A UPLC-DAD-Based Bio-Screening Assay for the Evaluation of the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitory Potential of Plant Extracts and Compounds: Pyrroquinazoline Alkaloids from Adhatoda vasica as a Case Study

Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) plays a crucial role in regulating blood pressure in the human body. Identification of potential ACE inhibitors from medicinal plants supported the idea of repurposing these medicinal plants against hypertension. A method based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with a diode array detector (DAD) was used for the rapid screening of plant extracts and purified compounds to determine their ACE inhibitory activity. Hippuryl-histidiyl-leucine (HHL) was used as a substrate, which is converted into hippuric acid (HA) by the action of ACE. A calibration curve of the substrate HHL was developed with the linear regression 0.999. The limits of detection and quantification of this method were found to be 0.134 and 0.4061 mM, respectively. Different parameters of ACE inhibitory assay were optimized, including concentration, incubation time and temperature. The ACE inhibition potential of Adhatoda vasica (methanolic-aqueous extract) and its isolated pyrroquinazoline alkaloids, vasicinol (1), vasicine (2) and vasicinone (3) was evaluated. Compounds 1–3 were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. The IC₅₀ values of vasicinol (1), vasicine (2) and vasicinone (3) were found to be 6.45, 2.60 and 13.49 mM, respectively. Molecular docking studies of compounds 1–3 were also performed. Among these compounds, vasicinol (1) binds as effectively as captopril, a standard drug of ACE inhibition.     

Effect of arbitrary temperature degeneracy and ion magnetization on shear Alfven waves in electron-positron-ion plasmas

Linear properties of low-frequency electromagnetic shear Alfven waves (SAWs) are studied in quantum electron-positron-ion plasmas with effect of arbitrary temperature degeneracy for magnetized () and unmagnetized ( ) ions by using the quantum hydrodynamic model. Dispersion relations are derived for nearly degenerate () and nearly non-degenerate () plasmas. Bohm potential due to density correlation and temperature degeneracy due to Fermi–Dirac statistics of electron–positron, and their effects on the dispersion of SAWs are studied in detail both analytically and numerically. The relevance of the work regarding dense astrophysical plasmas is highlighted.     

Synthesis,Crystal Structure,Hirshfeld Surface Analysis,DFT, and DNA-Binding Studies of (E)-2-(3-Hydroxy-4-Methoxybenzylidene)Hydrazinecarbothioamide

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - (E)-2-(3-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzylidene)hydrazinecarbothioamide 3 was synthesized by reacting thiosemicarbazide with 2-hydorxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde in dry...     

Correction to: An efficient protocol for the synthesis of highly sensitive indole imines utilizing green chemistry: optimization of reaction conditions

Molecular Diversity - In the original publication, one of the co-authors name Sana Jamshaid was missed out. The correct authors’ group is updated in this correction.     

Mild and Efficient Solvent‐Free Friedel–Crafts Acylation of Reserpine

The first mild, efficient, solvent‐free Friedel–Crafts acylation of reserpine has been developed, which resulted in the synthesis of 10‐ and 12‐acylated homologues in high overall yields.     

B-Site Co-Alloying with Germanium Improves the Efficiency and Stability of All-Inorganic Tin-Based Perovskite Nanocrystal Solar Cells

Colloidal lead-free perovskite nanocrystals have recently received extensive attention because of their facile synthesis, the outstanding size-tunable optoelectronic properties, and less or no toxicity in their commercial applications. Tin (Sn) has so far led to the most efficient lead-free solar cells, yet showing highly unstable characteristics in ambient conditions. Here, we propose the synthesis of all-inorganic mixture Sn-Ge perovskite nanocrystals, demonstrating the role of Ge²⁺ in stabilizing Sn²⁺ cation while enhancing the optical and photophysical properties. The partial replacement of Sn atoms by Ge atoms in the nanostructures effectively fills the high density of Sn vacancies, reducing the surface traps and leading to a longer excitonic lifetime and increased photoluminescence quantum yield. The resultant Sn-Ge nanocrystals-based devices show the highest efficiency of 4.9 %, enhanced by nearly 60 % compared to that of pure Sn nanocrystals-based devices.     

Biosynthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by the Valorization of Biomass and Synthetic Waste

Synthetic pollutants are a looming threat to the entire ecosystem, including wildlife, the environment, and human health. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural biodegradable microbial polymers with a promising potential to replace synthetic plastics. This research is focused on devising a sustainable approach to produce PHAs by a new microbial strain using untreated synthetic plastics and lignocellulosic biomass. For experiments, 47 soil samples and 18 effluent samples were collected from various areas of Punjab, Pakistan. The samples were primarily screened for PHA detection on agar medium containing Nile blue A stain. The PHA positive bacterial isolates showed prominent orange–yellow fluorescence on irradiation with UV light. They were further screened for PHA estimation by submerged fermentation in the culture broth. Bacterial isolate 16a produced maximum PHA and was identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. It was identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia HA-16 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MN240936","term_id":"1712425297","term_text":"MN240936"}}MN240936), reported first time for PHA production. Basic fermentation parameters, such as incubation time, temperature, and pH were optimized for PHA production. Wood chips, cardboard cutouts, plastic bottle cutouts, shredded polystyrene cups, and plastic bags were optimized as alternative sustainable carbon sources for the production of PHAs. A vital finding of this study was the yield obtained by using plastic bags, i.e., 68.24 ± 0.27%. The effective use of plastic and lignocellulosic waste in the cultivation medium for the microbial production of PHA by a novel bacterial strain is discussed in the current study.     

Fluoro derivatives of bis­(salicyl­idene­aminato-N,O)copper(II) and -oxovan­adium(IV)

The structures of five complexes of fluorine-containing bidentate salicyl­idene­amine Schiff base ligands are reported. These are the bis-ligand copper(II) complexes of the Schiff bases derived from salicyl­aldehyde and 4-fluoro-, [Cu(C₁₃H₉FNO)₂], 3-fluoro-4-methyl-, [Cu(C₁₄H₁₁FNO)₂], 3,5-bis­(tri­fluoro­methyl)-, [Cu(C₁₅H₈F₆NO)₂], and 4-tri­fluoro­methoxy­anilines, [Cu(C₁₄H₉F₃NO₂)₂], and the bis-ligand oxovanadium(IV) complex of the Schiff base derived from salicyl­aldehyde and 4-tri­fluoro­methoxy­aniline, [VO(C₁₄H₉­F₃NO₂)₂]. Three of the copper complexes have square-planar coordination at the metal, imposed by the virtue of symmetry, but the immediate coordination environment of the copper in the 3,5-bis(tri­fluoro­methyl) complex is intermediate between square planar and tetrahedral. The coordination environment at the metal of the vanadium complex can be described as distorted square pyramidal.     

Effect of strontium substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of La1.8Sr0.2MMnO6 (M = Ni,Co)-layered manganites

Sr-substituted perovskites, La_1.8Sr_0.2MMnO₆ (M = Ni, Co), were synthesized using the solid-state reaction technique to present a systematic study on their morphological, structural and magnetic properties. The average grain size of the as-prepared La_1.8Sr_0.2NiMnO₆ samples are in the range of 0.2–0.7 µm and those for La_1.8Sr_0.2CoMnO₆ manganites are 0.1–2.8 μm, which is significantly less than that of unsubstituted La₂NiMnO₆ (LNMO) and La₂CoMnO₆ (LCMO) manganites. The XPS analysis enlightened about phase purity, binding energy and oxygen vacancy of La_1.8Sr_0.2MMnO₆ manganites. The Sr-substituted LNMO has revealed a sharp ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase transition at 160 ± 2 K, which is about 120 K less than that of parent LNMO. The Sr-substituted LCMO exhibited such a transition at 220 ± 2 K, which is 8 K less than that of parent LCMO. The temperature-dependent magnetization measurements suggest that the effect of Sr on the transition temperature in LNMO is more significant than that of LCMO.