The economic viability of a thermal power plant: a case study

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The present paper deals with the economic viability of a coal-fired power plant (CFPP) situated in the northern part of India. The plant with a...     

Solid‐State Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles at Room Temperature: Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) as a Tool

Silver nanoparticles have been used for a long time and recently various methods have been additionally developed for their production. Here we report for the first time a solid‐state high‐speed vibration milling method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles, in which poly(vinylpyrrolidone) is used for the reduction of the silver salt. The synthesis is performed at room temperature and no surfactant to direct the anisotropic growth of the nanoparticles is required. The formation of the nanoparticles was studied by UV–Visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and powder X‐ray diffraction techniques. The nanoparticles synthesized were found to be uniform in size and shape with an average diameter of less than 5 nm. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of these silver nanoparticles was investigated against Escherichia coli and found to be positive.

     

A biocompatible hydrogel as a template for oxidative decomposition reactions: a chemodosimetric analysis and in vitro imaging of hypochlorite

The self-assembly properties of new biocompatible, thermoreversible fluorescent hydrogels, composed of amino acid residues, e.g., l-phenylalanine (PyL-PheOx) and l-tyrosine (PyL-TyrOx), have been reported. Spectroscopic investigations indicate that PyL-PheOx forms π-stacked ‘compact’ aggregates, while ‘loose’ aggregates with stronger CT characteristics are observed for PyL-TyrOx. Both the compounds showed the presence of fibrous networks in the self-assembled state. Circular dichroism spectral studies indicate the formation of M-helical and P-helical structures for PyL-PheOx and PyL-TyrOx, respectively. A striking gel-to-sol transition, caused by oxidative decomposition, is explicitly noticed in the presence of hypochlorite. A mechanistic investigation reveals the oxidation of the acyl aroyl hydrazine core of the gelators in the presence of ClO⁻. In addition to this, change in the fluorescence emission intensity of the hydrogel in the presence of ClO⁻ is utilized for the analysis of commercial bleach samples. Gel-coated paper strips are also developed for the on-site detection of ClO⁻. Furthermore, the system is utilized for imaging hypochlorite in live mammalian cells.

The self-assembly properties of new biocompatible, thermoreversible fluorescent hydrogels, composed of amino acid residues have been reported. A unique gel-to-sol transition is triggered by chemodosimetric interaction in the presence of hypochlorite.     

Nonlinear frequency mixing in a resonant cavity: Numerical simulations in a bubbly liquid

The study of nonlinear frequency mixing for acoustic standing waves in a resonator cavity is presented. Two high frequencies are mixed in a highly nonlinear bubbly liquid filled cavity that is resonant at the difference frequency. The analysis is carried out through numerical experiments, and both linear and nonlinear regimes are compared. The results show highly efficient generation of the difference frequency at high excitation amplitude. The large acoustic nonlinearity of the bubbly liquid that is responsible for the strong difference-frequency resonance also induces significant enhancement of the parametric frequency mixing effect to generate second harmonic of the difference frequency.     

Sensitive, selective and rapid determination of bupropion and its major active metabolite, hydroxybupropion, in human plasma by LC-MS/MS: application to a bioequivalence study in healthy Indian subjects

A sensitive, selective and rapid liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of bupropion (BUP) and its major active metabolite hydroxybupropion (HBUP) in human plasma. Separation of both the analytes and venlafaxine as internal standard (IS) from 50 μL human plasma was carried out by solid‐phase extraction. The chromatographic separation of the analytes was achieved on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB C₁₈ (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) analytical column using isocratic mobile phase consisting of 20 mm ammonium acetate–methanol (10:90, v/v), with a resolution factor of 3.5. The method was validated over a wide dynamic concentration range of 0.1–350 ng/mL for BUP and 0.1–600 ng/mL for HBUP. The matrix effect was assessed by post‐column infusion and the mean process efficiency was 96.08 and 94.40% for BUP and HBUP, respectively. The method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of 150 mg BUP (test and reference) extended release tablet formulation in 12 healthy Indian male subjects under fed conditions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modulation of Excited-State Proton-Transfer Dynamics inside the Nanocavity of Microheterogeneous Systems: Microenvironment-Sensitive Förster Energy Transfer to Riboflavin

The excited-state proton-transfer efficiency of a tetraarylpyrene derivative, 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(4-hydroxy-2,6-dimethylphenyl)pyrene (TDMPP), was investigated thoroughly in the presence of various surfactant assemblies, such as micelles and vesicles. The confined microheterogeneous environments can significantly retard the extent of the excited-state proton-transfer process, resulting in a distinguishable optical signal compared to that in the bulk medium. Physical characteristics of the surfactant assemblies, such as order, interfacial hydration, and surface charge, influence the proton transfer process and allow multiparametric sensing. A higher degree of interfacial hydration facilitates the proton-transfer process, while the positively charged head groups of the surfactants specifically stabilize the anionic form of the probe (TDMPP−O*). Furthermore, Forster energy transfer from the probe to riboflavin was studied in a phospholipid membrane, wherein the relative ratio of the neutral versus anionic forms (TDMPP-OH/TDMPP−O*) was found to influence the extent of energy transfer. Overall, we demonstrate how an ultrafast photophysical process, that is, the excited-state proton transfer, can be influenced by the microenvironment.     

A new series of luminescent phosphine stabilised platinum ethynyl complexes

A series of cis-platinum ethynyl complexes with the general formula cis-[Pt(dppe)(C[triple bond]CR)2](dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane; R = C6H4-p-NO2 1, C6H4-p-CH3 2, C6H4-p-C[triple bond]CH 3 and C6H4-p-C6H4-p-C[triple bond]CH 4) have been prepared by the coupling reaction of cis-[Pt(dppe)Cl2] with two equivalents of the appropriate alkyne. The new complexes have been fully characterized by spectroscopic techniques, and the cis square planar arrangement at the platinum centre has been confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies of complexes 1, 2 and 4. The absorption spectra of the complexes 1-4 are dominated by a pi-->pi* band that contains some platinum (n + 1) p orbital character. The position of the band is dependent on the electron donating or withdrawing properties of the ethynyl substituents, R. Complex 1 displays a triplet emission in the green, at room temperature, while complexes 2-4, display singlet emissions in the blue. Again, the difference can be attributed to the nature of the R substituents.     

POCl3 catalyzed,one-step,solvent-free synthesis of some novel thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-one derivatives as antimicrobial agent

A POCl₃ catalyzed, efficient, one-step and solvent-free synthesis of novel thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-one derivatives from 2-amino-4,5-substitutedthiophene-3-carbonitrile has been developed under conventional heating and microwave irradiation. The formation of compounds was confirmed using elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques like IR, NMR (¹H and ¹³C) and mass spectroscopy. Furthermore, they were screened in vitro to study their antimicrobial activity, which shows weak to moderate activity against all tested microorganisms.