Understanding consumer participation in managing ICT waste: Findings from two-staged Structural Equation Modeling–Artificial Neural Network approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - For environmental management, the role of consumers is extremely important in the settings of reverse logistics. Though it is a manufacturer’s...     

Direct synthesis of 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles from alcohols and α-hydroxyketones by microwave

This article reports a fast, simple and efficient method to synthesize highly substituted imidazoles. Green organic synthesis is needed to face current environmental pollution. For instance the replacement of hazardous organic compounds by safe alternatives is particularly relevant. Ionic liquids are an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional organic solvents due to their unique physicochemical properties. Substituted imidazoles have been widely used to prepare pharmaceuticals. Many synthetic approaches have been developed to produce substituted imidazoles. However, despite considerable efforts only a few green methods are reported for the synthesis of highly substituted imidazoles. Here a straightforward and atom-economic approach is reported to synthesize a series 2,4,5-trisubstituted imidazoles directly from α-hydroxyketones and alcohols employing 1-methyl-3-H-imidazolium nitrate as a promoter and medium under microwave irradiation. The protocol has several advantages such as high yields of 77–91 %, short reaction times of 6–8 min, easy purification processes, and methodological simplicity due to the formation of carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bonds in a single step. The methodology has been further extended towards the facile synthesis of Trifenagrel in good yield. This method provides new opportunities for the rapid screening of a wide range of compounds, either for the development of new drugs or total synthesis of natural products.     

Fabrication and Characterization of Polyaniline Based Nano-Composite with Their Physico-Chemical and Environmental Applications

A series of organic–inorganic conducting nano polymer-matrix composite cation-exchanger have been synthesized via sol–gel method and characterized through FTIR, XRD, TGA-DTA, SEM, and TEM studies. The structural studies confirm the semi-crystalline nature of the material but the morphology of the exchanger gets changed after incorporation of inorganic moiety. The particle size of the nano-composite was found to be 19.2 nm. The observed band gap for the different samples was found to be in the range of 3.70–4.61 eV which shows that nano-composite material covers semiconducting range but the resistivity of samples is highly dependent on the percentage of inorganic part in the composite. Further the oxidative degradation of the polymer backbone begins after the removal of trapped water successively followed by dopant and low molecular weight oligomers. During the antimicrobial screening, the nano-composite was found to be active against different strains of bacteria and fungi. Gel electrophoresis and molecular docking studies were carried out to check the interaction and mechanism of inhibition of microbial growth, respectively by studying the effect of the nano-composite with DNA-Topoisomerase-1.     

Impact of water on CO2 capture by amino acid ionic liquids

The reversible capture of CO₂ from fossil-fueled industries and the absorption of CO₂ for natural-gas-sweetening purposes are industrial issues closely related to very important environmental, economical, and technological concerns. Biological amino acids can be used for task-specific ionic liquids for reversible CO₂ capture. Several groups have reported efficient and reversible CO₂ capture by such ionic liquids under rigorously dry conditions. However, we have observed that CO₂ capture by amino acid ionic liquids is hugely impacted by the presence of water. In addition, the amino acid anions appear to play only a transitory role in the CO₂ capture in the first minutes of exposure to a wet CO₂ stream. Here, we studied the interaction of two ionic liquids—tetramethylammonium glycinate ([N₁₁₁₁][Gly]) and tetraethylammonium prolinate ([N₂₂₂₂][Pro])—with CO₂ under wet conditions, by ¹³C-NMR. Results show that CO₂ is initially captured in a carbamate form by the amine-functionalized anions of these salts. This capture mode is unambiguously confirmed by a single-crystal X-ray study of the CO₂-ionic liquid complex. However, in solution, as additional CO₂ is added, the carbamate releases the covalently bound CO₂, and the CO₂ remaining in solution shifts in form to an equilibrium mixture of carbonate and bicarbonate. Indeed, when the amount of CO₂ present in the system exceeds about one-half mole per mole of ionic liquid present, the ionic liquid–carbamate complex is detected in only trace amounts, and the neutralized amino acids are readily identifiable by NMR.     

A pathway to involve consumers for exchanging electronic waste: a deep learning integration of structural equation modelling and artificial neural network

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The pandemic of COVID-19 has disrupted every human life by putting the global activities at halt. In such a situation, people while staying at home...     

Validation of environmental Philips curve in Pakistan: a fresh insight through ARDL technique

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The tremendous increase of greenhouse gases puts adverse effects on environmental degradation, unemployment, and economic growth. Against this...