Epoxidized Mesua ferrea L. seed oil‐plasticized thermostable PVC and PVC‐clay nanocomposites

The use of vegetable‐oil‐based polymeric plasticizers with nanotechnology can create new applications for plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Epoxidized Mesua ferrea L. (Ceylon Ironwood) seed oil was used as a plasticizer for PVC. Further, nanocomposites were prepared through an ex‐situ technique using epoxidized‐oil‐swelled organically modified montmorillonite (5 wt%) and PVC. Notable improvement in thermal and processing characteristics of the nanocomposites was observed over those of the virgin polymer (in both unplasticized and plasticized PVC), as studied by TGA. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized by FTIR, SEM, TEM, and XRD techniques. A dramatic decrease in viscosity (7‐fold) was observed in THF for a 10% solution of epoxidized‐oil‐modified PVC compared to unplasticized PVC in THF, as measured by Brookfield viscometer. Isothermal analysis at three different temperatures (100, 150, and 200°C) reveals sufficient stability of the epoxidized oil modified PVC nanocomposites, as confirmed by gravimetric and FTIR analysis. Augmentation of thermostability and good retention of mechanical properties of the (Mesua ferrea L.)‐plasticized‐PVC/clay nanocomposites with respect to rigid PVC vouch for the utility of the former as advanced industrial materials. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 18:168–177, 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Green reduction of graphene oxide by aqueous phytoextracts

The reduction of graphene oxide (GO) by phytochemicals was investigated using aqueous leaf extracts of Colocasia esculenta and Mesua ferrea Linn. and an aqueous peel extract of orange (Citrus sinensis). The prepared GO and phytoextract reduced GO (RGO) were characterized by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared analyses to provide a clear indication of the removal of oxygen-containing groups from the graphene and the formation of RGO. The extent of reduction was determined from elemental analysis. Formation of few layers of graphene was indicated by transmission electron microscopy. The obtained RGO exhibited good specific capacitance (17–21 Fg^?1), high electrical conductivity (3032.6–4006 Sm^?1) and high carbon to oxygen ratio (5.97–7.11).     

Long‐term oropharyngeal colonization by C. albicans in children with cystic fibrosis

This longitudinal prospective study aimed to determine the prevalence of oropharyngeal colonization by C. albicans in children with cystic fibrosis (CF), and observe the continuity of candidal colonization and the changes in production of virulence factors, susceptibility to antifungal agents and RAPD patterns of the isolates. Thirty‐seven children with CF were followed‐up for oropharyngeal C. albicans colonization for 18 months. The colonization rate was detected in 54%. All isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B, but those isolated from one patient were resistant to fluconazole. Biofilm production, secretory acid proteinase, phospholipase and esterase activity rates were 30%, 60%, 75% and 80%, respectively. RAPD analysis with the primers OPE‐03 and OPE‐18 was performed for genotyping. RAPD patterns of the strains isolated from the same patient were related to each other, whereas they were not related with other strains isolated from different patients. Two C. albicans strains isolated from the same patient were found to be unrelated to one another. As a result, long‐lasting colonization of the oropharyngeal mucosa of children with CF by endogenous C. albicans isolates having the same RAPD pattern was demonstrated. Colonization prevalance and development of resistance to antifungal agents and the increased production of virulence factors were not correlated. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Castor oil-based hyperbranched polyurethanes as advanced surface coating materials

21st Century is treated as the century for highly branched macromolecules, because of their unique structural architecture and outstanding performance characteristics, in the field of polymer science. In the present study, castor oil-based two hyperbranched polyurethanes (HBPUs) were synthesized via A₂ + B₃ approach using castor oil or monoglyceride of the castor oil as the hydroxyl containing B₃ reactant and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) as an A₂ reactant along with 1,4-butane diol (BD) as the chain extender and poly(?-caprolactone) diol (PCL) as a macroglycol. The adopted ‘high dilution and slow addition’ technique offers hyperbranched polymers with high yield and good solubility in most of the polar aprotic solvents. Fourier transforms infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses confirmed the chemical structure of synthesized polymers, while wide angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) resulted the insight of their physical structures. The degree of branching was calculated from ¹H NMR and found to be 0.57 for castor oil based hyperbranched polyurethane (CHBPU), while it was 0.8 for monoglyceride based hyperbranched polyurethane (MHBPU). The studies showed that MHBPU and CHBPU exhibited tensile strength 11 MPa and 7 MPa, elongation at break 695% and 791%, scratch hardness 5 kg and 4.5 kg, gloss 84 and 72, respectively. Thermal properties like thermo stability, melting point, enthalpy, degree of crystallinity and glass transition temperature (T_g); and chemical resistance in different chemical media were found to be almost equivalent for both the polyurethanes. The measurements of dielectric constant and lost factor indicated that both the HBPUs behave as dielectric materials. Thus the synthesized HBPUs have the potential to be used as advanced surface coating materials.     

Influence of highly branched poly(amido amine) on the properties of hyperbranched polyurethane/clay nanocomposites

The fascinating architecture of hyperbranched polymer imparts a truck load of novel properties to the material. Epoxy resin modified Mesua ferrea L. seed oil based hyperbranched polyurethane (MHBPU) nanocomposites were prepared by in situ technique using s-triazine based highly branched poly(amido amine) (HBPAA) modified organo-nanoclay. The HBPAA was synthesized by A₂ + B₃ technique with good yield (>75%) using urea and s-triazine. The formation of the polymer was confirmed with the help of ¹H NMR, FTIR, UV spectroscopic, and measurements of solution viscosity with other physical properties. This HBPAA was successfully utilized to swell the montmorillonite organo-nanoclay as the interlayer gallery distance increases up to 8.2 Å, obtained by XRD study. The FTIR further confirmed the presence of interactions of the HBPAA moiety with the organo-clay layers. The formation of nanocomposites was confirmed by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM and rheological studies. The improvements of tensile strength (1.7 times) and scratch hardness (2.3 times) along with the dramatic enhancement of thermostability and flame retardancy without compromising impact resistance, bending, and elongation at break of the nanocomposites compared to pristine MHBPU thermoset are the noticeable credits of the present investigation. The results signify the great potential of the studied materials for various advanced applications.     

Photocatalytic degradation of Basic Red 46 and Basic Yellow 28 in single and binary mixture by UV/TiO2/periodate system

The present study deals with the investigation of photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of C.I. Basic Red 46 (BR46) and C.I. Basic Yellow 28 (BY28) dyes in single and binary solutions as a function of periodate ion concentration (IO(4)(-)), irradiation time, initial pH and initial dye concentrations. First order derivative spectrophotometric method was used for to simultaneous analysis of BY28 and BR46 in binary mixtures. Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model was applied to experimental data and apparent reaction rate constant values were calculated. The apparent degradation rate constant values of BR46 were higher than those of BY28 for all experiments in single dye solutions. On the other hand, the significant reductions were observed for the apparent degradation rate constant values of the BR46 in the presence of BY28 in binary solutions whereas TOC removal efficiency slightly enhanced in binary system. The highest TOC removal efficiency was obtained at pH 3.0 by adding 5mM periodate ion in to the solution in the presence of 1g/L TiO(2) for both dye solutions. After 3h illumination, 68, 76 and 75% mineralization were found for 100mg/L BY28, 100mg/L BR46 and 50+50mg/L mixed solutions, respectively.     

Preparation of methacrylamide grafted and dye-ligand immobilized PET fibers: Studies of adsorption and purification of lysozyme

In this study, novel affinity chromatographic fibers was prepared from methacrylamide grafted poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET-g-pMAA, using benzoylperoxide as an initiator. A dye ligand (i.e., Procion Brown) as a ligand was then covalently immobilized on the different amount of pMAAm grafted PET fibers, (PET-g-pMAAm-PB). The fibers were characterized by surface area measurement, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Adsorptive properties of the composite fibers were tested using a model protein (i.e., lysozyme). To achieve these purposes, the influence of pH, ionic strength, initial lysozyme concentration, and temperature on adsorption system has been investigated and evaluated. A maximum lysozyme adsorption PET-g-pMAAm-PB fiber was obtained as 43.9 mg g⁻¹ at pH 7.5. The experimental equilibrium data obtained for lysozyme adsorption onto PET-g-pMAAm-PB fibers fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model. The result of kinetic analyzed for lysozyme adsorption onto affinity fibers showed that the second-order rate equation was favorable. The purity of the eluted lysozyme, as determined by HPLC, was 84% with recovery 73% for PET-g-pMAAm-PB fiber. Experiments on regeneration and dynamic adsorption were also performed. It appears that PET-g-pMAAm-PB fibers can be applied for lysozyme separation without causing any denaturation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Rebalancing the assembly lines: exact solution approaches

In this study, we consider an assembly line rebalancing problem with disruptions caused by workstation breakdowns or shutdowns. After the disruption, we aim to find a rebalance so as to catch the trade-off between the efficiency measure of cycle time and stability measure of number of tasks assigned to different workstations in the original and new balances. Our aim is to generate all nondominated objective vectors with respect to the efficiency and stability measures. We develop two optimisation algorithms: a Mixed Integer Linear Programming-based algorithm and a Branch and Bound algorithm. The results of our experiments have shown the favourable performances of both algorithms and the superiority of the Branch and Bound algorithm.     

Renewable resource modified polyol derived aliphatic hyperbranched polyurethane as a biodegradable and UV‐resistant smart material

Renewable resource tailored tough, elastomeric, biodegradable, smart aliphatic hyperbranched polyurethanes were synthesized using castor oil modified polyol containing fatty amide triol, glycerol, diethanolamine and monoglyceride of sunflower oil via an A_x + B_y (x , y ≥ 2) approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the synthesis of solely aliphatic hyperbranched polyurethanes by employing renewable resources. The synthesized polyurethanes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, NMR and XRD techniques. The hyperbranched polyurethanes exhibited good mechanical properties, especially elongation at break (668%), toughness (32.16 MJ m^?3) and impact resistance (19.02 kJ m^?1); also high thermal stability (above 300 °C) and good chemical resistance. Also, the hyperbranched polyurethanes were found to show adequate biodegradability and significant UV light resistance. Moreover, they demonstrated excellent multi‐stimuli‐driven shape recovery ability (up to 97%) under direct sunlight (10⁵ lux), thermal energy (50 °C) and microwave irradiation (450 W). The performance of the hyperbranched polyurethanes was compared with renewable resource based and synthetic linear polyurethane to judge the superiority of the hyperbranched architecture. Therefore, these new aliphatic macromolecules hold significant promise as smart materials for advanced applications. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry