Characterization of polyoxometalate/polymer photo-composites: A toolbox for the photodegradation of organic pollutants

Different inorganic/organic photocomposites based on polyoxometalate (POM) nanoparticles have been developed for photocatalytic applications. Currently, polyoxometalate nanoparticles have been successfully in-situ embedded into an acrylate polymer network by photopolymerization upon mild visible light irradiation at 405 nm. The proposed POM/polymer photocomposites have been characterized using complementary techniques for a better understanding of their photocatalytic activity. Interestingly, the obtained photocomposites exhibit high rigidity, excellent thermal stability, a non-negligible porosity and new functionalities such as light reactivity and redox properties. Moreover, developed composites showed efficient catalytic activity for the color removal of aqueous solutions of erythrosine and rose Bengal under Light Emitting Diodes LED@375 nm irradiation reaching 80 and 90% as a final color removal, respectively.     

Electromagnetic annihilation of e+e− into quarkonium states with even charge conjugation

We calculate the production of narrow resonances with even charge conjugation ${}^3\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{J}}\text{=1,2}$ in e⁺e^? annihilation in the quarkonium and vectordominance models. We give unitarity bounds for $\text{Γ(}{}^3\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{J}}\text{→ e}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{e}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{)}$ in terms of $\text{Γ(}{}^3\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{J}}\text{→ γγ)}$ and $\text{Γ(}{}^3\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{J}}\text{→ e}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{e}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{)}$. The electromagnetic production dominates through the neutral current at low energies independent of details of the model. For masses above 10 GeV the situation is reversed.     

An implementation of a reduced subgradient method via Luenberger-Mokhtar variant

We present an implementable algorithm for minimizing a convex function which is not necessarily differentiable subject to linear equality constraints and to nonnegativity bounds on the variables. The algorithm is based on extending the variant proposed by Luenberger to the nondifferentiable case and using the bundle techniques introduced by Lemaréchal to approximate the subdifferential of the objective function. In particular, at each iteration, we compute a search direction by solving a quadratic subproblem, and an inexact line search along this direction yields a decrease in the objective value. Under some assumptions, the convergence of the proposed algorithm is analysed. Finally, some numerical results are presented, which show that the algorithm performs efficiently.     

Structure of 5-Amino-4-Arylazopyrazoles in Ethanolic Aqueous Media

The structure and tautomerism of 5-amino-4-arylazopyrazoles (2a-f) are investigated in aqueous media. In solutions of pH>5 these compounds exist as ring N—1 protonated species. At pH>10 they afford anions which are stabilized by delocalization of the negative charge in the ring as well as on the arylazo moiety. Controlled potential electrolysis and polarographic analysis indicate that 2a-f are reduced via a four electron reduction process to triaminopyrazole and the corresponding substituted aniline derivative. A mechanism is suggested and discussed.     

New hybrid polyoxometalate/polymer composites for photodegradation of eosin dye

New polyoxometalate (POM)/polymer hybrid composites were prepared by photopolymerization under mild conditions for suitable photocatalytic processes. Polyoxometalates were incorporated in special photosensitive resins, which were photopolymerized under visible light to obtain new materials with photocatalytic activity for dye removal. The synthesized composites were characterized by real‐time FT‐IR, and the photocatalytic ability was investigated on Eosin‐Y removal using photolysis under near UV irradiation. Interestingly, the polyoxometalates keep their photocatalytic properties, while incorporated into the polymeric matrix since very high conversion rates of Eosin‐Y were achieved. Indeed, degradation efficiencies of about 98% and 93% were registered when using H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀/polymer and 94% for SiMo₁₂O₄₀(IPh₂)₄/polymer composites, respectively. These first results reported in this article show that the new synthesized POM/polymer composites could be considered as promising materials for green and more suitable organic dye removal from aqueous solutions. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1538–1549     

A new reduced gradient method for solving linearly constrained multiobjective optimization problems

In this paper, we consider the linearly constrained multiobjective minimization, and we propose a new reduced gradient method for solving this problem. Our approach solves iteratively a convex quadratic optimization subproblem to calculate a suitable descent direction for all the objective functions, and then use a bisection algorithm to find an optimal stepsize along this direction. We prove, under natural assumptions, that the proposed algorithm is well-defined and converges globally to Pareto critical points of the problem. Finally, this algorithm is implemented in the MATLAB environment and comparative results of numerical experiments are reported.     

High-throughput screening of argan oil composition and authenticity using benchtop 1H NMR

We use 60-MHz benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to acquire ¹H spectra from argan oils of assured origin. We show that the low-field NMR spectrum of neat oil contains sufficient information to make estimates of compositional parameters and to inform on the presence of minor compounds. A screening method for quality and authenticity is presented based on nearest-neighbour outlier detection. A variety of oil types are used to challenge the method. In a survey of retail-purchased oils, several instances of fraud were found.