https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/issue/feed ChemSearch Journal 2023-07-27T08:42:37+00:00 Dr. M. B. Ibrahim mbibrahim.chm@buk.edu.ng Open Journal Systems <p><em>Chemsearch Journal</em> is a peer – reviewed journal that publishes original research work, scientific papers and technical reports in all the field of Chemistry (pure science, agriculture, environmental science, science education and related fields).</p><p>This journal is now Open Access so the content can be freely accesses online.</p> https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251817 Editorial 2023-07-27T06:54:33+00:00 A.A. Audu mbibrahim.chm@buk.edu.ng <p>No Abstract</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251820 Chemical, Geotechnical and Mineralogical Characteristics of a Clay Mineral Deposit in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria 2023-07-27T07:04:31+00:00 E.E.I. Irabor uwaila.omoruyi@uniben.edu P.I. Edogun uwaila.omoruyi@uniben.edu U. Omoruyi uwaila.omoruyi@uniben.edu <p>The solid mineral sector provides a viable alternative to expand the economic base of Nigeria which has an abundant clay deposit across&nbsp; the country. The underutilization of clay deposits is in part either due to lack of characterization data for most sites or the absence of it. In&nbsp; this work, the chemical, geotechnical and mineralogical characteristics of the clay mineral deposit at Lokoja, Kogi State were&nbsp; evaluated. The results revealed that the deposit consists of: SiO<sub>2</sub> (21.75 - 38.15%), A1<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (18.49 - 21.65%), Na<sub>2</sub>O (5.50 - 7.70%), Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>(4.43- 7.89%), K<sub>2</sub>O (2.3- 5.78%), CaO (0.56-1.01%), MgO(0.50- 1.00%), loss on ignition (7.40-10.00 %), and moisture content (3.40-&nbsp; 4.60%). The mineralogical studies revealed the presence of orthoclase, paraclesian and albite low as the feldspar minerals. The clay&nbsp; minerals detected were Kaolinite, Halloysite 7A, lizardite aluminian, clinochiore IIb, vertumnite, lovdarite and corrensite. Other silicate and&nbsp; siliceous carbonate minerals found were; wollastonite, paraspurrite and alumahydrocalcite. The three layers exhibited medium&nbsp; plasticity, while the middle and bottom layers had refractoriness above 1200°C, and moderate thermal shock resistance, the top layer&nbsp; exhibited refractoriness below 1200°C and low thermal shock resistance.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251822 Phytochemical Screening, Mineral Content, Antioxidant Potential and Antibacterial Activity of the Leaves Extract of <i>Alstonia boonei</i> 2023-07-27T07:12:37+00:00 C.A. Unuigbe gabione48@gmail.com O.N. Okhankhuele gabione48@gmail.com <p>This study evaluated the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant potential, mineral content and antibacterial activity of the ethyl acetate&nbsp; extract of Alstonia boonei leaves. The results of the phytochemical screening revealed the presence of phenolics, eugenols, steroids,&nbsp; alkaloids and reducing sugars. While the mineral content for sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper iron and zinc were found&nbsp; to be5.61 mg/kg, 120.63 mg/kg, 15.61 mg/kg, 2.63 mg/kg, 0.01 mg/kg, 7.15 mg/kg and 1.62 mg/kg respectively. The antioxidant potential examined using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay at 250, 200, 150, 100 and 50 μg/ml gave the IC<sub>50</sub> of 2.89&nbsp; μg/ml and 2.52 μg/ml for the extract and standard, respectively. Determination of the zone of inhibition of the bacterial isolates using&nbsp; agar well diffusion method revealed that the isolates showed varying sensitivity towards the extract. <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> had the&nbsp; highest value at 35 mm and subtilis had the lowest sensitivity value at 26.5 mm. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were&nbsp; found to be 25 mg/ml for <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> and 12.5 mg/ml for <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, </em><em>Staphylococcus aureus and&nbsp; Bacillus subtilis</em>. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were found to be 12.5 mg/ml for <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em>, 50 mg/ml&nbsp; for <em>Escherichia coli</em> and <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>, 25 mg/ml for <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em> while <em>Bacillus subtilis</em> was above 50mg/ml. The results&nbsp; provided a useful insight into the medicinal uses of the plant extract against oxidative stress and microbial infections.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251824 Estimation of the Levels of Meperfluthrin Pesticides in the Body Organelles of Albino Rats through Inhaling Smoke Produced by Mosquito Coils 2023-07-27T07:20:07+00:00 Abubakar Lawal abubakarlawal360@yahoo.com Umar Ibrahim abubakarlawal360@yahoo.com <p>The domestic use of mosquito coils as pesticides has been increasing over the years to repel and kill mosquitoes as well as other&nbsp; household insects especially in the rural areas. Unfortunately, this could lead to excessive accumulation of pesticides in the body organs&nbsp; due to continuous inhaling of the chemical compounds over a long period of time. And this could result in health issues that include&nbsp; various kinds of organelle cancers, congenital disabilities etc. For this reason, there is a need to determine the levels of Meperfluthrin&nbsp; pesticides from mosquito coil smoke. Stock and standard solutions of the analyte were prepared and used for the calibration of the&nbsp; instrument. Later on, the technique of quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) coupled with dispersive solid phase&nbsp; extraction (dSPE) was used for sample preparation. Then, the calibrated UV-visible spectrophotometry instrument was used for the&nbsp; determination of the pesticide residues in the organelle samples of albino rats; blood (SRBL), lungs (SRLU), kidney (SRKI) and liver (SRLI)&nbsp; after a periodical inhalation of smoke produced by mosquito coils. Similarly analysis was carried out on the organelle samples of the&nbsp; unexposed (blank) albino rats. Eventually, the results (Average ± Standard deviation) obtained (per 28 days) showed that the analyzed&nbsp; samples were accumulated with the targeted analyte; SRBL (199 ± 0.03 mg/kg), SRLU (321 ± 0.01 mg/kg), SRKI (129 ± 0.05 mg/kg) and&nbsp; SRLI (564 ± 0.07 mg/kg) after deducting the concentration from the blank animal organs, respectively. Therefore, these justify the&nbsp; continuous accumulation of the targeted pesticides over a period of time, which can result in health issues since the average determined concentration of pesticides residue (11 mg/kg per day) was above the maximum daily residue limits (MRLs) of 5 mg/kg documented by&nbsp; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and World Health Organization.&nbsp; </p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251826 Adsorption Studies of Methylene Blue using Activated Carbon Derived from Sweet Detar Seed Shell 2023-07-27T07:25:24+00:00 Musa Husaini musahusaini36@gmail.com Bishir Usman musahusaini36@gmail.com Muhammad Bashir Ibrahim musahusaini36@gmail.com <p>Adsorption capacity of sweet detar seed shell activated carbon (SDAC) was evaluated using batch adsorption technique. The SDAC was&nbsp; characterized by pH at point of zero charge (pHPZC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy&nbsp; (SEM). In batch optimization studies, the maximum adsorption capacity obtained at the optimum levels of different parameters were;&nbsp; 9.78 mg/g at 60 minutes, 8.61 mg/g at 0.1g adsorbent dose, 97.61 mg/g at 75µm particle size, 500 mg/g at 247.45 mg/g initial dye concentration, 10.99 mg/g at pH12 and 9.85 mg/g at temperature of 303 K. The adsorption data were found to closely fit to Freundlich&nbsp; isotherm model. The adsorption mechanism was found to be best described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Thermodynamic&nbsp; investigations indicates that the adsorption was spontaneous, exothermic, and decreased in the system randomness at adsorbent –&nbsp; adsorbate interfaces due to the negative values of enthalpy change (ΔH = -75.72 kJ/mol), entropy change (ΔS = -0.22 kJ/K) and Gibbs free energy change of adsorption; ΔG = -8.58 kJ/mol, 7.47 kJ/mol, 6.36 kJ/mol, 5.25 kJ/mol and 4.15 kJ/mol at 303, 308, 313, 318 and 323 K&nbsp; respectively. Desorption studies for adsorbent regeneration revealed that hydrochloric acid offered the highest recovery and reusability&nbsp; test revealed the good adsorbent performance after five successive adsorption cycles. Therefore, this study confirmed that activated&nbsp; sweet detar seed shell adsorbent could be used as an alternative low cost adsorbent for the removal of toxic dyes such as methylene blue&nbsp; dye.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251828 Evaluation of Some Physico-chemical and Mineralogical Properties of Clay Mineral Deposits in Ihievbe, Owan East Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria 2023-07-27T07:31:41+00:00 E.E.I. Irabor emmanuel.irabor@uniben.edu C.A. Unuigbe emmanuel.irabor@uniben.edu <p>The chemical, physical and mineralogical composition of clay mineral deposits at Ihievbe in Owan East Local Government Area of Edo&nbsp; State, Nigeria were evaluated using standard methods. The chemical assay revealed the predominance of silica (41.85-42.82%), alumina&nbsp; (20.17-20.42%), iron oxide (11.33-13.75%), sodium oxide (5.09-12.04%), loss on ignition (3.93-4.67%) and moisture(1.07%).This indicates&nbsp; that the deposit consist largely of aluminosilicate minerals. The mineralogical studies revealed the presence of montmorillonite, kaolinite,&nbsp; halloysite, muscovite, palygoskite as clay minerals present. Other minerals present were kyanite, naotocite, quartz, goethite&nbsp; and ramsdelite. The evaluated physical properties showed that the clay minerals had moderate swelling characteristics, medium&nbsp; plasticity, good thermal stability and refractoriness above 1200<sup>o</sup>C. However, the apparent porosity and air permeability values were&nbsp; slightly above permissible limits for refractory clays. Thus the clay mineral deposits assayed possess characteristics to enable them to be&nbsp; employed in high temperature operations.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251829 Dynamic Mechanical and Morphological Characterization of Treated <i>Prosopis africana</i> Wood fiber Reinforced Polyvinyl Chloride Composites 2023-07-27T07:40:17+00:00 J. Jacob jacobyumar@gmail.com U. Yusuf jacobyumar@gmail.com <p>In this work, the effect of <em>Prosopis africana</em> (PA) on the viscoelastic properties of PVC composites was examined using the dynamic&nbsp; mechanical analysis technique and scanning electron microscopy to ascertain the interaction of the PVC and the PA fibre. In order to&nbsp; improve adhesion between the hydrophilic natural fiber and the hydrophobic plastic matrix, the PA fiber was treated with a sodium&nbsp; hydroxide solution. The amount of fiber loading ranged from 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 to 24, but the bulk of this work considered 12% wt&nbsp; composition because it correlates to higher mechanical properties. This work was carried out to further investigate the dynamic mechanical and morphological properties of the composite sample with the optimum properties (12% wt composition). When compared&nbsp; to unreinforced polyvinyl chloride, the dynamic mechanical characteristics such as storage modulus and damping all significantly&nbsp; improved: Storage modulus (4.0 GPa) compared to (1.8 GPa) of unreinforced PVC while the loss modulus decreased; indicating an&nbsp; improvement of PVC. Scanning electron micrograph of treated PA reinforced PVC composites showed fairly uniformly filled PVC (at 12 %&nbsp; wt) with less voids and fiber agglomeration. This indicates that the dynamic mechanical and morphological properties of PVC could be&nbsp; enhanced by the incorporation of treated PA fibres.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251832 Levels of Selected Heavy Metals and Physicochemical Parameters in Soils and Watermelon Samples from Mainok Farmland, Kaga L.G.A, Borno State, Nigeria 2023-07-27T07:47:24+00:00 Binta Modu Kagu jamesyakubu96@gmail.com Ayuba Maina Jatau jamesyakubu96@gmail.com <p>The study was conducted to determine the concentrations of some heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Mn, Fe, Zn and Co); and Ions (NO<sub>3</sub> <sup>-</sup> ,&nbsp; NO<sub>2</sub><sup> -</sup> , PO<sub>4</sub><sup>-3</sup> , SO<sub>4</sub> <sup>-2</sup> , K<sup>+</sup> , Na<sup>+</sup> , Ca<sup>2+</sup> and Mg<sup>2+</sup>); in seed, pulp, leaves, stem and root of watermelon varieties (sugar baby and crimson&nbsp; sweet) and soil at different depth (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm from Mainok in Kaga local government area. All parameters were&nbsp; analyzed using standard analytical tools (Atomic Absorption and UV visible smart spectrophotometer). The result also showed that iron&nbsp; has the highest concentration in all the samples analysed, while lead showed the least concentration in watermelon pulp from Minok&nbsp; agricultural location in all the samples analyzed. The levels of the heavy metals were found to increase significantly (p&lt;0. 05) to depth of&nbsp; 30 cm. The concentrations of all the parameters analyzed were below the threshold limits set by W.H.O. Thus, the soil of Mainok, Kaga&nbsp; Local Government Area of Borno State may not impact pose immediate health hazard to the general populace via consumption of&nbsp; watermelons from the study area.&nbsp; </p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251834 Triazole Derivatives as Corrosion Inhibitors on Iron (110) Surface: A Theoretical Study 2023-07-27T08:07:01+00:00 Nura Ishaq mladan.chm@buk.edu.ng Magaji Ladan mladan.chm@buk.edu.ng <p>Corrosion inhibition potentials of triazole derivatives: 7-chloro-3-(2R,3S)-3-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-3-hydroxy-4-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl) butane-2-yl] Quinozolin-1-one (TRC), 3-paranitro benzylidene amino-1,2,,4-triazolephosphate (TRP) and, 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1-3-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-ol) (TRD) propan-2-ol have been studied theoretically by Quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulation.&nbsp; The values of Quantum chemical parameters E<sub>HOMO</sub>, E<sub>LUMO</sub>, energy gap (∆E) , the energy of back donation ( ∆E <sub>b-d</sub>), dipole moment&nbsp; (µ), electronegativity (Χ), global hardness (ƞ), ionization potential (I), electron affinity (A), number of electron transfer (∆N), and&nbsp; interaction energy were determined. The Quantum chemical parameters calculated revealed that TRC molecule is relatively more&nbsp; nucleophilic in nature and potentially a better inhibitor. The Fukui indices values shows that the hetero atoms (N, O, and P) of the studied&nbsp; compounds are responsible for their inhibitive characteristics. Calculated binding energy and adsorption energies obtained from the&nbsp; Quenched molecular dynamics simulations, the relatively low values obtained were less 100 kcal/mol as such the molecules being weakly&nbsp; adsorbed onto iron (110) surface by Van der Waals forces of attraction and duly obeys physical adsorption mechanism in the order TRC&nbsp; &gt;TRD &gt; TRP. Bond length analyses were performed before and after adsorption, and the results demonstrated that the adsorption&nbsp; process on the Fe (1 1 0) surface had an impact on the bond length of specific bonds in the inhibitory molecules.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251835 Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Mechanisms of Reduction of Au(III) Complex Ion by Methanol in Acidic Medium 2023-07-27T08:13:22+00:00 P.O. Ukoha iorungwa.patience@uam.edu.ng P.D. Iorungwa iorungwa.patience@uam.edu.ng <p>Kinetics, thermodynamics and mechanisms of the reduction of gold(III) complex ion, [AuCl<sub>3</sub>(OH)]<sup>- </sup>, by methanol (MeOH) was studied&nbsp; spectrophotometrically in perchloric acid medium at ionic strength (µ ) = 0.05 mol dm<sup>–3</sup> (NaClO<sub>4</sub>) and T = 30.0 ± 1 °C. Stoichiometry of the&nbsp; reaction showed that one mole of [AuCl<sub>3</sub>(OH)]<sup>- </sup>was reduced by one mole of methanol. The rate of reaction was first order in oxidant&nbsp; concentration as well as in [CH<sub>3</sub>OH] with a second order overall. Addition of acid within the range 5.0 x10<sup>-4</sup> to 1.2 x 10<sup>-2</sup> mol dm<sup>-3&nbsp;&nbsp; </sup>decreased the rate of the reaction. Increasing µ from 2.0 x10<sup>-2</sup> to 1.2 x10<sup>-1</sup> mol dm<sup>-3</sup> (NaClO<sub>4</sub>) had no effect on the rate of the reaction.&nbsp; The same trend was observed on varying dielectric constant from 78.40 to 73.59. Michaelis – Menten – type plot was linear and with&nbsp; negligible intercept. Entropy of activation was found to be - 196.82 JK<sup>-1 </sup>mol<sup>-1</sup> while activation enthalpy was also found to be 6.101 kJ mol<sup>-1&nbsp; </sup>. AuI was found to be the product of [AuCl<sub>3</sub>(OH)]- reduction while aldehyde was obtained for MeOH oxidation. FTIR spectral&nbsp; showed band for aldehyde formation (C=O) at 1764 cm<sup>-1 </sup>. Based on negligible intercept from Michaelis – Menten – type plot and the&nbsp; absence of spectroscopically determinable intermediate complex, the reaction was proposed to have proceeded through the outer –&nbsp; sphere pathway.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251836 Adsorptive Removal of Ampiclox from Aqueous Solution using Treated Okobo Coal 2023-07-27T08:24:02+00:00 A.U. Itodo cmkurzurum@gmail.com L.B. Gav cmkurzurum@gmail.com M. Chia cmkurzurum@gmail.com <p>This research work assessed the performance of Okobo coal for sorptive treatment of binary solution containing Ampicillin (AMP) and&nbsp; Cloxacillin (CLO) in a brand name called Ampiclox using analytical techniques. The Okobo coal adsorbent was activated by impregnating it&nbsp; with 1M H<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub>. Batch adsorption method was adopted for the adsorption studies. The adsorbent prepared was subjected to classical&nbsp; and instrumental techniques. The classical techniques were Attrition, conductivity, pH, bulk density and specific surface area while the instrumental techniques were limited to FTIR, SEM and TGA. The Attrition of the adsorbent was (5.4 %), conductivity (26 μS/cm), pH (6.11),&nbsp; Bulk density (1.78±0.03 g/cm<sup>3</sup> ) and specific surface area (189.4 m<sup>2</sup> /g). All these values were similar to other activated carbon&nbsp; adsorbents used in the literatures. The FTIR shows clear peaks after adsorption indicating the presence of new bonds which were coming&nbsp; from the adsorbate. Four adsorption isotherms (Henry, Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin) were used to fit the data to describe&nbsp; the adsorption and all fitted the data with Langmuir been the best model for the experiment with R<sup>2</sup> values of 0.991 and 0.994 for AMP&nbsp; and CLO respectively. For the transport models plotted (Film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion model) the diffusion of the antibiotics&nbsp; onto the adsorbent was multi-mechanistic since the plots of the transport models deviate from origin. The statistical result of the&nbsp; analyses obtained indicated that there was no statistical difference between the adsorption of Ampiclox by Okobo coal adsorbent and&nbsp; CAC (commercial activated carbon). Therefore, it can be concluded that the adsorbent prepared was good for carrying out adsorption&nbsp; studies given the results presented herein for the adsorption of Ampiclox.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023 https://www.ajol.info/index.php/csj/article/view/251837 Photocatalytic Degradation of P-Cresol using Copper Chloride under UV – Irradiation 2023-07-27T08:30:51+00:00 Dini Sabo sabodini01@gmail.com Dahiru Ibrahim Malami sabodini01@gmail.com Dayyabu Adamu Dikko sabodini01@gmail.com Ziyaulhaq Auwal Abdulkadir sabodini01@gmail.com <p>Photocatalytic degradation of p-cresol was carried out using CuCl<sub>2</sub> under UV irradiation. The effect of photocatalyst loading, effect of photodegradation time of p-cresol and effect of pH were studied as variable parameters. The photodegradation rate constant and&nbsp; percentage photodegradation of p-cresol were calculated from the experimental results analysed using a UV-visible spectrometer after&nbsp; photoirradition with continuous stirring using set of magnetic stirrer respectively. The highest photodegradation of p-cresol was&nbsp; observed at 0.8g/L of CuCl<sub>2</sub> photocatalyst and 15.6ppm of p-cresol. Photocatalytic degradation was favorable in the pH of 7.49. The&nbsp; results confirm the fast degradation of p-cresol under photocatalytic regime. The percentage degradation was found to be 68.8% at&nbsp; concentration 15.6ppm. The average rate constant was found to be 1.9 x 10<sup>-3</sup> mole/min. Based on the study of parameters, degradation&nbsp; was higher at pH of 8 and catalyst dose of 0.6g/L. Reusability shows no significant reduction in photocatalytic performance of the catalyst&nbsp; in photodegrading pcresol.&nbsp;</p> 2023-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 Copyright (c) 2023