Novel Bio-Based Amphiphilic Ionic Liquids for the Efficient Demulsification of Heavy Crude Oil Emulsions

In the last few decades, there has been an increasing trend for the usage of natural products and their derivatives as green and renewable oil-filed chemicals. Use of these compounds or their derivatives contributes to reducing the use of traditional chemicals, and enhances green chemistry principles. Curcumin (CRC) is one of the most popular natural products and is widely available. The green character, antioxidant action, and low cost of CRC prompt its use in several applications. In the present study, Curcumin was used to synthesize two new amphiphilic ionic liquids (AILs) by reacting with 1,3-propanesultone or bromoacetic acid to produce corresponding sulfonic and carboxylic acids, CRC-PS and CRC-BA, respectively. Following this, the formed CRC-PS and CRC-BA were allowed to react with 12-(2-hydroxyethyl)-15-(4-nonylphenoxy)-3,6,9-trioxa-12-azapentadecane-1,14-diol (HNTA) to form corresponding AILs, GCP-IL and GRB-IL, respectively. The chemical structures, surface tension, interfacial tension, and relative solubility number (RSN) of the synthesized AILs were investigated. The efficiency of GCP-IL and GRB-IL to demulsify water in heavy crude oil (W/O) emulsions was also investigated, where we observed that both GCP-IL and GRB-IL served as high-efficiency demulsifiers and the efficiency increased with a decreased ratio of water in W/O emulsion. Moreover, the data showed an increased efficiency of these AILs with an increased concentration. Among the two AILs, under testing conditions, GCP-IL exhibited a higher efficiency, shorter demulsification time, and cleaner demulsified water.

Synthesis of three novel silane-based carboxylic acids for application in methacrylated epoxy-based oligomers and their ability in the UV curable hybrid coatings

In this study, bromoacetic acid was reacted with 3-(mercaptopropyl) trimethoxy silane (MPTS) and trimethoxy silyl propyl thioacetic acid (TSTA) was produced. Also, bromoacetic acid was reacted with 3-(triethoxysilyl) propylamine (APTS), and triethoxysilyl propylamino acetic acid (TSPA) was synthesized. Finally, from a reaction between trimellitic anhydride (TMA) and APTS, trimellitylimidopropyl triethoxysilane (TMIS) resulted. In all reactions mentioned above, a carboxylic acid head and a trialkoxy silane tail including reactants were obtained. Furthermore, hybrid coatings based on methacrylated bisphenol A epoxy (MBAE) and synthesized carboxylic acids were obtained by photopolymerization. Polycarbonate substrates were utilized for preparation of transparent hybrid films. Then, the solvent resistance, hardness, gel content as well as the adhesion of coatings were measured as physical and mechanical properties. According to the obtained results, these properties of hybrid coatings improved with the increase in alkoxysilanes and sol–gel precursor contents. The surface morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that silica particles were not dispersed homogenously at the molecular level in the hybrid system. Also, the thermogravimetric analysis results indicated that alkoxysilanes enhanced the thermal oxidative stability of the hybrid coatings.

Synthesis and Characterization of Macrocyclic Chiral Tröger’s Base Phenhomazine Candidates as Anticancer Agent

1,4,7,10-Tetraoxa[10](2,8)trögerophane 5 was synthesized from its corresponding precursors. Heating of 2 with p-nitrophenoxide afforded bis(p-nitrophenyl)ether 3, which was treated with hydrazine hydrate to give bis(p-aminophenyl)ether 4. Treatment of 4 with paraformaldehyde and triflouroacetic anhydride gave trögerophane 5. Reaction of 5 with trifluroacetic anhydride afforded phenhomazine derivative 6, which was treated with potassium carbonate to afford tetrahydrophenhomazine 7. Finally, reaction of 7 with phenacylchloride, bromoacetic acid, or ethyl bromoacetate in the presence of triethyl amine under reflux, afforded the corresponding macrocyclic compounds 8, 9 and 10, respectively. The synthesized trögerophane,precursors and its newly synthesized phenhomazines derivatives were screened for anticancer activity. Results revealed that 1,4,7,10-tetraoxa[10](2,8)trögerophane had a promising selectivity towards colon cancer cell line with an IC50 of 92.7 µg/ml.

An Efficient Synthesis of Optically Active [4-13C] Labelled Quorum Sensing Signal Autoinducer-2

A new synthetic route for the quorum sensing signal Autoinducer-2 (AI-2) is described and used for the preparation of [4-13C]-AI-2 starting from [1-13C]-bromoacetic acid. The key step in this process was the enantioselective reduction of an intermediate ketone. This synthesis provides, selectively, both enantiomers of the labelled or unlabelled parent compound, (R) or (S)-4,5-dihydroxypentane-2,3-dione (DPD) and was used for an improved synthesis of [1-13C]-AI-2.

Physicochemical Insight into Coordination Systems Obtained from Copper(II) Bromoacetate and 1,10-Phenanthroline

Two different coordination compounds of copper were synthesized from the same building blocks (1,10-phenanthroline, bromoacetate anions, and copper cations). The synthesis parameters were carefully designed and evaluated to allow the change of the resulting compounds molecular structure, i.e., formation of mononuclear (bromoacetato-O,O’)(bromoacetato-O)aqua(1,10-phenanthroline-N,N’)copper(II) and dinuclear (μ-bromido-1:2κ2)bis(μ-bromoacetato-1κO,2κO’)bis(1,10-phenanthroline-N,N’)dicopper(II) bromoacetate bromoacetic acid solvate. The crystal, molecular and supramolecular structures of the studied compounds were determined and evaluated in Hirshfeld analysis. The UV-Vis-IR absorption and thermal properties were studied and discussed. For the explicit determination of the influence of compounds structure on radiation absorption in UV-Vis range, density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory calculations were performed.

An Ultrasensitive Immunoassay Strip for Simultaneously Detecting Cyproheptadinehydrochloride and Six Phenothiazinesin Feedstuffs Based on a Monoclonal Antibody

Background: An antihistamine cyproheptadine (CPH) and phenothiazines (PZs)sedative hypnoticshave a similar tricyclic structure, these drugs are often illegally added to food animal feedstuffs due to their price advantage and significant effect in promoting growth and improving meat quality. However, the abuse of these drugs may lead totheir residues in animal products, thereby causing harmful effects such as allergies and dermatological reactions on human health.To supervise the use of prohibited drugs and ensure food safety, it is necessary to establish a simple and effective screening method to detect CPH and PZs.In this research, an artificial antigen against cyproheptadine(CPH) was successfully synthesized by bromoacetic acid substitution method. An ultrasensitive and broad-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) able to recognize CPH and six phenothiazines (PZs) was produced. Based on the gold-labeled mAb, an immunochromatographic strip (ICS) was established.Results:The 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of the produced mAb against CPH was identified as 0.036 ng mL-1 by ELISA, and the cross-reactivities for six PZs were from 6.33% to 63.16%. The visual detection limits(cut-off values) of the developed ICS ranged from 5 to 100ngg-1 in feedstuffs. Take a reading by strip reader, the IC50 was from 0.570 to 7.750ng g-1. In addition,a recovery experiment was carried out to verify the reliability of the ICS. The intra-assay recoveries were from 79.83% to 103.38% with the highest coefficient of variation (CV) of 11.31%. The inter-assay recoveries were from 79.00% to 96.63% with the highest CV of 12.66%.Conclusions: We have successfully produced a broad-spectrum monoclonal antibody and established an ICS for simultaneouslydetecting CPH and six PZs drugs.In brief, the proposed ICS was considered suitable for qualitatively and quantitatively monitoring CPH and PZs in feedstuffs.