Antioxidant activity of polyaniline nanofibers

Well-confined uniform polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers were synthesized by using photo-assisted chemical oxidative polymer- ization of aniline in the presence of different dopant acids,and the radical scavenging ability of the produced PANI nanofibers was determined by the DPPH assay.It was found that the antioxidant activity of PANI nanofibers was higher than conventional PANI, and increased with decreasing of averaged diameter of the nanofibers.The enhanced antioxidant activity was concerned with increased surface area of PANI nanofibers.     

Regulation of β-amylase activity by alkylresorcinols

The effects of two alkylresorcinols, namely, methylresorcinol (MR) and hexylresorcinol (HR), which are chemical analogues of the natural anabiosis factors of some bacteria, on the catalytic activity of β-amylase has been investigated. When water-soluble potato starch is used as a substrate, MR in a concentration ranging from 0.8 to 12.9 mmol/L raises the activity of β-amylase to 170%. HR at a concentration ranging from 0.05 to 0.35 mmol/L stimulates a weak increase in the activity of β-amylase to 115%. A further increase in the concentration (0.75 mmol/L) leads to inhibition by 50%. The interaction of MR with β-amylase allows one to increase the general yield of the hydrolysis products of potato and malt starch by 1.5 to 1.6 times, to enhance the rate of hydrolysis by 4 to 5 times, and to extend the temperature and pH ranges of catalysis. Non-competitive activation in the presence of MR and non-competitive inhibition in the presence of HR are observed upon determining the kinetic parameters of the starch hydrolysis by β-amylase modified with alkylresorcinols.     

Prediction of the activity of β-lactam antibiotics

The pharmacological properties of penam, 3-cepheme, and semisynthetic penicillins were predicted by means of the ORAKUL automated system. A comparative evaluation of the similarity between the structures of these compounds and the structures of 8800 biologically active substances in the data base of the system made it possible to uncover the high probability of the manifestation of anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antitumorigenic, antiallergic, and anticoagulant activity by structural analogs of -lactam antibiotics.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 4, pp. 555–564, April, 1992.     

Synthesis and antimycobacterial activity of N-isonicotinoyl-N′-alkylideneferrocenecarbohydrazides

Russian Chemical Bulletin - Acylation of ferrocenoylhydrazones with isonicotinoyl chloride hydrochloride in pyridine was used to obtain a number of new...     

Defect-rich and ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets with enhanced peroxidase-like activity for the detection of urease activity and fluoride ion

Although carbon nanozymes have attracted great interest due to their good biocompatibility, low cost,and high stability, designing high-active carbon nanozymes still faces great challenges. Herein, ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets with rich defects(d-NC) were prepared through a high-temperature annealing process, using potassium chloride and ammonium chloride as templates. Owing to the large specific surface area, rich defects and the high exposure of active sites, the proposed d-NC na...     

Neat synthesis and antioxidant activity of α-aminophosphonates

A simple, efficient, and environmentally benign method for a three-component reaction of an amine, an aldehyde and diethyl phosphite catalyzed by Amberlyst-15 has been developed to afford α-amino phosphonates in high yields and short reaction times under solvent-free reaction conditions using microwave irradiation. The major advantages of the present method are inexpensive, ecofriendly and reusable catalyst and also studied their antioxidant activity of synthesized compounds.     

Inhibition of cyclodextrins on the activity of α-amylase

α-amylase activity influences both flour fermentation process and the quality of the fermented products due to its ability of breaking starch into smaller units. The inhibition of cyclodextrins on α-amylase activity was investigated in this paper. Experiment results showed that hydrophobic cavity size was an intrinsic factor during the inhibition processing. Among three types of cyclodextrin (α-, β- and γ-), β-type exhibited the most significant inhibitory activity toward α-amylase. The optimal inhibitory parameters were indicated to be pH 5.9, concentration of β-cyclodextrins 1 mmol/L, reaction temperature 45 °C and reaction time 60 min. Results suggested that the endogenous fluorescence of α-amylase was inhibited by cyclodextrins. Circular dichroism spectrum indicated that the secondary structure of α-amylase, including α-helices, β-sheets and random coils, was changed by cyclodextrins. All the results in this paper aim to provide a further understanding for α-amylase in the industry application.     

α-Amino acid-derived 2-phenylimidazoles with potential antimycobacterial activity

α-Amino acid-derived 2-phenylimidazole derivatives were designed, synthesized, and further investigated as potential antimycobacterial agents. The synthesis of target imidazole derivatives involved the transformation of Cbz-protected α-amino acids (Ala, Val, Phe, Leu, iLe, and Pro) into α-diazoketones and α-bromoketones, respectively. Subsequent treatment of α-bromoketones with (4-nitro)benzamidine afforded imidazole derivatives bearing α-amino acid residue appended to the imidazole C4 and (4-nitro)phenyl ring in the position C2. Antimycobacterial activities of both series of compounds against M. tuberculosis, M. avium, and M. kansasii were screened and basic structure-activity relationships were further evaluated.      

Synthesis and antitumor activity of 9-methyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin

A novel camptothecin analogue, 9-methyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin （4）, was unexpectedly synthesized from 10-hydroxycamptothecin in two steps. The key step included an efficient Mannich-type reaction. The overall yield was 47.2%. An ether analogue of 4, 9-methyl-10-benzylaminomethoxycamptothecin （5）, was also prepared. These new camptothecin analogues were evaluated for in vitro cytotoxicity against four human cancer cell lines, and exhibited more potent antitumor activities than contrals camptothecin and topotecan against several cancer cells.     

AuPt core–shell nanocatalysts with bulk Pt activity

In the presented work, the evaluation of an unsupported AuPt core–shell catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction is introduced. Applying only basic chemicals in an upscalable synthesis route, it is demonstrated that uniform, flat, and complete Pt layers around a spherical Au core are obtained. The electrocatalytic measurements show that the surface area specific activity of the AuPt core–shell catalyst towards the important oxygen reduction reaction equals the one of polycrystalline bulk Pt. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the unfavorable particle size effect of Pt nanoparticles could be by-passed for a nanoscale catalyst.     

Synthesis and α-amylase inhibitory activity of glucose-deoxynojirimycin conjugates

Inhibitors of α-amylase have attracted attention for their putative effects against diabetes mellitus. Although numerous studies have explored natural small molecule inhibitors, acarbose is currently the only compound with sufficient inhibitory potency and drug-like characteristics to be considered as a potential therapeutic agent. We have synthesized conjugates of the potent glucosidase inhibitor, 1-deoxynojirimycin, and glucose, with the aim of enhancing inhibitory activity against α-amylase. This synthetic conjugate showed increased inhibition of α-amylase compared to 1-deoxynojirimycin alone, suggesting that similar modifications of existing glucosidase inhibitors may yield more potent α-amylase inhibitors.     

Synthesis and NHE1 inhibitory activity of ligustrazine derivatives

A series of novel derivatives of ligustrazine linked with substituted benzoyl guanidine were synthesized. These compounds have not been reported in literature, and their chemical structures were confirmed by IR, 1H NMR and MS. The results of NHE1 inhibitory activity test showed that compounds I2, I3, I4, I6, and I7 possess more potent NHE1 inhibitory activity than cariporide.     

Anticancer β-hairpin peptides: membrane-induced folding triggers activity

Several cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have recently been shown to display anticancer activity via a mechanism that usually entails the disruption of cancer cell membranes. In this work, we designed an 18-residue anticancer peptide, SVS-1, whose mechanism of action is designed to take advantage of the aberrant lipid composition presented on the outer leaflet of cancer cell membranes, which makes the surface of these cells electronegative relative to the surface of noncancerous cells. SVS-1 is designed to remain unfolded and inactive in aqueous solution but to preferentially fold at the surface of cancer cells, adopting an amphiphilic β-hairpin structure capable of membrane disruption. Membrane-induced folding is driven by electrostatic interaction between the peptide and the negatively charged membrane surface of cancer cells. SVS-1 is active against a variety of cancer cell lines such as A549 (lung carcinoma), KB (epidermal carcinoma), MCF-7 (breast carcinoma), and MDA-MB-436 (breast carcinoma). However, the cytotoxicity toward noncancerous cells having typical membrane compositions, such as HUVEC and erythrocytes, is low. CD spectroscopy, appropriately designed peptide controls, cell-based studies, liposome leakage assays, and electron microscopy support the intended mechanism of action, which leads to preferential killing of cancerous cells.     

Dissociation and catalytic activity of oligomer forms of β-galactosidases

The dissociation of oligomer forms of bacterial Escherichia coli, yeast Kluyveromices fragilis, and bovine liver β-galactosidases was studied. The catalytic constants for the dimers and tetramers of the bacterial enzyme, dimers and monomers of the animal enzyme, and dimers of the yeast enzyme in the reaction of hydrolysis of 2-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside were determined. At 25°C, these values were found to be 180 and 400 s^?1 for the bacterial enzyme, 0.01 and 0.08 s^?1 for the bovine liver enzyme, and 45.4 s^?1 for the yeast enzyme, respectively. The other oligomer forms of the β-galactosidases were inactive under conditions of these experiments.     

In vitro biological activity of aromadendrin-4′-methyl ether isolated from root extract of Ventilago madraspatana Gaertn with relevance to anticandidal activity

In this study, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the hexane extract of the root of Ventilago madraspatana were evaluated. Based on the significant bioactivity of crude hexane extract, an active compound was purified from the root extract. The active compound was further purified and identified as aromodendrin-4′-methyl ether by the ¹H NMR spectrum. The isolated compound significantly inhibited Staphylococcus epidermidis with the lowest MIC and MBC at 78 μg/mL (P < 0.05). The compound also exhibited significant anticandidal activity with MIC and MBC values of 312 and 625 μg/mL, respectively. The radical scavenging activity of aromodendrin-4′-methyl ether was evident by its lower IC₅₀ values of 60 μg/mL for DPPH scavenging and 3.2 μg/mL for ABTS scavenging. The compound also exhibited ferrous ion chelation and H₂O₂ scavenging activities. The study is an attempt to increase the industrial utility of V. madrasapatana.     

Antioxidant activity of clove oil – A powerful antioxidant source

The number of methods to measure the antioxidants in botanicals, foods, nutraceuticals and other dietary supplements has increased considerably in the last decade. Clove oil is obtained by distillation of the flowers, stems and leaves of the clove tree. In the present paper, clove oil was evaluated by employing various in vitro antioxidant assay such as α,α-diphenyl-β-picryl-hydrazyl free radical (DPPH) scavenging, 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity determination by ferric thiocyanate, total reducing ability determination by Fe³⁺–Fe²⁺ transformation method, superoxide anion radical scavenging by riboflavin/methionine/illuminate system, hydrogen peroxide scavenging and ferrous ions (Fe²⁺) chelating activities. Clove oil inhibited 97.3% lipid peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion at 15 μg/mL concentration. However, under the same conditions, the standard antioxidant compounds such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), α-tocopherol and trolox demonstrated inhibition of 95.4, 99.7, 84.6 and 95.6% on peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion at 45 μg/mL concentration, respectively. In addition, clove oil had an effective DPPH scavenging, ABTS⁺ scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, ferric ions (Fe³⁺) reducing power and ferrous ions (Fe²⁺) chelating activities. Also, these various antioxidant activities were compared to BHA, BHT, α-tocopherol and trolox as reference antioxidant compounds.     

Time-dependent nanogel aggregation for naked-eye assays of α-amylase activity

This work designs an enzyme-stimulated nanogel aggregation system for the naked-eye assays of α-amylase activity. The visible aggregation of the starch-stabilized CdTe nanogels may be accelerated by α-amylase through its efficient cleavage of glycosidic bonds in the starch network, which has been verified by the evidences from transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering spectra. The required aggregation time, as validated by both the theoretical deduction and the experimental results, is inversely proportional to the enzymatic activity. Therefore a facile method has been proposed for the detection of enzyme activity, with an excellent linear range and a low detection limit. This nanogel-based protocol can be successfully applied in the fast and accurate assays of α-amylase activity in saliva samples with a satisfactory correlation with the standard protocol, suggesting its promising applications in the biomedical and clinical fields, especially in point-of-care testing.     

Synthesis and herbicidal activity evaluation of novel β-carboline derivatives

Based on the original structure of harmine, several novel 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline, β-carboline and 1-substituted-β-carboline derivatives bearing a substituted carbohydrazide group at C-3 were designed and synthesized to investigate the structure-activity relationship of their analogues. All of the compounds were characterized by infrared (IR), proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR), and mass spectroscopy (MS). The bioassay tests showed that N'-benzylidene-1-phenyl-β-carboline-3-carbohydrazide (C(25)H(18)N(4)O, m.w. 390.4) (c2) and N'-(4-trifluoromethyl-benzylidene)-1-phenyl-β-carboline-3-carbohydrazide (C(26)H(17)N(4)OF(3), m.w. 458) (d2) exhibited good inhibitory activity against dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous weeds, with EC(50) values of 4.83 μM and 14.25 μM, respectively.