Some Monohydroxy Tetradecanoic Acid Isomers as Novel Urease and Elastase Inhibitors and as New Antioxidants

A series of some 3-,6-,7-,9-,12- monohydroxy tetradecanoic acids were evaluated for their antiurease, antielastase and antioxidant activities for the first time in this study. All the test compounds exhibited antioxidant, antielastase and antiurease activities. The relationship between the position of the hydroxy group and the enzyme inhibition effect is studied in this work. The mentioned biological activities are depending on the position of hydroxy group of tetradecanoic acid isomers. The results obtained in this work are indicating that 3-,6-,7-,9-,12-monohydroxy tetradecanoic acid isomers can be used in agriculture, pharmacy and cosmetic industries due to their excellent antielastase, antiurease and antioxidant activities.     

Feasibility study of k0-INAA at the ITU TRIGA Mark II research reactor,Turkey

In this study, the effect of contact time, pH, competitive cations and equilibrium study of adsorption on Slovak illite/smectite Dolná Ves was investigated. The sorption processes was studied using batch techniques under aerobic conditions with radioisotope indication using ⁶³Ni as a radiotracer. Studied material has proved to be as promising candidate for practically used as a barrier against the spread of undesirable substances in the environment landfill as insulating material of toxic and hazardous waste.     

Neuroactive Peptide Nanofibers for Regeneration of Spinal Cord after Injury

The highly complex nature of spinal cord injuries (SCIs) requires design of novel biomaterials that can stimulate cellular regeneration and functional recovery. Promising SCI treatments use biomaterial scaffolds, which provide bioactive cues to the cells in order to trigger neural regeneration in the spinal cord. In this work, the use of peptide nanofibers is demonstrated, presenting protein binding and cellular adhesion epitopes in a rat model of SCI. The self‐assembling peptide molecules are designed to form nanofibers, which display heparan sulfate mimetic and laminin mimetic epitopes to the cells in the spinal cord. These neuroactive nanofibers are found to support adhesion and viability of dorsal root ganglion neurons as well as neurite outgrowth in vitro and enhance tissue integrity after 6 weeks of injury in vivo. Treatment with the peptide nanofiber scaffolds also show significant behavioral improvement. These results demonstrate that it is possible to facilitate regeneration especially in the white matter of the spinal cord, which is usually damaged during the accidents using bioactive 3D nanostructures displaying high densities of laminin and heparan sulfate‐mimetic epitopes on their surfaces.     

Synthetic Strategies for the Selective Functionalization of Carbon Nanodots Allow Optically Communicating Suprastructures

The surface of Carbon Nanodots (CNDs) stands as a rich chemical platform, able to regulate the interactions between particles and external species. Performing selective functionalization of these nanoscale entities is of practical importance, however, it still represents a considerable challenge. In this work, we exploited the organic chemistry toolbox to install target functionalities on the CND surface, while monitoring the chemical changes on the material's outer shell through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Following this, we investigated the use of click chemistry to covalently connect CNDs of different nature en-route towards covalent suprastructures with unprecedent molecular control. The different photophysical properties of the connected particles allowed their optical communication in the excited state. This work paves the way for the development of selective and addressable CND building blocks which can act as modular nanoscale synthons that mirror the long-established reactivity of molecular organic synthesis.     

An aza-Wittig/pi-furan cyclization approach toward the homoerythrina alkaloid (+/-)-selaginoidine

[reaction: see text] A one-pot procedure was developed to efficiently prepare hexahydroindolinones containing a tethered furan ring. Reaction of a furanyl azide with Bu3P delivered the iminophosphorane, which was allowed to react with 1-methyl-(2-oxocyclohexyl)acetic acid to give the desired hexahydroindolinone ring system. Further treatment with trifluoroacetic acid afforded the tetracyclic lactam skeleton found in the alkaloid (+/-)-selaginoidine.     

Synthesis and CMC studies of 1-methyl-3-(pentafluorophenyl)imidazolium quaternary salts

Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an anionic surfactant, has been investigated in 30 mM aqueous solutions of 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (1) and 1-methyl-3-(pentafluorophenyl)imidazolium chloride (2). The CMC of SDS is significantly lower in the presence of 2 as compared to that of 1. The decreased CMC of SDS in the presence of 2 is in accordance with its increased hydrophobicity due to the fluorinated side chain. The thermogravimetric analysis of compounds 1 and 2 shows that they are thermally stable up to about 290 degrees C.