Slow release atrazine containing alginate-agar based bead formulations have been prepared and characterized by SEM, FTIR and swelling studies. The release of atrazine from the beads occurred through non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. The release of atrazine from the beads in the soil has been observed slower and lesser in soil as compared to the in vitro release.

Benzofuran is the heterocyclic compound consisting of fused benzene and furan rings. The benzofuran moiety is widely distributed in both natural and artificial molecules. Substituted benzofurans are pharmaceutically important heterocycles that display numerous biological activities such as antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-HIV, anticancer, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory activities. Some derivatives of benzofurans are also used as organic materials due to their optical and electronic properties.

The antioxidant activity of the tuber extract of Habenaria edgeworthii (commonly known as Vrddhi) has been studied against a long lived 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical at room temperature. The tuber extract has been utilized for the synthesis of stable gold nanoparticles at room temperature under very mild conditions. The synthesized gold nanoparticles were characterized by spectroscopic and electron microscopic techniques.

Stimuli-responsive supramolecular materials are the materials of the future. Since these materials can change their shape and self-assembling behaviour depending upon the external environments, these materials have a wide range of applications in diversified fields like drug delivery, nanoelectronics, nanodevices etc. In this article, I have discussed the supramolecular assembly-disassembly of molecules depending upon various external stimuli such as pH, light, redox, enzyme etc.

In this review, I have addressed the one step facile synthesis of metal nanoparticles using different plant extracts, various methods of characterization and applications of metal nanoparticles.

The chemical shift in a solvent caused by the presence of a paramagnetic species and the temperature dependence of the chemical shift difference to determine the temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility can be studied using Evans method. The method is very useful because a common NMR instrument, easily accessible in a department of chemistry, allows the accurate measurement of paramagnetic susceptibilities. The present review highlights planar (S = 0) and octahedral (S = 1) forms of Ni(II) complexes are in equilibrium and has been followed in the temperature range 298 ? 338 K by 1H NMR technique using the protocol of Evans’s method.