Search Results (54)

In this work, we report the divergent synthesis of a novel corrole macrocycle with a T-shaped geometry, functionalized with triphenylamine (TPA) units. The synthetic route involved a green preparation of 5-(pentafluorophenyl)dipyrromethane, condensation with pentafluorobenzaldehyde, and DDQ oxidation to afford the target corrole. In parallel, a TPA-based chalcone derivative was obtained and introduced via regioselective nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The resulting photoactive corrole–TPA conjugate exhibited efficient electropolymerization, retaining the corrole chromophore while forming conductive TPB-linked films (TPB, tetraphenylbenzidine). Spectroelectrochemical studies confirmed reversible redox activity, color switching, and electrochromic behavior, highlighting its potential as a building block for photo- and electroactive devices. Full article

This paper presents the expected and unexpected, but typically substituent-dependent, ferrocene-catalyzed DDQ-mediated oxidative transformations of a series of 5,8-bis(methylthio)-1-aryl-1,2-dihydropyridazino[4,5-d]pyridazines and 8-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-5-(methylthio)-1-aryl-1,2-dihydropyridazino[4,5-d]pyridazines. Under noncatalytic conditions the reactions were sluggish, mainly producing a substantial amount of undefined tarry materials; nevertheless, the ferrocene-catalyzed reactions of the 5,8-bis(methylthio)-substituted precursors gave the aromatic products the expected aromatic products in low yields. Their formation was accompanied by ring transformations proceeding via aryne-generating fragmentation/Diels–Alder (DA)/N₂-releasing retro Diels–Alder (rDA) sequence to construct arene-fused phthalazines. On the other hand, neither the noncatalytic nor the catalytic reactions of the 8-pyrazolyl-5-methylthio-substituted dihydroaromatics yielded the expected aromatic products. Instead, depending on their substitution pattern, the catalytic reactions of these pyrazolyl-substituted precursors also led to the formation of dearylated arene-fused phthalazines competing with an unprecedented multistep fragmentation sequence terminated by the hydrolysis of cationic intermediates to give 4-(methylthio)pyridazino[4,5-d]pyridazin-1(2H)-one and the corresponding 3,5-dimethyl-1-aryl-1H-pyrazole. When 0.6 equivalents of DDQ were applied in freshly absolutized THF, a representative pyrazolyl-substituted model underwent an oxidative coupling to give a dimer formed by the interaction of the cationic intermediate, and a part of the N-nucleophilic precursor remained intact. A systematic computational study was conducted on these intriguing reactions to support their complex mechanisms proposed on the basis of the structures of the isolated products. Full article

Accurate quality detection of fruits and vegetables is crucial for optimizing harvest timing, minimizing post-harvest losses, and reducing waste. This research aims to integrate remote-sensing and deep learning (DL) technologies to develop and evaluate object detection models employing a novel DL approach for precision agriculture through automated quality detection in fruits and vegetables. To achieve this, twelve state-of-the-art object detection models from the MMDetection framework were trained by utilizing a custom-created and annotated dataset that comprises 1535 images and 39 classes of fruits and vegetables categorized into unripe, ripe, and overripe qualities. To evaluate the performance of each model, metrics like loss, mean Average Precision (mAP), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, area under the curve (AUC), and confusion matrix were employed. The results determined that the Detection Transformer with Improved Denoising Anchor Boxes (DINO) and Dynamic Denoising Query (DDQ) models outperformed the others, achieving a mAP of 0.65 and a loss of 1.8 and 1.9, respectively. These metrics demonstrate their ability to distinguish the quality of fruits and vegetables accurately. These findings highlight the potential of DL models for real-world agricultural applications, as they facilitate timely quality assessment and contribute to the development of intelligent solutions. Full article

Methoxycamalexins are close structural derivatives of the indolic phytoalexin Camalexin, which is a well-known drug lead with an antiproliferative and antioxidant profile. 6-methoxycamalexin, 7-methoxycamalexin, and 6,7-dimethoxycamalexin are natural bioactive products, and there is significant interest in the development of efficient methods for the synthesis of structurally related analogues. Herein, we describe an efficient and high-yielding method for the synthesis of variously substituted hydroxy-, bezyloxy, and methoxycamalexins. A set of methoxy-, hydroxy-, and benzyloxy-indoles were successfully amidoalkylated with N-acyliminium reagents derived in situ from the reaction of thiazole or methylthiazoles with Troc chloride. Eleven novel N-acylated analogues were synthesized, with yields ranging from 77% to 98%. Subsequent oxidative reactions with o-chloranil or DDQ led to 10 novel oxy-camalexins in 62–98% yield. This two-step approach allowed the synthesis of two 4,6-dimethoxy camalexins, which are difficult to obtain using published methods. The structure of the obtained products was unequivocally determined by ¹H-, ¹³C{¹H}-, HSQC-NMR, FTIR, and HRMS spectral analyses. An in silico assay was carried out on the obtained products to assess their general toxicity and physicochemical properties, including their compliance with Lipinski’s rule of five. The results indicate that all compounds have good potential to be developed as drugs or agrochemicals. Full article

This paper proposes a novel receiver coil configuration referred to as the Vertical Coil (VC), which substantially improves energy transfer efficiency in Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) systems for electric vehicles (EVs). Unlike the commonly used horizontally oriented coil layout (DDQ), the VC design employs multiple coils wound vertically around a ferrite core, thereby capturing magnetic flux more effectively over an extended spatial range. Through comprehensive simulations on full-scale models and corroborating small bench model experiments, we demonstrate that the VC configuration not only achieves a higher peak efficiency exceeding 90% but also widens the efficient power transfer zone by approximately 50% compared to DDQ. This broader coverage translates into an overall energy capture increase of more than 50% during a full pass of the vehicle over the transmitter coils, a significant step toward facilitating the implementation of DWPT technology. While mutual coupling among the VC coils can alter the system’s resonance frequency, our results confirm that this effect does not impede the VC’s superior energy transfer performance. Consequently, the new VC receiver design offers a promising pathway for advancing DWPT technology for reducing EV battery size and extending driving range. Full article

Vitex agnus-castus L., a medicinal plant widespread in the Middle East and Europe, is traditionally used to treat various disorders. In this study, extracts from its leaves, collected in Algeria, were evaluated for their antioxidant, enzymatic, and antibacterial activities through in vitro and in silico studies. The hydroalcoholic extract was fractionated using solvents of varying polarity to isolate bioactive compounds with potential biological effects. Notable levels of total phenolics, flavonoids, and flavonols were detected in the dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extracts. NMR and GC-MS were used to identify metabolites in the extracts, which were discussed in relation to their biological activities. Antioxidant assays showed that the EtOAc extract had a remarkable effect, particularly in the DPPH^• free radicals test (IC₅₀ = 15.68 ± 1.51 μg/mL), while enzymatic assays revealed that the dichloromethane extract moderately inhibited butyrylcholinesterase (IC₅₀ = 133.54 ± 1.45 μg/mL). Antibacterial assays showed that the extracts inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Escherichia coli strains, with the most significant effect observed for the n-hexane extract, especially against S. aureus and B. subtilis (respectively, 22.33 ± 0.47 and 18.33 ± 0.47 mm diameters). These outcomes were validated via molecular docking simulations on three DNA gyrase enzymes: 3G7E (from E. coli), 3G75 (from S. aureus), and 4DDQ (from B. subtilis), revealing that linolenic and palmitic acids, as well as phytol significantly interacted with these enzymes, showing varying binding affinities and suggesting antibacterial potential against the targeted species E. coli and S. aureus. These findings highlight the potential therapeutic use of V. agnus-castus leaves, encouraging further research into their applicability in the development of plant-derived drugs. Full article

Isoxazole derivatives (isoxazoles, isoxazolines, and isoxazolidines) are present in the structure of several natural products and/or pharmaceutically interesting compounds. In this work, a synthetic study for the preparation of fused isoxazoline/isoquinolinone hybrids is presented. The initial approach involving the sequential 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to indenone (to obtain the isoxazoline ring) and a Beckmann rearrangement (to construct the isoquinolinone lactam system) was complicated by the formation of fragmentation products during the latter. Therefore, the desired hybrids were successfully reached by applying DDQ-mediated oxidation of the respective isoxazolidines. Based on the results, key observations were made regarding the mechanism of the Beckmann reaction. Moreover, selected isoxazole benzamides and fused isoxazoline/isoxazolidine isoquinolinones were in vitro evaluated against a series of fungi strains (including a 2D checkerboard assay with ketoconazole), revealing that some of these compounds exhibit promising antifungal activity. Full article

Cancer is the second leading cause of death, significantly threatening human health. Effective treatment options are often lacking in advanced stages, making early diagnosis crucial for reducing mortality rates. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a promising biomarker for early detection; however, their automatic detection is challenging due to their heterogeneous size and shape, as well as their scarcity in blood. This study proposes a data generation method using the Segment Anything Model (SAM) combined with a copy–paste strategy. We develop a detection network based on the Swin Transformer, featuring a backbone network, scale adapter module, shape adapter module, and detection head, which enhances CTC localization and identification in images. To effectively utilize both generated and real data, we introduce an improved loss function that includes a regularization term to ensure consistency across different data distributions. Our model demonstrates exceptional performance across five evaluation metrics: accuracy (0.9960), recall (0.9961), precision (0.9804), specificity (0.9975), and mean average precision (mAP) of 0.9400 at an Intersection over Union (IoU) threshold of 0.5. These results are achieved on a dataset generated by mixing both public and local data, highlighting the robustness and generalizability of the proposed approach. This framework surpasses state-of-the-art models (ADCTC, DiffusionDet, CO-DETR, and DDQ), providing a vital tool for early cancer diagnosis, treatment planning, and prognostic assessment, ultimately enhancing human health and well-being. Full article

Here, we report the synthesis of adamantane-based macrocycle 2 by combining adamantane building blocks with π-donor 1,3-dimethoxy-benzene units. An unpredictable keto-adamantane-based macrocycle 3 was obtained by the oxidation of 2 using DDQ as an oxidant. Moreover, a new type of macrocyclic molecule-based CT cocrystal was prepared through exo-wall CT interactions between 3 and DDQ. The cocrystal material showed selective vapochromism behavior towards THF, specifically, among nine volatile organic solvents commonly used in the laboratory. Powder X-ray diffraction; UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy; ¹H NMR; and single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that color changes are attributed to the vapor-triggered decomplexation of cocrystals. Full article

Dynamic wireless charging (DWC) systems enable electric vehicles (EVs) to receive energy on the move, without stopping at charging stations. Nonetheless, the energy efficiency of DWC systems is affected by the inherent misalignments of the mobile EVs, causing fluctuations in the amount of energy transmitted to the EVs. In this work, a multi-coil secondary-side inductive link (IL) design is proposed with independent double-D (DD) and quadrature coils to reduce the effect of coupling fluctuations on the power received during misalignments. Dual-sided inductor–capacitor–capacitor (LCC) compensation networks are utilized with power and current control circuits to provide a load-independent, constant current output at different misalignment conditions. The LCC compensation components are tuned to maximize the power transferred at the minimum acceptable coupling point, $k_{min}$. This compensates for the leaked energy during misalignments and minimizes variations in the operating frequency during zero-phase angle (ZPA) operation. Simulations reveal an almost constant output power for different lateral misalignment (LTMA) values up to $\pm 200$ mm for a 25 kW system, with a power transfer efficiency of $90\%$. A close correlation between simulation and experimental results is observed. Full article

Ruxolitinib (RUX) is a potent drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and graft-versus-host disease. This study describes the formation of colored charge-transfer complexes (CTCs) of RUX, an electron donor, with chloranilic acid (CLA) and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), the π-electron acceptors. The CTCs were characterized using UV-visible spectrophotometry. The formation of CTCs in methanol was confirmed via formation of new absorption bands with maximum absorption at 530 and 470 nm for CTCs with CLA and DDQ, respectively. The molar absorptivity and other physicochemical and electronic properties of CTCs were determined. The molar ratio was found to be 1:1 for both CTCs with CLA and CTCs with DDQ. The site of interaction on RUX molecules was assigned and the mechanisms of the reactions were postulated. The reactions were employed as basis for the development of a novel green and one-step microwell spectrophotometric method (MW-SPM) for high-throughput quantitation of RUX. Reactions of RUX with CLA and DDQ were carried out in 96-well transparent plates, and the absorbances of the colored CTCs were measured by an absorbance microplate reader. The MW-SPM was validated according to the ICH guidelines. The limits of quantitation were 7.5 and 12.6 µg/mL for the methods involving reactions with CLA and DDQ, respectively. The method was applied with great reliability to the quantitation of RUX content in Jakavi^® tablets and Opzelura^® cream. The greenness of the MW-SPM was assessed by three different metric tools, and the results proved that the method fulfills the requirements of green analytical approaches. In addition, the one-step reactions and simultaneous handling of a large number of samples with micro-volumes using the proposed method enables the high-throughput analysis. In conclusion, this study describes the first MW-SPM, a valuable analytical tool for the quality control of pharmaceutical formulations of RUX. Full article

Tricyclic antidepressants are commonly employed in the management of major depressive disorders. The present work describes two visible (VIS) spectrophotometric techniques that utilize the formation of charge transfer complexes between four antidepressant compounds, namely, amitriptyline hydrochloride (AMI), imipramine hydrochloride (IMI), clomipramine hydrochloride (CLO), and trimipramine maleate (TRI) acting as electron donors and two p-benzoquinones, namely, p-chloranilic acid (pCA) and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), serving as electron acceptors. The stoichiometry of the compounds produced exhibited a consistent 1:1 ratio in all instances, as established by Job’s method. Molar absorptivities, equilibrium association constants, and several other spectroscopic properties were determined for all complexes. The developed spectrophotometric techniques were validated intra-laboratory and successfully applied for quantitative assessment of the four antidepressant active ingredients in several commercial pharmaceutical formulations. The methods are relatively simple, fast, and use readily available laboratory instrumentation, making them easily applicable by most quality control laboratories worldwide. Full article

Background and Objectives: Ceritinib (CER) is a potent drug of the third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor class. CER has been approved for the treatment of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutation gene. In the literature, there is no green and high-throughput analytical method for the quantitation of CER in its dosage form (Zykadia^® capsules). This study describes, for the first time, the development and validation of two novel one-step and green microwell spectrophotometric methods (MW-SPMs) for the high-throughput quantitation of CER in Zykadia^® capsules. Materials and Methods: These two methods were based on an in microwell formation of colored derivatives upon the reaction of CER with two different benzoquinone reagents via two different mechanisms. These reagents were ortho-benzoquinone (OBQ) and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), and their reactions proceeded via condensation and charge transfer reactions, respectively. The reactions were carried out in 96-well transparent plates, and the absorbances of the colored reaction products were measured with an absorbance microplate reader at 540 and 460 nm for reactions with OBQ and DDQ, respectively. The optimum conditions of reactions were established, their molar ratios were determined, and reaction mechanisms were postulated. Under the refined optimum reaction conditions, procedures of MW-SPMs were established and validated according to the guidelines of the International Council on Harmonization. Results: The limits of quantitation were 6.5 and 10.2 µg/well for methods involving reactions with OBQ and DDQ, respectively. Both methods were applied with great reliability to the determination of CER content in Zykadia^® capsules and their drug uniformity. Greenness of the MW-SPMs was evaluated using three different metric tools, and the results proved that the two methods fulfil the requirements of green analytical approaches. In addition, the simultaneous handling of a large number of samples with microvolumes in the proposed methods gave them the advantage of a high-throughput analysis. Conclusions: The two methods are valuable tools for rapid routine application in pharmaceutical quality control units for the quantitation of CER. Full article

Nowadays, academic research, disaster mitigation, industry, and transportation apply the cooperative multi-agent concept. A cooperative multi-agent system is a multi-agent system that works together to solve problems or maximise utility. The essential marks of formation control are how the multiple agents can reach the desired point while maintaining their position in the formation based on the dynamic conditions and environment. A cooperative multi-agent system closely relates to the formation change issue. It is necessary to change the arrangement of multiple agents according to the environmental conditions, such as when avoiding obstacles, applying different sizes and shapes of tracks, and moving different sizes and shapes of transport objects. Reinforcement learning is a good method to apply in a formation change environment. On the other hand, the complex formation control process requires a long learning time. This paper proposed using the Deep Dyna-Q algorithm to speed up the learning process while improving the formation achievement rate by tuning the parameters of the Deep Dyna-Q algorithm. Even though the Deep Dyna-Q algorithm has been used in many applications, it has not been applied in an actual experiment. The contribution of this paper is the application of the Deep Dyna-Q algorithm in formation control in both simulations and actual experiments. This study successfully implements the proposed method and investigates formation control in simulations and actual experiments. In the actual experiments, the Nexus robot with a robot operating system (ROS) was used. To confirm the communication between the PC and robots, camera processing, and motor controller, the velocities from the simulation were directly given to the robots. The simulations could give the same goal points as the actual experiments, so the simulation results approach the actual experimental results. The discount rate and learning rate values affected the formation change achievement rate, collision number among agents, and collisions between agents and transport objects. For learning rate comparison, DDQ (0.01) consistently outperformed DQN. DQN obtained the maximum −170 reward in about 130,000 episodes, while DDQ (0.01) could achieve this value in 58,000 episodes and achieved a maximum −160 reward. The application of an MEC (model error compensator) in the actual experiment successfully reduced the error movement of the robots so that the robots could produce the formation change appropriately. Full article

Internet of Things (IoT) technology has uncovered a wide range of possibilities in several industrial sectors where smart devices are capable of exchanging real-time data. Machine-to-machine (M2M) data exchange provides a new method for connecting and exchanging data among machine-oriented communication entities (MOCE). Conspicuously, network services will be severely affected if the underneath IoT infrastructure is disrupted. Moreover, it is difficult for MOCEs to re-establish connectivity automatically. Conspicuously, in the current paper, an analysis is performed regarding potential technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles, blockchain, and mobile edge computing (MEC) that can enable the secure establishment of M2M communications networks that have been compromised to maintain the secure transmissible data. Furthermore, a Markov decision process-based joint optimization approach is proposed for blockchain systems that aims to elevate computational power and performance. Additionally, the dueling deep Q-network (DDQ) is incorporated to address the dynamic and complex optimization issue so that UAV selection is ensured to maximize performance. The results of experimental simulation with several statistical attributes suggest that the proposed framework can increase throughput optimally in comparison to state-of-the-art techniques. Additionally, a performance measure of reliability and stability depicts significant enhancement for the proposed framework. Full article