Active and highly selective catalytic systems of oxovanadium(IV) salen-type have been prepared and characterized by various physico-chemical techniques. Substituted salen-type Schiff base ligands were prepared from 3-ethoxy salicylaldehyde with 1,2-diaminobenzene and 1,8-diaminonaphthalene abbreviated (EtOsalphen) and (EtOsalnaph), respectively. The catalytic activity of the complexes for hydroxylation of phenol to catechol and hydroquinone using H 2 O 2 as an oxidant has been studied. The best suited reaction conditions were obtained by considering the effect of solvent, concentration of substrate, reaction time, concentration of catalyst and temperature. Under the optimized reaction conditions, VO-(EtOsalphen) catalyst shows high conversion (71%) at a short reaction time (2 h) with selectivity of 92.5% towards catechol, while VO-(EtOsalnaph) complex also shows higher conversion (76.6%) after longer reaction time (6 h) with almost similar selectivity to catechol (94.2%).

Thermoplastic elastomeric blends were prepared from blending of (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50 wt%) high density polyethylene(HDPE) and (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50 wt%) ground rubber tire (TPV-R). The blends prepared contain (HDPE)/polybutadiene (TPV-V). The two blends were successfully prepared through a dynamic vulcanization process, involving dicumyl peroxide (3%) as vulcanizing agent. The data of the mechanical (tensile strength at yield, %elonga-tion and young modulus) and rheological properties (shear stress, shear rate, viscosity, flow behavior index and activation energy of melt flow) of the TPV-V and TPV-R showed that there were comparable results between the two blends.

Three new Schiff base rhodium (III) complexes, derived from three ligands, L1, L2 and L3 have been prepared and characterized by IR, 1 HNMR, mass spectra and the elemental analysis. These complexes have shown efficient catalytic activity in the transfer hydrogenation of wide variety ketones to the corresponding alcohols in formic acid/triethylamine solution under mild reaction conditions. Depending on the ketone, the percentage of conversion for RhL1 have been found to be (51-92%) compared to RhL2 which had a yield of (42-92%) while for RhL3 (71-94%), within time range of 0.5-12 hrs.