Organic–inorganic nanocomposites prepared from fluoro-aramid and silica

Fluoro-aramid-based sol/gel-derived nanocomposites were synthesized by condensing a mixture of 4,4′-(hexafluoro-isopropylidene)dianiline and 1,3-phenylenediamine with terephthaloylchloride (TPC) in dimethylacetamide. TPC was added in slight excess to produce amide chains with carbonyl chloride end groups and then replaced with alkoxy groups using aminophenyltrimethoxysilane to develop bonding with the silica network. Mechanical, dynamic mechanical thermal, water absorption and morphological measurements were carried out on the thin hybrid films. Increase in the tensile strength and modulus was observed as compared to pristine polyamide. The thermal decomposition temperature was found in the range of 400–500 °C. The water absorption was found to be reduced with higher silica content. The glass transition temperature and the storage moduli increased with increasing silica concentration. The maximum increase in the T _g value (345 °C) was observed with 20 wt% silica. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the uniform distribution of silica in the matrix with an average particle size ranging from 8 to 50 nm.     

Semileptonic decays B → (π, )eν in relativistic quark model

Quark model results for the B → π, decays are analysed, making use of the dispersion formulation of the model: The form factors at q² > 0 are expressed as relativistic invariant double spectral representation over invariant masses of the initial and final mesons through their light-cone wave functions. The dependence of the results on the quark model parameters is studied. For various versions of the quark model the ranges

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, and Γ_L/Γ_T = 0.7 ± 0.08 are found. The effects of the constituent quark transition form factor are briefly discussed.     

Stable gaseous aziridinium ions

Gaseous protonated aziridine ions are produced at the threshold from β-phenoxyethylamine molecular ions. The evidence for this is collisional activation spectra, using various precursors (including labelled analogues) under electron impact and field ionization conditions. Partial conversion to the acyclic \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ {\rm CH}_{\rm 3} {\rm CH = }\mathop {\rm N}\limits^ + {\rm H}_{\rm 2} $\end{document} isomer occurs at higher electron energies and is rationalized by means of a potential energy surface constructed from energetic data.     

Biomedical Applications of Scutellaria edelbergii Rech. f.: In Vitro and In Vivo Approach

In the current study, in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and in vivo anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Scutellaria edelbergii Rech. f. (crude extract and subfractions, i.e., n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), chloroform, n-butanol (n-BuOH) and aqueous) were explored. Initially, extraction and fractionation of the selected medicinal plant were carried out, followed by phytochemical qualitative tests, which were mostly positive for all the extracts. EtOAc fraction possessed a significant amount of phenolic (79.2 ± 0.30 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid (84.0 ± 0.39 mg QE/g) content. The EtOAc fraction of S. edelbergii exhibited appreciable antibacterial activity against Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae) strains and significant zones of inhibition were observed against Gram-positive bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus). However, it was found inactive against Candida Albicans and Fusarium oxysporum fungal strains. The chloroform fraction was the most effective with an IC₅₀ value of 172 and 74 µg/mL against DPPH (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) and ABTS assays, in comparison with standard ascorbic acid 59 and 63 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the EtOAc fraction displayed significant in vivo anti-inflammatory activity (54%) using carrageenan-induced assay and significant (55%) in vivo analgesic activity using acetic acid-induced writing assay. In addition, nine known compounds, ursolic acid (UA), ovaul (OV), oleanolic acid (OA), β-sitosterol (BS), micromeric acid (MA), taraxasterol acetate (TA), 5,3′,4′-trihydroxy-7-methoxy flavone (FL-1), 5,7,4′-trihydroxy-6,3′-dimiethoxyflavone (FL-2) and 7-methoxy catechin (FL-3), were isolated from methanolic extract of S. edelbergii. These constituents have never been obtained from this source. The structures of all the isolated constituents were elucidated by spectroscopic means. In conclusion, the EtOAc fraction and all other fractions of S. edelbergii, in general, displayed a significant role as antibacterial, free radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents which may be due to the presence of these constituents and other flavonoids.     

Selenium Alleviates the Adverse Effect of Drought in Oilseed Crops Camelina (Camelina sativa L.) and Canola (Brassica napus L.)

Drought poses a serious threat to oilseed crops by lowering yield and crop failures under prolonged spells. A multi-year field investigation was conducted to enhance the drought tolerance in four genotypes of Camelina and canola by selenium (Se) application. The principal aim of the research was to optimize the crop yield by eliciting the physio-biochemical attributes by alleviating the adverse effects of drought stress. Both crops were cultivated under control (normal irrigation) and drought stress (skipping irrigation at stages i.e., vegetative and reproductive) conditions. Four different treatments of Se viz., seed priming with Se (75 μM), foliar application of Se (7.06 μM), foliar application of Se + Seed priming with Se (7.06 μM and 75 μM, respectively) and control (without Se), were implemented at the vegetative and reproductive stages of both crops. Sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃), an inorganic compound was used as Se sources for both seed priming and foliar application. Data regarding physiochemical, antioxidants, and yield components were recorded as response variables at crop maturity. Results indicated that WP, OP, TP, proline, TSS, TFAA, TPr, TS, total chlorophyll contents, osmoprotectant (GB, anthocyanin, TPC, and flavonoids), antioxidants (APX, SOD, POD, and CAT), and yield components (number of branches per plant, thousand seed weight, seed, and biological yields were significantly improved by foliar Se + priming Se in both crops under drought stress. Moreover, this treatment was also helpful in boosting yield attributes under irrigated (non-stress) conditions. Camelina genotypes responded better to Se application as seed priming and foliar spray than canola for both years. It has concluded that Se application (either foliar or priming) can potentially alleviate adverse effects of drought stress in camelina and canola by eliciting various physio-biochemicals attributes under drought stress. Furthermore, Se application was also helpful for crop health under irrigated condition.     

Synthesis of pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles: A review

One-pot synthesis of pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole derivatives via two or multicomponent condensation of β-ketoesters, hydrazine monohydrate/phenyl hydrazine, malononitrile, and substituted benzaldehydes is of great interest not only in synthetic chemistry but also in medicinal chemistry because of the tremendous biological activities, such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, and enzyme inhibitory activities exhibited by pyranopyrazoles. This review provides extensive knowledge on novel synthetic methodologies of biologically active non-spiro/spiro-pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole derivatives published recently.     

Synthesis,anticancer, and computational studies of 1, 3, 4-oxadiazole-purine derivatives

Theophylline-7-acetic acid (acefylline) ( 3 ) and its derivatives are pharmacologically active compounds and generally recognized as bronchodilators for the treatment of respiratory diseases like acute asthma for over 70 years. In this article, synthesis of 2-((5-((1,3-dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-purin-7(6H)-yl)methyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)thio)-N-arylacetamides ( 10a-j ) has been reported. All the synthesized derivatives ( 10a-j) were structurally verified by FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and evaluated for their anti-cancer (using MTT assay), hemolytic and thrombolytic potential. N-(4-Chlorophenyl)-2-(5-((1,3-dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-purin-7(6H)-yl)methyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-ylthio)acetamide ( 10g ) was found to be the most active against human liver cancer cell lines (Huh7) having cell viability 53.58 ± 1.28 using 100 μg/mL concentration of compound which was further in-silico modelled to describe the possible mechanistic insights for its anti-proliferative activity. The results of hemolytic and thrombolytic activities indicated that these derivatives were less toxic and hold considerable potential as a drug candidate. 2-(5-((1,3-Dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-purin-7(6H)-yl)methyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-ylthio)-N-(2-fluorophenyl)acetamide ( 10c ) of the series was found to be least toxic with 0.1% hemolysis relative to ABTS (95.5%) as positive control. 2-(5-((1,3-Dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-purin-7(6H)-yl)methyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-ylthio)-N-(tetrahydro-2H-pyran-4-yl)acetamide ( 10j ) exhibited potent clot lysis activity (90%) as compared to negative control DMSO (0.57%).     

Redox behavior of juglone in buffered aq.: Ethanol media

The present work reports the redox mechanism of 5-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione (HND), commonly known as juglone, in buffered aqueous media having 50% of ethanol. HND followed different mechanistic routes depending upon the pH of the media and more than one pK_a were evaluated from the changes in the slope of the E_p vs. pH plot. The change of pH from acidic to neutral conditions was found to switch the mechanism from CEC to EE mechanism. Pulse techniques were utilized to determine the number of electrons involved in the oxidation and/or the reduction step and to ensure the nature of the redox process. Based upon the obtained results, an electrode reaction mechanism was proposed. Computational studies of HND supported the experimental results. UV-Visible spectroscopy was also employed for the detailed characterization of the compound in a wide range of pH and for the determination of its pK_a.