Dual Fluorometric Detection of Fe3+ and Hg2+ Ions in an Aqueous Medium Using Carbon Quantum Dots as a “Turn-off” Fluorescence Sensor

The present study aimed to develop a carbon dots-based fluorescence (FL) sensor that can detect more than one pollutant simultaneously in the same aqueous solution. The carbon dots-based FL sensor has been prepared by employing a facile hydrothermal method using citric acid and ethylenediamine as precursors. The as-synthesized CDs displayed excellent hydrophilicity, good photostability and blue fluorescence under UV light. They have been used as an efficient “turn-off” FL sensor for dual sensing of Fe³⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions in an aqueous medium with high sensitivity and selectivity through a static quenching mechanism. The lowest limit of detection (LOD) for Fe³⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions was found to be 0.406 µM and 0.934 µM, respectively over the concentration range of 0-50 µM. Therefore, the present work provides an effective strategy to monitor the concentration of Fe³⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions simultaneously in an aqueous medium using environment-friendly CDs.

Graphical Abstract

     

Alkaline oxygen evolution: exploring synergy between fcc and hcp cobalt nanoparticles entrapped in N-doped graphene

Herein, we report a Mott-Schottky catalyst by entrapping cobalt nanoparticles inside the N-doped graphene shell (Co@NC). The Co@NC delivered excellent oxygen evolution activity with an overpotential of merely 248 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^–2 with promising long-term stability. The importance of Co encapsulated in NC has further been demonstrated by synthesizing Co nanoparticles without NC shell. The synergy between the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and face-centered cubic (fcc) Co plays a major role to improve the OER activity, whereas the NC shell optimizes the electronic structure, improves the electron conductivity, and offers a large number of active sites in Co@NC. The density functional theory calculations have revealed that the hcp Co has a dominant role in the surface reaction of electrocatalytic oxygen evolution, whereas the fcc phase induces the built-in electric field at the interfaces with N-doped graphene to accelerate the H⁺ ion transport.     

Experimental investigation on heat transfer behavior of the novel ternary eutectic PCM embedded with MWCNT for thermal energy storage systems

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, the variation of thermophysical properties such as the thermal conductivity, thermal energy storage capacity, viscosity, and phase...     

Computational Design of Novel Allosteric Inhibitors for Plasmodium falciparum DegP

The serine protease, DegP exhibits proteolytic and chaperone activities, essential for cellular protein quality control and normal cell development in eukaryotes. The P. falciparum DegP is essential for the parasite survival and required to combat the oscillating thermal stress conditions during the infection, protein quality checks and protein homeostasis in the extra-cytoplasmic compartments, thereby establishing it as a potential target for drug development against malaria. Previous studies have shown that diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) and the peptide SPMFKGV inhibit E. coli DegP protease activity. To identify novel potential inhibitors specific to PfDegP allosteric and the catalytic binding sites, we performed a high throughput in silico screening using Malaria Box, Pathogen Box, Maybridge library, ChEMBL library and the library of FDA approved compounds. The screening helped identify five best binders that showed high affinity to PfDegP allosteric (T0873, T2823, T2801, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, CD00811) and the catalytic binding site (T0078L, T1524, T2328, BTB11534 and 552691). Further, molecular dynamics simulation analysis revealed {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, BTB11534 as the best hits forming a stable complex. WaterMap and electrostatic complementarity were used to evaluate the novel bio-isosteric chemotypes of {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, that led to the identification of 231 chemotypes that exhibited better binding affinity. Further analysis of the top 5 chemotypes, based on better binding affinity, revealed that the addition of electron donors like nitrogen and sulphur to the side chains of butanoate group are more favoured than the backbone of butanoate group. In a nutshell, the present study helps identify novel, potent and Plasmodium specific inhibitors, using high throughput in silico screening and bio-isosteric replacement, which may be experimentally validated.     

An efficient method for the synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives catalyzed by titanium silicate-1

Research on Chemical Intermediates - A series of quinoxaline derivatives were efficiently synthesized by convenient and simple procedure in excellent yields using 1 wt.% of titanium silicate (TS-1)...     

IR and Raman spectra with Gaussian-09 molecular analysis of some other parameters and vibrational spectra of 5-fluoro-uracil

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Recorded IR and Raman spectra of 5-fluoro-uracil have been analyzed with the carried out theoretical computation by Gaussian-09 [DFT/B3LYP/6-311?++G**]...     

Validated Stability-Indicating Method for Alendronate Sodium Employing Zwitterionic Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography Coupled with Charged Aerosol Detection

Alendronate sodium is widely used in the treatment of osteoporosis and Paget’s disease. The HPLC method development for alendronate sodium, in particular, is challenging owing to the absence of chromophoric group and its high polarity. In the present study, a short and simple isocratic method was developed involving hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography, coupled with a charged aerosol detector. The developed method was validated according to the ICH Q2(R1) guideline and was successfully applied for the analysis of a marketed formulation containing the drug.

     

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN STUDIES OF AN 84 GHz, 500 kW, CW GYROTRON

The feasibility of an 84 GHz, 500 kW, CW gyrotron for ECRH on an experimental tokamak will be presented in this paper. Mode competition and mode selection procedures are carefully investigated by considering various candidate modes and the TE_10,4 mode is chosen as the operating mode. A conventional cylindrical cavity resonator with weak input and output tapers and parabolic roundings is considered for interaction studies. Self-consistent, both single mode and time-dependent, calculations are carried out and power and efficiencies are computed for a typical set of beam parameters. The results show that an output power of well over 500 kW, CW and efficiency around 40% can be reached without a depressed collector.