Chemical, antioxidant and antimicrobial investigations of Pinus cembra L. bark and needles

The chemical constituents and biological activity of Pinus cembra L. (Pinaceae), native to the Central European Alps and the Carpathian Mountains, are not well known. The aim of the present work was to examine the phenolic content, antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of hydromethanolic extracts of Pinus cembra L. bark and needles. Bark extract had higher concentrations of total phenolics (299.3 vs. 78.22 mg gallic acid equivalents/g extract), flavonoids (125.3 vs. 19.84 mg catechin equivalents/g extract) and proanthocyanidins (74.3 vs. 12.7 mg cyanidin equivalents/g extract) than needle extract and was more active as a free radical scavenger, reducing agent and antimicrobial agent. The EC?? values in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) and reducing power assays were 71.1, 6.3 and 26 mg/mL for bark extract and 186.1, 24 and 104 mg/mL for needle extract, respectively. In addition, needle extract showed ferrous ions chelating effects (EC?? = 1,755 μg/mL). The antimicrobial effects against Staphylococcus aureus, Sarcina lutea, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans were assessed by the agar diffusion method. Both extracts (4 mg/well) were active against all the microorganisms tested; bark extract showed higher inhibition on all strains. These results indicate that Pinus cembra L. bark and needles are good sources of phytochemicals with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.     

Artificial transfer hydrogenases based on the biotin-(strept)avidin technology: fine tuning the selectivity by saturation mutagenesis of the host protein

Incorporation of biotinylated racemic three-legged d6-piano stool complexes in streptavidin yields enantioselective transfer hydrogenation artificial metalloenzymes for the reduction of ketones. Having identified the most promising organometallic catalyst precursors in the presence of wild-type streptavidin, fine-tuning of the selectivity is achieved by saturation mutagenesis at position S112. This choice for the genetic optimization site is suggested by docking studies which reveal that this position lies closest to the biotinylated metal upon incorporation into streptavidin. For aromatic ketones, the reaction proceeds smoothly to afford the corresponding enantioenriched alcohols in up to 97% ee (R) or 70% (S). On the basis of these results, we suggest that the enantioselection is mostly dictated by CH/pi interactions between the substrate and the eta6-bound arene. However, these enantiodiscriminating interactions can be outweighed in the presence of cationic residues at position S112 to afford the opposite enantiomers of the product.     

Enhancing the Water Splitting Efficiency of Sn‐Doped Hematite Nanoflakes by Flame Annealing

The effect of flame annealing on the water‐splitting properties of Sn decorated hematite (α‐Fe₂O₃) nanoflakes has been investigated. It is shown that flame annealing can yield a considerable enhancement in the maximum photocurrent under AM 1.5 (100 mW cm^?2) conditions compared to classic furnace annealing treatments. Optimizing the annealing time (10 s at 1000 °C) leads to a photocurrent of 1.1 mA cm^?2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE) with a maximum value 1.6 mA cm^?2 at 1.6 V (vs. RHE) in 1 M KOH. The improvement in photocurrent can be attributed to the fast direct heating that maintains the nanoscale morphology, leads to optimized Sn decoration, and minimizes detrimental substrate effects.     

Synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity of Some New N‐substituted‐5‐arylidene‐thiazolidine‐2,4‐diones

A total of 17 new N‐substituted derivatives ( 2b , 2c , 2d , 2e , 2f , 2g , 2h , 2i , 2j , 2k and 3b , 3c , 3d , 3e , 3f , 3g , 3h ) of 5‐((2‐phenylthiazol‐4‐yl)methylene) thiazolidine‐2,4‐dione ( 2a ) and 5‐(2,6‐dichloro‐ benzylidene)thiazolidine‐2,4‐dione ( 3a ) were synthesized. The structural elucidation of the newly synthesized compounds was based on elemental analysis and spectroscopic data (MS, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR), and their antimicrobial activities were assessed in vitro against several strains of Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria and one fungal strain (Candida albicans) as growth inhibition diameter. Some of them showed modest to good antibacterial activity against Gram‐negative Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium and Gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Enterococcus fecalis bacterial strains, whereas almost all the compounds were inactive against Listeria monocytogenes. All of the synthesized compounds showed moderate to very good activity against C. albicans.     

Electrochemical detection and removal of pharmaceuticals in waste waters

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