Base‐Catalyzed Formation of Isoxazoles from Dialkyl Acetylenedicarboxylates and 2‐Nitroacetophenones

The reaction of dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates with 1‐aryl‐2‐nitroethanones in the presence of pyridine leads to dialkyl 5‐aryloyl‐isoxazole‐3,4‐dicarboxylates through a novel mechanism, which involves a [2+2] cycloaddition/ring opening/cyclization sequence.     

A novel numerical scheme for the investigation of surface tension effects on growth and collapse stages of cavitation bubbles

In the present study the effects of surface tension on the growth and collapse stages of cavitation bubbles are studied individually for both spherical and nonspherical bubbles. The Gilmore equation is used to simulate the spherical bubble dynamics by considering mass diffusion and heat transfer. For the collapse stage near a rigid boundary, the Navier–Stokes and energy equations are used to simulate the flow domain, and the VOF method is adopted to track the interface between the gas and the liquid phases. Simulations are divided into two cases. In the first case, the collapse stage alone is considered in both spherical and nonspherical situations with different conditions of bubble radius and surface tension. According to the results, surface tension has no significant effects on the flow pattern and collapse rate. In the second case, both the growth and collapse stages of bubbles with different initial radii and surface tensions are considered. In this case surface tension affects the growth stage considerably and, as a result, the jet velocity and collapse time decrease with increasing surface tension coefficient. This effect is more significant for bubbles with smaller radii.     

An implicit approach to predict the dynamics of granular media

The objective of this study is to present an implicit method to predict the dynamics of granular particles. In the proposed methodology, the dynamics equation of colliding particles are solved implicitly which means the positions of particles at the next time step are also used to compute the next state of the particles. This is in contrast with the explicit approach where only known i.e. past information is used to calculate the new positions. The method is tested in a simple setting where a spherical particle is in continuous movement between two boundary walls. The results show that considerably larger time steps are enabled with the implicit method compared to the explicit method. Future work will compare the overall efficiency of the implicit and explicit methods in more detail. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Enhancement of immune response and protection in BALB/c mice immunized with liposomal recombinant major surface glycoprotein of Leishmania (rgp63): The role of bilayer composition

Development of new generation vaccines requires adjuvants to elicit the type and intensity of immune response needed for protection. Liposomes have been shown to be an effective adjuvant formulation. In this study, the role of liposome bilayer composition with different phase transition temperature (T_c) to induce a T helper 1 (Th1) type of immune response and protection against leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice was assessed. Liposome formulations with different bilayer compositions consisting of egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC, T_c < 0 °C), dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC, T_c 41 °C), or distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC, T_c 54 °C) were prepared. All liposomes were contained rgp63 as a recombinant antigen and used to immunize mice subcutaneously 3 times in 3-week intervals. Evaluation of lesion development and splenic parasite burden after challenge with L. major, evaluation of Th1 cytokine (IFN-γ) and Th2 cytokine (IL-4), and titration of IgG isotypes were carried out to assess the type of generated immune response and extent of protection. The results indicated the generated immune response in mice was influenced by the bilayer composition of liposomes, so that mice immunized with liposomes consisting of EPC induced a Th2 type of immune response while liposome consisting of DPPC or DSPC induced Th1 type of immune response. It seems that liposomes prepared with higher Tm phospholipids are suitable formulation to induce Th1 type of immune response and protection, and so might be used for further investigations to develop an effective vaccine against leishmaniasis.     

Commutative weakly nil-neat group rings

Abstract

Let R be a ring and let G be a group. We prove a rather curious necessary and sufficient condition for the commutative group ring RG to be weakly nil-neat only in terms of R,G and their sections. This somewhat expands three recent results, namely those established by McGovern et al. in (J. Algebra Appl., 2015), by Danchev-McGovern in (J. Algebra, 2015) and by the present authors in (J. Math., Tokushima Univ., 2019), related to commutative nil-clean, weakly nil-clean and nil-neat group rings, respectively.     

Electrocatalytic Activities of Graphene/Nile Blue Nanocomposite Toward Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitrite Ion

Electrocatalytic activities of graphene nanosheets/Nile blue nanocomposite, synthesized and adsorbed simultaneously on the glassy carbon (GC?GNs?NB) electrode, are investigated. The nanocomposite was characterized by ATR?FTIR, FESEM and voltammetry. Activity of the electrode toward reduction of H₂O₂ and oxidation of NO₂^? was studied electrochemically. Values of 1.95 and 0.730 mM are found for the Michaelis?Menten constant of the electrode toward H₂O₂ and NO₂^?, respectively. Wide dynamic response ranges were observed for the electrode, with DLs of 0.22 μM H₂O₂ and 1.1 μM NO₂^?. Effect of interferences was studied. The sensor was successfully tested for H₂O₂ and NO₂^? contents in real samples, respectively.     

Construction of 5‐amino‐1,10‐phenanthroline‐Fe(II) Nanostructures on Glassy Carbon Electrode: Simultaneous and Selective Determination of Purine and Pyrimidine DNA Bases

5‐amino‐1,10‐phenanthroline‐Fe(II) complex is immobilized onto GC electrode and used for determination of DNA bases. Modifications are traced by electrochemical methods. All DNA bases are electroactive on the modified electrode. The I_ps increased linearly with increase of DNA bases concentration. A wide response range was observed for each base (～4 orders for guanine (GA) and adenine (A); and ～2.5 orders for thymine (T) and cytosine (C)) with DLs of 0.15, 4.44, 133.0 and 230.0 nM, respectively. The electrode was applied for determination of calf‐thymus DNA bases. The value obtained for [(GA+C)/(A+T)], 0.78, is in good agreement with standard value, 0.77.     

The enhancement of immunosuppressive effects of cyclosporine A on human T-cells using fusogenic liposomes

The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize neutral, positively charged, negatively charged and fusogenic liposomes of different sizes that contain cyclosporine A (CyA) and to evaluate their immunosuppressive activity on human T-cells. Neutral liposomes containing CyA were prepared from dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and cholesterol using the solvent evaporation method. To prepare positively charged, negatively charged and fusogenic liposomes containing CyA; stearylamine (SA), dicetylphosphate (DCP) and dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) were added to the neutral liposome formulation, respectively. To reduce the size of liposomes containing CyA, extrusion through polycarbonate filters (1000, 400 and 100 nm) was used. The liposomes were characterized by their size, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency. The in vitro immunosuppressive effects of an aqueous solution of CyA and different liposomes containing CyA were determined on human T-cells by the MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] assay. The mean diameter of the various multilamellar vesicle (MLV) liposomes containing CyA was between 1.76 and 2.49 μm. The encapsulation efficiency for the different MLV and extruded liposomes containing CyA ranged from 73% to 90%. In vitro immunosuppressive evaluation by T-cell culture showed that fusogenic liposomes have the best inhibitory effects on T-cell proliferation compared to the other liposomes. Reducing the size of the liposomes did not affect the in vitro immunosuppressive activity. The average IC₅₀ for the aqueous solution of CyA and the neutral, positively charged, negatively charged and fusogenic liposomes containing CyA was 4.98 × 10⁻², 7.38, 1.43, 3.84 × 10⁻³ and 7.93 × 10⁻⁵ mM, respectively. The results of this study indicate that fusogenic liposomes have the strongest immunosuppressive activity and could be considered as a suitable delivery system for CyA.     

Fe3O4@C@OSO3H as an efficient,recyclable magnetic nanocatalyst in Pechmann condensation: green synthesis,characterization, and theoretical study

Molecular Diversity - Novel sulfonated carbon-coated magnetic nanoparticles (SCCMNPs; Fe3O4@C@OSO3H) were designed, synthesized, characterized, and applied as an efficient nanocatalyst for green...     

Solid Phase Extraction of Uranium by Naphthalene‐Methyltrioctylammonium Chloride and Arsenazo(III) Adsorbent and Subsequent Spectrophotometric Determination

A simple and effective method has been presented for the preconcentration of uranium by solid phase extraction. For this purpose arsenazo(III) supported on naphthalene‐methyltrioctylammonium chloride was used as an adsorbent and uranium solution at pH 3.5 with flow rate of 1 mL·min⁻¹ was passed through the column. Therefore, uranium‐arsenazo(III) complex was formed onto column. Uranium was quantitatively eluted with 5 mL of a 0.1% ammonium tetraphenylborate and determined by spectrophotometric method at 652 nm. Several parameters such as pH, amount of reagents, sample volume, etc. were investigated. The effect of diverse ions on the preconcentration has also been studied and the optimized conditions developed have been utilized for the trace determination of uranium. A preconcentration factor of 100 was achieved. The relative standard deviation (N=8) was 0.5% for 3 ng· mL⁻¹ of uranium. The three sigma detection limit (36) was 0.045 ng·mL⁻¹