Birla Institute of Technology and Science

About: Birla Institute of Technology and Science is a education organization based out in Pilāni, Rajasthan, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Population. The organization has 8897 authors who have published 13947 publications receiving 170008 citations.

A Comprehensive Decomposition Analysis of Stabilization Energy (CDASE) and its application in locating the rate-determining step of multi-step reactions

Abstract: Stabilization energy, as proposed by Parr and Pearson (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1983, 105, 7512) is decomposed into fragments. When the donor is not a perfect one and both the donor and the acceptor are ordinary organic molecules this decomposition is shown to provide energy fragments which, individually, can be correlated to the reaction rate of that particular step. It is shown how these different energy fragments can be used, together with the global electrophilicity value of the acceptor (wA), to locate the rate-determining step in multi-step reactions.

Isonicotinic acid hydrazide derivatives: synthesis, antimicrobial activity, and QSAR studies

Abstract: A series of isonicotinic acid hydrazide derivatives (1–19) was synthesized and tested in vitro for antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger and the results indicated that the compounds with OH, SCH3, and OCH3 groups were found to be active against the tested strains. None of the test compounds were active against a broad variety of RNA and DNA viruses at subtoxic concentrations, except 8, that showed some selective anti-reovirus-1 activity. The multi-target QSAR models were found to be effective in predicting the antimicrobial activity of the isoniazid derivatives and indicated the importance of nuclear repulsion energy (Nu.E) in explaining the antimicrobial activity of isoniazid derivatives. The developed QSAR models were validated using the external test set of synthesized derivatives.

Recycling of waste tire by pyrolysis to recover carbon black: Alternative & environment-friendly reinforcing filler for natural rubber compounds

Abstract: The disposal of automotive waste tires is an increasing environmental problem worldwide. The recycling of waste tire is challenging because tires are produced by chemical cross-linking of polymer-filler materials. Among the diverse disposal methods available for waste tires disposal, pyrolysis is considered as a promising recycling approach. The pyrolysis method presents the possibility of transforming hundreds of tons waste tires into gaseous, liquid, and carbon-rich solid (RCB) fractions, mainly contains carbon fractions from conventional carbon black (CB) and inorganic ingredients used during tire building. Owing to numerous environmental concerns with the production and utilization of conventional CBs, a broad consensus among the industrialist is to replace CBs with equally effective material. RCB has the potential to replace the conventional CB in polymer matrix solving dual pollution problems. In this work, the RCB obtained from batch pyrolysis was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The surface area of RCB estimated by the BET method, the DBP oil absorption test, was carried out to understand the structure of RCB. Although RCB exhibited low structure, the surface functional group found to contain acidic based complex material. Lastly, RCB was used in Natural rubber-based rubber compounds of general-purpose conveyor belts to investigate its practical feasibility as a substitute for commercial-grade N330 CB. Mechanical properties of the RCB reinforced composites found to be lower than the conventional CB loaded composites. However, limitations can be overcome by using a combination of RCB with conventional CB to obtain the optimal balance of reinforcement and targeted properties.

Diversity, cold active enzymes and adaptation strategies of bacteria inhabiting glacier cryoconite holes of High Arctic

Abstract: Cryoconite holes have biogeochemical, ecological and biotechnological importance. This communication presents results on culturable psychrophilic bacterial diversity from cryoconite holes at Midre Lovenbreen (ML), Austre Broggerbreen (AB), and Vestre Broggerbreen (VB) glaciers. The culturable bacterial count ranged from 2.7 × 10(3) to 8.8 × 10(4) CFUs/g while the total bacterial numbers ranged from 5.07 × 10(5) to 1.50 × 10(6) cells at the three glaciers. A total of 35 morphologically distinct bacterial isolates were isolated. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data, the identified species belonged to eight genera namely Pseudomonas, Polaromonas, Micrococcus, Subtercola, Agreia, Leifsonia, Cryobacterium and Flavobacterium. The isolates varied in their growth temperature, NaCl tolerance, growth pH, enzyme activities, carbon utilization and antibiotic sensitivity tests. Fatty acid profiles indicate the predominance of branched fatty acids in the isolates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of culturable bacterial communities and their characterization from glacier cryoconites from High Arctic. High amylase and protease activities expressed by Micrococcus sp. MLB-41 and amylase, protease and lipase activities expressed by Cryobacterium sp. MLB-32 provide a clue to the potential applications of these organisms. These cold-adapted enzymes may provide an opportunity for the prospect of biotechnology in Arctic.