Rapid, sensitive, and reusable detection of glucose by highly monodisperse nickel nanoparticles decorated functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

Addressed herein, functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) supported highly monodisperse nickel nanoparticles modified on glassy carbon electrode (Ni@f-MWCNT/GCE) were synthesized through microwave assisted method and examined for non-enzymatic glucose sensing in ionic liquids by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The results of Ni@f-MWCNT/GCE electrode were compared with Ni NPs/GCE electrode and the results revealed that f-MWCNTs increased the electrocatalytic properties of Ni nanoparticles regarding glucose oxidation. They also demonstrated a good linear span of 0.05-12.0mM and a detection boundary of 0.021µM. Specifically, in the amperometric signal of the electrodes after 200th cycles, no major change was observed. This non-enzymatic glucose sensor presents one of the record electrocatalytic activity, stability and response towards glucose under the optimized situations. As a result, prepared novel Ni@f-MWCNT/GCE was utilized to detect glucose in real serum species.

Monodisperse Pt Nanoparticles Assembled on Reduced Graphene Oxide: Highly Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for Methanol Oxidation and Dehydrocoupling of Dimethylamine-Borane (DMAB).

Herein, monodisperse platinum (0) nanocatalyst assembled on reduced graphene oxide (Pt(0)@RGO) was easily and reproducibly prepared by the double solvent reduction method at room temperature. Pt(0)@RGO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements that verify the formation of monodisperse Pt (0) nanoparticles on RGO. The catalytic and electrocatalytic performances of Pt(0) @ RGO in terms of activity, isolability and reusability were investigated for both methanol oxidation and the dehydrocoupling of dimethylamine-borane (DMAB) in which Pt(0)@RGO was found to be highly active and reusable heterogeneous catalyst even at room temperature. The prepared nanoparticles can also electrocatalyze methanol oxidation with very high electrochemical activities (5.64 A/cm2 at 0.58 V for methanol). The activation energy (Ea), activation enthalpy (ΔH#), and activation entropy (ΔS#) for DMAB dehydrogenation were calculated to be 59.33 kJ mol(-1), 56.79 kJ mol(-1) and -151.68 J mol(-1) K(-1), respectively. The exceptional stability of new Pt(0) @ RGO nanoparticles towards agglomeration, leaching and CO poisoning allow these particles to be recycled and reused in the catalysis of DMAB dehydrogenation and methanol oxidation. After four subsequent reaction and recovery cycles, Pt(0) @ RGO retained ≥ 75% activity towards the complete dehydrogenation of DMAB.

Recruitment of mitochondrial tRNA genes as auxiliary variability markers for both intra- and inter-species analysis: The paradigm of brown hare (Lepus europaeus).

We sequenced and analyzed the mitochondrial tRNA(Thr) and tRNA(Pro) genes from brown hare (Lepus europaeus) individuals of different geographic distribution and we investigated the role of various nucleotide substitutions that were detected. We compared these tRNAs with the respective available mitochondrial tRNA genes sequences within Lepus species and among mammals. The mutations that were detected represent specific and conserved polymorphisms that do not seem to affect the structural and functional features that are required for participation of tRNA molecules in mitochondrial protein synthesis. These changes however, possibly reflect on the evolutionary background of the species, which is based on the high intra-genomic variability and the evolutionary dynamic of the mitochondrial DNA. In an attempt to compare the phylogeny that is based on these specific tRNA genes with the phylogeny that is produced from sequencing data of the mitochondrial variable loop, we came up with results that indicate similar phylogeographic clusters. This observation implies that the tRNA mutations that were used for the present study have been well tolerated during evolution and they define an additional genetic and biochemical tag that can be used for such studies. Based on this notion and according to our results, we propose that mitochondrial tRNA genes can be used as valuable auxiliary molecular markers for contemporaneous and linked biochemical and genetic analyses.