A hydrogel membrane was prepared using activated carbon and sodium dodecyl sulphate modified montmorillonite clay incorporated into sodium alginate polymer. The activated carbon was prepared from a locally available susbine plant. The physiochemical characteristics of the synthesized hydrogel membrane were investigated using FTIR, SEM, EDX, and TGA techniques. The performance of the membrane was evaluated as an adsorbent by methyl red adsorption from water. The adsorption behavior of the hydrogel membrane was investigated under varying conditions of pH (2–10), membrane dose (0.0025–0.015 mg g⁻¹), equilibrium adsorption time (30–360 minutes), solution temperature (25–45 °C) and dye concentration (100–500 mg L⁻¹). The maximum adsorption capacity of the hydrogel membrane was 248.13 mg g⁻¹. The kinetics of methyl red adsorption on hydrogel membrane best followed the pseudo-second order (PSO). The equilibrium adsorption results suggested that it obeyed the Freundlich isotherm very closely (R² = 0.994). The thermodynamics of methyl red adsorption on the hydrogel membrane revealed that the adsorption was spontaneous (ΔS° = 16.15 kJ K⁻¹ mol⁻¹), favorable (ΔG° = −3.51 kJ mol⁻¹), and endothermic (ΔH° = −1.48 kJ mol⁻¹) in nature. These investigations suggested that the fabricated hydrogel membrane could be suitably used for methyl red adsorption from the solution.

We synthesized 10 analogs of benzimidazole-based thiosemicarbazide 1 (a–j) and 13 benzimidazole-based Schiff bases 2 (a–m), and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques and evaluated in vitro for acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BchE) inhibition activities. All the synthesized analogs showed varying degrees of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory potentials in comparison to the standard drug (IC₅₀ = 0.016 and 4.5 µM. Amongst these analogs 1 (a–j), compounds 1b, 1c, and 1g having IC₅₀ values 1.30, 0.60, and 2.40 µM, respectively, showed good acetylcholinesterase inhibition when compared with the standard. These compounds also showed moderate butyrylcholinesterase inhibition having IC₅₀ values of 2.40, 1.50, and 2.40 µM, respectively. The rest of the compounds of this series also showed moderate to weak inhibition. While amongst the second series of analogs 2 (a–m), compounds 2c, 2e, and 2h having IC₅₀ values of 1.50, 0.60, and 0.90 µM, respectively, showed moderate acetylcholinesterase inhibition when compared to donepezil. Structure Aactivity Relation of both synthesized series has been carried out. The binding interactions between the synthesized analogs and the enzymes were identified through molecular docking simulations.

Twenty-one analogs were synthesized based on benzimidazole, incorporating a substituted benzaldehyde moiety (1–21). These were then screened for their acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibition profiles. All the derivatives except 13, 14, and 20 showed various inhibitory potentials, ranging from IC₅₀ values of 0.050 ± 0.001 µM to 25.30 ± 0.40 µM against acetylcholinesterase, and 0.080 ± 0.001 µM to 25.80 ± 0.40 µM against butyrylcholinesterase, when compared with the standard drug donepezil (0.016 ± 0.12 µM and 0.30 ± 0.010 µM, against acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, respectively). Compound 3 in both cases was found to be the most potent compound due to the presence of chloro groups at the 3 and 4 positions of the phenyl ring. A structure-activity relationship study was performed for all the analogs except 13, 14, and 20, further, molecular dynamics simulations were performed for the top two compounds as well as the reference compound in a complex with acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase. The molecular dynamics simulation analysis revealed that compound 3 formed the most stable complex with both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, followed by compound 10. As compared to the standard inhibitor donepezil both compounds revealed greater stabilities and higher binding affinities for both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase.

In this study, the activated carbon (AC) was prepared from Sesbania sesban plant stem. Boric acid (H₃BO₃) was used as an activating agent. During calcination, the optimized temperature was kept upto 500 °C for 2 h. The prepared adsorbents were characterized using various techniques such as FT‐IR, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x‐ray spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analyzer. The prepared adsorbents were used for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye adsorption. The adsorption experiments were conducted at different pHs such as (2–11), doses (0.0025–0.020 mg), times (30–300 min), MB initial concentrations (100–600 mg L⁻¹), and temperatures (298–318 K), respectively. The maximum MB uptake capacity of the prepared adsorbent was 1380 mg g⁻¹ under optimized adsorption conditions. Furthermore, the kinetic study is well described by pseudo‐second order, whereas the isothermal study showed the Freundlich isotherm was better followed by the equilibrium data. Based on thermodynamic studies, the negative values of ΔG° and ΔH° revealed that the MB adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic in nature. However, the negative ∆Sxg° value indicates that solid‐solute interaction decreased randomness in the adsorption systems. The overall studies of AC showed that it was better to remove MB from an aqueous solution.