The numerous side effects associated with the use of allopathic drugs have led to renewed level of interest in Ayurvedic medicines. Plectranthus amboinicus is a tender, fleshy perennial herb, belonging to the family Lamiaceae and native to Southern and Eastern Africa. It has an oregano-like flavor and odour. The herb has been known to possess certain medicinal and curative properties. The present investigation focuses on in vitro antimicrobial properties and phytochemical analysis of aqueous and methanolic extracts of the leaves of Plectranthus amboinicus. The phytochemical screening of methanolic and aqueous extracts of the leaves revealed the presence of carbohydrates, reducing sugars, alkaloids, sterols, glycosides, phenolics, tannins, flavonoids and amino acids, whereas, saponins and gums were not detected. Methanolic extract inhibited gram positive bacterial pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, S. aureus, S. citreus and Bacillus cereus. Among the gram negative pathogens Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were inhibited. The methanolic extract demonstrated antifungal activity against Penicillium sp. and several pathogenic yeasts like Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes,Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis and Cryptococcus sp. The results indicated that the methanolic extract of the leaves are pharmacologically more active than the aqueous extract as the later was not effective against any test pathogens.

A solvent free approach for organic synthesis is described here which involve microwave exposure of neat reactants. A novel and simple method have been developed for the synthesis of some Benzotriazole - Pyrazoline derivatives under microwave irradiation. In addition, these compounds were obtained with conventional heating procedures and microwave irradiation to compare them with those obtained with solid support synthesis. All the compounds synthesized were characterized by running TLC, Elemental analysis, IR, NMR and MS spectra. Consequently, the solid support synthesis method provided nearly the same and higher product yields in a very short period of time. These results suggest that in addition, the use of solid supports in conjunction with microwave leads to a higher yield, remarkable reactions rate enhancement and high catalytic activity with the optimum utilization of energy. Solid support synthesis method is more useful than the microwave irradiation method and conventional method.

Corrosion inhibition of aluminium using different extracts of vernonia amygdalina was studied using gravimetric method. The result of the study revealed that different concentrations of extracts of vernonia amygdalina inhibit aluminium corrosion. The inhibition efficiency of extracts increases as concentration of extracts increases. This study revealed that inhibition efficiency decreases as temperature increases. The apparent activation energy, Ea, of the inhibited corrosion reaction of aluminium was greater than the values obtained for the blank. The DGads values obtained at 303k and 333k were negative indicating spontaneous adsorption of inhibitor on the surface of aluminium. The experimental data were corroborated with Langmuir as well as Flory – Huggins adsorption isotherms. The inhibition efficiency of extracts was in order: C2H5OH > distilled H2O > IM HCl at 303k and C2H5OH > IM HCl > distilled H2O at 333k.

A brief outline of the development of Phytoremediation (use of plant for treating environmental problems) technologies and processes are presented. The major features and limitations are discussed. An overview of the current state of field applications of technology is sketched.

Development of anti microbial agents is increasingly important due to the resistance of microbes to the known antimicrobial drugs. A series of acidhydrazones were synthesized by 3-Hydrazino-3-oxo-N-(3-chlorophenyl)propanamide with substituted aldehydes. Acid-hydrazones of 3-Hydrazino-3-oxo-N-(3- chlorohenyl)propanamide employing classical and non classical methods (microwave and water based reaction).The synthesized compounds were elucidated on the basis of elemental analysis, molecular weight determination, IR, 1HNMR. . Compounds have been synthesized in an open vessel under microwave irradiation using a domestic microwave oven. Newly synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity and increasingly results were obtaind.

The ethanolic bark extract of Acacia nilotica was investigated for antimalarial activity against Plasmodium berghei infected mice. The median lethal dose was determined to ascertain the safety of the extract in mice. Ethanolic bark extract of A. nilotica (100,250,500 mg/kg bw) was administered orally to Plasmodium berghei berghei mice in both the early and established phases. The antiplasmodial effect during early and established infection in addition to the repository action of at these doses caused 64.81-73.60% inhibition of parasitemia in the suppressive test and a mean survival time of 24 to 29 days representing 13.3 ± 1.63 to 7.6 ± 1.63 inhibition of parasitemia in the curative test. These results show that the ethanolic bark extract of A. nilotica possesses significant antiplasmodial activity thus nationalizing its traditional use in malaria therapy.

Traditional medicine exploiting the natural resources has been the main stay of several ethical tribes. The ability to scavenge for free radicals by phenolic compounds is due to possession of a phenolic hydroxyl group which is associated with therapeutic action against free radical mediated diseases attracting much research interest. The plant extracts show considerable amount of antioxidant activity.In the present investigation, the aquous acidic extract of O. sanctum and A. mexicana revealed the high antioxidant activity and it can be correlated with the high amount of phenolic acids detected in the aquous acidic extracts. The alcoholic extract of A. tribuloides also revealed high inhibition percentage.

A number of diseases are associated with oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species and free radicals generated in the living cells. Current research is directed towards finding naturally occurring antioxidants of plant origin. This study was outlined to probe chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Boswellia serrata essential oil (BSEO) using different radical scavenging and antioxidant models including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), nitric oxide, and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, as well as reducing power ability and total phenolic contents. The BSEO was obtained by hydrodistillation of oleo-gum-resin using microwave assisted extraction technique. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the BSEO resulted in the determination of 39 different compounds, representing 98.39% of total oil. The oil was characterized with the presence of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes derivatives and phenolic compounds. The BSEO showed the antioxidant capacity as the inhibition of DPPH radicals by 79.83%. Also the BSEO had potent inhibitory effect on the inhibition of nitric oxide and hydroxyl radicals by 72.42%, 80.04% respectively. Moreover, the BSEO displayed concentration-dependent reducing power antioxidant ability. In addition, the BSEO yielded 11.02 ± 0.02 mg GAE/g sample equivalent phenolic content. The present study shows radical scavenging and antioxidant potential of BSEO, and these findings confirm its efficacy as a potential source of natural antioxidant.

Jambhool (Syzygium Cumini) Leaf Powder (JLP) was treated with nitric acid and used as a low cost, easily available and renewable biological adsorbent for the removal of chromium ions from aqueous solution. Batch experiments were carried out for adsorption kinetics and isotherms. Operating variable studied were contact time, adsorbent dose, initial concentration of adsorbate, temperature and pH Adsorption capacity seems to be enhanced by increasing temperature, adsorbent dose. Maximum adsorption was found to be at pH 2. Equilibrium data were well represented by the Freundlich isotherm model for all tested adsorption systems. Beside these the Thermodynamic study has showed that the Cr (VI) adsorption phenomenon onto JLP was favourable for endothermic and was spontaneous.

The wetland’s ecological diversity depends on the crucial balance of complexly interactive forces of physical, chemical and biological processes. The present study was carried out to evaluate the physico-chemical parameters of wetlands, located at Mainpuri district viz- Site-I(Markandeshwar), Site-II (Bhamwat Canal), Site-III (Saman ), Site IV(Sauj) and Site-V(Kirithua).The physicochemical parameters play a vital role in the wetland ecosystems. Physiochemical studies of wetlands of Mainpuri was conducted six times in an year, during April 2011 to Feb 2012 to estimate the water quality of wetlands and alternate monthly comparisons were made.In this paper we discuss Zinc, Cobalt, Nickle, Alkalinity, Sulphates, Calcium, SiO3, NH3 and Hg .A significant variation in these parameters was observed throughout the study period Investigation due to pollutant inflow and change in the season and environment. Saman and Sauj(Site-III and IV) are IBAs(Important bird areas) under Important Bird Areas Programmes of BNHS and Bird Life International.

The present work was done in order to estimate the genetic diversity among the barley germplasm accessions on the basis of morphological characters and seed storage proteins by agro-morphological and biochemical traits and also to explore significant variation for future use in selection and breeding programs. For this purpose, seeds of 151 barley germplasm accession were collected. Data were recorded for eleven qualitative traits including row type, spike density, glume awn, glume color, grain color, awn color, awn barbs, kernel covering, hoodedness, lemma color, rachilla hair and four quantitative traits including awn length, spike length, number of spikletes per spike and hundred seed weight. Strong variation was found for all qualitative characters except row type and hoodedness. In case of quantitative characters, maximum variation was found for number of spikelets per spike while minimum variation was observed for hundred seed weight. SDS-PAGE analyses of seed storage were not suitable for data recording and analysis.

The adsorption of acetic acid on potato husk has been made under batch mode. The adsorption data involves the variation of initial concentration of acid, contact time, dose and different temperature. The experimental data have been analyzed with the help of Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherms, from the kinetic studies the rate constant values for the adsorption process was calculated, from the effect of temperature thermodynamic parameters, like Free energy, Enthalpy and Entropy ware calculated. In the present work ΔH= 5.749 KJ/mol and ΔS = 3.148 KJ/mol and energy of activation = - 16.435 KJ/mol were observed.