Synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives using nanocrystalline copper(II) oxide catalyst

Nanocrystalline copper(II) oxide catalyzed three-component coupling of aromatic amines, β-ketoesters and cinnamaldehyde to afford the corresponding 1,4-dihydropyridines in moderate to good yields under mild conditions is described. The catalyst can be recovered and reused for four cycles with almost consistent activity.     

Evaluation of Surface/Solution Interface on Carbon Steel in Contact with a Phosphonate-Based Ternary Corrosion Inhibitor System

Results of studies on interface produced on carbon steel in chloride environment containing a new ternary corrosion inhibitor formulation are presented. The surface/solution interface was developed by immersing the carbon steel in a solution containing 1-hydroxyethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP), Zn(II) and folic acid (FA). Polarization studies indicate that the formulation is capable of affecting both the partial reactions occurring on the metal surface. Impedance studies reveal that significant changes in surface/solution interface occur as inferred by enormous increase in charge transfer resistance in the medium containing the inhibitor system. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies infer presence of oxides of iron, hydroxides of iron and zinc as well as heteroleptic complex, [Fe(III), Zn(II)–HEDP–FA] in the surface film. Fourier transform infrared spectrum of the surface protective film supports the presence of these compounds in the surface film. Morphological and topographical features of the protected and unprotected metal surface recorded by scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope respectively are presented. Consolidating the results of all these studies, mechanistic aspects of corrosion inhibition are proposed.     

Land surface air temperature mapping using TOVS and AVHRR

Surface air temperature is an important variable in land surface hydrological studies. This paper evaluates the ability of satellites to map air temperature across large land surface areas. Algorithms recently have been developed that derive surface air temperature using observations from the TOVS (TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder) suite of instruments and also from the AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer), which have flown on the NOAA operational sun synchronous satellites TIROS-N NOAA-14. In this study we evaluate TOVS soundings from NOAA-10 (nominal local time of overpass 7:30 a.m./p.m.) and data from AVHRR aboard NOAA-9 (nominal local time 2:30 a.m./p.m.). Instantaneous estimates from the AVHRR and TOVS were compared with the hourly ground observations collected from 26 meteorological stations in the Red River-Arkansas River basin for a 3-month period from May to July 1987. Detailed comparisons between the satellite and ground estimates of surface air temperatures are reported and the feasibility of estimating the diurnal variation is explored. The comparisons are interpreted in the geographical context, i.e. land cover and topography, and in the seasonal context, i.e. early and midsummer. The results show that the average bias over the 3-month period compared with ground-based observations is approximately 2°C or less for the three times of day with TOVS having lower biases than AVHRR. Knowledge of these error estimates will greatly benefit use of satellite data in hydrological modelling.     

Design and implementation of a realtime co-processor for denoising Fiber Optic Gyroscope signal

The amount of noise present in the Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) signal limits its applications and has a negative impact on navigation system. Existing algorithms such as Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Kalman Filter (KF) denoise the FOG signal under static environment, however denoising fails in dynamic environment. Therefore in this paper an Adaptive Moving Average Dual Mode Kalman Filter (AMADMKF) is developed for denoising the FOG signal under both the static and dynamic environments. Performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with DWT and KF techniques. Further, a hardware Intellectual Property (IP) of the algorithm is developed for System on Chip (SoC) implementation using Xilinx Virtex-5 Field Programmable Gate Array (Virtex-5FX70T-1136). The developed IP is interfaced as a Co-processor/ Auxiliary Processing Unit (APU) with the PowerPC (PPC440) embedded processor of the FPGA. It is proved that the proposed system is an efficient solution for denoising the FOG signal in real-time environment. Hardware acceleration of developed Co-processor is 65× with respect to its equivalent software implementation of AMADMKF algorithm in the PPC440 embedded processor.     

Improvement of enzymatic xylooligosaccharides production by the co-utilization of xylans from different origins

This study aimed to improve XOs production by enzymatic hydrolysis of xylans from various lignocellulosic waste biomasses namely corn cob, cotton and sunflower stalks, rice hull, wheat straw by using two commercial xylanase preparations, Shearzyme 500L and Veron 191. Shearzyme 500L showed better xylan hydrolysis capacity with high amount of xylose liberation. Xylobiose was the main hydrolysis product in each case. Even though the enzymatic hydrolyses using Shearzyme 500L resulted higher reducing sugar production compared to those of Veron 191, the hydrolysis of complex xylan structures was improved and the production of undesirable xylose was lowered by the co-utilization of xylanase preparations. By the co-utilization of xylanase preparations, the reducing sugar production from wheat straw, corn cob and sunflower stalk originated xylans was increased by 36%, 33% and 13%, respectively, compared to the expected reducing sugar yields. The highest reducing sugar production was obtained from complex corn cob xylan. The depolymerization of cotton and sunflower stalk xylan was poorest even though they have simple structures. Poor utilization of these xylans might be related to their high residual lignin content which might hinder the accessibility of xylan by the xylanases. However, the utilization of sunflower and cotton stalk xylan was improved when they were hydrolyzed within a xylan mixture containing equal amounts of each of five different xylans. In short, XOs production efficiency from agricultural waste materials was improved by the co-utilization of suitable xylanase and/or xylan mixtures considering the heterogeneous structures of xylan and different substrate specificities of xylanases.     

Acidic urine pH is associated with elevated levels of free urinary benzidine and N-acetylbenzidine and urothelial cell DNA adducts in exposed workers

We evaluated the influence of urine pH on the proportion of urinary benzidine (BZ) and N-acetylbenzidine present in the free, unconjugated state and on exfoliated urothelial cell DNA adduct levels in 32 workers exposed to BZ in India. Postworkshift urine pH was inversely correlated with the proportions of BZ (r = -0.78; P < 0.0001) and N-acetylbenzidine (r = -0.67; P < 0.0001) present as free compounds. Furthermore, the average of each subject's pre- and postworkshift urine pH was negatively associated with the predominant urothelial DNA adduct (P = 0.0037, adjusted for urinary BZ and metabolites), which has been shown to cochromatograph with a N-(3'-phosphodeoxyguanosin-8-yl)-N'-acetylbenzidine adduct standard. Controlling for internal dose, individuals with urine pH < 6 had 10-fold higher DNA adduct levels compared to subjects with urine pH > or = 7. As reported previously, polymorphisms in NAT1, NAT2, and GSTM1 had no impact on DNA adduct levels. This is the first study to demonstrate that urine pH has a strong influence on the presence of free urinary aromatic amine compounds and on urothelial cell DNA adduct levels in exposed humans. Because there is evidence that acidic urine has a similar influence on aromatic amines derived from cigarette smoke, urine pH, which is influenced by diet, may be an important susceptibility factor for bladder cancer caused by tobacco in the general population.     

Comparative study of electron conduction in azulene and naphthalene

We have studied the feasibility of electron conduction in azulene molecule and compared with that in its isomer naphthalene. We have used non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism to measure the current in our systems as a response of the external electric field. Parallely we have performed the Gaussian calculations with electric field in the same bias window to observe the impact of external bias on the wave functions of the systems. We have found that the conduction of azulene is higher than that of naphthalene inspite of its intrinsic donor-acceptor property, which leads a system to more insulating state. Due to stabilization through charge transfer the azulene system can be fabricated as a very effective molecular wire. Our calculations show the possibility of huge device application of azulene in nano-scale instruments.     

Amino‐functionalised mesoporous silica microspheres for immobilisation of Candida antarctica lipase B – application towards greener production of 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid

In the present study, amino‐functionalised mesoporous silica microspheres were utilised as support for the covalent immobilisation of Candida antarctica lipase B (CaLB) for the subsequent production of 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) from 2,5‐diformylfuran (DFF). Under the optimised operating conditions of pH 6.5, particle/enzyme ratio of 1.25:1.0 and glutaraldehyde concentration of 4 mM, a maximum CaLB immobilisation yield of 82.4% on silica microspheres was obtained in 12.25 h. The immobilised CaLB was used for the synthesis of alkyl esters, which were utilised along with hydrogen peroxide for FDCA synthesis. The biocatalytic conversion of 30 mM DFF dictated a 77–79% FDCA in 48 h at 30°C; where the turnover number and turnover frequency of immobilised CaLB were 6220.73 mol mol⁻¹ and 129.59 h⁻¹, respectively, for ethyl acetate, against 6297.65 mol mol⁻¹ and 131.2 h⁻¹, respectively, for ethyl butyrate. Upon examining the operational stability, the immobilised CaLB exhibited high stability till five cycles of FDCA production.Inspec keywords: mesoporous materials, organic compounds, biotechnology, silicon compounds, renewable materials, catalysis, catalysts, enzymes, thermal stability, biofuelOther keywords: FDCA production, amino‐functionalised mesoporous silica microspheres, greener production, 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid, covalent immobilisation, 2,5‐diformylfuran, CaLB immobilisation, Candida antarctica lipase B immobilisation, ethyl butyrate, time 48.0 hour, temperature 30.0 degC, time 12.25 hour     

Sequence-independent recombination triple helices: a molecular dynamics study

The mRNA levels encoding for the two isoforms of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65 and GAD67) were measured in the adult rat striatum following systemic administration of dopamine receptor agonists. Double-labeling in situ hybridization histochemistry was used to measure GAD65 or GAD67 mRNA levels in neurons labeled or not with a preproenkephalin (PPE) cRNA probe. Chronic treatment with the D1/D2 dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine or with the D1 dopamine receptor agonist SKF-38393 induced an increase in GAD65 but not GAD67 mRNA levels in different sectors of the striatum. These effects were abolished by pre-administration of the D1 dopamine receptor antagonist SCH-23390. On double-labeled sections, GAD65 mRNA labeling was distributed in neurons labeled and unlabeled with the PPE cRNA probe. About half of all neuronal profiles labeled with the GAD65 cRNA probe were also labeled with the PPE cRNA probe. Quantification of labeling at cellular level demonstrated a significant increase of GAD65 mRNA levels in PPE-unlabeled neurons. On the other hand, no significant changes of GAD65 mRNA levels were detected in PPE-labeled neurons. Our results demonstrate a differential effect of dopamine receptor agonists on striatal GAD65 and GAD67 gene expression. In particular, we show that GAD65 mRNA levels are selectively increased in presumed striato-nigral neurons following treatments with dopamine receptor agonists. These data provide evidence that the GAD65 isoform is preferentially involved in the regulation of GABAergic neurotransmission in striato-nigral neurons.     

Review of the process development aspects of electrochemical dyeing: its impact and commercial applications

This review discusses the recent progress made in both direct and indirect electrochemical dyeing processes and the parameters that control the dyeing process.