Supercritical fluid extraction in plant essential and volatile oil analysis

The use of supercritical fluids, especially carbon dioxide, in the extraction of plant volatile components has increased during two last decades due to the expected advantages of the supercritical extraction process. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is a rapid, selective and convenient method for sample preparation prior to the analysis of compounds in the volatile product of plant matrices. Also, SFE is a simple, inexpensive, fast, effective and virtually solvent-free sample pretreatment technique. This review provides a detailed and updated discussion of the developments, modes and applications of SFE in the isolation of essential oils from plant matrices. SFE is usually performed with pure or modified carbon dioxide, which facilitates off-line collection of extracts and on-line coupling with other analytical methods such as gas, liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography. In this review, we showed that a number of factors influence extraction yields, these being solubility of the solute in the fluid, diffusion through the matrix and collection process. Finally, SFE has been compared with conventional extraction methods in terms of selectivity, rapidity, cleanliness and possibility of manipulating the composition of the extract.

Procedure optimization for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles by aqueous extract of Eucalyptus oleosa

The present study is dealing with the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the aqueous extract of Eucalyptus oleosa as a green synthesis procedure without any catalyst, template or surfactant. Colloidal silver nanoparticles were synthesized by reacting aqueous AgNO3 with E. oleosa leaf extract at non-photomediated conditions. The significance of some synthesis conditions such as: silver nitrate concentration, concentration of the plant extract, time of synthesis reaction and temperature of plant extraction procedure on the particle size of synthesized silver particles was investigated and optimized. The participations of the studied factors in controlling the particle size of reduced silver were quantitatively evaluated via analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of this investigation showed that silver nanoparticles could be synthesized by tuning significant parameters, while performing the synthesis procedure at optimum conditions leads to form silver nanoparticles with 21nm as averaged size. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy was used to monitor the development of silver nanoparticles formation. Meanwhile, produced silver nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, and FT-IR techniques.

Effect of nitrate content on thermal decomposition of nitrocellulose

Data on the thermal stability of energetic materials such as nitrocellulose was required in order to obtain safety information for handling, storage and use. In the present study, the thermal stability of four nitrocellulose samples containing various amount of nitrate groups was determined by differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) and simultaneous thermogravimetery-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) techniques. The results of TG analysis revealed that the main thermal degradation for the nitrocellulose occurs in the temperature ranges of 192-209 degrees C. On the other hand, the TG-DTA analysis of compounds indicates that nitrate content of nitrocellulose could has affect on its thermal stability and its decomposition temperature decrease by increasing its nitrogen percent. The influence of the heating rate (5, 10, 15 and 20 degrees C/min) on the DSC behaviour of the nitrocellulose was verified. The results showed that, as the heating rate was increased, decomposition temperature of the compound was increased. Also, the kinetic parameters such as activation energy and frequency factor for the compound was obtained from the DSC data by non-isothermal methods proposed by ASTM E696 and Ozawa.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Eucalyptus leucoxylon leaves extract and evaluating the antioxidant activities of extract

This study was designed to examine the in vitro antioxidant activity of essential oil and methanol extracts of Eucalyptus leucoxylon. Furthermore, the polar fraction of the extract was used as a reducing agent for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Antioxidant activities of the samples were determined by using three different test systems, namely DPPH and β-carotene/linoleic acid and reducing power. The structure and composition of the prepared Ag NPs were characterised by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. Synthesised Ag NPs were almost spherical in shape with an average diameter of about ∼ 50 nm and synthesised within 120 min reaction time at room temperature.

Evaluation of photocatalytic and supercapacitor potential of nickel tungstate nanoparticles synthesized by electrochemical method

Nickel tungstate nanoparticles (NiWO₄ NPs) that were synthesized by an electrochemical method under various reaction conditions, namely, different tungstate ion concentrations, voltages, temperatures, and stirring rates, were studied here.

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of essential oils from Perovskia atriplicifolia Benth

The supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of the aerial parts of Perovskia atriplicifolia Benth. was studied. The effect of different parameters such as pressure, temperature, modifier identity, and modifier volume on the SFE of the plant was investigated. The extracts were analyzed by GC and GC-MS and compared with the essential oil obtained from P. atriplicifolia Benth by steam distillation. The supercritical extracts and the steam-distilled products had very different compositions. The main constituents of the oil obtained by steam distillation were 1,8-cineole, limonene, camphor, beta-caryophyllene, alpha-pinene, camphene, and alpha-humulene. On the other hand, the major components of SFE extracts were 1,8-cineole, limonene, camphor, beta-caryophyllene, gamma-cadinene, alpha-pinene, and alpha-terpinyl acetate. The results showed that increasing the temperature from 35 to 65 degrees C (at a constant pressure of 100 atm) drastically reduced the number of extracted components. Also, the number of extracted constituents and the percent of main analytes increased when lower pressures were used. Using different modifiers (e.g., methanol, ethanol, dichloromethane, and hexane) for the extraction of the plant at low pressure (100 atm) and temperature (35 degrees C) showed that hexane was more selective than the other modifiers.

Ion imprinted polymeric nanoparticles for selective separation and sensitive determination of zinc ions in different matrices

Preparation of Zn(2+) ion-imprinted polymer (Zn-IIP) nanoparticles is presented in this report. The Zn-IIP nanoparticles are prepared by dissolving stoichiometric amounts of zinc nitrate and selected chelating ligand, 3,5,7,20,40-pentahydroxyflavone, in 15 mL ethanol-acetonitrile (2:1; v/v) mixture as a porogen solvent in the presence of ethylene glycol-dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linking, methacrylic acid (MAA) as functional monomer, and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. After polymerization, Cavities in the polymer particles corresponding to the Zn(2+) ions were created by leaching the polymer in HCl aqueous solution. The synthesized IIPs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and thermal analysis techniques. Also, the pH range for rebinding of Zn(2+) ion on the IIP and equilibrium binding time were optimized, using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. In selectivity study, it was found that imprinting results increased affinity of the material toward Zn(2+) ion over other competitor metal ions with the same charge and close ionic radius. The prepared IIPs were repeatedly used and regenerated for six times without any significant decrease in polymer binding affinities. Finally, the prepared sorbent was successfully applied to the selective recognition and determination of zinc ion in different real samples.

Thermal stability and decomposition kinetic studies of acyclovir and zidovudine drug compounds

Investigations on thermal behavior of drug samples such as acyclovir and zidovudine are interesting not only for obtaining stability information for their processing in pharmaceutical industry but also for predicting their shelf lives and suitable storage conditions. The present work describes thermal behaviors and decomposition kinetics of acyclovir and zidovudine in solid state, studied by some thermal analysis techniques including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and simultaneous thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). TG analysis revealed that thermal degradation of the acyclovir and zidovudine is started at the temperatures of 400°C and 190°C, respectively. Meanwhile, TG-DTA analysis of acyclovir indicated that this drug melts at about 256°C. However, melting of zidovudine occurred at 142°C, which is 100°C before starting its decomposition (242°C). Different heating rates were applied to study the DSC behavior of drug samples in order to compute their thermokinetic and thermodynamic parameters by non-isothermal kinetic methods. Thermokinetic data showed that both drugs at the room temperature have slow degradation reaction rates and long shelf lives. However, acyclovir is considerably more thermally stable than zidovudine.