Nanoparticles, NPs synthesis has gained attention recently due to their ease of preparation (especially green synthesis), availability of raw materials and usefulness. The green synthesis of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) was done using Tea leaves extract-harvested from the Mambilla in Taraba State-Nigeria. The phytochemical analysis of the tea leaves extract was done and found to contain phenols, steroids and saponins which could have caused colour change, reduction of copper ions, capping and stabilisation of the synthesized CuNPs. The presence of NPs in the mixture was identified by the change in colour of the mixture, \lambdamax of the ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry and spectra of the Fourier Transform Infrared, FTIR spectrophotometry on the mixture. Antimicrobial studies of the synthesized CuNPs on the bacterial (Escherichia Coli) showed effective toxic effects. This study showed that, Tea leaves extract is good for synthesizing copper nanoparticles that can be used as antimicrobial agents.
The soil samples from Mambila Plateau were analyzed to determine the physicochemical properties of elements present by energy dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence. The physical and chemical parameters determined were colour, pH, electrical conductivity, specific gravity and elemental identifications of Cr 2 O 3 , CuO, NiO and V 2 O 5 respectively. The pH values for soils of the study area are high between 3.96-4.30 being acidic, electrical conductivity values ranged from 81.79 -238 mS/cm with higher electrical conductivity value at N 1 having 238 mS/cm and lower electrical conductivity at S 1 81.79 uS/cm respectively. The soil are yellow, red and gray; with hue steps of 2.5YR, 5YR, 7.5YR, and 10YR, a step values between 3-7 and the chroma range of 1-6. The specific gravity which also is the relative density range from 2.00-2.50. The percentage elemental contents identified for trace elements decreased in the order V 2 O 5 > Cr 2 O 3 >NiO > CuO. The highest percentage concentration of element found was V 2 O 5 at N 4 0.29% while, CuO showed minimum concentration of 0.01%. The entire soils indicated high acidity levels due to the pH results tested, with spatial variation of the elements oxides contents higher at
Pectin is a naturally occurring biopolymer which can be used for food and pharmaceutical applications. In this study the effect of temperature, time and pH on the yield, physicochemical characteristics of pectin extracted from Bombax ceiba fruits was investigated. The extraction of pectin was done using citric acid buffer followed by 96% alcohol precipitation. The optimum temperature, time and pH for the extraction of pectin were determined to be 85 °C, 90 min and 2.0, respectively. The yield of pectin under these optimum conditions was found to be 16.35%. The physicochemical properties determined under these optimum conditions were found to be; equivalent weight; 765.40 mg/mol, methoxyl content: 6.62%, anhydrouronic acid content; 65.25%, degree of esterification; 72.45%, moisture content; 1.30% and ashcontent; 0.60% for Bombax ceiba fruits extracted pectin, respectively. FTIR was also utilized for characterizing the pectins. Generally, the findings of the study showed that the pectin extracted from Bombax ceiba fruit can find industrial applications, especially in food processing and pharmaceutical industries.
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