VOLUME 44, NO5, OCT-2022

Lipophilic Constituents of the Blubber from Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus, Washed Ashore at Pakistan Coast

The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758), is the biggest animal recognized to exist today throughout world’s oceans. High commercial value of lipids has made this species vulnerable. Blubber, a crucial adaptation for mammals living in water, serves as energy reservoir. Surplus energy is deposited in the form of fatty acids (FA) and therefore have been analysed. The compositional analysis also helps in understanding the dietary and structural role of FAs in blubber. Lipid analysis of blubber from stranded, dead blue whale through Thin layer chromatography (TLC) has resulted in identifying 6 constituents. These constituents are a triacyl glyceride (TAG), 2 steroids, and 3 FAs. Approximate analysis of waxy constituents has also been attempted exploiting TLC. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses has resulted in identification of 86 compounds, which were further confirmed through the Retention Indices. Altogether 17 SFAs including 4 Branched FAs, 5 MUFAs, and a PUFA were identified. These accounted to a total concentration of 85.7, 86.1, 84.8, and 89.7 % in jaw, abdomen, peduncle, and fluke, respectively. The main reasons for the low quantitative and qualitative content of PUFAs were susceptibility of PUFAs towards oxidation. Thus 8 FAlds, 4 FAlcs, and 3 other oxygenated FAs, which made a total of 2.7, 0.9, 1.3, and 5.2% in jaw, abdomen, peduncle, and fluke, respectively were justified. Further the chromatographic region where PUFAs are expected to resolve has been found masked with significant concentration of anthropogenic compounds, which accounted to 43.4, 35.6, 34.6, and 30.7% in jaw, abdomen, peduncle, and fluke, respectively. These pollutants included 25 hydrocarbons, 4 phthalates, 2 siloxanes, 2 bisphenols, and diphenyl carbonate. 4 natural Prenols were also identified. Altogether 16 constituents with concentration of 14.2, 8.0, 15.7, and 10.8% in jaw, abdomen, peduncle, and fluke, respectively, were remained unidentified. Few constituents were justified through food chain.read more

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Shumaila Naz, Muhammad Nadir, Pirzada Jamal Ahmed Siddiqui, Amir Ahmed, Muhammad Noman Syed, Munawwer Rasheed

Catechol/Pyrogallol-Modified Chitosan Composite Conductive Hydrogel as Strain Sensor for Human Movement Monitoring

Conductive hydrogels have great application and development value in the field of functional materials including flexible wearable devices, electronic skin and health detectors. Herein, chitosan (CS) was firstly modified with 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde and 2,3,4-trihydroxybenzaldehyde, respectively, through the Schiff base reaction and NaBH3CN reduction, and the resulting products (CCS and PCS) with improved water solubility were then used as the cross-linking agents for polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to fabricate the corresponding CCS/PVA and PCS/PVA composite hydrogels through the freezing-thawing method. AlCl3 was further introduced into the two composite systems to give the hydrogels good conductivity. As flexible strain sensors, both CCS/PVA/AlCl3 and PCS/PVA/AlCl3 hydrogels could monitor human movements such as finger bending, wrist rotation, elbow bending, foot rotation and nodding. In addition, the conductive hydrogels can also respond regularly to small facial movements such as mouth opening-closing cycle and frowning. In general, the present CCS/PVA/AlCl3 and PCS/PVA/AlCl3 conductive hydrogels are expected to have good application prospect in smart wearable devices and other functional fields.read more

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Bin Song, Tao Ke, Chutong Shi and Haibin Gu

Cadmium Concentration in Different Brands of Cosmetic and their Effect on the Skin of Female Dermatitis Cosmetic Users

Cosmetics have been a part of routine body care not only for the upper classes, but also for the middle and lower classes, since the dawn of civilization. Lightening ingredients, which were previously only used under dermatological supervision, are increasingly being introduced into cosmetic formulations as the public's interest in skin whitening grows. Contamination of cosmetics with heavy metals is a significant concern. Cosmetics containing heavy metals pose a major risk to human health. Heavy metal toxicity in humans has been linked to long-term or high-level exposure to toxins found in the atmosphere, such as air, water, food, and a variety of consumer goods such as cosmetics and toiletries. In the present study, the association between cadmium exposure via cosmetic products (Lipstick (N= 15), Face powder (N= 13), Eye Liner (N= 11) and Eye shadow (N= 15)} and dermatitis cosmetic female patients (N= 252), residing in Hyderabad city, Sindh, Pakistan, was investigated. The matrices of biological (scalp hair, blood, serum and nails) of referents and dermatitis cosmetic female patients (Seborrhoeic dermatitis, Rosacea, Allergic contact dermatitis and Irritant contact dermatitis) and cosmetic samples were oxidized with the help of HNO3 (65%) and H2O2 (30%) mixture at the ratio of 2:1 with the aid of microwave oven. The oxidized biological and cosmetic samples were subjected to electrothermal atomic emission spectrophotometer after microwave-assisted acid digestion. The LOD and LOQ for Cd determination in digests samples were found to be 0.81 and 0.28 µg/ L, respectively. The validity and accuracy of the methodology were checked using certified reference materials. The cosmetic products (Lipstick, Face powder, Eye Liner and Eye shadow) of different brands contain Cd, concentrations in the ranges of 1.63– 2.30 μg/g, 0.40 – 0.76 μg/g, 1.05 – 3.60 μg/g and 1.05 – 4.53 μg/g respectively. The outcome of this research significantly showed the higher level of Cadmium in biological specimen (blood and scalp hair) of different types of female dermatitis patients as compared to referent subjects (P<0.001). To ensure human safety and protection, continuous monitoring of cosmetic products, especially with regard to heavy metals adulteration, should be implemented.read more

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Hassan Imran Afridi, Murk Bhatti, Farah Naz Talpur, Tasneem Gul Kazi, Jameel Ahmed Baig, Ghulam Qadir Chanihoon and Almas Rahoojo

Reversed Phase-HPLC Method for Low Level Quantitation of Dimethyl dibenzylidene Sorbitol

Dimethyl dibenzylidene sorbitol (DMDBS) is one of the most commonly used nucleating agent in polypropylene formulations. In present study, a simple and robust reversed phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC) based analytical method was developed for the quantitative low-level determination of DMDBS. The best separation was achieved on a RP-HPLC column TSK gel G2000 SW, 7.5mm x 30cm, Particle Size 10 µm from TOSOH Bioscience. A 0.05 M NH4AC (pH = 6.6) + 10% ACN solution was used as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min. UV detection was performed at 216 nm. Retention time was found to be 13.056 min. for DMDBS. The response was a linear function of concentration over the range of 2.00 to 8.00 µg/ml with correlation coefficient of 0.9996 for DMDBS. The LOD and LOQ for DMDBS were found to be 1.00 µg/mL and 2.00 µg/mL respectively. The method is simple, rapid and robust, which is suitable for application in quality control and can also be used for the estimation of DMDBS as a leachable/ extractable from polypropylene (PP) resin and resin products like medical device containers.read more

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Abdus Salam

Effects of Selected Metal Chlorides on the Micellization Parameters of Cetrimonium Bromide at Different Temperatures

The pre-modification of surfactant counterions using transition metal salts provides a means to activate the interface using corresponding properties of metal ions. In this work, a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was modified by pre-mixing metal chlorides (FeCl3, CuCl2 and ZnCl2) and CTAB in 1:1 molar ratio using methanol as solvent. As a result, FeCl3, CuCl2 and ZnCl2 were added as [FeCl3Br]-1, [CuCl2Br]-1 and [ZnCl2Br]-1 respectively acting as counter anions (CAs) instead of bromide anion. Hence CTAB was called CTAF, CTAC and CTAZ in order of added CAs i.e., [FeCl3Br]-1, [CuCl2Br]-1 and [ZnCl2Br]-1 respectively. The effect of these metal chlorides on the micellar behaviour of CTAB was investigated using conductivities of their different solutions. Furthermore, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) as well as the degree of counterion binding were considered at 25.0, 30.0, 35.0, 40.0 and 45.0 °C 0.1 °C. The analysis of results revealed that incorporation of metal cations reduces the CMC values in the order CTAF CTAZ CTAC CTAB. Change in entropy (S), enthalpy (H) and free energy (G) were calculated to understand the thermodynamics of micellization under the circumstances. The aim of this study is to improve the understanding regarding the presence of transition metals in micellization process as well as the possibility of their interactions with Bromide counterions and possibility of the formation of complex counter-anions.read more

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Sumbal Saeed, Arif Hussain, M. Faizan Nazar, Hameed Ullah, Afzal Shah, Syed Sakhawat Shah and Asad Muhammad Khan

Imaging Serum Proteome Behavior in Process of Lead Transportation in Vivo: A Fluorescence Spectroscopic Analysis Insight

As a common heavy metal, Pb (II) can react with biological macromolecules in the human body and have an impact on human health, but there are few studies on its synergistic interaction with a variety of proteins of different abundance. Pb (II) binding with a synthetic model protein system (bovine serum albumin (BSA) and bovine lactoferrin (BLF)) was characterized using fluorescence spectroscopy and was described using a quantitative model. Pb (II) quenched the fluorescence of BSA-BLF, indicating that Pb (II) interacted with the BSA-BLF protein system, and was affected by single protein, mixed proteins and the solution microenvironment. A model was constructed and an indicator of the interaction (FPI) was derived to quantify the interactions. There was a high correlation (R2=0.9182, p<0.001) between the FPI and the Pb (II) concentration when the interaction models were analyzed with a Taylor function. The effects of the solvent microenvironment on BSA, BLF and BSA-BLF were evaluated using the IOM (overall microenvironmental influence factor). BLF was more easily affected by the solution microenvironment with increasing concentrations than BSA, while BSA-BLF was less affected.read more

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Luwei Tian, Ming Guo, Xingtao Xu and Linfang Shi

Yield Optimization for One Pot Synthesis of Cu, Mn based Metalloporphyrin

Cu and Mn based tetraphenyl porphyrin namely CuTPP and MnTPP were synthesized through a one pot route with a modified procedure and the reaction conditions (Temperature and time) were optimized based on the energy consumption during the synthesis of the target macrocyclic ligands. The temperature (145oC and 160oC) and time (3, 4, 8 hr) were used to study the effect on the product yield. The optimized values obtained using MATLAB routines are 3.7 hr and 145oC.read more

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Saad Nadeem, Fahim Uddin, Maizatul Shima Shaharun, Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib

Hematite Decorated MWCNT Nanohybrids: A Facile Synthesis

Hybrid nanomaterials with different sizes, shapes, compositions, and morphology have gained importance for numerous physicochemical, electrical and magnetic acumens. Multi-Walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can be decorated with various metals to produce nanohybrids to attain desired features for leading high-tech applications. The presented research work comprises a cost- effective wet chemical method to fabricate Hematite based (α-Fe2O3- MWCNTs) nanohybrids. Physicochemical characteristics were studied by XRD, FTIR, SEM and VSM, and EDX, respectively. Results showed well-decorated hematite nanocrystals (size ~ 26nm) on the surface of MWCNTs. Magnetic behaviors exhibited a ferromagnetic material with saturation and remnant magnetization and coercivity of ~ 1.2 emu/g, 0.5 emu/g and 200 Oersted respectively, which makes it a suitable contender in advanced energy storage devices.read more

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Sajid Hussain, S. F. Hasany and Syed Usman Ali

Construction of MoS2/graphite/C3N4 Ternary Photocatalytic System Through Communicating Electron and Holes Transferring by Graphite and its Application for Dye Wastewater Photocatalytic Treatment Under Visible Light

A MoS2/graphite/C3N4 ternary photocatalytic material (MGC catalyst) was successfully synthesized, characterized, and applied to the photodegradation of Methylene Blue (MB). In addition, the photocatalytic mechanism of MGC was illustrated through modern characterization technology and density functional theory (DFT) computation. The findings of characterization (XRD, SEM-EDX, UV-Vis, XPS) confirmed that MGC was a composite photocatalyst of C3N4-graphite-MoS2 ternary structure, and displayed excellent visible light absorption performance. MGC photocatalyst exhibited the highest degradation efficiencies of MB than that of C3N4 and MoS2 catalyst, and it effectively improved the removal of pollutant. Also, the first-order reaction model suitably described the photocatalytic reaction process. The recycling experiments proved that MGC catalyst possessed remarkable photocatalytic stability in the degradation activities of MB, and the morphology maintained stable after three times of reusing. The ternary composite structure of MGC was conducive to the generation and transfer of the photo-generated electrons and photo-generated holes. Besides, MGC photocatalyst obtained the lowest photoluminescence spectrum intensity, which might decrease the combination probability of photo-induced electrons and holes. Electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis verified that the active radicals of •OH and •O2- measured in photocatalytic reaction probably played an essential part in the degradation of MB. Furthermore, through calculating the band structure, density of states (DOS), and work function, it was illustrated that the two opposite potential barriers forming between graphite, MoS2 and C3N interface effectively accelerated the division of photo-induced electrons and photo-induced holes in MoS2 and C3N4. Then, the recombination probability of photo-induced electrons and holes was reduced, and hence that greatly improved the photocatalytic efficiency of MB.read more

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Ting Cheng, Chen Chen, Lei Wang, Weifang Xie, Dianyi Wu, Xiao Zhang, Zhiyi Zhou and Xiaoqin Zhang

A Critical Review on the Photo Degradation of Diazinon, A Persistent Organic Pesticides

Broad production, utilization, and scrapping of pesticides worldwide increase the health concern of humans and animals, due to their bio-persistent and bio-accumulating nature. Among the present treatment methods, metaloxide based photocatalysis is the emerging technology for pesticide removal in aqueous medium, and has gained the interest of many researchers in the past years due to its feasibility, cost efficiency and higher degradation rate. This review briefly discusses the mechanism of metaloxide based photocatalytic degradation, reaction kinetics of pesticides degradation, optimization of operational parameters to enhance the degradation process, and different modifications such as binary, ternary or metal/non-metal dopped metaloxide photocatalysts to improve the effectiveness of degradation has also been analyzed. The effect of operational parameters like effect of catalyst dosage, pH, initial pesticide concentration, UV/sunlight, and irradiation time on the photocatalytic degradation of pesticide has been reviewed. The comparison of various photocatalysts for the degradation of diazinon from aqueous medium is summarized. However additional research is required to achieve fast and maximum degradation to keep the environment safe.read more

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Fawad Ahmad, Sana Nisar, Maira Mehmood, Zakiratullah