A boron- and nitrogen-co-doped mesoporous carbon (BxCN) material with a hierarchical pore structure has been synthesized from a new boron precursor via a nanocasting approach.

A facile synthesis strategy has been undertaken to stabilize Ag nanoparticle inside the channels of mesoporous silica network. The resulting AgWS material exhibited highly ordered hexagonal pores in a 2D array with long 1D channels of p6 mm plane group with the relatively high surface area. Finely dispersed icosahedral Ag nanoparticles with WO3 nanoparticles of 5–10 nm diameter have been spotted over the catalyst. The as-prepared material shows promotional activity for the single-step conversion of cyclohexane to adipic acid (aa). DFT calculations suggested the reduction of activation energy to 8.5 eV (188 kcal/mol) from 11.36 eV (262 kcal/mol) for the W-complex, which is further reduced to 1.96 eV (45 kcal/mol) for the Ag–W complex. Thus, the promotional effects of Ag with the dual Lewis and Brønsted acidity of W-SBA-15 material endowed more efficiently facilitate the selective oxidation of cyclohexane to aa. Under optimized conditions using H2O2, ≥ 99% selectivity of adipic acid and 89.6% conversion at 90 °C in 16 h was observed.

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A novel catalyst composed of silver nanoparticles grafted on WCN has been prepared by using a facile pH-adjusted method. The material reported in this study presents a non-mineral acid route for the synthesis of the industrially significant monomer adipic acid through the selective oxidation of cyclohexene. Ag has been stabilized in the hydrophobic matrix during the formation of the mesoporous silica material by using aniline as stabilizing agent. A cyclohexene conversion of 92.2 % with 96.2 % selectivity for adipic acid was observed with the AgWCN -2 catalyst, therefore, the AgWCN catalyst was found to be efficient for the direct conversion to adipic acid with respect to their monometallic counterparts. The energy profile diagrams for each reaction path by using the AgWCN catalyst were studied along with their monometallic counterparts by using the Gaussian 09 package. The reported material can avoid the use of harmful phase-transfer catalysts (PTC) and/or chlorinated additives, which are two among other benefits of the reported work.

Aim: To evaluate the antibacterial activity of Artocarpus hirsutus mediated seed extract for nanoparticle synthesis. Background: Gastro-intestinal bacteria are known for causing deadly infections in humans. They also possess multi-drug resistance and interfere with clinical treatments. Applied nanotechnology has been known to combat such infectious agents with little interference from their special attributes. Here we synthesize silver nanoparticles from Artocarpus hirsutus seed extract against two gastro-intestinal bacterial species: Enterobacter aerogenes and Listeria monocytogenes. Objective: • To collect, dried and process seeds of Artocarpus hirsutus for nanoparticle synthesis. • To evaluate the morphological interaction of silver nanoparticles with bacteria. Methodology: Artocarpus hirsutus seeds were collected, processed and further silver nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation method. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, UV, FTIR, SEM. These nanoparticles were employed to study the antibacterial activity of nanoparticles against Enterobacter aerogenes and Listeria monocytogenes using well diffusion method. Further, morphological interaction of silver nanoparticles on bacteria were studied using SEM. Result: Silver nanoparticles were synthesized using Artocarpus hirsutus seed extract and characterization studies confirmed that silver nanoparticles were spherical in shape with 25-40 nm size. Antibacterial study exhibited better activity against Enterobacter aerogenes with maximum zone of inhibition than on Listeria monocytogenes. SEM micrographs indicated that Enterobacter aerogenes bacteria were more susceptible to silver nanoparticles due to the absence of cell wall. Also the size and charge of silver nanoparticles enables easy penetration of the bacterial cell wall. Conclusion: In this study, silver nanoparticles were synthesized using the seed extract of Artocarpus hirsutus for the first time exploiting the fact that Moraceae species have high phytonutrient content which aided in nanoparticle synthesis. This nanoparticle can be employed for large scale synthesis which when coupled with pharmaceutical industry can be used to overcome the problems associated with conventional antibiotics to treat gastro-intestinal bacteria.