Assessing the Quality of Burkina Faso Soybeans Based on Fatty Acid Composition and Pesticide Residue Contamination

Soybean is widely used in the food industry because of its high fatty acid and protein content. However, the increased use of pesticides to control pests during cultivation, in addition to being a public health concern, may influence the nutritional quality of soybeans. This study aimed to assess the nutritional quality of soybeans with respect to fatty acid profile and pesticide residue contamination. The levels of fatty acids and pesticides in soybean varieties G196 and G197 were determined by gas chromatography and by the QuEChERS method, respectively. The results showed a significant variation in the quantitative and qualitative fatty acid composition of the two varieties, with 18.03 g/100 g and 4 fatty acids detected for the G196 variety and 21.35 g/100 g and 7 fatty acids for the G197 variety, respectively. In addition, 12 active pesticide compounds were found, and among them, imazalil, quintozene, cyfluthrin and lindane exceeded their maximum limits. The G197 variety had a better nutritional profile compared to G196. The profile of fatty acids and the content of pesticide residues were used as important determinants for soybean utilization in human nutrition.     

New Nucleic Base-Tethered Trithiolato-Bridged Dinuclear Ruthenium(II)-Arene Compounds: Synthesis and Antiparasitic Activity

Aiming toward compounds with improved anti-Toxoplasma activity by exploiting the parasite auxotrophies, a library of nucleobase-tethered trithiolato-bridged dinuclear ruthenium(II)-arene conjugates was synthesized and evaluated. Structural features such as the type of nucleobase and linking unit were progressively modified. For comparison, diruthenium hybrids with other type of molecules were also synthesized and assessed. A total of 37 compounds (diruthenium conjugates and intermediates) were evaluated in a primary screening for in vitro activity against transgenic Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites constitutively expressing β-galactosidase (T. gondii β-gal) at 0.1 and 1 µM. In parallel, the cytotoxicity in non-infected host cells (human foreskin fibroblasts, HFF) was determined by alamarBlue assay. Twenty compounds strongly impairing parasite proliferation with little effect on HFF viability were subjected to T. gondii β-gal half maximal inhibitory concentration determination (IC₅₀) and their toxicity for HFF was assessed at 2.5 µM. Two promising compounds were identified: 14, ester conjugate with 9-(2-oxyethyl)adenine, and 36, a click conjugate bearing a 2-(4-(hydroxymethyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)methyl substituent, with IC₅₀ values of 0.059 and 0.111 µM respectively, significantly lower compared to pyrimethamine standard (IC₅₀ = 0.326 µM). Both 14 and 36 exhibited low toxicity against HFF when applied at 2.5 µM and are candidates for potential treatment options in a suitable in vivo model.     

Unexpected behaviour of tosylated and acetylated imidazolinium salts

Tosylated and acetylated imidazolinium salts revealed an unexpected reactivity when treated with methyl iodide or benzyl bromide. Moreover an unprecedented acid-catalysed rearrangement for an acetylated imidazolinium salt was observed during an anion metathesis.     

Structural and magnetic studies of tetranuclear heterometallic M/Cr (M = Co,Mn) complexes self-assembled from zerovalent cobalt or manganese,Reineckes salt and diethanolamine

Four novel heterometallic complexes [Co₂Cr₂(NCS)₄(HDea)₂(Dea)₂]·4dmf (1), [Co₂Cr₂(NCS)₄(HDea)₂(Dea)₂]·4dmso (2), [Mn₂Cr₂(NCS)₄(HDea)₂(Dea)₂(dmf)₂]·2dmf (3) and [Mn₂Cr₂(NCS)₄(HDea)₂(Dea)₂(dmso)₂]·4dmso (4) have been prepared using zerovalent cobalt (1, 2) or manganese (3, 4), Reineckes salt, ammonium thiocyanate and a non-aqueous solution of diethanolamine (H₂Dea) in air. The single X-ray analysis reveals that all compounds have similar centrosymmetric crystal structures based on a tetranuclear {M₂Cr₂(μ₃-O)₂(μ-O)₄} (M = Co, Mn) core. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements of 1, 2 and 4 show antiferromagnetic coupling between the magnetic centers, while 3 exhibits a ferromagnetic behavior.     

Generations of Monic Polynomials such that the Coefficients of Each Polynomial of the Next Generation Coincide with the Zeros of a Polynomial of the Current Generation,and New Solvable Many-Body Problems

The notion of generations of monic polynomials such that the coefficients of each polynomial of the next generation coincide with the zeros of a polynomial of the current generation is introduced, and its relevance to the identification of endless sequences of new solvable many-body problems “of goldfish type” is demonstrated.     

Surface diffusion of tungsten adatoms induced by low-energy bombardment with He atoms

Using low-temperature field ion microscope techniques, we studied at the atomic level the elementary events of radiation-induced surface diffusion of tungsten adatoms on the ideally pristine surface. The experiments on surface-damage formation and adatom displacements have been performed in situ with a source of neutral helium atoms with an energy of 5?keV. It was demonstrated that the low-energy He atomic bombardment at grazing incidence was able to induce a substantial surface mobility of adatoms. Most of the radiation-induced adatom displacements were oriented along the direction of irradiation. The long impact-induced jumps of adatoms, spanning more than a nearest-neighbor distance, were revealed. Performed molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the general experimental trends and conclusions.     

Alteration of the Axial Met Ligand to Electron Acceptor A0 in Photosystem I: Effect on the Generation of P 700 ·+ A 1 ·− Radical Pairs as Studied by W-band Transient EPR

Photosystem I (PS I) mutants from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 bearing point mutations to the axial ligands of A_0A (M688N_PsaA) and A_0B (M668N_PsaB) were studied by high-field W-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. It was found that the EPR observables of PS I from the M668N_PsaB mutant were virtual identical to that of the wild type (WT), and are clearly distinct from the M688N_PsaA mutant. In particular, the P ₇₀₀ ^·+ decay kinetics in the M688N_PsaA mutant is significantly slower than in the WT or the M668N_PsaB mutant. The analysis of the out-of-phase electron–electron dipolar electron spin echo envelope modulation shows that in the M668N_PsaB mutant, the estimated distance of 26.0 ± 0.3 Å agrees well with the 25.8 Å distance for the P ₇₀₀ ^·+ A _1A ^·? radical pair measured in the X-ray crystal structure. In the M688N_PsaA mutant, two populations are found with estimated distances of 26.0 ± 0.3 and 25.0 ± 0.3 Å in a ratio of 0.7–0.3, which agree well with the 25.8 Å distance for the P ₇₀₀ ^·+ A _1A ^·? radical pair and the 24.6 Å distance for the P ₇₀₀ ^·+ A _1B ^·? radical pair measured in the X-ray crystal structure. The data confirm that under the experimental conditions employed in this work, which involve dark-adapted samples without the pre-reduction of the iron–sulfur clusters, electron transport in cyanobacterial PS I is asymmetrical at 100 K, with the majority of electron transfer taking place through the A-branch of cofactors.     

Optimizing the performance of the multiconfiguration molecular mechanics method

Multiconfiguration molecular mechanics (MCMM) is a general algorithm for constructing potential energy surfaces for reactive systems (Kim, Y.; Corchado, J. C.; Villà, J.; Xing, J.; Truhlar, D. G. J. Chem. Phys. 2000, 112, 2718). This paper illustrates how the performance of the MCMM method can be improved by adopting improved molecular mechanics parameters. We carry out calculations of reaction rate constants using variational transition state theory with optimized multidimensional tunneling on the MCMM PESs for three hydrogen transfer reactions, and we compare the results to direct dynamics. We find that the MCMM method with as little as one electronic structure Hessian can describe the dynamically important regions of the ground-electronic state PES, including the corner-cutting-tunneling region of the reaction swath, with practical accuracy.