Removal of methylene blue dye from an aqueous solution using guar gum-g-poly (methyl methacrylate) superabsorbent nanocomposite

Rathore Kartika* and Loonker Sangeeta

In this work, removal of methylene blue cationic dye was carried out from an aqueous solution using guar gum-g-poly (methyl methacrylate) superabsorbent nanocomposite. The batch experiments were carried out for adsorption of methylene blue at different pH values. The concentration of dye before and after adsorption was analyzed by UV-Vis Spectrophotometry. Effect of various parameters like pH, contact time, initial dye concentration and adsorbent dose on percentage removal of methylene blue was investigated.

Results showed that prepared nanocomposite showed the highest percent removal of methylene blue (85 %) at pH 9. The kinetics and adsorption isotherm model were studied to determine maximum adsorption and mechanism for adsorption. The study of adsorption isotherms shows that adsorption process of dye follows both Freundlich and Langmuir type of isotherm. The study of adsorption kinetics shows that it follows pseudo second order reaction.

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Biosynthesis, Characterization and Antibacterial studies of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles using Mentha Piperita

Venkatesh Sharma R. and Shridhara Prasad K.*

The goal of our study was to synthesise nano zinc oxide using the aqueous extract of Mentha Piperita leaves and to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy against some microbes. The synthesis of zinc oxide nano particles were characterized by UV/VIS spectroscopy, SEM, TEM and FTIR techniques. The prepared zinc oxide nano particles showed significant antimicrobial activity against pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus, from this investigation it can be concluded that aqueous extract of Mentha Piperita plant can be effectively used for synthesising zinc oxide nano particles.

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Anticorrosive Property of Arecanut Seed Extracts on 63400 Type Al in 0.1 M NaOH Solution

Narasimha Raghavendra and Jathi Ishwara Bhat*

Inhibition of Al corrosion in 0.1 M NaOH solution by tender arecanut seed extract and dry arecanut seed extract at different time and temperature has been studied with the help of weight loss and electrochemical Tafel plot techniques. Results obtained from the weight loss technique show that percentage protection efficiency of the inhibitors (tender arecanut extract and dry arecanut seed extract) increases with increase in concentrations of the inhibitors and decreases with a rise in immersion period and 0.1 M NaOH solution temperature.

Inhibition of Al corrosion mechanism in 0.1 M NaOH solution was understood by thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. Electrochemical Tafel plots showed that tender arecanut seed extract and dry arecanut seed extracts inhibit the Al corrosion process in 0.1 M NaOH medium by mixed-mode. Further, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy analysis established the existence of adsorbed film on the surface of Al which hindered the corrosion reaction.

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Seasonal variations in mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 at traffic intersection and residential sites in Raipur city

Sinha Deepak* and Dammani Jaya

Raipur city, the capital of Chhattisgarh is known as business centre place of surrounding cities and adjoining states, e.g. Orissa in East, Madhya Pradesh in North, Maharastra in West and Andhra Pradesh in South. Because of local industrial and human activities and regional transport, air quality of the city is a major concern. Particulate matter (PM) is a governing factor of air quality index. Therefore, here we report PM10 and PM2.5 massconcentration measured at official sites of CECB (Chhattisgarh Environmental Conservation Board) located in Collectorate (traffic intersection site) and other one at Shankar Nagar (a residential site) for one year i.e. from April 2016 to March 2017. Annual averages of PM10 and PM2.5concentration levels were about 110 and 50 μg/m3, respectively which are par below the previous reports.

The contribution of PM10-2.5 fraction is more than PM2.5 fraction in total PM10 mass, suggesting that major contribution of particles is from coarse size. The potential sources of coarse size particles may be road re-suspension dust, particles generated from power plant, metallurgical and engineering unit during production etc. Concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 both show peaks in winter as compared to summer and monsoon seasons. This is possibly because of enhanced local burning activities and low-wind speed and low mixing height in winter season. A source apportionment study based on chemical analyses of particulate matter is suggested to better understand the sources of these pollutants.

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Green synthesis and characterization of Zinc oxide nanoparticles using stem extract of Anthocephalus cadamba and their anti-microbial activity

Abdul Mathin Sk.* and David Raju M.

Biological reduction agents are being explored worldwide to minimize the effects of toxic chemicals used in nanoparticle fabrication. The present study states a green approach for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles employing aqueous stem extract of Anthocephalus cadamba. Stem extract was used as the biological reduction agent for synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles from zinc acetate dihydrate. Synthesis conditions were optimized for maximal and narrow size range synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles.

The resultant nanopowder was characterized using various analytical techniques such as UV–Visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Nanoparticles were tested for their antimicrobial potential and were found to be active against all five tested phytopathogens with lowest MIC. Hence, an easy and effective green approach for synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles, with efficient antimicrobial potential is reported in this study.

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Synthesis and Characterization of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles via Co-precipitation and Reverse Micelles Methods in the Biological Applications

Fathi Fereshteh*, Sadjadi Mir Abdollah Seied, Farhadyar Nazanin and Sadr Moaied Hosseini

In recent years, the wide applications of iron oxide nanoparticles in the field of medicine, imaging and drug delivery increase the usage of this product in the medicine and pharmacy. Due to the significance of this issue, the synthesis of these nanoparticles is vitally important. Among the synthetic methods of nanoparticles, the simplest procedure is co-precipitation in which in the presence of an alkali, divalent and trivalent iron salts react with each other.

However, based upon the control of size in the clinical applications, the reverse micelles method seems valuable. In this procedure, using surfactant produces the iron oxide nanoparticles with desired sizes. This can be due to the control of surfactant amounts and its proportion with starting materials, divalent iron salts. It should be mentioned that this method cannot be applicable about the pH procedure and trivalent iron salts. In this research, some characterization spectrum of nanoparticles has been compared to result in the best condition of co-precipitation method with the control and investigation of nanoparticles production procedures.

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Phylogenetic relationship and evolution analysis of Citrus species

Sun Yan-Lin*, Bai Xin-Fu, Hu De-Chang, Kim She-Whan, Park Yong-Chul and Hong Soon-Kwan*

The genus Citrus (Aurantioideae, Rutaceae) is the sole source of the citrus fruits for commerce showing high economic values. Due to wide dispersion, natural hybridization sensitivity and long history of cultivation, their taxonomy and phylogeny of Citrus genus have been still the research focus of taxonomists. In this study, the taxonomy and phylogeny of Citrus species are evaluated within 28 different Citrus species based on five multi-locus DNA markers. Among these markers, the nrDNA ITS and rRNA 5S showed relatively higher variation rates of sequence nucleotide, of which the rRNA 5S region exhibited the hybridization information clearly.

According to the rRNA 5S and other DNA marker sequence analysis, one Citrus spp. was determined to be C. unshiu. Given consideration to high sequence conservation, the rRNA 18S and cpDNA markers were more suitable for fixing to avoid slipping of DNA sequences when aligned. Thus, we combined with all the five DNA markers and constructed one combined phylogenetic tree, that is further in favor of understanding the evolution and phylogenetic relationship of Citrus species.

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Indirect Spectrophotometric determination of Ascorbic acid

Thakre Jayashree S.* and Dhomne Abha S.

The spectrophotometric method for trace determination of ascorbic acid has been developed based on reduction of absorbance of acidic methylene blue solution. Ascorbic acid can be determined up to 5.0 ug/ml with standard deviation of 0.053

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