Phytosociology and pedological characteristics of selected beats of Durgapur Forest Range, West Bengal, India

The aim of the investigation was to analyze phytosociological characteristics and diversity pattern of five selected beats of tropical dry deciduous forest of Durgapur Forest Range, Burdwan, West Bengal, India. The present investigation was carried out through quadrat method for analysis of phytosociological aspect of vegetation. The soil of the different study sites were analyzed by following standard methodology. The results reflect dominancy of dicotyledons over monocotyledons in the five studied sites. Basudha (61) and Shibpur (58) beats represents higher number of species among the five studied sites. Maximum IVI value was recorded by Shorea robusta followed by Madhuka longifolia among all the beats except Shibpur. The study represents overall dominance of Sal forest over the entire region. Therefore Basudha and Shibpur beat needs prior conservative measure for protection of bioresources in those two forest region. The soil characteristics of the four study sites revealed acidic nature of soil in all the studied sites of Durgapur Forest Division. The range of organic carbon % was found to be higher in amount in comparison to conventional soil samples reflecting higher soil fertility of the studied sites. Therefore, proper management and conservative measures needs to be implemented for conservation of bioresources in different sites of Durgapur Forest Division, West Bengal, India

Determination of <i>n</i>-alkane constituents and their phenological variation in the epicuticular wax of mature leaves of <i>Nyctanthes arbor-tristis</i> L.

<div><p>The present communication is a first-time report on the analyses of <i>n</i>-alkane profile of epicuticular wax extracted from the mature leaves of <i>Nyctanthes arbor-tristis</i> L. during a calender year. The composition of <i>n</i>-alkanes revealed hentriacontane (<i>n</i>-C₃₁), tritriacontane (<i>n</i>-C₃₃), tetratriacontane (<i>n</i>-C₃₅) and nonacosane (<i>n</i>-C₂₉) as the major constituents with tritriacontane (<i>n</i>-C₃₃) being the dominant constituent. The cumulative percentage of these four odd-numbered alkanes also showed phenological variation being highest during the fruit ripening stage (average value 63.29%) followed by the flowering stage (mean value 60.74%). The values remained moderate on an average of 54.31% for the rest of the year. This study also confirms the xerophytic feature of the plant having higher proportion of longer carbon chain <i>n</i>-alkanes greater than C₃₁ (dominant peaks are of C₃₃ and C₃₅).</p></div

Two highly unsymmetrical tetradentate (N3O) Schiff base copper(II) complexes: Template synthesis, structural characterization, magnetic and computational studies

Two new copper(II) complexes, [Cu-2(L-1)(2)](ClO4)(2) (1) and [Cu(L-2)(ClO4)] (2), of the highly unsymmetrical tetradentate (N3O) Schiff base ligands HL1 and HL2 (where HL1 = N-(2-hydroxyacetophenone)-bis-3-aminopropylamine and HL2 = N-(salicyldehydine)-bis-3-aminopropylamine) have been synthesised using a template method. Their single crystal X-ray structures show that in complex 1 two independent copper(II) centers are doubly bridged through sphenoxo-O atoms (O1A and O1B) of the two ligands and each copper atom is five-coordinated with a distorted square pyramidal geometry. The asymmetric unit of complex 2 consists of two crystallographically independe N-(salicylidene) bis(aminopropyl)amine-copper(II) molecules, A and B, with similar square pyramidal geometries. Cryomagnetic susceptibility measurements (5-300 K) on complex 1 reveal a distinct antiferromagnetic interaction with J=-23.6 cm(-1), which is substantiated by a DFT calculation (J=-27.6 cm(-1)) using the B3LYP functional. Complex 1, immobilized over highly ordered hexagonal mesoporous silica, shows moderate catalytic activity for the epoxidation of cyclohexene and styrene in the presence of TBHP as an oxidant