Caesalpinia sappan L. wood fiber: bio-reinforcement for polybutylene succinate-based biocomposite film

Caesalpinia sappan L. wood fiber (CSWF), a novel advanced bio-reinforcement for polybutylene succinate (PBS) composite films, has shown significant promise ranging from 0 to 15 part per hundred of resin (phr). The functional groups and interactions, morphology, thermal stability, mechanical characteristics, and biodegradability were all investigated. Without treatment or any compatibilizers, CSWF could be well-dispersed in the PBS matrix. The PBS/CSWF10 composite film had highest mechanical strength, with a tensile strength of 12.21 N/mm² and a break elongation of 21.01%. Biodegradability studies indicated that the PBS/CSWF10 composite films degraded completely in three months. Furthermore, the E_a of degradation resulting from TGA and the shift of wavenumber resulting from FTIR revealed that the addition of CSWF has a greater interaction between additive and martix than conventional cellulose. The PBS/CSWF10 composite has the potential to be environmentally friendly, with promising short-term degradation and rising mechanical characteristics. Therefore, it is the optimum concentration of a certain biocomposite film. As a result, a novel advanced natural-based cellulose for biopolymer composites film was discovered, as well as other benefits for bio-reinforcement of the green plastic composite film industry.

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Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomics to discriminate between cold pressed rice bran oils produced from two different cultivars of Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica in Thailand

A newly developed liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method for the analysis of cold pressed rice bran oil (RBO) was established and used to discriminate between RBOs produced from two different cultivars of major Thai fragrant rice species. The cold pressed RBO was prepared using the screw compression method. The LC-MS data were preprocessed with MZmine 2.10 program before evaluating with principal component analysis using SIMCA 13 software. The LC-MS method was able to detect and quantify several kinds of valuable constituents such as fatty acids, vitamin E, and γ-oryzanol. The chromatographic condition was feasible; short time for analysis and simple method were achieved. From score plot and loading plot of principle component analysis (PCA), two rice cultivar samples were clearly separated, and it was revealed that Khao-Hom-Pathum was more suitable than Khao-Hom-Mali for cold pressed RBO production since it contained high total γ-oryzanol and less saturated free fatty acids. As with the fixed price of all the rice brans, this information can be used in order to, if possible, preserve the price of rice brans from different cultivars.     

New Organic Salt from Levofloxacin-Citric Acid: What Is the Impact on the Stability and Antibiotic Potency?

This research dealt with the composition, structure determination, stability, and antibiotic potency of a novel organic salt composed of levofloxacin (LF) and citric acid (CA), named levofloxacin-citrate (LC). After a stoichiometric proportion screening, the antibiotic-antioxidant reaction was conducted by slow and fast evaporation methods. A series of characterizations using thermal analysis, powder X-ray diffractometry, vibrational spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance confirmed LC formation. The new organic salt showed a distinct thermogram and diffractogram. Next, Fourier transform infrared indicated the change in N-methylamine and carboxylic stretching, confirmed by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra to elucidate the 2D structure. Finally, single-crystal diffractometry determined LC as a new salt structure three-dimensionally. The attributive improvements were demonstrated on the stability toward the humidity and lighting of LC compared to LF alone. Moreover, the antibiotic potency of LF against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) enhanced ~1.5–2-fold by LC. Hereafter, LC is a potential salt antibiotic-antioxidant combination for dosage formulas development.     

Sonophotocatalytic activity of methyl orange over Fe(III)/TiO2

TiO₂ doped with Fe³⁺ was prepared by an impregnation technique and its sonophotocatalytic activity over methyl orange (MO) was investigated. The Fe/TiO₂ surface presented red shift to longer wavelength, resulting in a lower energy band gap. Fe loading of 0.1 wt% on TiO₂ provided the optimum degradation. The MO degradation rate constant under sonophotocatalytic conditions was 2.5 times higher than under photocatalytic conditions.     

Photocatalytic degradation of BTEX using W-doped TiO2 immobilized on fiberglass cloth under visible light

W-doped TiO₂ were immobilized on fiberglass cloth (FGC). The catalyst possessed small crystallite sizes with a red-shift on an absorption edge. Good dispersion was observed over the immobilized catalyst. The photocatalytic degradation of gaseous BTEX was conducted in a flow reactor under day-light fluorescent. Parameters including gas flowrate, catalyst loading, initial concentration and relative humidity (%RH) were investigated. The prepared catalysts showed higher efficiency than that of TiO₂ approximately 18, 3, 3 and 2.5× for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene, respectively. The condition to achieve 100% BTEX removal was found at 20 min/ml, catalyst loading 0.1 mg/cm² and 30% RH.