Mixed-ligand chelate extraction of neodymium(III) with thenoyltrifluoroacetone and various sulphoxides

Mixed-ligand chelate extraction of Nd(III) into benzene with mixtures of thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA) and bis-2-ethylhexyl sulphoxide (B2EHSO) or di-n-octyl sulphoxide (DOSO) or diphenyl sulphoxide (DPhSO) or trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) from thiocyanate solutions has been studied. A very high synergistic enhancement of the order 10(3) has been observed in these systems. Thus this mixed-ligand chelate system may be useful in the extraction and separation of Nd(III) from other metal ions. The mechanism of extraction can be explained by a simple chemically based model presented in this paper.     

Flotation-spectrophotometric method for the determination of mercury using iodide and brilliant green

This paper describes a sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of mercury, based on the flotation of a mercury iodide-brilliant green complex with cyclohexane at pH 5 and dissolution of the complex in acetone. The absorbance of the complex is measured at 625 nm. Beer's law is obeyed from 4–500 g/l of mercury. The method is highly sensitive ( = 5.96 × 10⁵ 1 mol^–1 cm^–1) and selective, as it is free from interferences by almost all cations and anions in the presence of EDTA. Furthermore, a two-level orthogonal array design as a chemometric method has been used for optimization of the various parameters involved. The method has been successfully applied to paper industry effluents.     

Development of Petri Net-Based Dynamic Model for Improved Production of Farnesyl Pyrophosphate by Integrating Mevalonate and Methylerythritol Phosphate Pathways in Yeast

In this case study, we designed a farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) biosynthetic network using hybrid functional Petri net with extension (HFPNe) which is derived from traditional Petri net theory and allows easy modeling with graphical approach of various types of entities in the networks together. Our main objective is to improve the production of FPP in yeast, which is further converted to amorphadiene (AD), a precursor of artemisinin (antimalarial drug). Natively, mevalonate (MEV) pathway is present in yeast. Methyl erythritol phosphate pathways (MEP) are present only in higher plant plastids and eubacteria, but not present in yeast. IPP and DAMP are common isomeric intermediate in these two pathways, which immediately yields FPP. By integrating these two pathways in yeast, we augmented the FPP synthesis approximately two folds higher (431.16 U/pt) than in MEV pathway alone (259.91 U/pt) by using HFPNe technique. Further enhanced FPP levels converted to AD by amorphadiene synthase gene yielding 436.5 U/pt of AD which approximately two folds higher compared to the AD (258.5 U/pt) synthesized by MEV pathway exclusively. Simulation and validation processes performed using these models are reliable with identified biological information and data.     

Homotopy analysis method with a non-homogeneous term in the auxiliary linear operator

We demonstrate the efficiency of a modification of the normal homotopy analysis method (HAM) proposed by Liao [2] by including a non-homogeneous term in the auxiliary linear operator (this can be considered as a special case of “further generalization” of HAM given by Liao in [2]). We then apply the modified method to a few examples. It is observed that including a non-homogeneous term gives faster convergence in comparison to normal HAM. We also prove a convergence theorem, which shows that our technique yields the convergent solution.     

Glyoxylic acid in the reaction of isatoic anhydride with amines: a rapid synthesis of 3-(un)substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-ones leading to rutaecarpine and evodiamine

A dual reactant/catalyst role of glyoxylic acid in the reaction of isatoic anhydride with various amines afforded a novel, robust and rapid synthesis of 3-(un)substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-ones. This metal catalyst-free reaction proceeds via an unusual and unexpected cleavage of C–C bond. A shorter and common route to two alkaloids, that is, rutaecarpine and evodiamine is also accomplished.     

Cerium(Ⅳ) ammonium nitrate catalysed facile and efficient synthesis of polyhydroquinoline derivatives through Hantzsch multicomponent condensation

A general and convenient practical approach for the synthesis of polyhydroquinoline derivatives has been achieved via one-pot four-component Hantzsch condensation of aromatic aldehydes,dimedone,ethyl acetoacetate and ammonium acetate in the presence of a catalytic amount of cerium(Ⅳ) ammonium nitrate (CAN),in ethanol solvent at ambient temperature.Simple work-up,mild reaction conditions,inexpensive and non-toxic catalyst,and excellent product yields are the advantageous features of this method.     

Simple synthesis of 2-acetyl-5,8-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydronaphthalene,a key intermediate for the synthesis of optically active anthracycliones

2-Acetyl-5,8-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydronaphthalene is synthesised easily·starting from 2-acetyl-5,8-dimethoxytetralone.     

Optically induced microfluidic reconfiguration

Reconfigurable systems, like the field-programmable gate array in electronics, have numerous advantages including cost, adaptability, robustness, and security. Despite this, few other chip-based technologies have developed equivalently ubiquitous reconfiguration methods. As a first step to applying this paradigm to channel-based microfluidics, we present here a rapid optofluidic technique to create, move, and remove arbitrary solid regions in a microfluidic flow simply by illumination with an optical pattern. While other techniques have shown the ability to manipulate individual particles using spatial light modulation, we demonstrate here the ability to create reconfigurable flow pathways and build morphable channel structures. These structures can be modified on the order of seconds using a combined photothermal and thermo-rheological effect. In addition to characterizing the effect, we also apply this technique to create dynamic traps for biomolecules, and demonstrate trapping of λ-DNA molecules and nanoparticles, with a 25 fold suppression of diffusion.     

Synergistic solvent extraction of cerium(III) with mixtures of thenoyltrifluoroacetone and dialkyl sulfoxides

Synergism in the extraction of Ce(III) from thiocyanate solutions has been investigated using mixtures of 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA) and bis-2-ethylhexyl sulfoxide (B2EHSO) or di-n-octyl sulfoxide (DOSO) in benzene. A very high synergistic enhancement of the order of 10⁵ has been observed. If a mixture of both dialkyl sulfoxides (B2EHSO+DOSO) is used, an additional synergistic effect is found due to the formation of a mixed, solvated complex when both reagents are added to the metal chelate. These extraction data have been analyzed theoretically with the aid of a computer by taking into account complexation of the metal in the aqueous phase by inorganic ligands and plausible complexation in the organic phase. The equilibrium constants of the various product species have been deduced by non-linear regression analysis.