Screening of Carbonic Anhydrase,Acetylcholinesterase, Butyrylcholinesterase,and α-Glycosidase Enzyme Inhibition Effects and Antioxidant Activity of Coumestrol

Coumestrol (3,9-dihydroxy-6-benzofuran [3,2-c] chromenone) as a phytoestrogen and polyphenolic compound is a member of the Coumestans family and is quite common in plants. In this study, antiglaucoma, antidiabetic, anticholinergic, and antioxidant effects of Coumestrol were evaluated and compared with standards. To determine the antioxidant activity of coumestrol, several methods—namely N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride radical (DMPD^•+)-scavenging activity, 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) radical (ABTS^•+)-scavenging activity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH^•)-scavenging activity, potassium ferric cyanide reduction ability, and cupric ion (Cu²⁺)-reducing activity—were performed. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), Trolox, α-Tocopherol, and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) were used as the reference antioxidants for comparison. Coumestrol scavenged the DPPH radical with an IC₅₀ value of 25.95 μg/mL (r²: 0.9005) while BHA, BHT, Trolox, and α-Tocopherol demonstrated IC₅₀ values of 10.10, 25.95, 7.059, and 11.31 μg/mL, respectively. When these results evaluated, Coumestrol had similar DPPH^•-scavenging effect to BHT and lower better than Trolox, BHA and α-tocopherol. In addition, the inhibition effects of Coumestrol were tested against the metabolic enzymes acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), carbonic anhydrase II (CA II), and α-glycosidase, which are associated with some global diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), glaucoma, and diabetes. Coumestrol exhibited K_i values of 10.25 ± 1.94, 5.99 ± 1.79, 25.41 ± 1.10, and 30.56 ± 3.36 nM towards these enzymes, respectively.     

Identification of Natural Compounds as Inhibitors of Pyruvate Kinase M2 for Cancer Treatment

The reliance of tumor cells on aerobic glycolysis is one of the emerging hallmarks of cancer. Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), an important enzyme of glycolytic pathway, is highly expressed in a number of cancer cells. Tumor cells heavily depend on PKM2 to fulfill their divergent energetic and biosynthetic requirements, suggesting it as novel drug target for cancer therapies. Based on this context, we performed enzymatic-assay-based screening of the in-house phenolic compounds library for the identification of PKM2 inhibitors. This screening identified silibinin, curcumin, resveratrol, and ellagic acid as potential inhibitors of PKM2 with IC₅₀ values of 0.91 µM, 1.12 µM, 3.07 µM, and 4.20 µM respectively. For the determination of Ki constants and the inhibition type of hit compounds, Lineweaver–Burk graphs were plotted. Silibinin and ellagic acid performed the competitive inhibition of PKM2 with Ki constants of 0.61 µM and 5.06 µM, while curcumin and resveratrol were identified as non-competitive inhibitors of PKM2 with Ki constants of 1.20 µM and 7.34 µM. The in silico screening of phenolic compounds against three binding sites of PKM2 provided insight into the binding pattern and functionally important amino residues of PKM2. Further, the evaluation of cytotoxicity via MTT assay demonstrated ellagic acid as potent inhibitor of cancer cell growth (IC₅₀ = 20 µM). These results present ellagic acid, silibinin, curcumin, and resveratrol as inhibitors of PKM2 to interrogate metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells. This study has also provided the foundation for further research to validate the potential of identified bioactive entities for PKM2 targeted-cancer therapies.     

Determination of the Rheological Properties of Polypropylene Filled with Colemanite

Colemanite (Ca₂B₆O₁₁.H₂O) in powder form was filled to polypropylene (PP) at concentrations of 5, 7.5, 11.25, 16.875, and 25.312 wt%, and filled PP granules were obtained. To prevent oxidation, an antioxidant (Songnox 1010) was added to the colemanite‐filled polypropylene mixture at a ratio of 0.2 wt%. The rheological properties of the resulting composite material were determined using a Melt Flow Index testing device, at four separate pressure settings (298.2, 524, 689.5, and 987.4 kPa) and four separate temperature settings (190°C, 200°C, 210°C, and 220°C). The viscosity, shear rate, shear stress, and power law index (n) values of the colemanite‐filled PP were measured as part of the testing conducted. The study determined that viscosity values increased by approximately 60% in response to increasing colemanite content in the resulting filled material, while shear rate values decreased by 62%. The viscosity values were found to decrease with increasing temperature and pressure values, while shear rate values were found to increase. Additionally, Power Law Index value was found to vary between 0.561 and 0.687, with an average value of 0.608 based on the colemanite content used. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toughness enhancers for bone scaffold materials based on biocompatible photopolymers

Providing access to the benefits of additive manufacturing technologies in tissue engineering, vinyl esters recently came into view as appropriate replacements for (meth)acrylates as precursors for photopolymers. Their low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility as well as favorable degradation behavior are their main assets. Suffering from rather poor mechanical properties, particularly in terms of toughness, several improvements have been made over the last years. Especially, thiol–ene chemistry has been investigated to overcome those shortcomings. In this study, we focused on additional means to further improve the toughness of an already established biocompatible vinyl ester‐thiol formulation, eligible for digital light processing‐based stereolithography. All molecules were based on poly(ε‐caprolactone) as building block and the formulations were tested regarding their reactivity and the resulting mechanical properties. They all performed well as toughness enhancer, ultimately doubling the impact resistance of the reference system. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 110–119     

On the linear stability study of zonal incompressible flows on a sphere

The normal mode (linear) stability of zonal flows of a nondivergent fluid on a rotating sphere is considered. The spherical harmonics are used as the basic functions on the sphere. The stability matrix representing in this basis the vorticity equation operator linearized about a zonal flow is analyzed in detail using the recurrent formula derived for the nonlinear triad interaction coefficients. It is shown that the zonal flow having the form of a Legendre polynomial P_n(μ) of degree n is stable to infinitesimal perturbations of every invariant set I_m with |m| ≥ n. For each zonal number m, I_m is here the span of all the spherical harmonics $Y^{m}_{k}(x)$, whose degree k is greater than or equal to m. It is also shown that such small-scale perturbations are stable not only exponentially, but also algebraically. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 14: 649–665, 1998     

Aminolysis of P-trichloro-N-dichlorophosphorylmonophosphazene and the crystal structure of 1-(dichlorophosphinyl)-2-chloro-2,2-bis(diisopropylamino)phosphazene

The reactions of Cl₃PN P(O)Cl₂ ( 1 ) with primary and secondary amines have been studied. The following monophosphazenes, (RRN)₃PN P(O)(NRR)₂, and bis(phosphinoyl)amines, [(RRN)₂P(O)]₂NH were isolated: NRR = NHCH₂Ph, Net₂, NH(CH₂)₂CH₃ groups for monophosphazenes, and Net₂, NH(CH₂)₂CH₃ for phosphinoyl amines. The unexpected geminal phosphazene, Cl(RRN)₂PN P(O)Cl₂, {RRN = N[CH(CH₃)₂]₂}, was also obtained in moderate yield. The spectral data (IR, ¹H, ¹³C, and ³¹P NMR, and MS) are presented. The structure of 1-(dichlorophosphinyl)-2-chloro-2,2-bis(diisopropylamino)phosphazene ( 5 ) was determined by X-ray crystallography. The basicities of these and related compounds in nonaqueous nitrobenzene solution were obtained by potentiometric titration.     

RAFT‐mediated synthesis of poly[(oligoethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate] brushes for biological functions

The synthesis of poly[(oligoethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate] [poly(OEGA)] brushes was achieved via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and used to selectively immobilize streptavidin proteins. Initially, gold surfaces were modified with a trithiocarbonate‐based RAFT chain transfer agent (CTA) by using an ester reaction involving a gold substrate modified with 11‐mercapto‐1‐undecanol and bis(2‐butyric acid)trithiocarbonate. poly(OEGA) brushes were then prepared via RAFT‐mediated polymerization from the surface‐immobilized CTA. The immobilization of CTA on the gold surface and the subsequent polymer formation were followed by ellipsometry, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, grazing angle‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and water contact‐angle measurements. RAFT‐mediated polymerization method gave CTA groups to grafted poly(OEGA) termini, which can be converted to various biofunctional groups. The terminal carboxylic acid groups of poly(OEGA) chains were functionalized with amine‐functionalized biotin units to provide selective attachment points for streptavidin proteins. Fluorescence microscopy measurements confirmed the successful immobilization of streptavidin molecules on the polymer brushes. It is demonstrated that this fabrication method may be successfully applied for specific protein recognition and immobilization. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Photoelectrochemical water oxidation kinetics and antibacterial studies of one-dimensional SiC nanowires synthesized from industrial waste

Silicon wafers are significantly utilized in integrated circuits and memory devices for the fabrication of novel semiconductor devices. As a result, a substantial amount of silicon wastes are generated every year. But recycling process of pure silicon waste is expensive with an additional problem related to chemical waste generation. Thus, the possibility of inevitable silicon waste conversion into potential nanostructures is not only beneficial for the semiconductor industry but also resolves current e-waste pollution. Hence, we successfully achieved hexagonal silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires under a strategic combination of waste silicon wafers and graphite powder by robust high-energy ball milling and heat treatment approaches. Structural, morphological, chemical, and optical properties of SiC nanowires are systematically studied by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and optical absorbance. This facile experimental technique recognized the value of SiC nanowire generation for exploring multifunctional photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting and antibacterial activity. Accordingly, SiC nanowires achieved a photocurrent density of about 0.21 mA cm⁻² vs. Ag/AgCl, which demonstrates enhanced light absorption capacity under reduced charge carrier recombination. Moreover, SiC nanowires prevailed decrement in the charge carrier resistance (27.53 Ω) under light state compared to the dark state (26.76 Ω). Specifically, potentiodynamic studies revealed superior exchange current density (− 3.17 mA cm⁻²), Tafel slope (80.1 mV dec⁻¹), and limiting diffusion current density (− 1.49 mA cm⁻²) under light state than the dark state. Also, these results are certainly applicable for superior antibacterial activity against E. coli and L. monocytogenes about 90% and 75% under visible light, respectively.