Induction of Metachromasia by Small Molecules in Neutral Red

Ashoke Kumar Bhattacharyya and Amitabha Saha

The dye neutral red [NR,3-amino -7-(dimethyl amino)-2-methyl phenazine mono hydrochloride, C.I-50040]is a cationic dye belonging to azine group.It is a pH dependent dye having different values of lmax at different pH of its solution . The spectrum of the aqueous solution of neutral red (2.0-5.0X10- 5 M,pH ~ 6.5, lmax=540nm) undergoes both hypsochromic and hypochromic shifts with the increase of pH ( from pH 7 onwards ) and blue shifted band appears around 460 nm . The solution of neutral red (pH ~ 6.5 , 2.0-5.0 X10-5 M) suffers blue shift of its monomeric band (a band) by about 10 nm in presence of potassium ferrocyanide, potassium ferricyanide, ammonium metavanadate. Dextran sulphate (DS,eq.wt 167, charge density 2.0 per monosaccharide unit ), a polyanion of high charge density acts as a strong chromotrope and induces blue shift of a- band of NR by 40 nm . Stoichiometry determination through conductometric titration reveals that neutral red binds with potassium ferrocyanide, potassium ferricyanide, ammonium meta vanadate and dextran sulphate in the molar ratio of ~4:1, 3:1, 1:1 and 2:1 respectively . A mechanistic model has been suggested to account for the induction of metachromasia in suitable cationic dyes by monoanionic substrate like vanadate and thermodynamic parameters for the dyesalt interactions at different temperatures have also been evaluated.

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Ipomoea tridentata seeds: A potential source of Commercial gum

V. Singh, A. Srivastava, M. Pandey, V. Srivastava and R.Sethi

A nonionic water-soluble galactomannan, having galactose and mannose in 2:5 molar ratio was isolated from endosperm of I. tridentata seeds. The seed gum has branched structure consisting of a linear chain of b (14) linked mannopyranosyl units with D-galactose side chains attached through a (16) linkage to the main chain, a fundamental structural pattern found in other commercial galactomannans. The gum was subjected to viscosity behavior study at different conditions of concentrations, temperature and pH. Gum solutions showed similar behavior to the Guar and was found stable to wide range of pH. The gum was modified chemically through grafting of acrylamide on to the gum in aqueous medium, using Cu++/ metabisulphite system in presence of oxygen at 35 2C, to give these natural polymer new applications. After grafting viscosity of the gum solution was found to increase and became resistant to biodegradation. Thus lpomoea tridentata seed gum is thus in natural form and, after modification by grafting may find use as commercial gum.

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Decolorizing Dyes with Hypochlorite and Ozone

Shadia El Rafie

Selected commercial dyes were treated with hypochlorite and ozone as oxidizing agents. The effect of pH, temperature and time on the treatment process were investigated. Rate extent of color removal was determined spectrophotometrically and TOC was measured too. It was found that, at room temperature, ozone completely decolorized dyes solutions in a relatively short time period while hypochlorite removed the color at a rate of 30:100%. Also, ozonation lowered the pH and raised the conductivity.

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Estimation of Aluminium at Ultra Trace Levels in Environmental and Biological Matrices using Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry

S. Mahapatra, R.M. Tripathi, R. Raghunath, A. Vinod Kumar and S. Sadasivan

Electro thermal atomic absorption spectro-photometry (ET-AAS) has been used for the determination of Al in a variety of environmental and biological samples. The detection limit of Al using ET-AAS was found to be 0.3 ng ml 1. The precision of the method is established by analysing a synthetic mixture containing various elements in different quantities (0.5-10 ppm) and is found to be within 10%. The reliability of estimation is further assessed through the analysis of Standard Reference Materials (SRMS) of Soil-7, SL-3, SD-M2/TM and Hay (V-10) obtained from IAEA. The results indicate that the average concentration of aluminium in air particulate samples is 5.3 mg m 3. The frequency distribution of Al in serum samples shows that 85.6% values are below 2.5 ng ml 1.

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An Economic and Environmentally-friendly use of Basalt Rock Dust, a potentially Hazardous Waste Product of Stone Crushing Plants for Soil Rejuvenation

B. Lalljee

The basalt stone crushing industry in Mauritius is of prime economic importance and forms one of the pillars of modern Mauritius. However, it is also one of its major air polluters. Apart from noise pollution, the rock dust emanating from theseplants is potentially hazardous to the environment and to human health. Reports of increased levels of lung diseases and other respiratory problems among inhabitants living near these plants have directly implicated this industry. These pollutionand health problems are predicted to increase substantially with the increasing activity of these plants in response to increasing national demands. This is further exacerbated with the recent total ban on the use of coral sand for construction purposes and its replacement by basalt rock sand. In an attempt to find a solution to this problem, the potential for using rock dust in agriculture was investigated in this study. Basalt rock sand and rock dust of various fractions (<0.5 mm, 0.5-2 mm, 2-4 mm) were added to soil at varying rates (20 T/ha, 40 T/ha, 80 T/ha) in replicated trials and their effects on various soil parameters were studied. Results subjected to statistical analyses showed an overall improved fertility of the treated soil. This paper reports the results only for trace elements (Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, B) in soil. The availability to plants of these nutrients in soil was significantly increased, for example, available Zn increased by 78%. Maize grown in rock dust-amended soil showed positive response in terms of yield and concentration of these trace elements in the leaves. The concentration of these nutrients in the soil, as well as in the plant, increased with the increasing rate of rock dust applied. It is concluded that rock dust, a waste product of the stone crushing plants, can effectively be used to improve soil fertility and increase yield of crops. This strategy is a safe and economic way of the disposal of rock dust and reduces considerably atmospheric pollution. It is also a new paradigm in the eco-friendly management of soil fertility and is a form of remineralisation or rejuvenation of the soil.

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Role of GA3 on Amino Acid and Protein Content and on Electrophoretic Profile of Leaf Protein in Mung Bean under Salt Stress

Nandini Chakrabarti and S. Mukherji

Application of NaCl (E C value 4.0 m mhos/cm) resulted in about 67% reduction in amino acid content and 24% reduction in buffer soluble protein content in Vigna radiata leaf as compared with the control set. Gel electrophoretic profile of protein content in leaf showed an extra band in between 29 kD and 45 kD in stress protein profile as compared with control. The pretreatment with GA, ranging from 107 M to 105 M in restoring the metabolic alterations imposed by NaCl salinity was investigated in mung bean. It was noted that the hormone used in the present study was able to overcome to variable extents the adverse effects of stress imposed by NaCl solution.

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Obstruction Effect for Self-Diffusion of Cesium Ions in Agar Gel Containing Cesium Halides at 25C

N. S. Rajurkar and N. A. Gokarn

The obstruction effect in the self-diffusion of alkali metal halides is measured at different electrolyte concentrations using the zone-diffusion technique. The obstruction effect calculated in terms of a is found to decrease with increasing concentration of an electrolyte. These observations are explained on the basis of competitive hydration between ions and agar molecules.

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A Green Way of Protection against Corrosion and Scaling

D. Gopi, P. Malini, S. Ramesh and S. Rajeswari

Effect of the naturally occurring compounds like Opuntia dillenii (stem) and Azadirachta indica (leaves) -were assessed for corrosion and scale formation on mild steel in groundwater media. Extracts of these compounds showed nominal inhibition efficiencies. These results are compared with commercially available inhibitor like Acexcel 31.

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Characterisation of p-Cellulose

N.A. Sharma, P.N. Singh and M.G. Shet

p-Cellulose was prepared by adding phosphoric acid and urea. The parameters such as elemental analysis, moisture content, ion exchange capacity, effect of quantity and concentration were studied. The ion exchange capacity increases with decrease in hydrated ionic radii. The observed exchange capacity is more for Ba+2 ions than that of Mg+2, Ca+2, Sr+2 ions. Ion exchange capacity increases with increase in quantity and concentration of metal ions.

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Study of Efficacy of Vinylchloride-Vinylacetate (VC-VAc) Copolymer based Heliothis Armigera Pheromone Dispensers in Cotton Field

Kartick Gupta and M. Yaseen

The efficacy and performance of VC-VAc copolymer based dispensers loaded with a certain amount of Heliothis armigeia pheromone have been studied by conducting experiments in cotton fields at two different locations. Various parameters like i) plasticizer content, ii) concentration of pheromone, iii) thickness of the dispenser and iv) filler content in the dispenser as well as density of traps in the field and type of trap are subjects of study. It is established that 200 mm thick, 2 cm x 2 cm dispensers containing 2 mg/cm2 pheromone, dimethyl phthalate (plasticizer) 15% and fillers (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide in 1:1 volume ratio) content 10% by volume have better performance in the field experiments. Relatively more insects are caught per trap when two traps are placed in one acre in comparison to 5 traps in one acre. In traps which do not have baffles around the lure, the number of catches are relatively more than that in the case of traps which have baffles.

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Synthesis of Monocationic Complexes of Chlorine, Bromine and Sulphur

Dilip K. Sanyal and Vuyani Maqanda

Monocationic complexes [E+C10Hx(NO)n (NHCOCH3)] PF6, where E=Br x=21 and n=3, and E= either Cl or S, x=22 and n=2 were synthesised from a well stirred/ refluxed 1:2 mixture of cyclam (14-ane N4) and molecular E in acetonitrile (MeCN) followed by reaction of the mixture with excess (1:>l.5 mol ratio) mild oxidising agent,NOPF6.The complexes were characterised by the elemental analysis, infrared and 1H and 13C nmr spectra. It is suggested that the formation of the acetamido complex as evidenced from the characteristic vibration frequencies as well chemical shifts in the cyclam is the result of solvent capture by NO+ followed by hydrolysis.

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Extractive Spectrophotometric Determination of Pd (II) using 2-Acetyl Thiophene thiocynate.

Avinash B. Chaudhary, S.Nirupa And R.S. Lokhande

2-Acetyl Thiophene thiocynate (ATT) was synthesized and its characterization study was carried out using elemental analysis, IR and NMR techniques. The new reagent was proposed as extractant for development of extractive Spectrophotometric method for determination of Pd (II) Metal. The reagent complexes with the metal to produce yellow colored complex which was then extracted into Ethyl acetate at pH 5.8-6.2 having absorption maxima at 450 nm. The thermal study showed that the extraction reactions are exothermic in nature with the reagent, and the stoichiometric ratio of Pd (II) to 2-Acetyl Thiophene thiocynate in organic phase was 1:2 The method permits separation and determination of Palladium from Palladium Catalysts and Binary mixture.

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Studies on Bio accumulation of Selective Heavy Metals in a Tropical Ecosystem

S.Pani, A. Bajpai and S.M.Misra

Selective heavy metals, Mn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Hg, Cd, Ni and Zn in water, macrophytes and fishes were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Parkin Elmer Analyst 100). Higher values of Zn, Ni, Hg, Cr and Pb were observed in plants in comparison to water and fish. Although heavy metal concentration in the fish was found within the permissible limit but liver recorded higher accumulation of Ni, Mn, Cr and Pb.

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