Commercial wheat gluten (WG) films, hard wheat gluten films and soft wheat gluten films, plasticized with glycerol have been cast from water–ethanol solutions. The effect of aging on various film properties has been investigated. The films were aged for about 6 months at 50% relative humidity and ~25 °C, and the mechanical (tensile strength and the percentage of elongation at break (E
 b)), thermal (TG and DSC) and Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR)-FTIR spectral properties have been studied. Changes in the protein structure were determined by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Films from soft WG exhibited the highest E
 b (508%) and the highest TS (6.33 MPa). The TG analysis results show that the moisture content in all three kinds of WG protein films is about 5%. The absence of the glycerol phase transition in DSC curves implies that there is no separate phase containing glycerol in the WG protein-glycerol films with 40% glycerol.

Edible wheat gluten (WG) protein films

Metal carboxylato-hydrazinates are very good precursors for the synthesis of metal as well as mixed metal oxides as these decompose to nanosized oxides with high surface area most of the times at comparatively lower temperatures. In the present study one such novel precursor nickel manganese fumarato-hydrazinate (NiMn2(C4H2O4)3·6N2H4) has been prepared and characterized by XRD, FTIR and chemical analysis. The thermal decomposition of the precursor has also been studied by isothermal, differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis. The precursor shows two-step dehydrazination followed by decarboxylation to form NiMn2O4. The infrared spectra show N-N stretching frequency at 965 cm−1, which confirm the bidentate bridging hydrazine. XRD confirms the formation of single phase NiMn2O4.

Preparation, thermal, XRD, chemical and FTIR spectral analysis of NiMn2O4 nanoparticles and respective precursor

(E)-3-(1-Benzofuran-2-yl)propenoic acid (1) was prepared from 1-benzofuran-2-carbaldehyde under the Doebner’s conditions. The obtained acid was converted to the corresponding azide 2, which was cyclized by heating in diphenyl ether to [1]benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridine-1(2H)-one (3). This compound was aromatized with phosphorus oxychloride to chloroderivative 4 which was reduced with zinc and acetic acid to the title compound 5. [1]Benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridine-2-oxide (6) was synthesized by reaction of 5 with 3-chloroperoxybenzoic acid in dichloromethane. Treatment of 6 with benzoyl chloride and potassium cyanide (Reissert-Henze reaction) was shown to produce the corresponding [1]benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridine-1-carbonitrile (7). The title compound was used for preparation of complexes Cu2(ac)4(bfp)2 (8) and CoCl2(bfp)2 (9), where ac=CH3CO
 2
 −
 and bfp=[1]benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridine. Both oxygen atom of carboxylate ions is used in the coordination to Cu(II). Thermal properties of the complexes 8 and 9 have been studied by TG and DTA and both complexes exhibited high thermal stability while complex 9 are thermally more stable than complex 8.

[1]Benzofuro[3,2- c ]pyridine synthesis and coordination reactions

The influence of a new organic additive, chelating agent 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) (∼5.0·10−3 M L−1) on potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP) single crystals at 30° is investigated. The crystals were grown from the aqueous solutions of pH ∼4.5 at constant temperature by solvent evaporation technique. The chelating agent leads to an increase in metastable zone width and assists the bulk growth process. The growth rate of crystals in the presence of Phen decreases considerably with an increase in impurity concentration. Not much variation is observed in FTIR and cell parameter values, determined by XRD analysis. It appears that the growth promoting effect (GPE) of Phen is caused by the adsorption of the organic additive on the prism of KHP crystals. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and TG-DTA studies reveal the purity of the sample and no decomposition is observed up to the melting point. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs exhibit the effectiveness of the impurity in changing the surface morphology of KHP crystals. Contrary to expectations, Phen depresses the NLO efficiency of KHP, suggesting that the molecular alignments in the presence of Phen results in cancellation effects disturbing the non-linearity.

Effect of chelating agent (1,10-phenanthroline) on potassium hydrogen phthalate crystals

Cobalt zinc ferrite, Co0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4, nanoparticles have been synthesized via autocatalytic decomposition of the precursor, cobalt zinc ferrous fumarato hydrazinate. The X-ray powder diffraction of the ‘as prepared’ oxide confirms the formation of single phase nanocrystalline cobalt zinc ferrite nanoparticles. The thermal decomposition of the precursor has been studied by isothermal, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis. The precursor has also been characterized by FTIR, and chemical analysis and its chemical composition has been determined as Co0.8Zn0.2Fe2(C4H2O4)3·6N2H4. The Curie temperature of the ‘as-prepared oxide’ was determined by AC susceptibility measurements.

Synthesis and characterization of Co0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 nanoparticles

Nickel manganese succinato-hydrazinate (NiMn2(C4H4O4)3·6N2H4), has been synthesized for the first time by a novel precursor technique and characterized by IR, AAS and XRD. Thermal decomposition of the compound was studied from room temperature (rT) to 800°C by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis besides isothermal mass loss studies. The compound was found to decompose autocatalytically, once ignited. TG-DSC shows two steps decomposition i.e. dehydrazination followed by decarboxylation. The infrared spectral studies show the N–N stretching frequency at 972 cm–1 suggesting a bidentate bridging structure of hydrazine molecule in (NiMn2(C4H4O4)3·6N2H4).

Sitara Z. Khan

Papers

Synthesis,TG, DSC and infrared spectral study of NiMn2(C4H4O4)3·6N2H4

Synthesis, tg, dsc and infrared spectral study of