Metal adsorption of gamma-irradiated carboxymethyl cellulose/polyethylene oxide blend films

Blend films of different ratios of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/polyethylene oxide (PEO) were prepared by the solution casting method. To investigate the effect of irradiation on all properties of prepared blend, it was exposed to different gamma irradiation doses (10, 20, and 30?kGy). Physical properties such as gel fraction (GF) (%) and swelling (SW) (%) were investigated. It was found that the GF (%) increases with increasing irradiation dose up to 20?kGy, while SW (%) decreases with an increase in the irradiation doses for all blend compositions. Moreover, the structural and mechanical properties of the prepared films were studied. The results of the mechanical properties obtained showed that there is an improvement in these properties with an increase in both CMC and irradiation dose up to 20?kGy. The efficiency of metal ions uptake was measured using a UV spectrophotometer. The prepared films showed good tendency to absorb and release metal ions from aqueous media. Thus, the CMC/PEO film can be used in agricultural domain.     

Pharmacokinetic properties of N‐nitrosofenfluramine after its administration to rats

N‐Nitrosofenfluramine (N‐Fen), a synthetic adulterant in Chinese herbal diet products, is believed to cause hepatotoxicity in people who use these products. N‐Fen is a relatively new compound, and thus pharmacological and toxicological studies are insufficient. The aim of this work was to (1) define N‐Fen's plasma pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution after single intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of 25 mg/kg to rats; (2) define its bioavailability; and (3) identify fenfluramine (Fen) and norfenfluramine (Norf) as N‐Fen metabolites. N‐Fen rapidly appeared in the circulation and was distributed to all tissues. Norf was found to be the primary metabolite and not Fen. Plasma and tissue levels of N‐Fen and Norf were low with bioavailability of N‐Fen after i.p. administration was <3%. The AUC_0−t of N‐Fen in the liver and kidney were 6.6 and 12.1 times, respectively, greater than the brain, and 17.8 and 32.6 times, respectively, greater than the plasma. In conclusion, N‐Fen did not show local accumulation in the liver, the site of toxicity, with concentrations represented as percentage of the total dose ranginng from 0.008 to 0.122%; hence the cause of hepatotoxicity could be related to the mechanisms other than toxicity consequences accumulation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MnO2纳米粒子固载纤维素酶用于高效水解农业废弃物制备生物乙醇

纤维素酶是一种有效的纤维质类物质水解催化剂,工业应用时可通过固定化纤维素酶来降低其成本。本文将烟曲霉原变种JCF产生的纤维素酶固定在MnO2纳米颗粒上。 MnO2可提高纤维素酶的活性,并充当一个更好的载体。采用扫描电镜表征了所制MnO2纳米粒子及其负载纤维素酶的表面性质,以傅里叶变换红外光谱分析了固定在MnO2纳米粒子上纤维素酶的官能团性质。纤维素酶在MnO2纳米粒子上最大的固定化效率为75%。考察了固定化纤维素酶的活性、操作pH值、温度、热稳定性和重复使用性等性质。结果表明,所制固定化酶的稳定性比游离酶更高。固定于MnO2纳米粒子上的纤维素酶可用于纤维质类物质的水解反应,且能在较宽的温度和pH值范围内使用。表征结果证实了该催化剂具有非常高的催化纤维素类物质水解的活性。     

Probing the transition from hydrophilic to hydrophobic solvation with atomic scale resolution

Picosecond and femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used to probe the changes of the solvent shell structure upon electron abstraction of aqueous iodide using an ultrashort laser pulse. The transient L(1,3) edge EXAFS at 50 ps time delay points to the formation of an expanded water cavity around the iodine atom, in good agreement with classical and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. These also show that while the hydrogen atoms pointed toward iodide, they predominantly point toward the bulk solvent in the case of iodine, suggesting a hydrophobic behavior. This is further confirmed by quantum chemical (QC) calculations of I(-)/I(0)(H(2)O)(n=1-4) clusters. The L(1) edge sub-picosecond spectra point to the existence of a transient species that is not present at 50 ps. The QC calculations and the QM/MM MD simulations identify this transient species as an I(0)(OH(2)) complex inside the cavity. The simulations show that upon electron abstraction most of the water molecules move away from iodine, while one comes closer to form the complex that lives for 3-4 ps. This time is governed by the reorganization of the main solvation shell, basically the time it takes for the water molecules to reform an H-bond network. Only then is the interaction with the solvation shell strong enough to pull the water molecule of the complex toward the bulk solvent. Overall, much of the behavior at early times is determined by the reorientational dynamics of water molecules and the formation of a complete network of hydrogen bonded molecules in the first solvation shell.     

In vitro antiperoxidative, free radical scavenging and xanthine oxidase inhibitory potentials of ethyl acetate fraction of Saraca ashoka flowers

Saraca ashoka is a widely used medicinal herb claimed to cure many diseases. This study investigated the antiperoxidative, free radical scavenging and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory potential of the ethyl acetate fraction of S. ashoka flowers (SAF) and compared it with standard compounds like gallic acid, ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxyl toluene and allopurinol. The ethyl acetate fraction of SAF exhibited free radical scavenging activity against the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical and superoxide radical, along with hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. Lipid peroxidation inhibitory potential of SAF was studied using a linoleic acid emulsion system, which shows significant antioxidant potential. SAF also demonstrated significant XO (key enzyme linked to inflammation) inhibitory activity, which revealed its therapeutic potential as an antioxidant and XO inhibitor. HPLC profiling of the ethyl acetate fraction of SAF revealed that it contains ellagic acid as a major compound and thus the beneficial effects of this fraction may be due to the presence of this compound.     

Docking-based comparative intermolecular contacts analysis as new 3-D QSAR concept for validating docking studies and in silico screening: NMT and GP inhibitors as case studies

The significant role played by docking algorithms in drug discovery combined with their serious pitfalls prompted us to envisage a novel concept for validating docking solutions, namely, docking-based comparative intermolecular contacts analysis (dbCICA). This novel approach is based on the number and quality of contacts between docked ligands and amino acid residues within the binding pocket. It assesses a particular docking configuration on the basis of its ability to align a set of ligands within a corresponding binding pocket in such a way that potent ligands come into contact with binding site spots distinct from those approached by low-affinity ligands and vice versa. In other words, dbCICA evaluates the consistency of docking by assessing the correlation between ligands' affinities and their contacts with binding site spots. Optimal dbCICA models can be translated into valid pharmacophore models that can be used as 3-D search queries to mine structural databases for new bioactive compounds. dbCICA was implemented to search for new inhibitors of candida N-myristoyl transferase as potential antifungal agents and glycogen phosphorylase (GP) inhibitors as potential antidiabetic agents. The process culminated in five selective micromolar antifungal leads and nine GP inhibitory leads.     

Chemical and nanomechanical analysis of rice husk modified by ATRP-grafted oligomer

Rice husk (RH), an abundant agricultural residue, was reacted with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide, to convert it to a heterogeneous polyfunctional macroinitiator for Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). The number of active sites placed on the RH surface was small, but they were ATRP active. Non-polar methyl methacrylate (MMA) and polar acrylonitrile (AN) were polymerized from the RH, and a sequential monomer addition was used to prepare an amphiphilic PMMA-b-PAN copolymer on RH surface. FTIR qualitatively confirmed the grafting. Gravimetric and XPS analysis of the different RH surface compositions indicated thin layers of oligomeric PMMA, PAN, and PMMA-b-PAN. The modified surfaces were mapped by nanomechanical AFM to measure surface roughness, and adhesion and moduli using the Derjaguin-Muller-Toropov model. RH grafted with MMA possessed a roughness value of 7.92, and a hard and weakly adhering surface (13.1 GPa and 16.7 nN respectively) while RH grafted with AN yielded a roughness value of 29 with hardness and adhesion values of 4.0 GPa and 23.5 nN. The PMMA-b-PAN modification afforded a surface with a roughness value of 51.5 nm, with hardness and adhesion values of 3.0 GPa and 75.3 nN.     

Receptor design and extraction of inorganic fluoride ion from aqueous medium

A receptor with acidic methylene hydrogens is found to act as an efficient binding mode for F(-). This reagent could as well be used for selective and quantitative extraction of F(-) from the aqueous solution of NaF and sea water.