Pharmacological Potential and Chemical Composition of Crocus sativus Leaf Extracts

Crocus sativus L. (saffron) has been traditionally used as a food coloring or flavoring agent, but recent research has shown its potent pharmacological activity to tackle several health-related conditions. Crocus sp. leaves, and petals are the by-products of saffron production and are not usually used in the medicine or food industries. The present study was designed to determine the chemical composition of the water and ethanolic extracts of C. sativus leaves and test their cytotoxic activity against melanoma (IGR39) and triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines by MTT assay. We also determined their anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral activities. HPLC fingerprint analysis showed the presence of 16 compounds, including hydroxycinnamic acids, xanthones, flavonoids, and isoflavonoids, which could contribute to the extracts’ biological activities. For the first time, compounds such as tectoridin, iristectorigenin B, nigricin, and irigenin were identified in Crocus leaf extracts. The results showed that mangiferin (up to 2 mg/g dry weight) and isoorientin (8.5 mg/g dry weight) were the major active ingredients in the leaf extracts. The ethanolic extract reduced the viability of IGR39 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cells with EC₅₀ = 410 ± 100 and 330 ± 40 µg/mL, respectively. It was more active than the aqueous extract. Kaempferol and quercetin were identified as the most active compounds. Our results showed that Crocus leaves contain secondary metabolites with potent cytotoxic and antioxidant activities.     

Dynamic covalent chemistry in live cells for organelle targeting and enhanced photodynamic action

Organelle-specific targeting enables increasing the therapeutic index of drugs and localizing probes for better visualization of cellular processes. Current targeting strategies require conjugation of a molecule of interest with organelle-targeting ligands. Here, we propose a concept of dynamic covalent targeting of organelles where the molecule is conjugated with its ligand directly inside live cells through a dynamic covalent bond. For this purpose, we prepared a series of organelle-targeting ligands with a hydrazide residue for reacting with dyes and drugs bearing a ketone group. We show that dynamic hydrazone bond can be formed between these hydrazide ligands and a ketone-functionalized Nile Red dye (NRK) in situ in model lipid membranes or nanoemulsion droplets. Fluorescence imaging in live cells reveals that the targeting hydrazide ligands can induce preferential localization of NRK dye and an anti-cancer drug doxorubicin in plasma membranes, mitochondria and lipid droplets. Thus, with help of the dynamic covalent targeting, it becomes possible to direct a given bioactive molecule to any desired organelle inside the cell without its initial functionalization by the targeting ligand. Localizing the same NRK dye in different organelles by the hydrazide ligands is found to affect drastically its photodynamic activity, with the most pronounced phototoxic effects in mitochondria and plasma membranes. The capacity of this approach to tune biological activity of molecules can improve efficacy of drugs and help to understand better their intracellular mechanisms.

We introduce a concept of dynamic covalent targeting of organelles, where a dye/drug molecule is conjugated with its targeting ligand inside live cells by a reversible hydrazone bond, revealing organelle-dependent photodynamic action.     

Self-assembly of colloidal cubes via vertical deposition

The vertical deposition technique for creating crystalline microstructures is applied for the first time to nonspherical colloids in the form of hollow silica cubes. Controlled deposition of the cubes results in large crystalline films with variable symmetry. The microstructures are characterized in detail with scanning electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. In single layers of cubes, distorted square to hexagonal ordered arrays are formed. For multilayered crystals, the intralayer ordering is predominantly hexagonal with a hollow site stacking, similar to that of the face centered cubic lattice for spheres. Additionally, a distorted square arrangement in the layers is also found to form under certain conditions. These crystalline films are promising for various applications such as photonic materials.     

Bis(methanol‐κO)dioxido[3,3′‐(1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐3,5‐diyl)diphenolato‐κ3O,N4,O′]uranium(VI) methanol monosolvate

The structure of the title compound, [U(C₁₄H₉N₃O₂)O₂(CH₃OH)₂]·CH₃OH, is the first to be reported for an actinide complex including triazole ligands. The U^VI atom exhibits a pentagonal–bipyramidal NO₆ coordination environment, involving two axial oxide ligands [U=O = 1.766 (3) and 1.789 (3) Å], four equatorial O atoms [U—O = 2.269 (3)–2.448 (3) Å] from the ligand and the two coordinated methanol molecules, and one equatorial N atom [U—N = 2.513 (4) Å] from the ligand. In the crystal structure, the complex molecules are linked via intermolecular N—H...O and O—H...O hydrogen bonds to form a two‐dimensional structure.     

Review of AdS/CFT Integrability, Chapter III.3: The Dressing Factor

We review the construction of the AdS/CFT dressing factor, its analytic properties, and several checks of its validity.     

Rejuvenation,Aging, and Confinement Effects in Atactic‐Polystyrene Films Subjected to Oscillatory Shear

Molecular‐dynamics simulations of 5 nm‐thick atactic‐polystyrene films have been used to study the influence of cyclic‐shear deformation on the stress–strain behavior and local segmental mobility. Upon cyclic yield the stress–strain behavior of the films slowly evolves towards a steady state which is characterized by a decrease of the maximum stress and by an enhanced dissipative process. Immediately after plastic deformation the storage modulus is decreased and the loss modulus is increased as compared with their initial values. Such changes in the viscoelastic moduli reflect the mechanical rejuvenation of a polymer glass. This mechanical rejuvenation of polymers is connected to the increase in the simulated segmental mobility, which is calculated for the entire film as well as in different layers.

     

A universal nucleoside with strong two-band switchable fluorescence and sensitivity to the environment for investigating DNA interactions

With the aim of developing a new tool to investigate DNA interactions, a nucleoside analogue incorporating a 3-hydroxychromone (3HC) fluorophore as a nucleobase mimic was synthesized and incorporated into oligonucleotide chains. In comparison with existing fluorescent nucleoside analogues, this dye features exceptional environmental sensitivity switching between two well-resolved fluorescence bands. In labeled DNA, this nucleoside analogue does not alter the duplex conformation and exhibits a high fluorescence quantum yield. This probe is up to 50-fold brighter than 2-aminopurine, the fluorescent nucleoside standard. Moreover, the dual emission is highly sensitive to the polarity of the environment; thus, a strong shielding effect of the flanking bases from water was observed. With this nucleoside, the effect of a viral chaperone protein on DNA base stacking was site-selectively monitored.     

2,3-unsubstituted chromones and their enaminone precursors as versatile reagents for the synthesis of fused pyridines

A divergent and regioselective approach to fused pyridines was developed through formal [3 + 3] cyclocondensations from simple 2,3-unsubstituted chromones or their enaminone precursors.     

Algebras of twisted chiral differential operators and affine localization of {\mathfrak {g}} -modules

We propose a notion of algebra of twisted chiral differential operators over algebraic manifolds with vanishing 1st Pontrjagin class. We show that such algebras possess families of modules depending on infinitely many complex parameters, which we classify in terms of the corresponding algebra of twisted differential operators. If the underlying manifold is a flag manifold, our construction recovers modules over an affine Lie algebra parameterized by opers over the Langlands dual Lie algebra. The spaces of global sections of “smallest” such modules are irreducible [^(\mathfrakg)]{{\hat{{\mathfrak{g}}}}} -modules, and all irreducible \mathfrakg{{\mathfrak{g}}} -integrable [^(\mathfrakg)]{{\hat{{\mathfrak{g}}}}} -modules at the critical level arise in this way.     

Synthesis of azabicyclo[n.1.0]alkane-derived bifunctional building blocks via the Corey–Chaykovsky cyclopropanation

An efficient approach towards the synthesis of monoprotected azabicyclo[5.1.0]octane-derived conformationally restricted γ-amino acids and diamines is reported. Optimization of the conditions for the key Corey–Chaykovsky reaction allowed the construction of two isomeric methanoazepane frameworks on a multigram scale in 55–65% yield. Additionally, the developed approach was used in the three-step synthesis of 3,4-methano-β-proline and its diamine derivatives.