Volume 67, Issue 2

Solid phase microextraction (SPME) followed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC×GC-TOF-MS) was used to characterise volatile organic compounds in honeys of different botanical origins. Rape, sunflower, acacia, lime, raspberry, and phacelia honeys from Slovakia were studied in detail. Up to 900 compounds were detected at the given S/N ratio of 200. The poorest VOC profiles were found for acacia and rape honeys while lime honey showed the richest VOC composition. Approximately 100 compounds were present in all honeys studied, independently of their botanical origin. They belong to various chemical classes (hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes and ketones, terpenes, benzene derivatives, and compounds containing heteroatoms). The compounds found in only one type of honey were also successfully identified.

A simple and rapid synthesis of CdO nanopowder via the solution combustion route employing l-(+)-tartaric acid as a fuel is reported for the first time. The catalyst was characterized by PXRD, SEM, TEM, BET surface area measurement, basic site measurement from back titration and FTIR. Combustion derived CdO nanopowder acts as a catalyst in the sulfonylation of amines with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride to obtain sulfonamides in excellent yield (85–95 %) and high purity under mild reaction conditions. CdO nanopowder has been found to be an efficient catalyst requiring a shorter reaction time (10–30 min) to obtain sulfonamide when compared with the commercial CdO powder requiring 2 h under similar conditions. The catalyst can be recovered and reused four times without any significant loss of catalytic activity. Potential role of CdO nanopowder in the synthesis of sulfonamides and its mechanism is proposed.

Molybdate sulfonic acid (MSA) as a highly efficient catalyst was synthesized and employed for the synthesis of octahydroxanthene-1,8-dione derivatives. MSA efficiently catalyzed condensation of a wide range of aryl aldehydes and cyclohexane-1,3-diones to obtain octahydroxanthene-1,8-diones. It was characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and FT-IR spectroscopy. This catalyst can be recovered and reused several times in other reactions maintaining its high activity. This novel and green method is very cheap and has many advantages such as excellent yields, the use of recoverable and eco-friendly catalysts, and a simple work-up procedure.

Enantioselective extraction of hydrophilic 2-chloromandelic acid (CMA) enantiomers from organic to aqueous phase with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) as the selector was investigated. Equilibrium of the extraction system was modeled using a reactive extraction model with a homogeneous aqueous phase reaction. The influence of important process variables on the extraction efficiency, such as the type of the organic solvent and β-cyclodextrin derivatives (β-CDs), concentration of the selector, pH and temperature, was investigated by experiment and modeling. Important parameters of this model were determined experimentally. Results showed that the experimental data agree with the model prediction perfectly and the model was further applied to accurately predict the extraction efficiency influenced simultaneously by pH and the concentration of HP-β-CD. Combining the experiment and the model data, the best extraction conditions were: pH of 2.5, HP-β-CD concentration of 0.05 mol L−1, and temperature of 5°C, providing the enantioselectivity of 1.285 and the performance factor (pf) of 0.011.

Results of an experimental study on the rate of attrition of lime catalyst/sorbent in a high-temperature, turbulent fluidized bed with quartz sand are presented. Batch measurements were conducted at 850°C in an electrically heated gasification reactor of the inner diameter of 5.1 cm with three samples of high-grade dolomitic lime of the particle size 450 μm, 715 μm, and 1060 μm, respectively. In addition to the influence of the particle size, the effect of operating (elapsed) time was investigated at different superficial gas velocities. Assuming that the attrition rate decreases exponentially with time, a simple mechanistic model, enabling the correlation of the measured experimental data, was developed. The course of the lime particles attrition is described as a function of the elapsed time, excess gas velocity, and particle size. The presented approach and the results might be applicable for the attrition of high-grade dolomitic lime, particularly in fluidized gasification of biomass.

Partition coefficients between environmental compartments are essential parameters in any predictive models on pollutants’ fate in various emission scenarios. When sufficient experimental data are not available, empirical algebraic models are capable of predicting the pollutant partitioning characteristics based on bulk physico-chemical properties or various molecular structural features. When the use of sophisticated rules based on detailed 2D–3D molecular descriptors is not available as a quick option, inexpensive, simple correlations based solely on octanol-1-ol (octanol)-water partition coefficients (K ow) are extensively employed. The present study investigates enhancing the adequacy of such hydrophobicity-based models by adding simple 1D descriptors, readily identifiable by inspecting the substance structure (i.e. the number of chlorine atoms bound to aromatic rings, or the number of aromatic 5- or 6-atom rings, etc.), in addition to the pollutant’s solubility in water. Exemplification is made for predicting the water-biota (fish)-sediment partition coefficients for chlorobenzenes (CBz).

A five-step sequential extraction procedure was proposed in order to assess the distribution of mercury (Hg) forms in urban particulate matter (PM): exchangeable, HCl-soluble, organic-bound, elemental and other slightly soluble Hg species, mercury(II) sulphide (HgS), and residual Hg. This process was applied to the analysis of urban dust samples collected at locations in Prague (Czech Republic) with high traffic density. In addition to sequential extractions, thermal desorption analysis was performed. The differences in Hg concentrations between untreated and thermally treated samples were indicated as the thermally releasable amount of Hg. For the study of PM-adsorbing capacity, Hg vapours were passed through the samples as long as the enrichment of materials was observed. The retained elemental Hg was readily released by thermal desorption. All Hg analyses were based on the highly sensitive pyrolysis technique of atomic absorption spectrometry using the mercury analyser AMA-254.

The thermal decomposition of lanthanide complexes, with a general formula: [LnL(NO3)2](NO3), where Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, and Er; and L = bis-(salicyladehyde)-1,3-propylenediimine Schiff base ligand, was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) techniques. The TG and DTG data indicated that all complexes are thermostable up to 398 K. The thermal decomposition of all Ln(III) complexes was a two-stage process and the final residues were Ln2O3 (Ln = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Er), Tb4O7, and Pr6 O11. The activation energies of thermal decomposition of the complexes were calculated from analysis of the TG-DTG curves using the Kissinger, Friedman, and Flynn-Well-Ozawa methods.

The electrochemical behaviours of a brass alloy in 0.1 M nitric acid, including the hyamine inhibitor with concentrations between 2.5 × 10−4 M and 1.0 × 10−5 M, were studied. For this purpose, potentiodynamic polarisation, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear polarisation resistance (LPR) techniques, and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) were utilised. The inhibitor molecules adsorbed on the brass surface were calculated to be in good agreement with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and the standard free enthalpy of adsorption (ΔG ads∘). Hyamine effectively improved the corrosion inhibition of brass and acted as a mixed-type inhibitor on alloy surfaces. The surface morphology of the alloy was also clarified by optical microscopic and SEM techniques. A theoretical study of the corrosion inhibition efficiency of hyamine molecule was carried out using density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) basis set level.

Possibilities of a multicell isoperibolic-semiadiabatic calorimeter application for the measurement of hydration heat and maximum temperature reached in mixtures of various compositions during their setting and early stages of hardening are presented. Measurements were aimed to determine the impact of selected components’ content on the course of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) hydration. The following components were selected for the determination of the hydration behaviour in mixtures: very finely ground granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), silica fume (microsilica, SF), finely ground quartz sand (FGQ), and calcined bauxite (CB). A commercial polycarboxylate type superplasticizer was also added to the selected mixtures. All maximum temperatures measured for selected mineral components were lower than that reached for cement. The maximum temperature increased with the decreasing amount of components in the mixture for all components except for silica fume. For all components, except for CB, the values of total released heat were higher than those for pure Portland cement samples.

Electrostatic extrusion was applied to the encapsulation of 3-ethoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (ethyl vanillin) in calcium alginate and calcium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) beads. The calcium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel spheres were formed after contact with the cross-linker solution of calcium chloride, followed by the freeze-thaw method for poly(vinyl alcohol) gel formation. The entrapment of aroma in beads was investigated by FTIR and thermal analysis (thermogravimetry/differential thermal gravimetry; TGA/DTG). The mass loss in the temperature range of 150–300°C is related to degradation of the matrix and the release of ethyl vanillin. According to the DTG curve, the release of ethyl vanillin occurs at about 260°C. TGA measurements of the stored samples confirmed that formulations were stable for a period of one month. FTIR analysis provides no evidence for chemical interactions between flavour and alginate that would alter the nature of the functional groups in the flavour compound.

3-Substituted quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-dione and 2,3-di-substituted quinazolineone derivatives attract considerable interest due to their pharmacological properties. In this paper, we report the synthesis of N-substituted-3-nitrophthalimide derivatives II–III, the reactions of phthalimide III with amines, hydrazines, and amino acid derivatives to synthesise a small library of 3-substituted-5-nitroquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones IV–XIV and 2,3-di-substituted-6-nitro-quinazolineones XVIII–XIX.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health threat and current therapies warrant the need for novel HCV therapies. Several synthetic analogs targeting HCV serine protease and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase have entered clinical development. To investigate the novel HCV NS5B RdRp polymerase inhibitor, screening of a designed data set consisting of benzimidazole analogs by the FlexX docking approach was performed. Binding interactions at the active sites (PDB ID: 2DXS) were evaluated leading to the rationalization of further synthesis and evaluation procedures.

A new phenanthroindolizidine alkaloid, 3-O-demethyl tylophorinidine (VI), was isolated from the aerial (leaves and stem) parts of Tylophora indica and characterized using different spectral techniques. Gel chromatography and reverse phase preparative HPLC were used for sample purification. The new alkaloid, VI, was screened for anticancer activity against a panel of different cancer cell lines and it showed significant anticancer activity with IC50 value in the range of 0.89–1.40 μM.