Experimental observation of quantum corrections to electrical resistivity in nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys

X-ray diffraction patterns of nanocrystalline Fe-Cu-Nb-Si-B (FINEMET) alloys reveal that bcc α-Fe/α-FeSi crystallites with the average grain size of 20(5) nm are dispersed in amorphous matrix. Enhanced electron—electron interaction (EEI) and quantum interference (QI) effects as well as electron-magnon (and/or electron-spin fluctuation) scattering turn out to be the main mechanisms that govern the temperature dependence of resistivity. Of all the inelastic scattering processes, inelastic electron-phonon scattering is the most effective mechanism to destroy phase coherence of electron wave functions. The diffusion constant, density of states at the Fermi level and the inelastic scattering time have been estimated, for the first time, for the alloys in question Article presented at the International Symposium on Advances in Superconductivity and Magnetism: Materials, Mechanisms and Devices, ASMM2D-2001, 25–28 September 2001, Mangalore, India.     

HPTLC Determination of Swertiamarin and Amarogentin in Swertia Species from the Western Himalayas

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been established for simple and rapid quantification of two...     

Quantification of Valerenic Acid in Valeriana jatamansi and Valeriana officinalis by HPTLC

A simple, rapid, cost-effective and accurate high performance thin layer chromatographic method has been developed for quantification of valerenic acid in Valeriana jatamansi and Valeriana officinalis which is one of the stable compounds of Valeriana officinalis and designated as a key marker compound. Valerenic acid makes substantial contribution to the sedative and spasmolytic activity of the essential oil and extract of Valeriana officinalis. Separation and quantification was achieved by HPTLC using ternary mobile phase of hexane: ethyl acetate: acetic acid (80:20:0.5 v/v) on precoated silica gel 60F₂₅₄ aluminium plates and densitometric determination was carried out after derivatization with anisaldehyde-sulphuric acid reagent at 700 nm, in absorption-reflectance mode. The calibration curves were linear in the range of (500 ng–2.5 μg). This is the first HPTLC report for the identification and quantification of valerenic acid in Valeriana jatamansi and Valeriana officinalis.     

Synthesis of a negatively charged dibenzofuran-based beta-turn mimetic and its incorporation into the WW miniprotein-enhanced solubility without a loss of thermodynamic stability

A versatile synthesis has been developed to functionalize the 4-(2-aminoethyl)-6-dibenzofuran propionic acid residue (1a) at the 2 and 8 positions with a variety of different substructures. The unfunctionalized version of this peptidomimetic (1a) is known to facilitate beta-hairpin formation in a variety of small peptides and proteins in aqueous solution when incorporated in place of the i + 1 and i + 2 residues of a beta-turn. In this study, we append propionate substituents on 1a at the 2 and 8 positions to successfully overcome solubility problems encountered with the incorporation of 1a in place of the i + 1 and i + 2 residues of the beta-turn in loop 1 of the WW domain. The thermodynamic stability of several WW domain analogues incorporating residues 1a and 1b was compared to that of the wild-type sequence revealing comparable DeltaG(H(2)O) unfolding values at 4 degrees C ranging from 3 to 3.6 kcal/mol. WW domains incorporating residue 1b exhibit improved solubility (exceeding 100 microM) and resistance to aggregation without compromising thermodynamic stability.     

Simultaneous densitometric determination of artemisinin, artemisinic acid and arteannuin-B in Artemisia annua using reversed-phase thin layer chromatography

A rapid and simple RP-TLC method for simultaneous quantification of pharmacologically important sesquiterpene artemisinin (AM) together with its precursors arteannuin-B (AB) and artemisinic acid (AA) in the inflorescence part of Artemisia annua plant has been developed. The RP-TLC of sesquiterpenes was performed on RP-18 F254 S thin-layer chromatographic plates by developing in mobile phase, containing 0.2% TFA in water/ACN (35:65, v/v). The densitometric determination of AM, AB and AA was carried out after derivatization with anisaldehyde reagent at 426 nm in absorption-reflectance mode.     

Stability-Indicating HPLC Method for the Determination of Metadoxine as Bulk Drug and in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

A sensitive and reproducible method is described for the quantitative determination of metadoxine in the presence of its degradation products. The method was based on high performance liquid chromatographic separation of the drug from its degradation products on the reversed phase, kromasil column [C₁₈ (5-micron, 25 cm × 4.6 mm, i.d.)] at ambient temperature using a mobile phase consisting of methanol and water (50: 50, v/v). Flow rate was 1.0 mL min^?1 with an average operating pressure of 180 kg cm^?2 and t _R was found to be 2.85 ± 0.05 min. Quantitation was achieved with UV detection at 286 nm based on peak area with linear calibration curves at concentration range 10–100 μg mL^?1. This method has been successively applied to pharmaceutical formulation. No chromatographic interference from the tablet excipients was found. The method was validated in terms of precision, robustness, recovery and limits of detection and quantitation. Drug was subjected to acid, alkali and neutral hydrolysis, oxidation, dry heat, wet heat treatment and photo and UV degradation. As the proposed method could effectively separate the drug from its degradation products, it can be employed as stability indicating one. Moreover, the proposed HPLC method was utilized to investigate the kinetics of the acidic, alkaline and oxidative degradation processes at different temperatures and their respective apparent pseudo first order rare constant, half-life and activation energy was calculated with the help of Arrhenius plot. In addition the pH-rate profile of degradation of metadoxine in constant ionic strength buffer solutions with in the pH range 2–11 was studied.     

HPTLC method for determination of nevirapine in pharmaceutical dosage form

A sensitive, selective, precise and stability-indicating high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method of analysis of nevirapine both as a bulk drug and in formulations was developed and validated. The solvent system consisted of toluene-carbon tetrachloride-methanol-acetone-ammonia (3.5:3.5:2.0:1.0:0.05, v/v/v/v/v). Densitometric analysis of nevirapine was carried out in the absorbance mode at 289nm. This system was found to give compact spots for nevirapine (R(f) value of 0.44+/-0.02). Nevirapine was subjected to acid and alkali hydrolysis, oxidation, dry heat and wet heat treatment and photodegradation. The drug undergoes degradation under acidic, basic conditions and oxidation. Also the degraded products were well resolved from the pure drug with significantly different R(f) values. Linearity was found to be in the range of 30-1000ng/spot with significantly high value of correlation coefficient. The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots showed good linear relationship with r(2)=0.998+/-0.002 in the working concentration range of 300ng/spot to 1000ng/spot. The mean value of slope and intercept were 0.073+/-0.005 and 36.78+/-1.50, respectively. The method was validated for precision, robustness and recovery. The limit of detection and quantitation were 5 and 10ng/spot, respectively. As the method could effectively separate the drug from its degradation products, it can be employed as a stability indicating one. Moreover, the proposed HPTLC method was utilized to investigate the kinetics of acid degradation process. Arrhenius plot was constructed and activation energy was calculated.     

Übergangsmetall-substituierte phosphane,arsane und stibane : XXIX. Metallierte arsane und stibane mit chiralem eisen-substituenten

The reaction of Cp(CO)₂FeEMe₂ (E  As, Sb, Bi) with Me₃P, Et₃P, Me₂PhP and (MeO)₃P leads to a CO/R₃P exchange and formation of the chiral derivatives Cp(CO)(R₃P)FeEMe₂. Cp(CO)[(MeO)₃P]FeEMe₂ rearranges already at room temperature to Cp(CO)[(Me₃E]FeP(O)(OMe)₂ which is transformed by (MeO)₃P to Cp(CO)[(MeO)₃P]FeP(O)(OMe)₂. The high nucleophilicity of the new organometallic Lewis bases is established by the easy conversion of Cp(CO)(Me₃P)FeSbMe₂ to [Cp(CO)(Me₃P)Fe(SbMe₃)]I with MeI, or to [Cp(CO)(Me₃P)FeSbMe₂Fe(CO)LCp]Hal (L  CO, Hal  Cl; L  Me₃P, Hal  Br) with Cp(CO)LFe-Hal, respectively. The new compounds are characterized by spectroscopy and elementary analyses.     

Chemical deposition of smooth nanocrystalline Y2O3 films from solutions of metal-organic precursors

A series of (Y(AcO)₃·4H₂O—Q—Solv) solutions (Q is monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), en, dien; Solv = MeOH, EtOH, Pr_iOH, BuOH) was studied to choose the metal-organic precursor for surface smoothing treatment of metallic tapes by chemical deposition of nanocrystalline yttria films. Based on the results of viscosity, wetting angle, and thermal stability measurements, a solution (Y(AcO)₃·4H₂O—dien—PrⁱOH) was proposed as a new metal-organic precursor. After chemical deposition of nanocrystalline yttria films about 300 nm thick on a Hastelloy C-276 metallic tape the surface roughness was reduced by a factor of 11 (from 9.0 to 0.8 nm on a surface area of 5×5 μm²).     

Molecular Insights into the Antistress Potentials of Brazilian Green Propolis Extract and Its Constituent Artepillin C

Propolis, also known as bee-glue, is a resinous substance produced by honeybees from materials collected from plants they visit. It contains mixtures of wax and bee enzymes and is used by bees as a building material in their hives and by humans for different purposes in traditional healthcare practices. Although the composition of propolis has been shown to depend on its geographic location, climatic zone, and local flora; two largely studied types of propolis: (i) New Zealand and (ii) Brazilian green propolis have been shown to possess Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE) and Artepillin C (ARC) as the main bioactive constituents, respectively. We have earlier reported that CAPE and ARC possess anticancer activities, mediated by abrogation of mortalin-p53 complex and reactivation of p53 tumor suppressor function. Like CAPE, Artepillin C (ARC) and the supercritical extract of green propolis (GPSE) showed potent anticancer activity. In this study, we recruited low doses of GPSE and ARC (that did not affect either cancer cell proliferation or migration) to investigate their antistress potential using in vitro cell based assays. We report that both GPSE and ARC have the capability to disaggregate metal- and heat-induced aggregated proteins. Metal-induced aggregation of GFP was reduced by fourfold in GPSE- as well as ARC-treated cells. Similarly, whereas heat-induced misfolding of luciferase protein showed 80% loss of activity, the cells treated with either GPSE or ARC showed 60–80% recovery. Furthermore, we demonstrate their pro-hypoxia (marked by the upregulation of HIF-1α) and neuro-differentiation (marked by differentiation morphology and upregulation of expression of GFAP, β-tubulin III, and MAP2). Both GPSE and ARC also offered significant protection against oxidative stress and, hence, may be useful in the treatment of old age-related brain pathologies.