Search

Mellpaladines A–C (1–3) and dopargimine (4) are dopamine-derived guanidine alkaloids isolated from a specimen of Palauan Didemnidae tunicate as possible modulators of neuronal receptors. In this study, we isolated the dopargimine derivative 1-carboxydopargimine (5), three additional mellpaladines D–F (6–8), and serotodopalgimine (9), along with a dimer of serotonin, 5,5'-dihydroxy-4,4'-bistryptamine (10). The structures of these compounds were determined based on spectrometric and spectroscopic analyses. Compound 4and its congeners dopargine (11), nordopargimine (15), and 2-(6,7-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-1-yl)ethan-1-amine (16) were synthetically prepared for biological evaluations. The biological activities of all isolated compounds were evaluated in comparison with those of 1–4using a mouse behavioral assay upon intracerebroventricular injection, revealing key functional groups in the dopargimines and mellpaladines for in vivobehavioral toxicity. Interestingly, these alkaloids also emerged during a screen of our marine natural product library aimed at identifying antiviral activities against dengue virus, SARS-CoV-2, and vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus (VSV) pseudotyped with Ebola virus glycoprotein (VSV-ZGP).

Atomic spectroscopy is the most popular approach to determine the presence of heavy metals in the environment. Heavy metals are potentially toxic and have various negative effects on many living organisms, including humans. With the rapid increase in the variety of industries and human activities, large amounts of heavy metals are released into the atmosphere, water, and soil. Heavy metal analysis of environmental samples is very important for determining the exposure limits. Environmental samples are highly complex matrices, and various sample preparation techniques have been developed for the extraction of heavy metals from them, including magnetic solid‐phase extraction (MSPE). The use of MSPE in heavy metal analysis has recently gained significant attention owing to a number of advantages. MSPE technique overcomes main issues such as phase separation, handling, and column packing. The use of magnetic adsorbents in sample preparation has grown over the past few years, making MSPE a promising technique for sample preparation. The objective of this review article is to provide the latest applications of MSPE coupled with atomic spectroscopy for heavy metal determination in environmental samples. In addition, new magnetic adsorbents and their analytical merits are emphasized. The graphic should not exceed the size of this area. Resolution with 600dpi at least. A colorful graphic is welcomed.

We established an innovative and easy-to-use methodology for selenium (Se) extraction and determination from real water samples utilizing a magnetic nanocomposite adsorbent (MNC-SPE) aided by an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) approach. The MNC-SPE adsorbent was fabricated by hybridizing Fe3O4nanoparticles on the surface of carbon nitride nanosheets (GCN NSs) that were coated with 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid (P-IL). A variety of techniques were used to thoroughly analyze the structural and chemical characteristics of MNC-SPE, and appear to have a great number of diverse active surface functional units (imidazole ring and –NH3+). In order to optimize the key factors affecting the Se extraction, parameters including the adsorbent dosage, contact time, eluent type, eluent volume, eluent time, and reusability of adsorbent were extensively studied. The proposed approach was validated under the optimal reaction conditions, and it showed good linearity between 0.15 and 100 pg μL−1with a significant R2value (R2= 0.9994) toward Se metal. Besides, the Se limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) are 0.063 pg μL−1and 0.147 pg μL−1, respectively. Further, by utilizing tap and river water samples, the applicability of the validated method was tested; the approach showed high Se recovery values in the range of 87.6–115.5% for the spiked real-world samples and the interday and intraday precision (RSD%) values of the approach were 4.8% (n= 6). The MNC-SPE can be regenerated and reused for four consecutive extraction–desorption cycles by employing 0.5 M NaOH eluent.

Under partial shading conditions, photovoltaic (PV) systems exhibit multiple peaks in their power-voltage ($\mathbf{P-V}$) characteristics. It is essential to extract maximum energy from the PV system. The global maximum power point tracking (GMPPT) algorithms presented in the literature, track the global peak using different methods. It is imperative to have minimal convergence time for GMPPT process. This paper proposes a novel algorithm to track the global peak using voltage and current perturbation. The new GMPPT algorithm operates in a current perturbation or voltage perturbation mode, based on the value of a control variable. In either mode, the proposed technique generates reference current or reference voltage, for navigating the operating point to GMPP location. The proposed algorithm is compared with two GMPPT algorithms, namely, modified maximum power trapezium (M-MPT) and high-performance GMPPT algorithms. The simulation studies are performed in MATLAB and is validated using a laboratory prototype, with dSPACE 1202 MicroLabBox controller for implementing GMPPT methods. Simulation and experimental results show that the new technique exhibits superior performance in terms of tracking time. Also, the energy efficiency is improved by 40% while using the proposed GMPPT algorithm for the irradiance profiles considered in this paper compared to the other two techniques.