Synthesis and Application of Novel NiMoK/TS-1 for Selective Conversion of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters/Triglycerides to Olefins.

Methyl palmitate (or triglyceride) was converted into C olefin with remarkable selectivity using nickel-molybdenum oxides on the mesoporous titanosilicate support. The olefin has one carbon atom less than the acid portion of the ester. A new catalyst NiMoK/TS-1 was synthesized in which the effect of acidity of supports and molybdenum loading on the decarboxylation conversion along with product selectivity was investigated in methyl palmitate conversion into C olefin.

Highly Enantioselective One-Pot Synthesis of Chiral β-Heterosubstituted Alcohols via Ruthenium-Prolinamide-Catalyzed Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation.

The utility of a chiral Ru-prolinamide catalytic system has been demonstrated in one-pot synthesis of optically active β-triazolylethanol and β-hydroxy sulfone derivatives. The said methodology proceeds through asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of in situ formed ketones of the corresponding chiral products. Various chiral prolinamide ligands were screened, and ligand with isopropyl groups substituted at the ortho position has shown excellent activity at 60 °C in aqueous medium producing up to 95% yield and 99.

Microbial synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate using seaweed-derived crude levulinic acid as co-nutrient.

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from Jatropha biodiesel residues, namely crude glycerol and oil cake hydrolysate, has been reported previously. Halomonas hydrothermalis (MTCC accession no. 5445; NCBI Genbank accession no.

Solar photothermochemical reaction and supercritical CO2 work up for a fully green process of preparation of pure p-nitrobenzyl bromide.

It has been reported by us recently that p-nitrobenzyl bromide (PNBBr) can be synthesized from p-nitrotoluene (PNT) in high isolated yield with respect to available bromine in 2:1 Br(-)-BrO3(-) employed as brominating reagent. The reaction was conducted in ethylene dichloride (EDC) and the substrate was taken in excess to suppress dibromo impurity formation. The product was "cold crystallized" from the reaction mass and the mother liquor was recycled in the subsequent batch thereby eliminating organic discharge.

Temperature invariance of NaCl solubility in water: inferences from salt-water cluster behavior of NaCl, KCl, and NH4Cl.

The growth and stability of salt-water clusters have been experimentally studied in aqueous solutions of NaCl, KCl, and NH(4)Cl from dilute to near-saturation conditions employing dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurements. In order to examine cluster stability, the changes in the cluster sizes were monitored as a function of temperature. Compared to the other cases, the average size of NaCl-water clusters remained almost constant over the studied temperature range of 20-70 °C.

Kappaphycus alvarezii as a source of bioethanol.

The present study describes production of bio-ethanol from fresh red alga, Kappaphycus alvarezii. It was crushed to expel sap--a biofertilizer--while residual biomass was saccharified at 100 °C in 0.9 N H2SO4.

Detection and quantification of some plant growth regulators in a seaweed-based foliar spray employing a mass spectrometric technique sans chromatographic separation.

The sap expelled from the fresh harvest of Kappaphycus alvarezii , a red seaweed growing in tropical waters, has been reported to be a potent foliar spray. Tandem mass spectrometry of various organic extracts of the sap confirmed the presence of the plant growth regulators (PGRs) indole 3-acetic acid, gibberellin GA(3), kinetin, and zeatin. These PGRs were quantified in fresh state and after 1 year of storage by ESI-MS without recourse to chromatographic separation.

Halonium ion-assisted deiodination of styrene-based vicinal iodohydrins followed by rearrangement through phenyl migration.

Acid activation of bromate/bromide couple at 0-10 degrees C was found to trigger the deiodination of styrene-based vicinal iodohydrins. Violet coloration of the organic layer was ascribed to formation of IBr. Deiodination was followed by phenyl migration and deprotonation leading to formation of phenyl acetone and 2-phenylpropanal in good yields from 1-iodo-2-phenylpropan-2-ol and 2-iodo-1-phenylpropan-1-ol, respectively.

Agars of Gelidiella acerosa of west and southeast coasts of India.

Seventeen agar samples were extracted from Gelidiella acerosa (Forsskal) Feldmann and Hamel (Rhodophyta, Gelidiales) specimens collected from nine different sites on the Indian coast-five from southeast coast and four from the west coast. The agar samples were analysed. The stability characteristics of the gels of selected agar samples were studied by rheometry under applied stress conditions, i.

X-ray crystallographic studies on C-phycocyanins from cyanobacteria from different habitats: marine and freshwater.

C-phycocyanins from three cyanobacterial cultures of freshwater and marine habitat, Spirulina, Phormidium and Lyngbya spp., were purified to homogeneity and crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. Blue-coloured crystals in different crystal forms, monoclinic and hexagonal, were obtained for the three species.

On the properties of agar gel containing ionic and non-ionic surfactants.

Rheological and thermal properties of agar sol and gel in presence of various cationic, anionic and non-ionic surfactants are reported. The agar used was from the red seaweed Gelidiella acerosa. The gel strength, viscosity, rigidity (G'), gelling temperature and melting temperature were observed to decrease in presence of non-ionic surfactants whereas these were enhanced in presence of ionic surfactants.