Investigation on the Promoter-Induced Rapid Non-Aqueous Media Synthesis of SAPO-35 and Methanol-to-Olefin Reaction.

Microporous SAPO-35 molecular sieves (Levyne type) were synthesized in non-aqueous media by using different inorganic promoters (HClO4 -, HF, H3PO4, and NaNO3) to enhance the rate of crystallization, and the as-synthesized materials were characterized by using different methods such as powder X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), magic angle spinning-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MAS-NMR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From PXRD patterns, it was found that all the materials have a highly crystalline nature without any other impurities. SEM images reveal rhombohedral particles in all synthesis conditions. The framework structure of the synthesized materials was identified by FT-IR spectroscopy, and it reveals that all materials gave a similar framework structure. From BET and XPS, we have confirmed that the pore size and pore diameters along with the elemental compositions have a minor change. The 27Al, 31P, and 29Si MAS-NMR spectra of all the promoter-based SAPO-35 materials are close to those of the standard SAPO-35 material. All the above characterization studies reveal the formation of SAPO-35 in a short time with promoters. The catalytic application studies of these synthesized materials for a methanol-to-olefin conversion reaction were performed, and the efficiency of these materials was found to be similar to that of standard materials.

Microbial cyclic ß-(1→3),(1→6)-glucans as potential drug carriers: Interaction studies between cyclic ß-glucans isolated from Bradyrhizobium japonicum and betulinic acid.

Betulinic acid (BA), a pentacyclic triterpenoid, is a very promising therapeutic drug with varied medicinal properties but it has low water solubility and consequentially low bioavailability. Cyclic ß-(1→3),(1→6)-glucans (CBG), microbial cyclooligosaccharides produced by Bradyrhizobium japonicum ATCC 10324 having a cavity structure and good solubility in water have been tested for their ability to encapsulate betulinic acid and drug-binding interactions of CBG and BA were studied. First, in silico approach was employed to study the scope of any interaction between the CBG and BA. Then, the cyclic glucan-betulinic acid complexes were prepared in three compositions of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 CBG:BA. The complexes were analysed using UV-VIS spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, powder XRD, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to confirm the computational results and consequently the encapsulation efficiency was found to be 9.53%.