Development of a green chemistry process for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles has become a focus of interest. This would offer numerous benefits, including ecofriendliness and compatibility for biomedical applications. Here we report the synthesis of silver nanoparticles from the reduction of silver nitrate and an aqueous extract of the lichen Parmotrema praesorediosum as a reductant as well as a stabilizer. The physical appearance of these silver nanoparticles was characterized using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The results show that silver nanoparticles synthesized using P. praesorediosum have an average particle size of 19 nm with a cubic structure. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized silver nanoparticles was tested against eight micro-organisms using the disk diffusion method. The results reveal that silver nanoparticles synthesized using P. praesorediosum have potential antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria.

The main objective of the study was to determine the kinetics of the polyphenol oxidation reaction in cocoa beans during air drying at various air temperatures and humidities. The temperatures used were between 40 and 60°C and the relative humidities were between 50 and 80%. The higher the temperature and relative humidity of the drying air, the lower the amount of polyphenol residue in the cocoa beans, because of enzymatic oxidation of polyphenols. At higher drying temperatures, non-enzymatic oxidation of polyphenols could also occur. Computer simulation results gave rate constants for the polyphenol oxidation reaction (k 1 ) and the condensation reaction (k 2 ), at various air conditions, in the range of 0.055-0.200 and 0.136-0.155 h )1 respectively. The activation energies obtained for the polyphenol oxidation reaction were in the range of 27 800-30 312 J K )1 mol )1 . The reaction kinetics of the enzymatic browning reaction fitted a pseudo first-order reaction.

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A series of polypyrrole supported WO3were fabricated and characterized by FT-IR, XRD, XPS, BET, TGA, and FESEM-EDX. The activity of the catalysts was tested in glycerol esterification with acetic acid, and it found that WO3-Ppy-20 (nanocomposite with 20% WO3loaded) showed the maximum catalyst activity with 98% and selectivity of 70% to triacetin at 110°C with a reaction duration of 10 h and also recorded the highest selectivity (75%) for acetylation of glycerol to monoacetin with about 59% conversion only. The highest acidity of WO3-Ppy-20 is also confirmed using TPD-NH3analysis. The activity and selectivity to triacetin of the catalyst were enhanced by increasing WO3loading amount, resulting in 82% conversion for WO3-Ppy-5 with about 32 and 50% selectivity to monoacetin and diacetin and about 18% selectivity to triacetin; in case of WO3-Ppy-20, these amounts were changed to 5, 25, and 70% selectivity to monoacetin, diacetin, and triacetin, respectively with the conversion of 98%. TPD-NH3analysis found that polypyrrole supported WO3increases the catalyst acidity of WO3. BET and FESEM analyses revealed that WO3particles were well dispersed with the smallest average size in nanocomposite compared to pure WO3, which could contribute to the high activity of WO3-Ppy catalyst for esterification of glycerol.