Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor – RSC Advances Blog

Author Archive

Thomson Reuters Research Excellence – India Citation Award: Congratulations to Dr Vandana Bhalla!

03 Nov 2015

We are delighted to report that RSC Advances Associate Editor Dr Vandana Bhalla (Guru Nanak Dev University) has become the first woman scientist in India to receive a Thomson Reuters Research Excellence – India Citation Award, at a ceremony held on 18 September 2015 in New Delhi, India.

This prestigious award is to presented every three years to 10 highly influential scientists and researchers in India, for their outstanding and pioneering work, and their influential contribution to global research.

Dr Bhalla has recently joined RSC Advances as an Associate Editor in the area of supramolecular chemistry, and we look forward to receiving your submissions in this area.

Dr Vandana Bhalla (center) receives her 2015 Thomson Reuters Research Excellence – India Citation Award

Here are a few of Dr Bhalla’s recent publications in RSC Advances:

Fluorescent aggregates of AIEE active triphenylene derivatives for the sensitive detection of picric acid
Harshveer Arora, Vandana Bhalla and Manoj Kumar
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 32637-32642
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA04337A, Paper

Silver nanoparticles: facile synthesis and their catalytic application for the degradation of dyes
Kamaldeep Sharma, Gurpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Manoj Kumar and Vandana Bhalla
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 25781-25788
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA02909K, Paper

Rhodamine appended hexaphenylbenzene derivative: through bond energy transfer for sensing of picric acid
Radhika Chopra, Vandana Bhalla, Manoj Kumar and Sharanjeet Kaur
RSC Adv., 2015,5, 24336-24341
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA00436E, Paper

Facile synthesis of gold nanoparticles using aggregates of pentacenequinone derivative and their catalytic activity for oxidative polymerization, homocoupling and reduction
Kamaldeep Sharma, Vandana Bhalla and Manoj Kumar
RSC Adv., 2014,4, 53795-53800
DOI: 10.1039/C4RA11116H, Paper

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Those burgers look soy good!

06 Feb 2015

In the early days of wooing my current beau, I tried to impress by claiming my homemade burgers were superior to all in the land. A bold claim, you’d agree, so the scientist in me amended that to ‘probably superior’. Anyway, I went to prepare said burgers with my secret recipe. In preparation, I defrosted the mince from the freezer that day, only to return to find the meat had gone a bit brown and smelled a bit, well, weird. (I still made the burgers and they didn’t taste so good, but as I said, it was the early days so we both pretended not to notice.)

Pedro Guerrero and colleagues have now developed a way of applying natural soy protein coatings to beef patties, extending their shelf-life stability. Writing in RSC Advances, they describe how these coatings provide a barrier to oxygen, delaying the formation of that brown colour (metmyoglobin) and unpleasant odour and taste.

Although synthetic antioxidants are known in the industry to prevent food spoiling, consumers are increasingly interested in the journey that their food has taken from farm to fork. Guerrero and co-workers successfully demonstrate the development and application of a soy-based coating to meat patties through the successful preservation of the meat compared to uncoated patties. They investigated the degree of lipid oxidation, microbiological content and texture changes. And, in the name of science, some people took part in a taste test, which I am sure was a burden.

As people try to eat as naturally as possible and reduce food waste, soy coatings could be a contender for increased customer satisfaction.

To find out more, click below to read the full article in RSC Advances.

Application of soy protein coatings and their effect on the quality and shelf-life stability of beef patties, Pedro Guerrero, Maurice G. O’Sullivan, Joe P. Kerry and Koro de la Caba, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 8182-8189 (DOI: 10.1039/C4RA13421D)

Sarah Brown is a guest web-writer for RSC Advances. Sarah hung up her lab coat after finishing her PhD and post-doctorate in nanotechnology for diagnostics and therapeutics and now works in academic publishing. When not trying to explain science through ridiculous analogies, you can often find her crocheting, baking or climbing, but not all at once.

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Introducing our latest themed collection on Tribology

22 Jan 2015

We are pleased to present to you this themed RSC Advances collection on Tribology. The field of tribology is where chemistry and mechanics meet. It represents a challenging cross-disciplinary arena focusing on the widely recognized problems associated with friction, adhesion and wear that impact a range of materials systems, from machined engine parts, to space craft and satellites, to medical implants, to micro and nanoscale machine technologies. The energy losses in machines through friction and wear also represent a significant economic impact, solutions to which could dramatically aid in the ever increasing challenges of the energy needs of modern society.

In this themed collection, work in the area of tribology is presented across the spectrum from applied to fundamental and computational studies of materials systems.

Click here to read more…

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8th International Conference on Environmental Catalysis – ICEC 2014

08 Jul 2014

The 8th International Conference on Environmental Catalysis (ICEC 2014) will be held in Asheville, North Carolina, USA between the 24-27 August 2014.

The conference aims to discuss technological challenges in environmental catalysis and the scientific programme will be based around the following main topics:

Sustainable and clean energy production
– Bio-fuel catalysis
– Fuel cells, electrolysis and solar fuels
– Fuel reforming
– Catalytic oxidation
– Photocatalysis
– Hydrotreatment of fuels
Emission control
– Mobile and stationary source emissions
– TWC, Lean de-NOx, and diesel emissions

Indoor air cleaning
– Catalytic processes to clean indoor air (VOCs, PAH)
Water treatment
– Non-biodegradable organic oxidation
– Nitrates reduction
– Sludge removal
Green Chemistry
– Biomass to chemicals
– Catalytic conversion of CO2
– Environmentally friendly catalytic processes
– Photocatalysis

The conference programme will also include three Plenary lectures by:

Professor Masakazu Anpo (Osaka Prefecture University)
Dr Klaus Harth (BASF)
Professor Enrique Iglesia (UC Berkeley)

Advanced registration ends the 31st July 2014 – click here to register today.

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Nanofair 2014 – 10th International Nanotechnology Symposium

23 May 2014

The 10th International Nanotechnology Symposium – Nanofair 2014 – will be held at the International Congress Center Dresden, Germany between the 1st-3rd July 2014.

The theme for Nanofair 2014 is “New ideas for industry” and will provide a forum for presenting current research and exchanging ideas and information between scientists and engineers for industry, research laboratories and academia. Contributions presented at the conference will cover fundamental scientific aspects as well as application orientated research and development. Specific topics include:

Functional nanocomposites
Nanostructured surfaces
Nanomaterials for life sciences
Nanomaterials for energy applications
Nanoelectronics & photonics
Processing aspects of nanomaterials
Nanoanalytical methods
Carbon nanotubes & graphene

In addition, the 2nd Dresden Nanoanalysis Symposium of the Dresden Centre for Nanoanalysis will be held as part of nanofair 2014 on the 2nd July. This international symposium will provide highlights in the field of nanoanalysis and its applictions in materials science and engineering, advanced electronics, energy research and other branches.

Registration deadline is the 6th June 2014 – click here to register today.

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20th International Symposium on Surfactants in Solution (SIS 2014)

05 May 2014

The 20th International Symposium on Surfactants in Solution (SIS 2014) will be held at the University of Coimbra, Portugal from the 22nd-27th June 2014.

SIS 2014 will provide the ideal forum to stimulate ideas and establish collaborations as well as to initiate discussions on the most diverse topics of surfactant and colloid science, ranging from biocolloids to nanostructured interfaces, from self-assembled materials to formulations.

Click here to register for this conference.

Topics that will be presented on at the conference include:

– Adsorption at interfaces	– Polymeric and polymerizable surfactants
– Wetting, spreading and capillarity phenomena	– Bioderived and bioinspired surfactants
– Interfacial tension, interfacial rheology and interfacial forces	– Surfactant-polymer and -biopolymer interactions
– Monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett films	– Surfactants in pharmaceutics and life sciences
– Electrostatic and electrokinetic phenomena	– Surfactants in energy production and environment
– Surfactant phase behavior and self-assembly	– Surfactants in tribology
– Thermodynamics and kinetics of surfactant-based systems	– Surfactants in nano- and microtechnology
– Solubilization and reactivity in self-organized systems	– Self-assembled materials
– Micelles, emulsions and microemulsions	– Modelling and simulation
– Vesicles, liposomes, niosomes, colloidosomes	– Techniques in surfactant research

As well as 30 invited lectures, 5 Plenary lectures have also been confirmed:

Colin Bain (University of Durham, UK) – Dynamics of surfactants at interfaces
Henk N.W. Lekkerkerker (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) – Muddy Water-Clay Colloid Mixtures: From Liquid Crystals to Drilling Muds
Maria Graça Miguel (Coimbra University, Portugal) – From Surfactants to Cells
Yeshayahu Talmon (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel) – The Coming of Age of Cryo-EM in the Study of Surfactants in Solution
Kenichi Yoshikawa (Kyoto University, Japan) – Real-world Modeling of Living System with Surfactant: Self-organized Structure and Dynamic Function

To find out more about this exciting event, please visit the conference website.

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Sol-Gel Synthesis and Investigation of Inorganic Compounds, Functional Hybrid Materials and Dispersed Systems (Sol-gel 2014)

01 Apr 2014

The 3rd International Conference of CIS countries “Sol-Gel Synthesis and Investigation of Inorganic Compounds, Functional Hybrid Materials and Dispersed Systems” (Sol-Gel 2014), will be held in Suzdal, Russia bettwen the 8-12 Spetember 2014.

The prinicple topics which will be discussed at the conference are:

New Applications for Sol-Gel Materials	Aerogels and Insulating Materials
Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials	Sol-gel Materials for Electronic Applications (Magnetic, Ferroelectric, Semiconductor)
Size and Shape Control in the Synthesis of Nanoparticles. Colloid Materials.	Sol-Gel Materials for Optics and Photonics
Self-Assembly, Supramolecular and Hierarchically Structured Sol-Gel Materials and Sorbents	Sol-Gel Materials for Energy, Sensor, Solar and Space applications
Biomaterials, Biohybrids and Biomimetic Materials, Controlled Release	Sol-Gel Materials for Catalysis and Membranes
Thin Films, Coatings and Surfaces	Sol-gel Science & Technology and Industry

The confirmed Plenary speakers at the conference are:

Prof. Jean-Marie Nedelec (France)
Prof. Y.K. Gun’ko (Ireland)
Prof. Michel Wong Chi Man (France)
Prof. Andrei Kanaev (France)
Prof. Gabriela Kuncova (Czech Republic)
Prof. Wieslaw Strek (Poland)
Prof. Robert Pazik (Poland)
Prof. Florence Babonneau (France)
Prof. Rafael Wiglusz (Poland)
Prof. Gulaim A. Seisenbaeva (Sweden)
Prof. Vadim Kessler (Sweden)

The key dates for this event are as follows:

Abstract submission deadline: 15th April 2014
Conference registration: 15th April 2014
Early-Bird registration: 15th April 2014
Hotel booking deadline: 30th April 2014
Visa application deadline: 15th April 2014

To register and find out more about the conference, visit the website.

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Dr Amitava Das joins the RSC Advances Editorial Board

07 Jan 2014

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Amitava Das (CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, India) to the RSC Advances Editorial Board.

Amitava graduated from Jadavpur University in Kolkata (India) and pursued his Ph.D degree at the same University. After postdoctoral stint in the group of Professor Jon A. McCleverty at Birmingham University and then at Bristol University (UK), he joined the CSIR-Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (India) in 1992. He was elected as a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2010 and the National Academy of Science (India) in 2012. In 2013, Amitava moved to the Organic Chemistry Division of the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (Pune, India). His major research interests focus on synthetic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and photoinduced processes for developing materials for molecular recognition, sensing, bioimaging, diagnostic and DSSC applications.

We are delighted to welcome Amitava and his expertise to the Editorial Board and look forward to working with him.

The end of 2013 also marks the retirement of Professors T. N. Guru Row, Suning Wang and Marcos Eberlin from the Editorial Board as they finish their terms. We would like to thank them all for their support of RSC Advances over the last few years and their help in shaping and guiding the journal from it’s launch in 2011.

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Reclaiming spilt oil

24 Dec 2013

The ability to recover oil from land-based spills should reduce the cost of decontamination

Scientists in Canada have shown they can recover oil from contaminated sand using surfactants whose emulsion stabilising ability is deactivated by carbon dioxide.

Land-based oil spills can be remedied by taking the sand (or soil away) for washing. The sand is heated and mixed with a surfactant solution, before the oil containing emulsion is removed to leave clean sand. However, the entire emulsion must be disposed of as hazardous waste.

Switchable surfactants could offer a less wasteful solution. Unlike normal surfactants, switchable surfactants can be switched off by an external trigger, allowing the oil and water phases to separate, by destabilising the emulsion.

The negative surface charges on sand particles mean that surfactants for cleaning oil contaminated sand need to be anionic. Cationic switchable surfactants were pioneered by Philip Jessop and his colleagues at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, in 2006, and now the team have created an anionic version.

To release oil captured by Jessop’s carboxylate and phenolate anionic surfactants carbon dioxide is bubbled through the emulsion, acidifying the aqueous phase. This switches the surfactant structure from anionic to neutral, disrupting the emulsion by removing its ability to stabilise the oil/water interface. The oil separates and can be decanted for reuse and sale. Decarbonising the solution will switch the surfactants back on.

Read the rest of the story by Emily Skinner in Chemistry World!

Read the original research paper in RSC Advances:

Switchable anionic surfactants for the remediation of oil-contaminated sand by soil washing
Elize Ceschia, Jitendra R. Harjani, Chen Liang, Zahra Ghoshouni, Tamer Andrea, R. Stephen Brown and Philip G. Jessop
RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 4638-4645
DOI: 10.1039/C3RA47158F, Paper

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Web-themed issue on Tribology – open for submissions

30 Sep 2013

We are delighted to announce that submissions are open for our new web-themed issue on Tribology.

This collection is Guest Edited by Professor James Batteas (Texas A&M University, USA), Professor Graham Leggett (University of Sheffield, UK) and Professor Scott Perry (University of Florida, USA).

In this themed issue we seek to highlight the highly interdisciplinary nature of the field of Tribology to illustrate the rich chemistry found within interfaces in sliding contacts and the tight connection between chemistry, biology and mechanics.

We would like to encourage you to submit to this special issue to help highlight the important innovations in this field and illustrate the challenges faced in examining such systems from experimental and theoretical perspectives.

Articles can be submitted from now until the 28th February 2014 – submit your work today! Please indicate in your covering letter that your submission is for consideration for the Tribology issue.

If you have any queries or for more information, please contact the Editorial Office: advances-rsc@rsc.org.

This collection will also include contributions from the BP Castrol- RSC International Symposium on Tribology and Lubricants. This symposium will be held in Wuhan (19th November 2013) and Shanghai (21st November 2013). More details of the excellent speakers are on the website. Register for this event for free online.

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