Vegetable oils (VO) constitute the single, largest, easily available, low cost, non-toxic, non-depletable, biodegradable family yielding materials that are capable of competing with fossil fuel derived petro-based products. The outstanding feature of VO is their unique chemical structure with to unsaturation sites, epoxies, hydroxyls, esters and other functional groups along with inherent fluidity characteristics. These enable them to undergo various chemical transformations producing low molecular weight polymeric materials with versatile applications, particularly as chief ingredients in paints and coatings. In this manuscript, we have briefly described important VO derived materials such as alkyds, polyesteramides, polyetheramides, polyurethanes, epoxies, polyols, along with their preparation and applications as protective coatings. A small portion of the review is also dedicated to the future perspectives in the field. Inspite of their extensive utilization in the world of coatings, literature survey revealed that in the past (from 1990s to date) no review has come up describing the chemistry and applications of VO polymer based coating materials

Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were chemically modified to form nanocomposite with thorium oxide. The MWCNTs/ThO₂ nanocomposite was characterized using different modern techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powdered diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope. The average size of MWCNTs/ThO₂ nanocomposite was in the range from 5 to 10 nm. The nanocomposite material was investigated for its adsorption behavior for Pb(II) ions removal from its aqueous system. For the adsorption of Pb(II) by MWCNTs/ThO₂, the equilibrium was achieved within 50 min. The temperature and pH have also found to play important role in the adsorption process and maximum adsorption was found at 45°C and pH 5.5.

The objective of the study was to analyze chemical structure of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) by employing ultimate, proximate and thermo-gravimetric techniques. Samples from different anatomical parts of date palm, namely trunk, frond base, frond midrib, leaflets, coir, fruit stem, date stone, and fruit empty bunches were considered for the experiments. Based on the findings in this work palm leaflet samples gave the highest amount of extractives content (32.9%), followed by date palm stone specimens with 31.5%. Cellulose content values of 32.8% and 47.5% were obtained for date palm stone and palm coir samples, respectively. Overall the hemicellulose contents of all samples were relatively similar to those of typical wood or non-wood lignocellulosic materials with the two exceptions of palm coir and palm leaflets. Both palm coir and palm leaflet specimens had 12.6% and 16.1% hemicellulose content. Volatile matter values of 74.3% and 87.5% were determined for leaflets and fruit empty bunch samples. The ash content of the samples ranged from 1.4% for date stone to 15.2% for palm leaflet samples. The thermal decomposition was completed below a temperature of 500 °C with an exception of those samples taken from palm leaflets. Taken together the data indicate that date palm stone and palm coir revealed could be more viable for renewable energy production than the other specimens considered in this work.

A series of La_1-xCe_xCoO₃ perovskite nanoparticles with rhombohedral phases was synthesized via sol–gel chemical process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Electron Diffraction Spectroscopy (EDS), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), UV–Vis spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectra (FTIR), Nitrogen Adsorption/desorption Isotherm, Temperature Program Reduction/Oxidation (TPR/TPO), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) techniques were utilized to examine the phase purity and chemical composition of the materials. An appropriate doping quantity of Ce ion in the LaCoO₃ matrix have reduced the bond angle, thus distorting the geometrical structure and creating oxygen vacancies, which thus provides fast electron transportation. The reducibility character and surface adsorbed oxygen vacancies of the perovskites were further improved, as revealed by H₂-TPR, O₂-TPD and XPS studies. Furthermore, the oxidation of benzyl alcohol was investigated using the prepared perovskites to examine the effect of ceria doping on the catalytic performance of the material. The reaction was carried out with ultra-pure molecular oxygen as oxidant at atmospheric pressure in liquid medium and the kinetics of the reaction was investigated, with a focus on the conversion and selectivity towards benzaldehyde. Under optimum reaction conditions, the 5% Ce doped LaCoO₃ catalyst exhibited enhanced catalytic activity (i.e., > 35%) and selectivity of > 99%, as compared to the other prepared catalysts. Remarkably, the activity of catalyst has been found to be stable after four recycles.