Fast and efficient synthesis of N-substituted β-aminobutyric acids by grinding at room temperature

Green chemistry is gaining increasing interest due to the growing awareness of the chemical community for sustainable development. Green chemistry solutions include synthesis without solvent and catalyst because many solvents and catalysts are toxic and expensive. Herein, we report the solvent and catalyst free method for the synthesis of N-substituted derivatives of β-aminobutyric acid by direct aza-Michael addition of amines to crotonic acid. The protocol involves simple mixing or grinding the reactants at room temperature. The β-amino acid derivatives were obtained in 82–100 % yield with a short reaction time without any tedious workup procedures. Our findings thus reveal a promising alternative to previously used procedures.     

A comparison of storm-based and annual-based indices of hydrologic variability: a case study in Fort Benning, Georgia

The magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, and rate of change of hydrologic conditions regulate ecological processes in aquatic ecosystems. Conditions are typically characterized using annual-based hydrologic indices derived from daily and/or monthly stream flow data. In this study, we present an alternative approach to identify hydrologic indices based on storm hydrographs. Hydrologic indices derived from long-term daily flow data were compared to those from storm events for two headwater watersheds in Fort Benning, Georgia. Five hydrologic indices derived from daily flow data and storm events shared common features. Storm-based magnitude of mean peak discharge and mean response factor, frequency of bankfull discharge, rate of change in mean slopes of rising, and falling limb of the hydrograph were consistent with the results from long-term daily flow data. The annual flow increases and decreases were well matched by stormflow rising and falling. Both indicators showed one watershed having three times the response rates as compared to the other. Results suggested that select storm-based indices may be used as surrogates to the indices derived from long-term data.     

Environmental and health impacts of spraying COVID-19 disinfectants with associated challenges

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Coronavirus refers to a group of widespread viruses. The name refers to the specific morphology of these viruses because their spikes look like a...     

Integrated Approach for Prioritizing Watersheds for Management: A Study of Lidder Catchment of Kashmir Himalayas

The Himalayan watersheds are susceptible to various forms of degradation due to their sensitive and fragile ecological disposition coupled with increasing anthropogenic disturbances. Owing to the paucity of appropriate technology and financial resources, the prioritization of watersheds has become an inevitable process for effective planning and management of natural resources. Lidder catchment constitutes a segment of the western Himalayas with an area of 1,159.38 km². The study is based on integrated analysis of remote sensing, geographic information system, field study, and socioeconomic data. Multicriteria evaluation of geophysical, land-use and land-cover (LULC) change, and socioeconomic indicators is carried out to prioritize watersheds for natural resource conservation and management. Knowledge-based weights and ranks are normalized, and weighted linear combination technique is adopted to determine final priority value. The watersheds are classified into four priority zones (very high priority, high priority, medium priority, and low priority) on the basis of quartiles of the priority value, thus indicating their ecological status in terms of degradation caused by anthropogenic disturbances. The correlation between priority ranks of individual indicators and integrated indicators is drawn. The results reveal that socioeconomic indicators are the most important drivers of LULC change and environmental degradation in the catchment. Moreover, the magnitude and intensity of anthropogenic impact is not uniform in different watersheds of Lidder catchment. Therefore, any conservation and management strategy must be formulated on the basis of watershed prioritization.     

210Po bioaccumulation in coastal sand dune wild legumes--Canavalia spp. of southwest coast of India

In view of considerable natural background radioactivity reported from southwest coast of India, the current study documents bioaccumulation of 210Po in two dominant coastal sand dune perennial mat-forming wild legumes, Canavalia cathartica and C. maritima. Root, stem, leaf, mature beans, dry seeds and rhizosphere sand were analyzed for 210Po concentration. 210Po activity decreased in the order of leaves > roots > seeds > stems > beans. The highest 210Po activity was recorded in rhizosphere sand samples (5.78-5.88 Bq kg(-1)) followed by the leaf samples (3.27-3.07 Bq kg(-1)), while it was lowest in mature beans (0.13-0.20 Bq kg(-1)). 210Po activities or tissue moisture between plant species were not significantly different (p > 0.05; t-test). But 210Po activity vs. moisture differed significantly in all tissues (p = 0.0001), vegetative tissues (root, stem and leaf) (p = 0.0016), seeds (p = 0.0393) and proteins in seeds (p = 2.355 x 10(-6)) indicating the importance of moisture and protein in 210Po accumulation. Although 210Po has affinity for proteins, it did not concentrate too much in seed proteins of Canavalia. Concentration of 210Po in mature beans is at safe levels as fisher folk only consume tender pods occasionally. 210Po activity in Canavalia is compared with other plant materials. As the landraces of C. cathartica and C. maritima are distributed throughout pantropical coastal areas, the current study emphasizes on considering them as bioindicators to monitor 210Po in coastal sand dune biomes and in turn the health of coastal population.     

Estimating soil carbon storage and mitigation under temperate coniferous forests in the southern region of Kashmir Himalayas

Soil physical and chemical properties were quantified to assess soil organic carbon (SOC) density (t ha^-1) and SOC CO2 mitigation (t ha^-1) under six forest strata Cedrus deodara (closed) (S1), Cedrus deodara (open) (S2), Abies pindrow-Picea smithiana (closed) (S3), Abies pindrow-Picea smithiana (open) (S4), Pinus wallichiana (closed) (S5) and Pinus wallichiana (open) (S6) in the southern region of Kashmir Himalayas India. Lowest average bulk density (D_b) of 0.95 was found same in S3 (σ?±?0.07) and S5 (σ?±?0.09) and highest D_b (1.08) was observed in S2 (σ?±?0.05). A relatively higher coarse fraction was observed in all the six strata ranging from 19.23 (SD?±?4.66) in S3 to 29.37 (σ?±?6.12) in S6. Soil pH ranged from 6.09 (σ?±?0.64) in S4 to 6.97 (σ?±?0.53) in S2. The region under biotic interference has observed significant deforestation and degradation in the past two decades leading to lower SOC% values compared to other studies in the adjoining regions of Indian Himalayas and temperate coniferous forests in general. SOC% values were observed to range from 1.03 (σ?±?0.22) in S2 to 2.25 (σ?±?0.23) in S3. SOC density ranged between 25.11 (σ?±?5.41) t ha^-1 in S2 and 51.93 (σ?±?5.24) t ha^-1 in S3. SOC CO2 mitigation density was found highest 190.59 (σ?±?19.23) t ha^-1 in S3 and lowest 92.16 (σ?±?19.86) t ha^-1 in S2. A significant variation was observed in SOC density within strata. SOC density values in closed strata in general exceed to those in open strata. Primary results indicate that the average SOC stock for all the strata is low due to continuous biotic pressure in the last two decades making it a potential region for SOC buildup under plus options of REDD + (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) which includes conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon (C) stocks.     

Alterations in liver marker enzymes and recovery ability of cyprinids as indicators of aquatic pollution

Information on the detection of pesticides in fresh water Lakes of Kashmir (Dal and Mansbal) through GC–MS technique is scarce, and also the recovery in biochemical parameters (AST, ALT and ALP) of fish after transferring them to clean media has not been reported yet. The water samples were collected from three sites and analyzed for their pesticide profile by dispersive liquid–liquid micro extraction (DLLME) followed by GC–MS. Influence of pesticides on liver marker enzymes of Cyprinus carpio and Carassius carassius was also investigated. The results obtained showed the presence of three main pesticides viz. chlorpyrifros, dimethoate and dichlorvos in waters of Dal Lake whereas no pesticide was detected in waters of Mansbal. The higher values for AST, ALT and ALP activities and decrease in protein content were obtained in the samples from the Dal Lake compared with those from Mansbal Lake (p < 0.05). These data when compared with the values found in C. carpio and C. carassius from both the Dal Lake and Mansbal Lake kept under laboratory conditions after 15, 30, 45 and 60 days of maintenance in clean media found that during depuration, all the enzyme activities came down significantly (p < 0.05) indicating the compensatory response by the fish against the pesticide stress. Therefore, these parameters could be used as indicators of pesticide pollution in aquatic organisms and were recommended for environmental monitoring for investigating the mechanism involved in the recovery pattern.