Applied Chemistry

The amino acid composition of the muscle and skin of the matured female guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) was determined on a dry weight basis. The total essential amino acids ranged from 30.4 g/100g to 43.5 g/100g crude protein or from 49.7% - 51.2% of the total amino acid. The amino acid score showed that lysine ranged from 0.66-1.17 (on whole hen’s egg comparison), 0.75-1.31 (on provisional essential amino acid scoring pattern) and 0.71-1.25 (on suggested requirement of the essential amino acid of a preschool child). The predicted protein efficiency ratio was 1.81-2.25 and the essential amino acid index range was 0.87-1.28. The correlation coefficient (?xy) was positive and significant at r = 0.05 for the total amino acids, amino acid scores (on whole hen’s egg basis) and other parameters in the two samples. Results have good comparison with whole hen’s egg protein.

Modern polymer chemistry is highly progressive in tailoring polymers to specific requirements such as mechanical, thermal and chemical stability, with better performance with wide range of pore size. Composite materials combine and maintain two or more distinct phases to produce a material that has properties far superior than either of the base materials. Nanoparticles made of chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer isolated from crab and shrimp shells, have shown to be promising as carriers of anticancer drugs, antitumor genes, and other novel therapeutic agents. Cross linking agents improve the properties of polymer and their products. Polymer nanocomposited are a class of reinforced polymer with low quantities of nanometric-sized clay particle, which improved their fair resistance, strength and its porosity deceases. Hence, in the present work nanochitosan was prepared using sodium tripolyphosphate and composite of nanochitosan were prepared with methylcellulose in the presence of clay. However, a greater understanding of the nanoscale features of clays, and the ability to disperse the ultrafine layers within other materials has led to increased interest in their application in composite materials; to provide properties to lightweight polymers that would usually only be found in heavier or more expensive materials (such as glass or metals). The formation of the polymer membrane made by the immersion precipitation process depends on a large number of material and process specific parameters such as choice of the polymer (molecular weight, molecular weight distribution), choice of the solvents, choice of the casting solution temperature and the casting atmosphere. The composites were analyzed for their thermal stability, porosity, X-ray diffraction studies, etc. The results show that the addition of clay along with the nanosized chitosan had decreased the transparency of methylcellulose and with decreased pore size suitable for developing as RO membranes.

Oncoba spinosa is traditionally reputed for its medicinal potential particularly in southwestern part of Nigeria for the treatment of diabetes and cancer. 500 g of the leaves were extracted with 70 % aqueous ethanol and sequentially partitioned with hexane and chloroform. The various extracts were tested for the presence of secondary metabolites and subsequently screened for ?-glucosidase inhibitory, radical scavenging and cytotoxicity activities. Alkaliods, flavonoids, tannins, sterols, and anthraquinones were detected in various extracts while saponin was absent in all the extracts. The crude and aqueous extracts showed better activities than the standard antidiabetic drug (acarbose) in concentration dependent manner. The aqueous and chloroform extracts had antioxidant activities comparables to ascorbic acid at concentrations 125 and 250 µg/mL. The brine shrimps lethality assay indicated the cytotoxicity of the crude, chloroform and hexane extracts, this was further established using cervical (HeLa) and Lung (A549) cancer cell lines. The results support the folkloric use of the plant as antihyperglycemic and antineoplastic.

Ultrasonic velocities, viscosities and densities of binary liquid mixtures containing dimethyl carbonate and cresols (ortho, meta and para) have been measured at temperatures T= (303.15, 308.15, 313.15 and 318.15) K over the entire mole fraction range of dimethyl carbonate. The theoretical values of ultrasonic velocity were evaluated using Nomoto’s relation (UNR), impedance relation (UIR), ideal mixing relation (UIMR), Jungie’s relation (UJR), and Rao’s specific velocity relation(UR).The molecular interaction parameter (?) has been evaluated from the values of experimental and theoretical velocities. The experimental data of viscosity is used to test the applicability of semi empirical relations of various viscosity models like Grunberg–Nissan, Katti–Chaudhri, Heric–Brewer and Hind et al. for the systems studied. On the basis of the values of interaction parameters (d) of these viscosity models and interaction parameter (?) obtained from various velocity models ,the nature of molecular interactions between the components of mixtures have been explained.

Phthalates are toxic for human beings and their toxicity can be expressed in various forms like teratogenic, mutagenic, estrogenic and carcinogenic effects as well as by endocrine disturbances. The most commonly encountered phthalate molecules in the environment are: DMP, DEP, DnBP, BBP, DisoDP, DALP, DNP), DEHP, and DnOP. In order to assess the health and environmental impacts of phthalates, it is necessary to access these compounds at the molecular level in natural systems, including water. Therefore, our study was devoted to setting up a protocol including phthalate extraction step, followed with a development of a HPLC/DAD analysis methodology, using artificial mixtures of different standard phthalate compounds and water standard reference material we made in our laboratory. As results, we obtained good performance characteristics such as detection limits (ranging 1.1 - 40.0 ng/L), limits of quantification (from 3.75 to 134 ng /L), coefficients of variation (CV) lower than 10 %, and quality control cards showing that the HPLC/DAD methodology we developed was under statistical control and suitable for phthalate determination in water.

New flame retardant compounds containing either phosphate groups or phosphate boron derivatives were prepared and the structures were proved by Infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The new back coating system containing the new flame retardant compounds improved the flammability and thermal stability of cotton and blend textile samples. The toxicity of gas products evolved during the combustion of cotton and blend textile samples were evaluated according to ASTM 1678 and NFPA 269 standards. The new back coating system succeeded in reducing the toxicity effect of burned textile on the surrounding environment especially human been.

This paper focused on the recovery of uranium from solutions. The adsorption of uranium(VI) from standard uranium solution using activated carbon AC and AC impregnated by trioctyl phosphine oxide (TOPO) was studied using a batch system. The parameters that affect the uranium(VI) adsorption, such as contact time, solution pH, initial uranium(VI) concentration, concentration of TOPO, amount of AC and modified AC, and temperature were investigated and optimized conditions determined (0.03g of AC and modified AC contact with 20ml of standard uranium solution (100 mg/l) at pH4 and room temperature for 45min. ). The maximum loading of uranium ions on AC and TOPO/AC are 23 mg/g (230 mg/l) and 57.6 mg/g (576 mg/l), respectively. Uranium (VI) could be conveniently recovered by elution by H2SO4 this allows recycling of adsorbent. And it’s analyzed by the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Both the kinetic and the sorption isotherm modeling have been applied upon the obtained data. Thus, it was found that the uranium sorption obeys a pseudo-second order reaction while the Freundlich sorption isotherm model is most suitable to describe the studied sorption reaction.

The present investigation emphasizes on screening of herbs with potent antimicrobial activity, preparation of nanoparticles of their extracts, treatment of cotton fabrics with herbal nanoparticles, assessment of their antimicrobial efficacy and finally assessment of wash durability. Based on the antimicrobial activity and availability Neem was selected and the herbal Nanoparticles were prepared using Neem extract. Results confirmed that the neem Nanoparticles treated fabrics showed maximum antimicrobial activity than the plain Neem extract treated fabrics against S. aureus and E. coli in both qualitative and quantitative tests. The antimicrobial activity of the Neem Nanoparticles treated fabrics was retained upto 25 washes where as the plain neem extract treated fabrics retained the activity only up to 10 washes. These results indicate that the application of nanotechnology is ideal for improving the antimicrobial activity and wash durability of herbal-based antimicrobial textiles.

In recent years, preparation of polymer materials either soluble or insoluble in water with various functional groups has been developed, which can absorb metal ions in aqueous and non-aqueous media. In general, functionalized polymers for metal ion complexation can be prepared either by derivation of a basic polymer (precursor) with the desired ligand or by polymerization of the corresponding ligand derivatives. Among functionalized polymers, those containing EDTA have attracted much attention. EDTA with amino carboxylic acid groups can be introduced into or graft onto the backbone of polymer chains. Polymers bearing such groups can form stable complexes with various heavy metal ions. Therefore, we attempted to prepare new complexing polymer materials, which can be used in wastewater treatment. The synthesised random copolyesters were characterized by viscosity measurements, solubility studies, and spectral analysis. Thermal studies were also made on these copolyesters.