Silver nanoparticles as potential antiviral agents

Virus infections pose significant global health challenges, especially in view of the fact that the emergence of resistant viral strains and the adverse side effects associated with prolonged use continue to slow down the application of effective antiviral therapies. This makes imperative the need for the development of safe and potent alternatives to conventional antiviral drugs. In the present scenario, nanoscale materials have emerged as novel antiviral agents for the possibilities offered by their unique chemical and physical properties. Silver nanoparticles have mainly been studied for their antimicrobial potential against bacteria, but have also proven to be active against several types of viruses including human imunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, herpes simplex virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and monkey pox virus. The use of metal nanoparticles provides an interesting opportunity for novel antiviral therapies. Since metals may attack a broad range of targets in the virus there is a lower possibility to develop resistance as compared to conventional antivirals. The present review focuses on the development of methods for the production of silver nanoparticles and on their use as antiviral therapeutics against pathogenic viruses.     

Rationalization of the lanthanide-ion-driven magnetic properties in a series of 4f-5d cyano-bridged chains

Magnetic properties of new d-f cyanido-bridged 1D assemblies [RE(pzam)(3)(H(2)O)W(CN)(8)]·H(2)O (RE(III) = Gd, 1, Tb, 2, Dy, 3; pzam = pyrazine-2-carboxamide) were studied by temperature- and field-dependent magnetization measurements. No evidence for 3D interchain magnetic ordering is found above 2 K. Multiconfiguration ab initio calculations and subsequent modeling afforded simulation of the weak zero-field splitting effect in 1 and discussion of magnetic anisotropy in the f units of compounds 2 and 3. A semiquantitative corroboration with the experimental magnetic measurements is presented, performing the simulation of magnetic susceptibility vs temperature and magnetization vs field variation. The association into molecular and supramolecular architectures is analyzed by means of energy decomposition subsequent to the DFT calculations on idealized molecular models extracted from the experimental chain structure.     

Thermal behavior of some vanadyl complexes with flavone derivatives as potential insulin-mimetic agents

Two new complexes having general formula VOL₂·nH₂O [(1) L: 5-hydroxyflavone, n = 1; (2) L: chrysin, n = 4] were synthesized and characterized. Based on IR and electronic data we concluded that studied flavones act as bidentate ligands in complexes with metallic ion coordinated in a square-pyramidal stereochemistry. The thermal analysis (TG, DTA) elucidated the composition and also the number and nature of the water molecules. The thermal behavior also indicated strong interactions between oxovanadium (IV) and these oxygen donor ligands.     

On reduction of the drug diflunisal in non-aqueous media

Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly - The electrochemical reduction of diflunisal was studied in dimethyl sulfoxide on static mercury drop electrode. Diflunisal yields one irreversible...     

Metabolism of JWH-015, JWH-098, JWH-251, and JWH-307 in silico and in vitro: a pilot study for the detection of unknown synthetic cannabinoids metabolites

This pilot study was performed to study the main metabolic reactions of four synthetic cannabinoids: JWH-015, JWH-098, JWH-251, and JWH-307 in order to setup a screening method for the detection of main metabolites in biological fluids. In silico prediction of main metabolic reactions was performed using MetaSite^? software. To evaluate the agreement between software prediction and experimental reactions, we performed in vitro experiments on the same JWHs using rat liver slices. The obtained samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight and the identification of metabolites was executed using Mass-MetaSite^? software that automatically assigned the metabolite structures to the peaks detected based on their accurate masses and fragmentation. A comparison between the experimental findings and the in silico metabolism prediction using MetaSite^? software showed a good accordance between experimental and in silico data. Thus, the use of in silico metabolism prediction might represent a useful tool for the forensic and clinical toxicologist to identify possible main biomarkers for synthetic cannabinoids in biological fluids, especially urine, following their administration.

Direct chemical profiling of olive (Olea europaea) fruit epicuticular waxes by direct electrospray‐ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry

In the present paper, an electrospray ionization (ESI)‐Orbitrap method is proposed for the direct chemical profiling of epicuticular wax (EW) from Olea europaea fruit. It constitutes a rapid and efficient tool suitable for a wide‐ranging screening of a large number of samples. In a few minutes, the method provides a comprehensive characterization of total EW extracts, based on the molecular formula of their components. Accurate mass measurements are obtained by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry, and compositional restrictions are set on the basis of the information available from previous studies of olive EW. By alternating positive and negative ESI modes within the same analysis, complementary results are obtained and a wide range of chemical species is covered. This provides a detailed compositional overview that otherwise would only be available by applying multiple analytical techniques. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.