Yield,Characterization, and Possible Exploitation of Cannabis Sativa L. Roots Grown under Aeroponics Cultivation

Cannabis sativa L. has been used for a long time to obtain food, fiber, and as a medicinal and psychoactive plant. Today, the nutraceutical potential of C. sativa is being increasingly reappraised; however, C. sativa roots remain poorly studied, despite citations in the scientific literature. In this direction, we identified and quantified the presence of valuable bioactives (namely, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, friedelin, and epi-friedelanol) in the root extracts of C. sativa, a finding which might pave the way to the exploitation of the therapeutic potential of all parts of the C. sativa plant. To facilitate root harvesting and processing, aeroponic (AP) and aeroponic-elicited cultures (AEP) were established and compared to soil-cultivated plants (SP). Interestingly, considerably increased plant growth—particularly of the roots—and a significant increase (up to 20-fold in the case of β-sitosterol) in the total content of the aforementioned roots’ bioactive molecules were observed in AP and AEP. In conclusion, aeroponics, an easy, standardized, contaminant-free cultivation technique, facilitates the harvesting/processing of roots along with a greater production of their secondary bioactive metabolites, which could be utilized in the formulation of health-promoting and health-care products.     

Controlling the self-assembly of a deoxiguaninosine on mica

We report a tapping mode scanning force microscopy investigation on the growth from solutions of a lipophilic deoxiguanosine derivative on the basal plane of a muscovite mica surface. By varying the chemical composition of the substrate surface it is possible to drive the self-assembly towards either layered thin films, which are very likely to consist of guanosine quartets, or nanoribbons, comprising hydrogen bonded networks. Both these two architectures, which are peculiar to the guanine base itself, are of notable importance for the fabrication of molecular nanowires. Moreover, the first arrangement provides evidence that the guanosine is able to behave as ionophore, thus, suggesting its utilization in the development of solid-state ion selective sensors.     

Synthesis of 1-(4-substituted)benzyl-6-hydroxyisoquinolines with potential activity on NA+,K+-atpase

The synthesis of 1-(4-substituted)benzyl-6-hydroxyisoquinolines, to be evaluated in the displacement of the specific ³H-ouabain binding to Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase, is described. The key step involved a cyclization to the isoquinoline ring under Pictet-Gams conditions which was best performed with the 6-hydroxy group protected as the benzyl ether. When an unsaturated ester group was present in position 4 of the 1-benzyl group, this was best introduced before the cyclization step, since the IIeck reaction on 1-(4-bromobenzyl)-6-hydroxyisoquinoline ( 8 ) with acrylic acid derivatives was not successful in all cases.     

Dynamics of alkoxy-oligothiophene ground and excited states in nanochannels

Two oligothiophenes, 4,4'-dipentoxy-2,2'-dithiophene and 4,4"-dipentoxy-2,2':5',2":5",2' '-tetrathiophene, have been included in the nanochannels of the autoassembling host TPP (tris-o-phenylenedioxycyclotriphosphazene). The effect of the confinement on the structure and properties of the two dyes, as conformational arrangements, dynamics, and photophysical behavior, was addressed by the combination of high spinning speed solid-state NMR and time-resolved EPR spectroscopy. We compared the conformations of the dyes in their ground and photoexcited triplet states and described in detail the dynamics of the supramolecular adducts from 4 K to room temperature. Above 200 K surprisingly fast spinning rates of the dithiophene core were discovered, while the side chains show far slower reorientation motion, being in bulky gauche-rich conformations. These lateral plugs keep the planar core as appended in the space like a nanoscale gyroscope, allowing a reorientation in the motion regime of liquids and a long triplet lifetime at unusually high temperature. The nuclear magnetic properties of the guest dyes are also largely affected by the aromatic rings of the neighboring host, imparting an impressive magnetic susceptibility effect (2 ppm proton shift). The high mobility is due to the formation of a nanocage in a channel where aliphatic and aromatic functions isolate the thiophene moieties. Instead, two conformers of the tetrathiophene twisted on the central bond are stabilized by interaction with the host. They interconvert fast enough to be averaged in the NMR time scale.     

Physicochemical characterization of acrylamide/bisacrylamide hydrogels and their application for the conservation of easel paintings

Acrylamide chemical gels have been synthesized to obtain systems with mechanic and hydrophilic properties suitable for the cleaning of works of art. The gel characteristics were tailored by changing the polymer percentage present in the final hydrogel formulation from 2 to 10% w/w. Two different hydrogels have been selected in this interval for an in depth characterization (i.e., S 4% w/w and H 6% w/w). Water retention properties of the gels along with the free water index have been determined by the combination of standard dehydration tests and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. The gels' structure has been determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The water retention capacity of hydrogel, H, was also determined. Cleaning tests on easel painting replicas, performed with both hydrogels loaded with an aqueous detergent system, showed good results in the removal of a widely used synthetic adhesive and hence offered these gels as a real alternative to the widely applied physical gel methodology with the advantage of being a residue-free technique. A preliminary SAXS investigation confirms the persistence of the detergent system nanostructure inside the hydrogel.     

Hydration process of cement in the presence of a cellulosic additive. A calorimetric investigation

In the cement industry, the extrusion technique is used to produce flat shapes with improved resistance to compression. Extrusion is a plastic-forming process that consists of forcing a highly viscous plastic mixture through a shaped die. The material should be fluid enough to be mixed and to pass through the die, and on the other hand, the extruded specimen should be stiff enough to be handled without changing in shape or cracking. These characteristics are industrially obtained by adding cellulosic polymers to the mixture. The aim of this work is to understand the action mechanism of these additives on the major pure phases constituting a typical Portland cement: tricalcium silicate (C(3)S), dicalcium silicate (C(2)S), tricalcium aluminate (C(3)A), and tetracalcium iron-aluminate (C(4)AF). In particular, a methylhydroxyethyl cellulose (MHEC) was selected from the best-performing polymers for further study. The effect of this additive on the hydration kinetics (rate constants, activation energies, and diffusional constants) was evaluated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) while the hydration products were studied by using thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). MHEC addition in calcium silicate pastes produces an increase in the induction time without affecting the nucleation-and-growth period. A less dense CSH gel was deduced from the diffusional constants in the presence of MHEC. Moreover, CSH laminar features and poorly structured hydrates were noted during the first hours of hydration. In the case of the aluminous phases, the additive inhibits the growth of stable cubic hydrated phases (C(3)AH(6)), with the advantage of the metastable hexagonal phases being formed in the earliest minutes of hydration.     

Binding free energy predictions in host-guest systems using Autodock4. A retrospective analysis on SAMPL6, SAMPL7 and SAMPL8 challenges

Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design - We systematically tested the Autodock4 docking program for absolute binding free energy predictions using the host-guest systems from the recent SAMPL6,...     

Thermal reactions of tributyltin hydride with alpha-azido esters: unexpected intervention of tin triazene adducts under both nonradical and radical conditions

Thermal reaction of various alpha-azido esters with Bu(3)SnH in refluxing benzene results in smooth production of 3-(tributylstannyl)-1-triazene adducts affording cyclized 1,2,3-triazol-4-ones in preference to reduced amines and thence provides a new useful method for the preparation of these triazole derivatives. In the presence of AIBN the occurrence of triazene products still remains important or even exclusive and, consequently, generation of the expected stannylaminyl radicals is seriously limited. With 2-azidomalonates and alpha-azido-beta-keto esters stannyltriazenes can similarly occur in the absence of the radical initiator, but in the latter cases the ensuing triazenes undergo preferential cyclization onto the ketone moiety to give reactive hydroxytriazolines. Contrary to alpha-azido esters, in the presence of AIBN alpha-azido-beta-keto esters as well as azidomalonates give rise only to the usual stannylaminyl radicals. A possible explanation for the different behavior of the mono- and dicarbonyl azides in the presence of AIBN is put forward.     

Interaction of Naproxen with Crystalline and Amorphous Methylated β-Cyclodextrin in the Liquid and Solid State

Abstract

Interactions of naproxen (NAP) with amorphous, randomly methylated β-cyclodextrin at a degree of substitution per anhydroglucose unit of 1.8 (RAMEB) and with crystalline heptakis-(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (DIMEB) were studied in aqueous solution and in the solid state using, respectively, phase-solubility analysis (at 25 °C, 37 °C and 47 °C) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) supported by X-ray powder diffractometry. RAMEB and DIMEB displayed similar solubilizing and complexing abilities towards NAP, suggesting analogous inclusion modes of the drug in the host cavity in aqueous solution. Differences were instead observed in interactions in the solid state, where the amorphizing capacity of RAMEB toward NAP (evaluated by DSC) was about twice that of DIMEB at each drug-to-carrier ratio. Assuming that inclusion complexation is also involved in solid-state interactions, molecular modelling accounted for the experimental results in terms of structural features of DIMEB, i.e. the particular inwards orientation of O-6-C-8 groups of three alternate glucoses on the primary hydroxyl side which hampers a deep penetration of NAP in the DIMEB cavity in the solid state. On the contrary, no obstruction of the cavity apparently occurs with RAMEB due its noncrystalline state. The aqueous dissolution rate of NAP from NAP-RAMEB and NAP-DIMEB blends containing 0.59, 0.73, 0.85, and 0.92 mass fraction of carrier linearly increased at decreasing drug-to-carrier ratios. The improvement was 5 to 20 times (from powders) and 50 to 200 times (from discs) the dissolution rate of NAP alone for both carrier. Therefore the choice of the amorphous RAMEB in pharmaceutical formulations can be recommended mainly for economic reasons, though the anhydrous and non-hygroscopic nature of crystalline DIMEB might be of particular advantage in case of moisture sensitive formulations.