Journal of Applied Chemical Research
Volume:14 Issue: 1, Winter 2020

An efficient and eco-friendly method has been developed for the synthesis of 1,4 disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles using the eggshell-supported-Cu(I) metformin complex as a natural and heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst prepared is characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, and ICP techniques. Terminal alkynes were successfully reacted with alkyl chloride and sodium azide in the presence of CuI immobilized on eggshell in water at room temperature. This method offers many advantages such as short reaction times, low cost, use of a reusable catalyst, and simple purification procedures.Moreover, the catalyst could be recovered and recycled four times.

Three types of solvents with different polarity (cyclohexane, toluene and benzene), a nonionic surfactant Span 40 were used to prepare strontium aluminate (SrAl2O4) spinel nanoparticles by a reverse micelle method. The structure of SrAl2O4 nanoparticles was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology and size of the synthesized materials were studied using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) with using software of IMAGE J. The effect of polarity of solvent on the size and morphology of nanomaterials was studied. It was found that increasing the polarity of solvent affected the average crystallite size of the final product and led to the formation of larger particles. Furthermore, the average particles size was increased from 22 to 37 nm. X-ray diffraction analysis of all the powders was calcined at 1000°C for 2h revealed the formation single phase hexagonal spinel structure. Polarity of solvent is a major factor in controlling the final particles size of SrAl2O4 powder.

Due to the drawbacks of applying catalysts in the synthesis of α,β-unsaturated structure units and the importance of these materials, electrochemistry has been introduced as an efficient alternative.Therefore, herein a high-yield synthesis of 2-arylideneindan-1,3-diones is proposed. The procedure is carried out in propanol, using electrons as a green catalyst for generating propanol anion as a base, to obtain indandione anion which readily underwent Knovenagel condensation with aromatic aldehydes. The affecting parameters such as current, reagent ratio and anode type were studied and their optimized amounts were observed to be 40 mA/cm2, benzaldehyde / indandion (3/1) and magnesium anode in an undivided cell at room temperature. The proposed method produces 2arylideneindan-1,3-diones directly from initial compounds in a safe and mild condition. All synthesized compounds were screened by molecular docking studies using the crystal structure of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1. Among products compound 4a depicted minimum binding energy and good affinity toward the active pocket of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 compared to Equilin as a 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase inhibitor.

In this research, initially, the sol-gel method was employed to produce γ-alumina and TiO2 catalysts with core-shell structure. Iron (III) was used as a dopant. The newlyproduced core-shells were Fe/TiO2// Fe/ γ-Al2O3 (FTFA). Sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine was used as a dye pollutant in Merox process. By doping Fe in TiO2 catalyst, the efficiency of photocatalytic activity in photodegradation of sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine was increased. Photocatalytic activity of Fe/TiO2// Fe/ γ-Al2O3 in UV irradiation was investigated and complete degradation of sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine was confirmed via UV-Vis spectrophotometry and Total Organic Carbon analysis. Structure, morphology, and specification of new core-shell composites of FTFA were studied using several spectroscopic techniques. The efficiency of the FTFA catalyst is very good in alkaline media and close to the TiO2 catalyst performance in acidic media. The complete destruction process was investigated with TOC and the synthesized catalyst degraded 5 ppm of solution polluted by SCP in a maximum of 30 min.

One of the problems in removing pollutants from water  by photocatalytic methods is the separation of the catalyst from the solution. In this study, the catalyst stabilization method was used to solve this problem. Nano ZnFe2O4 supported on Copper Slag (CS) produced in this research is an environment-friendly, simple and cost-effective catalyst. ZnFe2O4 was prepared for co-precipitation methods and supported on CS by the thermal process. Its characterization was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), BET surface area and X-Ray diffraction patterns (XRD). The degradation of p-Xylene as a pollutant in water was performed by the UV + H2O2 process using ZnFe2O4/CS as a photocatalyst. Circulate Packed Bed Reactor (CPBR) was used. For photocatalytic degradation of the p-Xylene, full factorial experimental design with three factors containing pH, the initial concentration of p-Xylene and H2O2 in three levels was used. The best conditions were determined as pH= 9, the concentration of p-Xylene= 70 ppm and concentration of H2O2= 20 ppm. Degradation efficiency in the best condition was 95.40 %. This new catalyst can also be used in processes for organic pollutant degradation.

In the current study, we report new flexible, free standing and high performance electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitors developed througha scalable but simple and efficient approach. Highly porous structures based on carbon fiber and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were used as a pattern. The electrochemical performances of Carbon fiber/GO-MnO2/CNT supercapacitors were characterized using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge and impedance spectroscopy techniques. The porosity of the electrode material was determined by scanning electron microscopy. The electrode specific capacitance was calculated to be 68Fcm-150 mv/s from cyclic voltammetry. The prepared films could be directly used as flexible supercapacitor electrodes and exhibited a highly specific capacitance and good cycle stability. The porous structures of films pavethe way for emission without blocking for electrolyteions and increase the specific area of the material. The electrochemical analysis confirms that the Carbon fiber/GO-MnO2/CNT has improved particular capacitance compared to Carbon fiber/GO-MnO2 and Carbon fiber/MnO2. This study offers a new extremely light, conductive, inexpensive and environmentally friend electrode material that are promising for future flexible and efficient electrochemical supercapacitors.

In this study, montmorillonite clay was used as the adsorbent for the removal of Aniline Blue dye, from aqueous solution by the batch adsorption technique under different conditions. The maximum removal of aniline blue dye for initial dye concentration 20 mg/L was more than 95% at optimum conditions (pH=4.5, contact time=30 min, and adsorbent dosage=2 g/L). The data of this study were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Also, kinetic adsorption study showed that for initial dye concentration 50 mg/L, pseudo-second-order kinetic is more favorable. More than 90% removal for Aniline Blue dye showed that this adsorbent is an effective natural compound and also inexpensive for treatment processes. Hence, using this technique and process was recommended for dye pollutants removal from aqueous environments. High removal, simplicity and high adsorption capacity of adsorbent are the main advantages in this method.

The interfacial tension of surfactant solutions is decreased with increasing surfactant concentration to obtain the critical micelle concentration (CMC). After that, the CMC values does not alter much. So this concentration is a critical point during surfactant flooding that is one of the chemical EOR techniques. The reduction of the CMC value is taken into consideration, since the surfactant flooding is very expensive. The surfactant evaluated in this study is a cationic HTAB surfactant that is more appropriate for carbonated oil reservoirs. This research investigates the effect of four different salts (CaCl2, MgCl2, Na2SO4, and NaCl) at different concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.5, and 1 wt%) on the CMC value. All the experiments were conducted by surface tension technique to measure the CMC values. Also, the ionic strength was calculated for all solutions. Results imply that the addition of all of the salts reduced the CMC value and Na2SO4 had the best performance comprise the others. Increasing the salt concentration leads to declining the CMC value for NaCl, and for other salts this behavior was continued till 0.5 wt%. Then it is elevated. The cost consideration indicates addition of slats can reduce the amount of surfactant flooding const over 12 times.