Inhibitory effect of safranal and crocin,two principle compounds of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Crocus sativus</Emphasis>, on fibrillation of lysozyme

A key feature in more than twenty amyloid-related diseases is the aggregation of intra-and/or extracellular misfolded proteins as amyloid fibrils. Therefore, preventing or reversing amyloid aggregation by using of small molecules is considered as useful approaches to the treatment of these diseases. We have evaluated the ability of safranal and crocin, to inhibit amyloid self-assembly of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL), as an in vitro model system. Structural properties of HEWL in the presence of these compounds were investigated individually using thioflavin T, anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonic acid fluorescence assays, far-UV circular dichroism and scanning electron microscopy as well as docking method. Our results showed that incubation of HEWL with either crocin or safranal at various concentrations leads a significant inhibition in the rate of amyloid formation. Docking analysis revealed crocin and safranal interact with the central hydrophobic region of lysozyme through van der Waals interaction. Hydroxyl group in crocin through hydrogen bonds connected to the several hydrophilic amino acids of lysozyme, while in safranal there are just one aldehyde group that through hydrogen bonds connected to aspartic acid in lysozyme. It can be concluded that both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups contribute to lower lysozyme fibril accumulation.     

Preparation,characterization and application of 1,4-disulfopiperazine-1,4-diium chloride ([Piper-(SO<Subscript>3</Subscript>H)<Subscript>2</Subscript>]·2Cl) as an efficient dicationic ionic catalyst for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-Boc protection of amines

In this work, 1,4-disulfopiperazine-1,4-diium chloride ([Piper-(SO₃H)₂]·2Cl), as a novel Brönsted acidic ionic catalyst is synthesized and characterized using a series of techniques including FT-IR, TGA, DTA, SEM, pH analysis and Hammett acidity function. This substance can significantly catalyze the N-Boc protection of amines without solvent interference at room temperature. The advantages of this manner are chemoselectivity, short reaction times, suitable yields, excellent yields of the products, without solvent interference and ease of preparation as well as reusability of the catalyst.     

On the Auslander–Reiten conjecture for Cohen–Macaulay rings and path algebras

In this note, it is shown that the validity of the Auslander–Reiten conjecture for a given d-dimensional Cohen–Macaulay local ring R depends on its validity for all direct summands of d-th syzygy of R-modules of finite length, provided R is an isolated singularity. Based on this result, it is shown that under a mild assumption on the base ring R, satisfying the Auslander–Reiten conjecture behaves well under completion and reduction modulo regular elements. In addition, it will turn out that, if R is a commutative Noetherian ring and 𝒬 a finite acyclic quiver, then the Auslander–Reiten conjecture holds true for the path algebra R𝒬, whenever so does R. Using this result, examples of algebras satisfying the Auslander–Reiten conjecture are presented.     

On the parameter selection in the transformed matrix iteration method

Numerical Algorithms - Recently, Axelsson and Salkuyeh in (BIT Numerical Mathematics, 59 (2019) 321–342) proposed the transformed matrix iteration (TMIT) method for solving a certain...     

Highly selective thiocyanate poly(vinyl chloride) membrane electrode based on a cadmium–Schiff’s base complex

A PVC membrane electrode based on a cadmium–salen (N,N′-bis-salicylidene-1,2ethylenediamine) complex as an anion carrier is described. The electrode has an anti-Hofmeister selectivity sequence with a preference for thiocyanate at pH 1.5–11.0. It has a linear response to thiocyanate from 1.0 × 10^–6 to 1.0 × 10^–1 mol L^–1 with a slope of 59.1 ± 0.2 mV per decade, and a detection limit of 7 × 10^–7 mol L^–1. This electrode has high selectivity for thiocyanate relative to many common organic and inorganic anions. The proposed sensor has a fast response time of approximately 15 s. It was applied to the determination of thiocyanate in a milk sample. Received: 1 December 2000 / Revised: 19 April 2001 / Accepted: 30 April 2001     

Development of a new fluorimetric bulk optode membrane based on 2,5-thiophenylbis(5-tert-butyl-1,3-benzexazole) for nickel(II) ions

A highly sensitive and selective fluorimetric optode membrane for the determination of ultra trace amounts of Ni²⁺ ions was prepared. The plasticized PVC-membrane incorporating potassium tetrakis(p-chlorophenyl)borate (KTpClPB) and 2,5-thiophenylbis(5-tert-butyl-1,3-benzexazole) (TTBB), as a highly fluorescent chromoionophore, displays a calibration response for Ni²⁺ ions over a wide concentration range of 1.0×10⁻³ to 1.0×10⁻⁸ M. It has a relatively fast response of <40 s. In addition to high stability and reproducibility, and relatively long working lifetime, the sensor possesses good selectivity for nickel ions over several common diverse ions. The fluorescence signal of the optode membrane can be easily recovered by immersion in EDTA solution. The optode was applied successfully to the determination of traces of Ni²⁺ ion in edible oil and a wastewater sample from nickel electroplating industries.     

Synthesis of dialkyl 5-(aryl)-1-phenyl-1H-prazole-3,4-dicarboxylates via a one-pot and four-component reaction

A number of new dialkyl 5-(aryl)-1-phenyl-1H-prazole-3,4-dicarboxylate derivatives have been prepared regiospecifically in moderate to good yield from the cyclocondensation reaction of dialkyl (E)-2-(dialkoxyphosphoryl)-3-(aroyl)-2-butenedioate, derived from the reaction between trimethyl phosphite, an acetylenic ester, and an aroyl chloride, with phenylhydrazine. The reaction is four-component and is carried out under reflux conditions in dry toluene.     

Simultaneous adsorption and dechlorination of carbon tetrachloride using copper nanoparticles@graphene oxide composites

Cu nanoparticles@graphene oxide composites (CGC) were synthesized by a simplistic and effective chemical reduction method. The resulting CGC composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The performance of the CGC composites for dechlorination of carbon tetrachloride was evaluated. The batch investigations indicated that carbon tetrachloride could be almost completely removed by CGC after 75 min. The adsorption isotherm was also discussed. The high removal capacities of CGC with respect to the bare nanoscale zerovalent copper owe to the increased adsorption sites in the composites that are resulted from aggregation inhibition, which leads to the reduced Cu nanoparticles size.     

A Facile Room Temperature Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanostructure and Its Influence on the Flame Retardancy of Poly Vinyl Alcohol

In this work, poly vinyl alcohol–ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized via two different in situ and ex-situ methods. In ex-situ, at first zinc oxide nanostructures were synthesized by one-step precipitation reaction between zinc acetate and sodium hydroxide. The effect of different surfactants such as poly vinyl pyrrolidone, poly vinyl alcohol and poly ethylene glycol on the morphology of ZnO nanostructures was investigated. Nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy. The influence of ZnO nanostructures on the flame retardancy of the poly vinyl alcohol matrix was studied using underwriter laboratories UL-94 analysis.     

Potential Mechanisms of Photodynamic Inactivation of Virus by Methylene BlueI. RNA–Protein Crosslinks and Other Oxidative Lesions in Qβ Bacteriophage

A spectrum of oxidative lesions was observed in a bacteriophage-based model system that is very sensitive to the photodynamic activity of selected dyes. When suspensions of the intact bacteriophage Qβ were exposed to methylene blue plus light (MB+L), inactivating events, or "hits" occurred that were oxygen-dependent and that were associated with the formation of several specific lesions: (1) carbonyl moieties on proteins, (2) 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua), and (3) single-strand breaks (ssb) in the RNA genome and (4) RNA-protein crosslinks. Formation of carbonyl groups associated with protein in the Qβ phage preparation correlated positively with photoinactivation of the phage with increasing doses of either of the sensitizers MB or rose bengal. Strand breaks in the Qβ genomic RNA were observable at high MB concentrations but appeared not to be significant at the lower concentrations of MB, as full-length Qβ RNA was observable well beyond the 99% inactivation point in MB dosage. It was shown that the number of 8-oxoGua lesions were unlikely to be sufficient to account for the number of lethal events. Following exposure to MB+L, crosslink formation between Qβ RNA and protein was observed by virtue of the location of RNA at the interface of phenol-aqueous extractions of phage suspensions. A significant increase over background of RNA-protein complexes (including full-length Qβ RNA) was observed at the lowest concentration of MB tested (0.5 μ M ), which corresponded roughly to an average of 2 lethal hits per phage or approximately 13% survival compared to the zero MB control (100% survival). Due to its close correlation with Qβ inactivation and its expected lethality, RNA-protein crosslink formation may be important as an inactivating lesion in bacteriophage Qβ following MB+L exposure.