Basic Fuchsin Dye as the First Fluorophore for Optical Sensing of Morpholine in Fruits Crust and Urine Samples.

In this work, basic fuchsin (BF) dyestuff was presented as the first optical sensor used for the spectrofluorimetric assessment of morpholine (MOR) where BF exhibits morpholine-sensing behavior. The developed fluorimetric avenue is sensitive, facile, selective, and validated for assaying the sensitizing influence of MOR on the BF fluorescence in an aprotic dioxane solvent. Parameters like solvents, BF concentration, order, and time of addition that influence the fluorescence intensity of the probing system were addressed. Optimizing the analytical methodology revealed a linear fluorescence sensitization within the addition of MOR in the two concentration ranges of 5 × 10-9 to 1.0 × 10-7 mol L-1 and 2.0 × 10-7 to 3 × 10-6 mol L-1. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were estimated to be 2.0 × 10-9 mol L-1 (0.17 ng mL-1) and 6.66 × 10-9 mol L-1 (0.567 ng mL-1), respectively. High levels of accuracy and precision are achieved when assaying spiked MOR either in pure solutions or samples of fruit peel extract and human urine. Moreover, the green character and practicality/applicability of the method were evaluated by AGREE and BAGI metric tools. These merit outcomes provide insights into the development of fluorescent sensors for MOR detection using fluorescent dyes and meet the Food and Drug Administration's requirements for morpholine detection in real-life applications.

Efficient Dual-Function Catalyst: Palladium-Copper Nanoparticles Immobilized on Co-Cr LDH for Seamless Aerobic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol and Nitrobenzene Reduction.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) present exciting possibilities across various industries, ranging from catalytic applications to water remediation. By immobilizing nanoparticles, LDHs' characteristics and functionality can be enhanced, allowing for synergetic interactions that further expand their potential uses. A simple chemical method was developed to produce well-dispersed Pd-Cu NPs on a Co-Cr LDH support using a combination of in situ coprecipitation/hydrothermal and sol-immobilization techniques. The Pd-Cu@Co-Cr LDH catalysts was obtained, showing its catalytic activity in promoting the aerobic oxidation of alcohols and enabling the reduction of nitro-compounds through NaBH4 mediation. The physicochemical properties of the prepared catalyst were comprehensively investigated utilizing a range of analytical techniques, comprising FTIR, XRD, XPS, TGA, nitrogen adsorption isotherm, FESEM, and HRTEM-EDX. The findings showed the significance of immobilizing the bimetallic Pd-Cu nanoparticles on the Co-Cr LDH via an exceptional performance in the aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol (16% conversion, 99.9% selectivity to benzaldehyde) and the reduction of nitrobenzene (98.2% conversion, rate constant of 0.0921 min-1). The improved catalytic efficacy in benzyl alcohol oxidation and nitrobenzene reduction on the Pd-Cu@Co-Cr LDH catalyst is attributed to the uniform distribution and small size of the Pd-Cu NPs as active sites on the Co-Cr LDH surface. The prepared catalyst demonstrated exceptional stability during repeated runs. This study paves the way for multiple opportunities in tailoring, producing, and precisely controlling catalysts for various organic transformation reactions.

Managing Encapsulated Oil Extract of Date Seed Waste for High Hydroxyl Radical Scavenging Assayed via Hybrid Photo-Mediated/Spectrofluorimetric Probing.

This work addresses two research topics: the first concerns the specific/sensitive trapping of hydroxyl radicals (•OH), and the second concerns the efficacy of encapsulating natural antioxidants, potentially lengthening their preservation activity. For context, nano-titania was solar-irradiated to produce •OH, which was spectrofluorimetrically assessed, based on the selective aromatic hydroxylation of the non-fluorescent sodium terephthalate to 2-hydroxyterephthalate fluorophore. Fluorescence intensity is proportional to generated •OH. Thus, a simple/rapid indirect method was utilized to assess •OH precisely. Accordingly, novel photoluminescent system is outlined in order to assess the scavenging potentiality of •OH in date seed oil (DSO) in both its pure and encapsulated formulations (ECP-DSO), i.e., when fresh and 5 months after extraction and encapsulation, respectively. With the addition of 80 µg/mL DSO or ECP-DSO, the efficacy of •OH scavenging amounted to 25.12 and 63.39%, which increased to 68.65 and 92.72% when 200 µg/mL DSO or ECP-DSO, respectively, was added. Moreover, the IC50 of DSO and ECP-DSO is 136.6 and 62.1 µg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, DSO and ECP-DSO decreased the kinetics for producing •OH by ≈20 and 40%, respectively, relative to •OH generated in the absence of antioxidant. This demonstrates the benefits of encapsulation on the preservation activity of natural antioxidants, even after five months after extraction, in terms of its interesting activity when compared to synthetic antioxidants. The developed fluorimetric •OH probing upgrades antioxidant medicines, thus paving the way for theoretical/practical insights on mechanistic hydroxyl radical-damaging biology.

Efficient nitrophenol reduction with Noria-GO nanocomposite decorated with Pd-Cu nanoparticles.

We report a facile approach to synthesize Pd-Cu nanoparticles immobilized on a Noria-GO nanocomposite for efficient nitrophenol reduction. The unique architecture of the Noria and the hydrophilic nature of GO contribute to the improved performance and structure of the resulting nanocomposite. The simple sol-immobilization approach employed NaBH4 as a reductant and polyvinyl alcohol as a capping agent to evenly decorate small Pd-Cu nanoparticles with a diameter of 1.4 nm on the Noria-GO surface. The prepared Pd-Cu@Noria-GO nanocomposite was utilized as a nanocatalyst in converting of nitrophenol to aminophenol using NaBH4 solution. Our Pd-Cu@Noria-GO nanocomposite exhibited superior catalytic efficacy with large conversion percentages, Kapp, and KAF values of 95%, 0.225 min-1, and 225 min-1g-1, respectively. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy confirmed the oxidation state of the prepared nanoparticles, and TEM findings demonstrated the homogenous decoration of Pd-Cu NPs on the Noria-GO surface. Additionally, the durability of the Pd-Cu@Noria-GO nanocomposite shown its potential as a robust and promising material for remediating organic contaminants. Our results indicate that Pd-Cu@Noria-GO nanocomposite can be an effective and sustainable approach for mitigating the hazards associated with nitrophenols.

Controllable Fabrication of Zn2+ Self-Doped TiO2 Tubular Nanocomposite for Highly Efficient Water Treatment.

Tailoring high-efficiency photocatalytic composites for various implementations is a major research topic. 1D TNTs-based nanomaterials show promise as a photocatalyst for the remediation of organic pigments in an aqueous solution. Despite this, TiO2 (TNTs) is only photoactive in the UV range due to its inherent restriction on absorption of light in the UV range. Herein, we provide a facile recipe to tailor the optical characteristics and photocatalytic activity of TNTs by incorporating Zn (II) ionic species via an ion-exchange approach in an aqueous solution. The inclusion of Zn (II) ions into the TNTs framework expands its absorption of light toward the visible light range, therefore TiO2 nanotubes shows the visible-light photo-performance. Activity performance on photocatalytic decontamination of RhB at ambient temperature demonstrates that Zn-TNTs offer considerable boosted catalytic performance compared with untreated tubular TiO2 during the illumination of visible light. RhB (10 mg L-1) degradation of around 95% was achieved at 120 min. Radical scavenger experiment demonstrated that when electron (e-) or holes (h+) scavengers are introduced to the photodegradation process, the assessment of decontamination efficacy decreased by 45% and 76%, respectively. This demonstrates a more efficient engagement of the photoexcited electrons over photogenerated holes in the photodegradation mechanism. Furthermore, there seems to be no significant decrease in the activity of the Zn-TNTs after five consecutive runs. As a result, the fabricated Zn-TNTs composite has a high economic potential in the energy and environmental domains.

Tailoring confined CdS quantum dots in polysulfone membrane for efficiently durable performance in solar-driven wastewater remediating systems.

In this work, CdS quantum dots (QDs) were successfully confined in polysulfone membrane (PSM) to develop a photoactive membrane under solar illumination that was suited in wastewater remediating system. The CdS@PSM membranes were prepared using the nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) approach. Optical measurements show the confinement of CdS quantum dots (QDs) in the PS matrix within the narrowest band gap (2.41 eV) at 5 wt% loading. PS has two strong emission peaks at 411 and 432 nm due to photoelectron-hole recombination on pure PSM's surface. Adding 1 wt% CdS QDs to PSM reduced the earlier peak and blue-shifted the latter, within the appearance of three emission peaks attributed to the near band-edge emission of confined CdS QDs. Overloading CdS reduced all emission peaks. Moreover, fluorimetric monitoring of •OH radicals indicates that PSM produces the least amount of photogenerated •OH radicals while CdS@PSM(5 wt%) achieved the highest productivity. Examining the developed membranes in detoxifying methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution of natural pH 8.1 showed weak adsorption in dark over 90 min of contact while switching to solar illumination significantly photodegrade MB where the degradation efficiency starts from 49% for pure PSM to 79% for CdS@PSM(5 wt%). Influence of pH was found crucial on photodegradation efficacy. Acidic pH 3 showed the weakest photodegradation efficacy, while the alkaline pH 12 was 18.88 times more effective. The used CdS@PSM (5 wt%) was successfully photo-renovated by soaking in 10 mL of NaOH solution under Solar illumination for 15 min to be used in 4 consecutive photodegradation cycles with insignificant decrease in efficacy. These findings are promising and could lead to a high-efficiency, sustainable photocatalytic suite.

Hybrid solvothermal/sonochemical-mediated synthesis of ZnO NPs generative of OH radicals: Photoluminescent approach to evaluate OH scavenging activity of Egyptian and Yemeni Punica granatum arils extract.

Zinc oxide NPs were synthesized solvothermally within sonochemical mediation and characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, elemental mapping, TEM and UV-vis. spectrophotometry. To evaluate the hydroxyl radicals (OH) scavenging activity of arils extract of Egyptian (EGY-PAM) and Yemeni Punica granatum (YEM-PAM), the developed zinc oxide nano particles (ZnO NPs) as a highly productive source of hydroxyl radicals (under Solar-illumination) was used. The yield of OH was trapped and probed via fluorimetric monitoring. This suits the first sensitive/selective photoluminescent avenue to evaluate the OH scavenging activity. The high percentage of DPPH radical scavenging reflected higher contents of phenolics, flavonoids, and anthocyanins that were found in EGY-PAM and YEM-PAM. Although, some secondary metabolites contents were significantly different in EGY-PAM and YEM-PAM, the traditional DPPH radical scavenging methodology revealed insignificant IC50. Unlike, the developed fluorimetric probing, sensitively discriminated the OH scavenging activity with IC50 (105.7 µg/mL) and lower rate of OH productivity (k = 0.031 min-1) in case of EGY-PAM in comparison to IC50 (153.4 µg/mL) and higher rate of OH productivity (k = 0.053 min-1) for YEM-PAM. Our findings are interestingly superior to the TBHQ that is synthetic antioxidant. Moreover, our developed methodology for fluorimetric probing of OH radicals scavenging, recommends EGY-PAM as OH radicals scavenger for diabetic patients while YEM-PAM exhibited a better OH radicals scavenging appropriate for high blood pressure patients. More interestingly, EGY-PAM and YEM-PAM exhibited high anticancer potentiality. The aforementioned OH and DPPH scavenging activities as well as the anticancer potentiality present EGY-PAM and YEM-PAM as promising sources of natural antioxidants, that may have crucial roles in some chronic diseases such as diabetics and hypertension in addition to cancer therapeutic protocols.

Biogenic-Mediated Synthesis of the Cs2O-MgO/MPC Nanocomposite for Biodiesel Production from Olive Oil.

In this work, a biogenic-mediated approach is successfully used to synthesize a novel heterogeneous Cs2O-MgO/MPC basic nanocomposite. For the first time, the established technicality employs pomegranate seed extract that gives a green capping fuel and reducing mediators during an aqueous solution combustion process of metal ion precursors. The synthesized nanocomposites were identified by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, N2 isotherms, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and CO2-TPD analyses. The transesterification process of olive oil was used to evaluate the catalytic performance. The nanocomposite displayed outstanding catalytic efficiency stemming from the boosting of the reactant and product diffusion. The transesterification activity and the optimization design were assessed by applying the response surface methodology. Based on the experimental tests, the finest experimental conditions with a biodiesel yield of 96.1% are 4 h, 4% catalyst amount, an oil/methanol ratio of 1:15, and a temperature of 65 °C. The predicted optimal conditions based on the statistical model are 6 h contact time, 5.2 % catalyst dose, 65 °C reaction temperature, and 1:15 oil/methanol molar ratio, attaining a biodiesel yield of 95.18%. The catalyst reusability has been performed almost continuously up to four cycles, with no loss of the active constituents. The obtained biodiesel demonstrated characteristics close to those of international standards of biodiesel. Besides, the process employed in this study demonstrated significant potential for further development and commercialization and is cheaper than the refined vegetable oil used in traditional approaches of biodiesel manufacturing.

Green synthesis of spongy Nano-ZnO productive of hydroxyl radicals for unconventional solar-driven photocatalytic remediation of antibiotic enriched wastewater.

Herein, novel green/facile approach to synthesize spongy defective zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) is presented using for the first time pomegranate seeds molasses as a green capping fuel/reducing mediator during an aqueous solution combustion process. The developed ZnONPs is characterized by UV-Vis. Spectrophotometry and fluorimetry, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, TEM and BET. Interestingly, pomegranate seeds molasses within a viable content of bio-capping molecules reveal a defective nanoporous ZnO NPs of smaller particle size, greater pore size/volume, and higher surface area compared to the bulky non-biogenic ZnONPs. Moreover, the biosynthesized defective ZnONPs showed narrowed band gap and higher absorption of visible photons that breed higher density of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) under Solar-illumination. Even further, the bulk ZnO and the biosynthesized ZnO photocatalysts were examined in photodegrading flumequine (FL) antibiotic. The bulk ZnO gives 41.46% photodegradation efficiency compared to 97.6% for the biosynthesized ZnO. In highly acidic or highly alkaline media, FL photodegradability is greatly retarded. Scavenging experiment infers considerable contribution of holes over electrons in photodegradation reaction. The biosynthesized ZnO shows high durability in FL photodegradation after four reusing cycles. These promising findings highlight new insights for biogenic synthesis of tuned size/controlled morphology semiconductor NPs relevant to environmental remediation applications.

Biogenic-Mediated Synthesis of Mesoporous Cu2O/CuO Nano-Architectures of Superior Catalytic Reductive towards Nitroaromatics.

Cu2O/CuO nano-architectures were prepared by biogenic-mediated synthesis using pomegranate seeds extract as the reducing/stabilizing mediator during an aqueous solution combustion process of the Cu2+ precursor. The fabricated Cu2O/CuO nanocomposite were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and nitrogen sorption. Nitrobenzene (NB) was applied a probe to test the catalytic activities of the fabricated Cu2O/CuO nanocomposite. The results indicated that pomegranate seeds extract (PSE) manifest Cu2O/CuO NPs of tiny particle size, larger pore volume and greater surface area compared to the bulky CuO synthesized in the absence of PSE. The surface area and total pore volume of Cu2O/CuO NPs were 20.1 m2 g-1 and 0.0362 cm3 g-1, respectively. The FESEM image shows the formation of broccoli-like architecture. The fabricated Cu2O/CuO nanocomposite possesses surprising activity towards the reduction of nitro compounds in the presence of NaBH4 into amino compounds with high conversion (94%). The reduction process was performed in water as a green solvent. Over four consecutive cycles the resulting nanocomposite also exhibits outstanding stability. In addition, the resulting Cu2O/CuO nanocomposite suggested herein may encourage scientists to start preparing more cost-effective catalysts for marketing instead of complicated catalysts.

Wastewater remediation by TiO2-impregnated chitosan nano-grafts exhibited dual functionality: High adsorptivity and solar-assisted self-cleaning.

This work provides a very infrequent and unique avenue of a novel bio-based nanografted polymeric composites achieving encouraging results in green management of dye contaminants in wastewater. A chitosan-grafted-polyN-Methylaniline (Ch-g-PNMANI) and chitosan-grafted-polyN-Methylaniline imprinted TiO2 nanocomposites (Ch-g-PNMANI/TiO2) were prepared and efficiently applied in wastewater remediation. The nanocomposites were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area (BET) measurements. The prepared composites exhibit higher adsorptivity in removing remazol red RB-133 (RR RB-133) dye compared to other adsorbents reported in literature. The effects of TiO2 loadings, initial dye concentration, contact time, and pH on dye adsorption were investigated. The maximum adsorption of dye was found at low pH values. Furthermore, Ch-g-PNMANI/TiO2 of the optimum TiO2 loading has higher adsorption capacity (116.3mg/g) than the pristine Ch-g-PNMANI (108.7mg/g). Moreover, the prepared adsorbents are photoactive under sunlight-irradiation. The study addresses a nanocomposite of considerable adsorption and in the same time has the fastest self-cleaning photoactivity (t1/2=31.5min.) under sunlight irradiation where a plausible photodegradation mechanism was proposed. Interestingly, the presented photoactive adsorbents are still effective in removing dye after five adsorption/sunlight-assisted self-cleaning photoregeneration cycles and therefore, they can be potentially applied to the rapid, "green" and low-cost remediation of RR RB-133 enriched industrial printing and dyeing wastewater.

DFT calculations, spectroscopic, thermal analysis and biological activity of Sm(III) and Tb(III) complexes with 2-aminobenzoic and 2-amino-5-chloro-benzoic acids.

The complexes of Sm(III) and Tb(III) with 2-aminobenzoic acid (anthranilic acid, AA) and 2-amino-5-chlorobenzoic acid (5-chloroanthranilic acid, AACl) were synthesized and characterized based on elemental analysis, IR and mass spectroscopy. The data are in accordance with 1:3 [Metal]:[Ligand] ratio. On the basis of the IR analysis, it was found that the metals were coordinated to bidentate anthranilic acid via the ionised oxygen of the carboxylate group and to the nitrogen of amino group. While in 5-chloroanthranilic acid, the metals were coordinated oxidatively to the bidentate carboxylate group without bonding to amino group; accordingly, a chlorine-affected coordination and reactivity-diversity was emphasized. Thermal analyses (TGA) and biological activity of the complexes were also investigated. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G (d,p)_ level of theory have been carried out to investigate the equilibrium geometry of the ligand. The optimized geometry parameters of the complexes were evaluated using SDDALL basis set. Moreover, total energy, energy of HOMO and LUMO and Mullikan atomic charges were calculated. In addition, dipole moment and orientation have been performed and discussed.

Novel application of pyronin Y fluorophore as high sensitive optical sensor of glucose in human serum.

This paper presents a novel, high sensitive, facile and rapid spectrofluorimetric method for the direct assessment of glucose in human serum samples. The strong fluorescence intensity of pyronin Y (PY) is found to be selectively quenched substantially by adding solutions of glucose. Therefore, a new quantitative method to determine glucose could be developed. The noticeable and specific quenching effect of glucose on PY emission could be attributed to the increase in the nonradiative interactions as a result of a charge-transfer excited state with the location of the positive charge at the xanthenes moiety. Various parameters namely, the best working solvent, the proper pH medium in addition to the concentration of PY fluorophore corresponding to maximum fluorescence intensity were closely investigated. Under optimal conditions, the standard curve was linear in the glucose concentration ranges from 5.0×10(-9) to 1.0×10(-6)molL(-1) (r=0.994). The detection limit (S:N=3) (LOD) is 2.9×10(-9)molL(-1). Validation of this approach was done by examining glucose concentration in serum samples of twenty patient and ten health donors. Achieved recovery reached 99.63-100.43% and 99.57-100.70%, respectively, in good agreement with those provided from hospital using traditional method. The relative standard deviations (RSD) were estimated between 0.00-0.78% and 0.15-1.91%, respectively.

Determination of ofloxacin using a highly selective photo probe based on the enhancement of the luminescence intensity of Eu3+--ofloxacin complex in pharmaceutical and serum samples.

A rapid, simple and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method for determination of trace amount of ofloxacin was developed. At pH 5.1 the ofloxacin enhances the luminescence intensity of the Eu(3+) ion in Eu(3+)- ofloxacin complex at λ(ex) = 365 nm. The produced luminescence intensity of Eu(3+)-ofloxacin complex was in proportional to the concentration of ofloxacin. The working range for the determination of ofloxacin was 5.0 × 10(-9)-5.0 × 10(-6) mol L(-1) with lower detection limit (LOD) and quantitative detection limit (QDL) of 3 × 10(-9) and 9 × 10(-9) mol L(-1), respectively. The enhancement mechanism of the luminescence intensity in the Eu(3+)-ofloxacin system has been also explained. The method revealed good selectivity for ofloxacin in the presence of coexisting substances and used successfully for the assay of ofloxacin in pharmaceutical preparations and serum. A comparison with other standard methods was also discussed.

Application of novel copolymer-TiO(2) membranes for some textile dyes adsorptive removal from aqueous solution and photocatalytic decolorization.

Novel low density polyethylene-grafted-poly(4-vinylpyridine-co-acrylamide) (LDPE-g-P(4-VP/AAm)) films were prepared by means of gamma-radiation-induced graft copolymerization as support for photocatalytic application. Nanometer-sized TiO(2) particles were immobilized to the grafted LDPE via dip coating technique. The efficiency of immobilized photocatalyst is tested on two target pollutants (textile azo dyes: Remazol red RB-133 (RR RB 133) and reactive blue 2 (RB2)). The efficient photocatalytic ability as reflected in determined photobleaching rate of both dyes was observed and is comparable to that for the non-supported TiO(2) used in a typical slurry photoreactor. The LDPE-g-(4-VP/AAm) copolymers supported TiO(2) photocatalyst has the practical advantages of easy separation and removal from the polluted environment. It could be a viable technique for the safe disposal of textile wastewater into the water streams.