Review on advancements of pyranopyrazole: synthetic routes and their medicinal applications.

Pyranopyrazoles are among the most distinguished, biologically potent, and exciting scaffolds in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Synthesis and design of pyranopyrazoles using functional modifications via multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are thoroughly found in synthetic protocols by forming new C-C, C-N, and C-O bonds. This review aims to focus on the biological importance of pyranopyrazoles as well as on a diverse synthetic approach for their synthesis using various catalytic systems such as acid-catalyzed, base-catalyzed, ionic liquids and green media-catalyzed, nano-particle-catalyzed, metal oxide-supported catalysts, and silica-supported catalysts. In this review, we have summarized data on the advancements in synthesizing pyranopyrazole from the last two decades to the mid-2023 and research papers describing the importance of these scaffolds. This review will be significant for synthetic organic chemists and researchers working in organic chemistry.

Improving the Device Performance of CZTSSe Thin-Film Solar Cells via Indium Doping.

Cation incorporation emerges as a promising approach for improving the performance of the kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) device. Herein, we report indium (In) doping using the chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique to enhance the optoelectronic properties of CZTSSe thin-film solar cells (TFSCs). To incorporate a small amount of the In element into the CZTSSe absorber thin films, an ultrathin (<10 nm) layer of In2S3 is deposited on soft-annealed precursor (Zn-Sn-Cu) thin films prior to the sulfo-selenization process. The successful doping of In improved crystal growth and promoted the formation of larger grains. Furthermore, the CZTSSe TFSCs fabricated with In doping exhibited improved device performance. In particular, the In-CZTSSe-2-based device showed an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.53%, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 486 mV, and fill factor (FF) of 61% compared to the undoped device. Moreover, the small amount of In incorporated into the CZTSSe absorber demonstrated reduced nonradiative recombination, improved carrier separation, and enhanced carrier transport properties. This study suggests a simple and effective way to incorporate In to achieve high efficiency and low Voc loss.

Thermodynamics of Azo Dye Adsorption on a Newly Synthesized Titania-Doped Silica Aerogel by Cogelation: A Comparative Investigation with Silica Aerogels and Activated Charcoal.

The adsorption isotherms of azo dyes on a newly synthesized titania-doped silica (TdS) aerogel compared to silica aerogels and activated charcoal (AC) are systematically investigated. Monolithic TdS aerogels were synthesized by the cogelation process followed by supercritical drying of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a gel precursor and titanium(IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) as a metal complex precursor for co-polymerization in ethanol solvent. An acid-base catalyst was used for the hydrolysis and condensation of TEOS and TTIP. The effect of Ti4+ doping in a silica aerogel on the mesoporous structure and the adsorption capacity of methylene blue (MB) and crystal violet (CV) dyes were evaluated from the UV-vis absorption spectra. In order to compare the adsorption isotherms, the surface areas of silica and TdS aerogels were first normalized with respect to AC, as adsorption is a surface phenomenon. The azo dye equilibrium adsorption data were analyzed using different isotherm equations and found to follow the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities for the adsorbent TdS aerogel normalized with the AC of the Langmuir isotherm are 131.58 and 159.89 mg/g for MB and CV dyes, respectively. From the Langmuir curve fitting, the Q max value of the TdS aerogel was found to increase by 1.22-fold compared to AC, while it increased 1.25-1.53-fold compared to the silica aerogel. After four cycles, regeneration efficiency values for MB and CV dyes are about 84 and 80%, respectively. The study demonstrates the excellent potential and recovery rate of silica and TdS aerogel adsorbents in removing dyes from wastewater. The pore volume and average pore size of the new aerogel, TdS, were found to be lower than those of the silica aerogel. Thus, a new TdS aerogel with a high capacity of adsorption of azo dyes is successfully achieved.

Unraveling the importance of fabrication parameters of copper oxide-based resistive switching memory devices by machine learning techniques.

In the present study, various statistical and machine learning (ML) techniques were used to understand how device fabrication parameters affect the performance of copper oxide-based resistive switching (RS) devices. In the present case, the data was collected from copper oxide RS devices-based research articles, published between 2008 to 2022. Initially, different patterns present in the data were analyzed by statistical techniques. Then, the classification and regression tree algorithm (CART) and decision tree (DT) ML algorithms were implemented to get the device fabrication guidelines for the continuous and categorical features of copper oxide-based RS devices, respectively. In the next step, the random forest algorithm was found to be suitable for the prediction of continuous-type features as compared to a linear model and artificial neural network (ANN). Moreover, the DT algorithm predicts the performance of categorical-type features very well. The feature importance score was calculated for each continuous and categorical feature by the gradient boosting (GB) algorithm. Finally, the suggested ML guidelines were employed to fabricate the copper oxide-based RS device and demonstrated its non-volatile memory properties. The results of ML algorithms and experimental devices are in good agreement with each other, suggesting the importance of ML techniques for understanding and optimizing memory devices.

Design of CO2 Thickeners and Role of Aromatic Rings in Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Molecular Dynamics.

Oligomers of PDMS (M1), polyFast (M2), modified PVEE (M3 and M4), and two new molecules with cyclic cores (M5 and M6) were studied to understand their ability to thicken the sc-CO2 at 377 K and 55 MPa, without any cosolvent. It was observed that PDMS and polyFast behaved in the known ways. PDMS does not improve the viscosity of the system without a cosolvent and PolyFast enhances the viscosity by a large margin. M3 and M4 also have not improved the viscosity significantly even with the introduction of a styrene component, but which has improved their solubilities in the fluid. M5 and M6, however, are observed to have enhanced the viscosity similar to that of polyFast due to their structural advantage and π-π interactions between the molecules. These molecules were also tested for their synthesizability, and their synthesis is found to be moderately easy.

Status review of nickel phosphides for hybrid supercapacitors.

Transition metal phosphides are a new class of materials that have attracted enormous attention as a potential electrode for supercapacitors (SCs) compared to metal oxides/hydroxides and metal sulfides due to their strong redox-active behaviour, good electrical conductivity, layered structure, low cost, and high chemical and thermal stability. Recently, several efforts have been made to develop nickel phosphides (NixPy) (NPs) for high-performance SCs. The electrochemical properties of NPs can be easily tuned by several innovative approaches, such as heteroatom doping, defect engineering, and developing a hollow architecture. The prospects of NPs as a positive electrode in hybrid SCs are summarized to understand the material's practical relevance. Finally, the challenges and perspectives are provided for the development of high-performance NPs for SCs. The thorough elucidation of the structure-property-performance relationship offers a guide for developing NP-based next-generation energy-storage devices.

Adaptive windowing based recurrent neural network for drift adaption in non-stationary environment.

In today's digital era, many applications generate massive data streams that must be sequenced and processed immediately. Therefore, storing large amounts of data for analysis is impractical. Now, this infinite amount of evolving data confronts concept drifts in data stream classification. Concept drift is a phenomenon in which the distribution of input data or the relationship between input data and target label changes over time. If the drifts are not addressed, the learning model's performance suffers. Non-stationary data streams must be processed as they arrive, and neural networks' built-in capabilities aid in the processing of huge non-stationary data streams. We proposed an adaptive windowing approach based on a gated recurrent unit, a variant of the recurrent neural network incrementally trained on incoming data (for the real-world airline and synthetic Streaming Ensemble Algorithm (SEA) datasets), and employed elastic weight consolidation with the Fisher information matrix to prevent forgetting. Unlike the traditional fixed window methodology, the proposed model dynamically increases the window size if the prediction is correct and reduces it if drifts occur. As a result, an adaptive recurrent neural network model can adapt to changes in the non-stationary data stream and provide consistent performance. Moreover, the findings revealed that on the airline and the SEA dataset, the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art methods by achieving 67.74% and 91.70% accuracy, respectively. Further, the results demonstrated that the proposed model has a better accuracy of 3.6% and 1.6% for the SEA and the airline dataset, respectively.

Terbium-Doped and Dual-Passivated γ-CsPb(I1- x Brx )3 Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells with Improved Air Thermal Stability and High Efficiency.

Realizing photoactive and thermodynamically stable all-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) remains a challenging task within halide perovskite photovoltaic (PV) research. Here, a dual strategy for realizing efficient inorganic mixed halide perovskite PV devices based on a terbium-doped solar absorber, that is, CsPb1- x Tbx I2 Br, is reported, which undertakes a bulk and surface passivation treatment in the form of CsPb1- x Tbx I2 Br quantum dots, to maintain a photoactive γ-phase under ambient conditions and with significantly improved operational stability. Devices fabricated from these air-processed perovskite thin films exhibit an air-stable power conversion efficiency (PCE) that reaches 17.51% (small-area devices) with negligible hysteresis and maintains >90% of the initial efficiency when operating for 600 h under harsh environmental conditions, stemming from the combined effects of the dual-protection strategy. This approach is further examined within large-area PSC modules (19.8 cm2 active area) to realize 10.94% PCE and >30 days ambient stability, as well as within low-bandgap γ-CsPb0.95 Tb0.05 I2.5 Br0.5 (Eg  = 1.73 eV) materials, yielding 19.01% (18.43% certified) PCE.

Antinociceptive Investigations of Niranthin in Complete Freund's Adjuvant-induced Chronic Pain in Mice.

The main objectives of the present work are to determine the clinical effect of niranthin on visceral or somatic inflammatory pain. The study was performed to determine the effects of niranthin on visceral or somatic inflammatory hypersensitivity of adult Swiss albino mice by using complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced pain model. The effect of CFA injection was determined after 24 hours of injection by using an aesthesiometer such as Von Frey filaments to evaluate tactile acetone-evoked cooling and thermal sensitivity. We used a digital Plethysmometer to measure paw edema. Single dose of niranthin intraperitoneal injection (5 & 10 mg/kg) was injected into mice having CFA-induced mechanical hypersensitivity and after 30 minutes of administration, reduced mechanical hypersensitivity was observed. In addition, niranthin also reduced acetone-evoked hypersensitivity within 4 hours. Compared to DMSO, niranthin was most highly active to reduce CFA-induced paw edema. To reduce mechanical hypersensitivity, multiple doses of niranthin (bis in die (b.i.d.)) from 1st - 5th day and b.i.d. day 9th and 10th) were given and remarkable results were observed such as did not cause tolerance in multiple dosing and significantly reduced in CFA induced hypersensitivity. This work reported niranthin having antinociceptive activity and indicated that niranthin is conventionally active in the management of persistent pain.

Fixed dose combination of capecitabine and cyclophosphamide in metastatic breast cancer: Results from THE ENCLOSE phase 2/3 randomized multicenter study.

AIM: To evaluate pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety of fixed-dose combination (FDC) of oral capecitabine + cyclophosphamide in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients progressing after anthracycline and/or taxane chemotherapy. METHODS: In this prospective, adaptive, phase-2/3, open-label study (CTRI/2014/12/005234), patients were randomized (1:1:1) to three FDC doses (doses/day: D1, capecitabine + cyclophosphamide 1400 mg + 60 mg; D2, 1800 mg + 80 mg; D3, 2200 mg + 100 mg) for 14 days, in 21-day cycles. In Part-I, multiple-dose pharmacokinetics and optimal dose(s) were evaluated with futility analysis. Group(s) with <3 responders based on best overall response rate (BOR, complete response [CR]+partial response [PR]), were discontinued. Efficacy (BOR, disease control rates [DCR; CR + PR + stable disease]) and safety of optimal dose(s) were evaluated in Part-II. RESULTS: Of 66 patients (n = 22/group) in Part-I, pharmacokinetics (D1 = 7/22, D2 = 9/22, D3 = 8/22) showed dose-proportionality for cyclophosphamide and greater than dose-proportionality for capecitabine. Modified intent-to-treat (mITT) analysis showed BOR of 7.14% (1/14) in D1 (discontinued), and 22.22% (4/18) each in D2 and D3, respectively. In Part-II, 50 additional patients were randomized in D2 and D3 (n = 144; total 72 [22 + 50] patients/group). mITT analysis in D2 (n = 54) and D3 (n = 58) showed BOR of 29.63% (16/54, 95%CI: 17.45-41.81%) and 22.41% (13/58, 95%CI: 11.68-33.15%), respectively. DCR in D2 and D3 were 87.04% (47/54, 95%CI: 78.08-96.00%) and 82.76% (48/58; 95%CI: 73.04-92.48%) after 3 and 57.41% (31/54; 95%CI: 52.41-79.50%) and 50.00% (29/58; 95%CI: 40.40-67.00%), after 6-cycles, respectively. Hand-foot syndrome (16.67%), vomiting (9.72%) in D2, and hand-foot syndrome (18.06%), asthenia (15.28%) in D3 were most-common adverse events. CONCLUSION: FDC of capecitabine + cyclophosphamide (1800 + 80 mg/day) showed high disease control rates and good safety profile in MBC patients.

Bio-mimetic synthesis of catalytically active nano-silver using Bos taurus (A-2) urine.

Herein we have synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) using liquid metabolic waste of Bos taurus (A-2 type) urine. Various bio-molecules present in cow urine, are effectively used to reduce silver (Ag) ions into silver nanoparticles in one step. This is bio-inspired electron transfer to Ag ion for the formation of base Ag metal and is fairly prompt and facile. These nanoparticles act as a positive catalyst for various organic transformation reactions. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the as-synthesized Ag NPs are widely characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transmission infra-red spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The as-synthesized bio-mimetic Ag NPs show potential activity for several reduction reactions of nitro groups. The Ag NPs were also used for degradation of hazardous dyes such as Methylene blue and Crystal violet with good degradation rate constant.

A multidimensional functional fitness score has a stronger association with type 2 diabetes than obesity parameters in cross sectional data.

OBJECTIVES: We examine here the association of multidimensional functional fitness with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as compared to anthropometric indices of obesity such as body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) in a sample of Indian population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD: We analysed retrospective data of 663 volunteer participants (285 males and 378 females between age 28 and 84), from an exercise clinic in which every participant was required to undergo a health related physical fitness (HRPF) assessment consisting of 15 different tasks examining 8 different aspects of functional fitness. RESULTS: The odds of being diabetic in the highest quartile of BMI were not significantly higher than that in the lowest quartile in either of the sexes. The odds of being a diabetic in the highest WHR quartile were significantly greater than the lowest quartile in females (OR = 4.54 (1.95, 10.61) as well as in males (OR = 3.81 (1.75, 8.3). In both sexes the odds of being a diabetic were significantly greater in the lowest quartile of HRPF score than the highest (males OR = 10.52 (4.21, 26.13); females OR = 10.50 (3.53, 31.35)). After removing confounding, the predictive power of HRPF was significantly greater than that of WHR. HRPF was negatively correlated with WHR, however for individuals that had contradicting HRPF and WHR based predictions, HRPF was the stronger predictor of T2DM. CONCLUSION: The association of multidimensional functional fitness score with type 2 diabetes was significantly stronger than obesity parameters in a cross sectional self-selected sample from an Indian city.

Study of solvent variation on controlled synthesis of different nanostructured NiCo2O4 thin films for supercapacitive application.

The present investigation deals with controlled synthesis of nanostructured NiCo2O4 thin films directly on stainless steel substrates by facile and economical chemical bath deposition technique, without adding a surfactant or a binder. The consequences of different compositions of solvents on morphological and electrochemical properties have been studied systematically. We used different solvent composition as Double Distilled Water (DDW), DDW:Ethanol (1:1) and DDW: N, N dimethylformamide (1:1). The films have been named as NCO-W for DDW, NCO-WE for DDW: Ethanol (1:1) solvent and NCO-WD for DDW: N, N dimethylformamide (1:1) solvent. The morphologies of NiCo2O4 thin films modify substantially with change in a solvent. NCO-W exhibited the spikes of Crossandra infundibuliformis like nanostructures. The NCO-WE favored the formation of uniformly distributed leaf-like nanostructure whereas NCO-WD showed randomly oriented nanoplates all over the surface area. The Electrochemical performance of these NiCo2O4 thin films were studied using cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The NCO-W, NCO-WE and NCO-WD electrodes showed specific capacitance values of 271, 553 and 140 F/g respectively at the current density of 0.5 mA/cm2 and excellent capacitance retention of 90%, 91% and 80% after 2000 cycles for NCO-W, NCO-WE and NCO-WD samples respectively. This result reveals that NiCo2O4 is a prominent electrode material for supercapacitor application.

An Insight Into the Anxiolytic Effects of Lignans (Phyllanthin and Hypophyllanthin) and Tannin (Corilagin) Rich Extracts of Phyllanthus amarus : An In-Silico and In-vivo approaches.

The extracts and the compounds isolated from Phyllanthus amarus Schumm and Thonn (Family: Euphorbiaceae) have shown a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities including antiviral, antibacterial, antiplasmodial, antimalarial, antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective and diurectic properties. BACKGROUND: This investigation was aimed at exploring the anxiolytic potential of Phyllanthus amarus standardized extracts and predict probable role of marker phyto constitutents. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: Three standardized extracts of Phyllanthus amarus plant viz. standardized aqueous extract of Phyllanthus amarus whole plant (PAAE), standardized methanolic extract of P. amarus leaf (PAME) and the standardized hydro-methanolic extract of P. amarus leaf (PAHME) were tested in the classical animal models of anxiety: Elevated plus-maze model and Light & Dark Exploration test. RESULTS: The lower doses of the tannin rich extract (PAHME) of the P. amarus possess significant anxiolytic activity compared to lignin rich (PAME) and aqueous extracts (PAAE), while at a higher dose (400mg/kg) the results of all three extracts appears to be potentially sedative. While the molecular docking studies support these probable anxiolytic, the sedative effects of the Phyllanthus amarus extracts could be due to the interaction of tannins and lignans with the GABAbenzodiazepine receptor complex. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that the tannin-rich extract of the P. amarus may have potential clinical applications in the management of anxiety. It can be further studied for optimum dosage to be used as a future of anti-anxiety drug development or as a standardized Phytomedicine.

From 5Vs to 6Cs: Operationalizing Epidemic Data Management with COVID-19 Surveillance.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront an unprecedented need for experts, as well as citizens, to visualize spatio-temporal disease surveillance data. Web application dashboards were quickly developed to fill this gap, including those built by JHU, WHO, and CDC, but all of these dashboards supported a particular niche view of the pandemic (ie, current status or specific regions). In this paper, we describe our work developing our own COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard, available at https://nssac.bii.virginia.edu/covid-19/dashboard/, which offers a universal view of the pandemic while also allowing users to focus on the details that interest them. From the beginning, our goal was to provide a simple visual way to compare, organize, and track near-real-time surveillance data as the pandemic progresses. Our dashboard includes a number of advanced features for zooming, filtering, categorizing and visualizing multiple time series on a single canvas. In developing this dashboard, we have also identified 6 key metrics we call the 6Cs standard which we propose as a standard for the design and evaluation of real-time epidemic science dashboards. Our dashboard was one of the first released to the public, and remains one of the most visited and highly used. Our group uses it to support federal, state and local public health authorities, and it is used by people worldwide to track the pandemic evolution, build their own dashboards, and support their organizations as they plan their responses to the pandemic. We illustrate the utility of our dashboard by describing how it can be used to support data story-telling - an important emerging area in data science.

Sustainable approach to almond skin mediated synthesis of tunable selenium microstructures for coating cotton fabric to impart specific antibacterial activity.

Currently, the synthesis of nanostructured inorganic materials with tunable morphology is still a great challenge. In this study, almond skin extract was employed for the biogenic synthesis of selenium nanoparticles with tunable morphologies such as rods and brooms. The effects of various synthesis parameters on morphologies were investigated using UV-Visible spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which indicated that selenium brooms (SeBrs) were best synthesized using almond skin extract and optimized conditions of SeO2, ascorbic acid, pH, incubation temperature and time. Based on these results, the mechanism of SeBrs synthesis is proposed as having involved four stages such as nucleation, self-assembly, Ostwald ripening, and decomposition. Further, the test of antibacterial activity together with minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum bactericidal concentrations indicated the selective, specific and good activity against B. subtilis. In addition, in situ coating of SeBrs on cotton fabric and its investigation by SEM demonstrated successful coating. Evident from plate-based assay and study of growth kinetics, coated fabric exhibited excellent anti-B. subtilis activity which demonstrated that biogenic SeBrs can be employed to coat cotton fabrics that can be used in operation theatres to reduce the episodes of Bacillus related Bacteraemia.

In2O3 nanocapsules for rapid photodegradation of crystal violet dye under sunlight.

We report, a shape controlled novel synthesis of Indium oxide (In2O3) nanocapsule using biogenic reflux method. The In2O3 samples were obtained through optimization of the concentration of sodium citrate, which played a significant role to tune the size of nanocapsules. All synthesized In2O3 samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The morphological study reflects the effect of sodium citrate on the size of nanocapsules and confirms the formation of nanocapsules in the range of 50 nm. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of In2O3 nanocapsules based photocatalyst was carried out for the degradation of Crystal Violet (CV) dye under natural sunlight illumination. The experiment revealed that the In2O3 nanocapsule efficiently degrades 90% of CV within 180 min. This effort recommends the synthesis of In2O3 nanocapsule based photocatalyst for rapid degradation of CV under natural sunlight illumination.

Quantum Dot Based Solar Cells: Role of Nanoarchitectures, Perovskite Quantum Dots, and Charge-Transporting Layers.

Quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs) are attractive technology for commercialization, owing to various advantages, such as cost effectiveness, and require relatively simple device fabrication processes. The properties of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), such as band gap energy, optical absorption, and carrier transport, can be effectively tuned by modulating their size and shape. Two types of architectures of QDSCs have been developed: 1) photoelectric cells (PECs) fabricated from QDs sensitized on nanostructured TiO2 , and 2) photovoltaic cells fabricated from a Schottky junction and heterojunction. Different types of semiconductor QDs, such as a secondary, ternary, quaternary, and perovskite semiconductors, are used for the advancement of QDSCs. The major challenge in QDSCs is the presence of defects in QDs, which lead to recombination reactions and thereby limit the overall performance of the device. To tackle this problem, several strategies, such as the implementation of a passivation layer over the QD layer and the preparation of core-shell structures, have been developed. This review covers aspects of QDSCs that are essential to understand for further improvement in this field and their commercialization.

Ru-Loaded mesoporous WO3 microflowers for dual applications: enhanced H2S sensing and sunlight-driven photocatalysis.

We report a facile synthesis of Ru-loaded WO3 marigold structures through a hydrothermal route and their bidirectional applications as enhanced H2S gas sensors and efficient sunlight-driven photocatalysts. The developed hierarchical marigold structures provide effective gas diffusion channels via a well-aligned mesoporous framework, resulting in remarkable enhancement in the sensing response to H2S. The temperature and gas concentration dependence on the sensing properties reveals that Ru loading not only improves the sensing response, but also lowers the operating temperature of the sensor from 275 to 200 °C. The 0.5 wt% Ru-loaded WO3 shows selective response towards H2S, which is 45 times higher (142) than that of pristine WO3 (3.16) sensor, whereas the 0.25 wt% Ru-loaded WO3 exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity, as shown by the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under natural sunlight. The gas sensing and photocatalytic properties are explained through the role of Ru and the structural and morphological properties of the developed material.

Wettability Alteration of Calcite by Nonionic Surfactants.

The process of selecting an effective surfactant for wettability alteration is dependent on a number of factors, including mineral type, temperature, salinity, and nature of adsorbed oil and ultimately how the molecular structure of the surfactant interacts with all of these. Here, we present an experimental study of the effectiveness of nonionic surfactants with different hydrophobic groups and different lengths of hydrophilic ethylene oxide oligomers. The surfactants selected alter the wettability of the rock primarily by acting on the water-rock and oil-rock interfaces. The dynamics of wettability alteration is measured by the evolution of contact angles of oil drops on initially oil-wet surfaces at three different temperatures. Wettability alteration is found to be enhanced by surfactants with shorter hydrophilic units and increased temperatures. Experimental observations are efficiently summarized by a few thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. Qualitative experiments are performed to study surfactant-induced dewetting of oil films. Finally, a model involving "coating" and "sweeping" mechanisms is proposed to explain the mechanism of surfactant action.