Doped Fluorescent Carbon Dots from Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Sensor for the Detection of Rutin

The poor water solubility, large particle size, and low accessibility of cellulose, the most abundant bioresource, have restricted its generalization to carbon dots (CDs). Herein, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped fluorescent carbon dots (N, S-CDs) were hydrothermally synthesized using cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as a carbon precursor, exhibiting a small particle size and excellent aqueous dispersion. Thiourea was selected as a nitrogen and sulfur dopant to introduce abundant fluorescent functional groups into N, S-CDs. The resulting N, S-CDs exhibited nanoscale size (6.2 nm), abundant functional groups, bright blue fluorescence, high quantum yield (QY = 27.4%), and high overall yield (16.2%). The excellent optical properties of N, S-CDs endowed it to potentially display a highly sensitive fluorescence “turn off” response to rutin. The fluorescence response for rutin allowed a wide linear range of 0–40 mg·L⁻¹, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.02 μM, which revealed the potential of N, S-CDs as a rapid and simple sensing platform for rutin detection. In addition, the sustainable and large-scale production of the N, S-CDs in this study paves the way for the successful high-value utilization of cellulose.     

Synthesis and the Crystal Structure of a New Chiral 1D Metal–Organic Coordination Polymer Based on L-Prolineamide-Substituted Diarylacetylenedicarboxylic Acid Derivative

The new homochiral 1D metal–organic coordination polymer [Cu₂(EDPB)•H₂O]_n was synthesized starting from the original 3,3′-ethyne-1,2-diylbis[6-(L-prolylamino)benzoic acid] (H₄EDPB). The unique crystal structure of the new compound was established by powder X-ray diffraction. The [Cu₂(EDPB)•H₂O]_n system shows catalytic activity and enantioselectivity in a Henry reaction of p-nitrobenzaldehyde with nitromethane.     

Penalty Virtual Element Method for the 3D Incompressible Flow on Polyhedron Mesh

In this paper, a penalty virtual element method (VEM) on polyhedral mesh for solving the 3D incompressible flow is proposed and analyzed. The remarkable feature of VEM is that it does not require an explicit computation of the trial and test space, thereby bypassing the obstacle of standard finite element discretizations on arbitrary mesh. The velocity and pressure are approximated by the practical significative lowest equal-order virtual element space pair (Xh,Qh) which does not satisfy the discrete inf-sup condition. Combined with the penalty method, the error estimation is proved rigorously. Numerical results on the 3D polygonal mesh illustrate the theoretical results and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Laguerre Wavelet Approach for a Two-Dimensional Time–Space Fractional Schrödinger Equation

This article is devoted to the determination of numerical solutions for the two-dimensional time–spacefractional Schrödinger equation. To do this, the unknown parameters are obtained using the Laguerre wavelet approach. We discretize the problem by using this technique. Then, we solve the discretized nonlinear problem by means of a collocation method. The method was proven to give very accurate results. The given numerical examples support this claim.     

直接二氟甲硫基化与一氟甲硫基化反应研究进展

含有二氟甲硫基基团(SCF2H)与含有一氟甲硫基基团(SCFH2)的有机化合物具有独特的物理和化学性质,在医药及农药等领域具有潜在的应用价值.这两类化合物的传统制备方法是巯基底物的二氟甲基化与一氟甲基化,但含巯基底物本身种类有限,极大地限制了该类化合物的应用与开发,因此开发新的直接二氟/一氟甲硫基化方法和开拓新型直接二氟/一氟甲硫基化试剂具有重要的意义.综述了直接二氟甲硫基化反应和一氟甲硫基化反应的最新研究进展,并对反应的相关机理进行了论述.     

用多群蒙特卡罗方法计算快中子核临界keff和通量密度

用多群蒙特卡罗方法对快中子核裂变系统进行了临界计算。有效增殖因子keff的计算值与实验结果符合。计算所得中子通量密度的空间分布在球形裂变系统中随半径增大单调下降。中子通量密度的能量分布在由高浓缩铀组成的活性区内呈单一能量极大值,其对应能量对于裸球核裂变系统和具有反射层裂变系统分别为0.35MeV和0.25MeV,而在由天然铀组成的反射层中在0.1MeV附近出现能量双峰。由通量密度所得中子能谱在无反射层球形裂变系统中随半径增加变硬,在有反射层球形裂变系统中随半径增加变软。