Two centrosymmetric dinuclear phenanthroline–copper(II) complexes with 3,5‐dichloro‐2‐hydroxybenzoic acid and 5‐chloro‐2‐hydroxybenzoic acid

The title compounds, bis(μ‐3,5‐dichloro‐2‐oxidobenzoato)‐κ³O¹,O²:O²;κ³O²:O¹,O²‐bis[(3,5‐dichloro‐2‐hydroxybenzoic acid‐κO¹)(1,10‐phenanthroline‐κ²N,N′)copper(II)], [Cu₂(C₇H₂Cl₂O₃)₂(C₇H₄Cl₂O₃)₂(C₁₂H₈N₂)₂], (I), and bis(μ‐5‐chloro‐2‐oxidobenzoato)‐κ³O¹,O²:O¹;κ³O¹:O¹,O²‐bis[(5‐chloro‐2‐hydroxybenzoic acid‐κO¹)(1,10‐phenanthroline‐κ²N,N′)copper(II)] ethanol monosolvate, [Cu₂(C₇H₃ClO₃)₂(C₇H₅ClO₃)₂(C₁₂H₈N₂)₂]·C₂H₆O, (II), contain centrosymmetric dinuclear complex molecules in which Cu²⁺ cations are surrounded by a chelating 1,10‐phenanthroline ligand, a chelating 3,5‐dichloro‐2‐oxidobenzoate or 5‐chloro‐2‐oxidobenzoate anionic ligand and a monodentate 3,5‐dichloro‐2‐hydroxybenzoic acid or 5‐chloro‐2‐hydroxybenzoic acid ligand. The chelating benzoate ligand also bridges to the other Cu²⁺ ion in the molecule, but the O atom involved in the bridge is different in the two complexes, being the phenolate O atom in (I) and a carboxylate O atom in (II). The bridge completes a 4+1+1 axially elongated tetragonal–bipyramidal arrangement about each Cu²⁺ cation. The complex molecules of both compounds are linked into one‐dimensional supramolecular chains through O—H...O hydrogen bonds.     

Biological Activity of an Epilobium angustifolium L. (Fireweed) Infusion after In Vitro Digestion

The biological activity of an in vitro digested infusion of Epilobium angustifolium (fireweed) was examined in a model system of intestinal epithelial and colon cancer tissues. The content of selected phenolic compounds in the digested aqueous extract of fireweed was determined using HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS. Biological activity was examined using the human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines HT-29 and CaCo-2 and the human colon epithelial cell line CCD 841 CoTr. Cytotoxicity was assessed by an MTT assay, a Neutral Red uptake assay, May-Grünwald-Giemsa staining, and a label-free Electric Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing cytotoxicity assay. The effect of the infusion on the growth of selected intestinal bacteria was also examined. The extract inhibited the growth of intestinal cancer cells HT-29. This effect can be attributed to the activity of quercetin and kaempferol, which were the most abundant phenolic compounds found in the extract after in vitro digestion. The cytotoxicity of the fireweed infusion was dose-dependent. The highest decrease in proliferation (by almost 80%) compared to the control was observed in HT-29 line treated with the extract at a concentration of 250 μg/mL. The fireweed infusion did not affect the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria, but it did significantly inhibit E. coli. The cytotoxic effect of the fireweed extract indicates that it does not lose its biological activity after in vitro digestion. It can be concluded that the fireweed infusion has the potential to be used as a supporting agent in colon cancer therapy.     

Reevaluation of the kinetics of polynuclear mimics for manganese catalases

Considerable effort has been expended in order to understand the mechanism of manganese catalases and to develop functional mimics for these enzymes. For many years, the most efficient reactivity mimic was [MnIVsalpn(mu-O)]2 [H2salpn = 1,3-bis(salicylideneiminato)propane], a compound that cycles between the MnIV2 and MnIII2 oxidation levels instead of the MnII2 and MnIII2 oxidation states used by the enzyme, with kcat = 250 s(-1) and kcat/KM = 1000 M(-1) s(-1). Recently, a truly exceptional high value of kcat was reported for the complex [Mn(bpia)(mu-OAc)]22+ [bpia = bis(picolyl)(N-methylimidazol-2-yl)amine]. On the basis of a calculated kcat value of 1100 s(-1) and an efficiency kcat/KM of 34 000 M(-1) s(-1), this complex has been suggested to represent a significant breakthrough in catalytic efficiencies of manganese catalase mimics. However, a plot of ri/[cat]T vs [H2O2]0, where the saturation value approaches 1.5 s(-1), is inconsistent with the 1100 s(-1) value tabulated for kcat. Similar discrepancies are observed for two other families of manganese complexes containing either a Mn2(mu-OPh)22+ core and different substituted tripodal ligands or complexes of methyl and ethyl salicylimidate, with an Mn2(mu-OPh)24+ core. Reevaluation of the kinetic parameters for these three systems reveals that the originally reported values were overestimated by a factor of approximately 1000 for both kcat and kcat/KM. We discuss the origin of the discrepancy between the previously published kinetic parameters and the newly derived values. Furthermore, we provide a short analysis of the existing manganese catalase mimics in an effort to provide sound directions for future investigations in this field.     

Obesity and Energy Substrate Transporters in Ovarian Cancer—Review

Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women. It is characterized by a high mortality rate because of its aggressiveness and advanced stage at the time of diagnosis. It is a nonhomogenous group of neoplasms and, of which the molecular basics are still being investigated. Nowadays, the golden standard in the treatment is debulking cytoreductive surgery combined with platinum-based chemotherapy. We have presented the interactions and the resulting perspectives between fatty acid transporters, glucose transporters and ovarian cancer cells. Studies have shown the association between a lipid-rich environment and cancer progression, which suggests the use of correspondent transporter inhibitors as promising chemotherapeutic agents. This review summarizes preclinical and clinical studies highlighting the role of fatty acid transport proteins and glucose transporters in development, growth, metastasizing and its potential use in targeted therapies of ovarian cancer.     

Characterization of Mint Essential Oils by High-performance Liquid Chromatography and Chemometrics

The raw material from Mentha piperita L, M. arvensis L, M. longifolia L, M. spicata, and M. suaveolens from various locations were extracted using steam distillation to obtain the mint essential oils. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to obtain fingerprints of the mint samples. SpecAlign, Savitzky–Golay, recursive alignment by fast Fourier transform, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and principal component analysis were used to characterize the chromatograms. The results were used to confirm the similarities of M. longifolia collected in Ostrowsko, Poland in 2013 and 2014. The considerable similarity of these M. longifolia samples demonstrates that the reported chemometric approach is suitable for the classification of plant materials.     

Physicochemical study of spiropyran-terthiophene derivatives: photochemistry and thermodynamics

The photochemistry and thermodynamics of two terthiophene (TTh) derivatives bearing benzospiropyran (BSP) moieties, 1-(3,3″-dimethylindoline-6'-nitrobenzospiropyranyl)-2-ethyl 4,4″-didecyloxy-2,2':5',2″-terthiophene-3'-acetate (BSP-2) and 1-(3,3″-dimethylindoline-6'-nitrobenzospiropyranyl)-2-ethyl 4,4″-didecyloxy-2,2':5',2″-terthiophene-3'-carboxylate (BSP-3), differing only by a single methylene spacer unit, have been studied. The kinetics of photogeneration of the equivalent merocyanine (MC) isomers (MC-2 and MC-3, respectively), the isomerisation properties of MC-2 and MC-3, and the thermodynamic parameters have been studied in acetonitrile, and compared to the parent, non-TTh-functionalised, benzospiropyran derivative, BSP-1. Despite the close structural similarity of BSP-2 and BSP-3, their physicochemical properties were found to differ significantly; examples include activation energies (E(a(MC-2)) = 75.05 kJ mol(-1), E(a(MC-3)) = 100.39 kJ mol(-1)) and entropies of activation (ΔS = 43.38 J K(-1) mol(-1), ΔS = 37.78 J K(-1) mol(-1)) for the thermal relaxation from MC to BSP, with the MC-3 value much closer to the unmodified MC-1 value (46.48 J K(-1) mol(-1)) for this latter quantity. The thermal relaxation kinetics and solvatochromic behaviour of the derivatives in a range of solvents of differing polarity (ethanol, dichloromethane, acetone, toluene and diethyl ether) are also presented. Differences in the estimated values of these thermodynamic and kinetic parameters are discussed with reference to the molecular structure of the derivatives.     

Solving Nonlinear p-Adic Pseudo-differential Equations: Combining the Wavelet Basis with the Schauder Fixed Point Theorem

We consider the pointwise convergence problem for the solution of Schrödinger-type equations along directions determined by a given compact subset of the real line. This problem contains Carleson’s problem as the simplest case and was studied in general by Cho et al. We extend their result from the case of the classical Schrödinger equation to a class of equations which includes the fractional Schrödinger equations. To achieve this, we significantly simplify their proof by completely avoiding a time localization argument.     

Investigation of antibacterial and cytotoxic potential of phenolics derived from Cistus incanus L. by means of thin-layer chromatography-direct bioautography and cytotoxicity assay

Cistus incanus L. (hairy rockrose) is a medicinal plant which belongs to the Cistaceae family and the Cistus genus, with a well established position in traditional medicine of the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. It was the aim of this study to compare antibacterial activity of the phenolics derived from fourteen C. incanus samples of different origin (Turkey, Albania, Greece, and an unknown geographical location) obtained as herbal teas from a local market of diet supplements. This activity was assessed with the use of thin-layer chromatography–direct bioautography (TLC-DB) applied to crude extracts against the Gram negative naturally luminescent marine bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri and the Gram positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis as the test microorganisms. It was established that in spite of different origin of the investigated herbal samples, in qualitative terms their antibacterial activity was closely comparable and more strongly pronounced against the Gram positive than the Gram negative bacterium. Crude extract originating from one herbal specimen labelled A3 (sample no. 3 from Albania) underwent selective multi-step extraction of the phenolics, dividing them into six fractions (I to VI) that expectedly contain flavonoid aglycons, free phenolic acids, non-polar flavonoid glycosides, polar flavonoid glycosides, and phenolic acids obtained through the acidic and basic hydrolysis from the respective glycosides. Antibacterial activity of each A3 fraction was then assessed with the use of the same TLC-DB approach and it was established that the strongest effect was exerted by fractions I and II (flavonoid aglycons and free phenolic acids). Moreover, cytotoxic assay was performed for the crude C. incanus extracts against the human colon adenocarcinoma cells and a moderate yet well measurable cytotoxic effect was observed with all investigated C. incanus samples. In analogy to antibacterial activity, also in this case cytotoxic potential of all investigated crude C. incanus extracts was similar.