Reaction of thymidine and ascorbic acid induced by UV in the presence of salicylic acid.

When a neutral solution of thymidine and ascorbic acid was irradiated with UV light of wavelength longer than 300 nm in the presence of salicylic acid as a photosensitizer, six product peaks appeared in an HPLC chromatogram in addition to small amounts of thymidine dimers. The six products were identified as three pairs of diastereomers of 5-(2-deoxy-2-l-ascorbyl)-5,6-dihydrothymidine, 5-(2-l-ascorbyl)-5,6-dihydrothymidine, and 5,6-dihydrothymidine. These results suggest that novel DNA damage may be generated by ascorbic acid with salicylic acid induced by sunlight.

Photocatalytic properties of hierarchical BiOXs obtained via an ethanol-assisted solvothermal process.

In this study, bismuth oxyhalide (BiOXs (XCl, Br, I)) semiconductors were prepared by a simple solvothermal method, with ethanol serving as solvent and a series of tetrabutylammonium halide surfactants as halogen sources. Under identical synthetic conditions, BiOBr was more readily constructed into regular flower-like hierarchical architectures. The photocatalytic properties of the materials were studied by monitoring the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), with visible light absorption, and colorless salicylic acid (SA). It was found that both RhB and SA were rapidly degraded on the surface of BiOBr. BiOCl was rather active for the degradation of RhB, but ineffective toward the degradation of SA. However, neither RhB nor SA could be degraded effectively in the case of BiOI. Further experiments such as UV-visible spectroscopy and detection of OH and O2(-) radicals suggest that the electronic structure of the BiOX photocatalysts is responsible for the difference in their activities.

Kinetic study on the photocatalytic degradation of salicylic acid using ZnO catalyst.

The photocatalytic degradation of salicylic acid was studied by a batch process using ZnO as the catalyst on irradiation with UV light. The effect of process parameters such as pH, catalyst loading and initial concentration of salicylic acid on the extent of degradation was investigated. The degradation of salicylic acid was found to be effective in the neutral pH range. The optimum catalyst loading was observed at 2.0 g/L. The process followed first order kinetics and the apparent rate constant decreased with increase in the initial concentration of salicylic acid. The mechanism for the degradation of salicylic acid could be explained on the basis of Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. The complete mineralization of salicylic acid was observed in the presence of ZnO photocatalyst. The ZnO was found to be quite stable and undergoes photocorrosion only to a negligible extent.

Establishment of activity indicator of TiO2 photocatalytic reaction--hydroxyl radical trapping method.

In this study, a new, low cost and easy method, hydroxyl radical trapping method, was employed to investigate the photo-activity of UV/TiO2 photocatalytic reaction. The Taguchi method was utilized to optimize the preparation of titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin-film reactor through the modified chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The optimal yield of hydroxyl radicals was then evaluated by calculating the conversion ratio of salicylic acid under the optimal conditions. In the experiments, salicylic acid was used as the free-radical scavenger and the formation of three different intermediates were examined to shed light on the trend and kinetics of reaction of hydroxyl radical with organic substance under different operation conditions. The results indicated that the yield of hydroxyl radicals increased with increasing irradiation intensity and dissolved oxygen level. The optimal experimental conditions obtained in this study were irradiation with intensity of 2.9 mW cm(-2) on salicylic acid at concentration of 250 mg L(-1) by both agitation and aeration processes (dissolved oxygen level=8.2 mg O(2)L(-1)) at pH 5. Such conditions could achieve the optimal hydroxyl radical yield of 5.1 x 10(-17)M.

Microwave-assisted regeneration of activated carbons loaded with pharmaceuticals.

The purpose of this work was to explore the application of microwaves for the regeneration of activated carbons spent with salicylic acid, a metabolite of a common analgesic frequently found in wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry. The exhausted carbon was treated in a quartz reactor by microwave irradiation at 2450 MHz at different temperatures and atmospheres, the regeneration efficiency being highly dependent on the operating conditions. Quantitative desorption of the pollutant was achieved at high temperature and oxidizing atmosphere, with regeneration efficiencies as high as 99% after six cycles. The stripping efficiency was superior to 95% at high temperatures and decreased at 450 degrees C. The incomplete desorption of the adsorbate at low temperature was further confirmed by the changes in the porosity observed by N2 and CO2 adsorption isotherms. Hence, micropores remain blocked which results in a reduction in loading capacities in successive cycles.

Photophysics of intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded aromatic systems: ab initio exploration of the excited-state deactivation mechanisms of salicylic acid.

Excited state reaction paths and the corresponding energy profiles of salicylic acid have been determined with the CC2 method, which is a simplified version of singles-and-doubles coupled cluster theory. At crucial points of the potential energy hypersurfaces, single-point energy calculations have been performed with the CASPT2 method (second-order perturbation theory based on the complete active space self-consistent field reference). Hydrogen transfer along the intramolecular hydrogen bond as well as torsion and pyramidization of the carboxy group have been identified as the most relevant photochemical reaction coordinates. The keto-type planar S(1) state reached by barrierless intramolecular hydrogen transfer represents a local minimum of the S(1) energy surface, which is separated by a very low barrier from a reaction path leading to a low-lying S(1)-S(0) conical intersection via torsion and pyramidization of the carboxy group. The S(1)-S(0) conical intersection, which occurs for perpendicular geometry of the carboxy group, is a pure biradical. From the conical intersection, a barrierless reaction path steers the system back to the two known minima of the S(0) potential energy surface (rotamer I, rotamer II). A novel structure, 7-oxa-bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1(6),2,4-triene-8,8-diol, has been identified as a possible transient intermediate in the photophysics of salicylic acid.

Structure and stability of salicylic acid-water complexes and the effect of molecular hydration on the spectral properties of salicylic acid.

Density functional theory with B3LYP parametrization and 6-311++G(d,p) basis set has been used to investigate the structure and stability of salicylic acid-water complexes. The vertical excitation energies for these complexes have been computed using time-dependent density functional theory (with B3LYP parametrization and a 6-311++G(d,p) basis set). It is shown that the hydrogen bond between the carboxylic hydrogen and the oxygen of water is the strongest among all possible hydrogen bonds in the system. The hydrogen bond strength in salicylic acid-water complexes seems to be nearly additive. The change in absorption maximum (lambda(max)) corresponding to the vertical excitation energy for the first three excited singlet and triplet states of the complex with 1-3 water molecules is nominal (approximately 1-3 nm). But with the addition of the fourth water molecule, the lambda(max) for S(1) and T(1) decreases by approximately 17 nm and it increases for S(2) and S(3) by about the same amount. The decrease in lambda(max) for transition to the T(2) state on the addition of the fourth water molecule is only approximately 9 nm. There seems to be an intersystem crossing between the S(1) and T(3) states that could account for the observed fluorescence quenching of salicylic acid in water.

A novel approach for the oxidative degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous solutions mediated by iron tetrasulfophthalocyanine under visible light radiation.

An efficient approach has been developed to decompose toxic organic pollutants. The photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), salicylic acid, and Orange II was examined in the presence of iron tetrasulfophthalocyanine ([Fe(PcS)]) and H(2)O(2) under visible irradiation. It was found that under visible light irradiation, organic pollutants in the [Fe(PcS)]/H(2)O(2) system can be rapidly degraded, but the concentration of [Fe(PcS)] remains nearly unchanged, and this indicates that [Fe(PcS)] has a good catalytic character. EPR results and other experimental results suggest that the light-activated reaction process involves the formation and reaction of HO(.) radicals. On the basis of the experimental results, a possible reaction mechanism for the degradation of organic pollutants under visible light illumination in the aqueous [Fe(PcS)]/H(2)O(2) solutions is proposed.

Influence of neutron activation factors on the physico-chemical properties of suppositories and their excipients.

The effect of the neutron activation factors, i.e., admixture of samarium oxide (Sm2O3) and irradiation time, on the physico-chemical properties of the raw materials and the in vitro dissolution and disintegration of hydrophilic and lipophilic suppositories was investigated. It was possible to expose the pure bases and the model drugs (5-aminosalicylic acid [5-ASA] and ropivacaine hydrochloride) to 1 min of neutron irradiation in a flux of 1.1.1013 n cm-2s-1. The dissolution and disintegration of the corresponding suppositories showed that the physico-chemical properties and the fraction of incorporated drug together with the lipophilic/hydrophilic nature of the base were important factors. Sm2O3 increased the disintegration time of hydrophilic suppositories containing 5-ASA, while the dissolution of both drugs from these formulations remained unchanged. Sm2O3 did not alter the disintegration time of the lipophilic formulations, but it reduced the dissolution of both drugs from these suppositories. Irradiation induced different behaviour in the different bases.