Biosensors as a tool for the antioxidant status evaluation

Antioxidants are one of the main ingredients that protect food attributes by preventing oxidation that occurs during processing, distribution and end preparation of food. Physiological antioxidant protection involves a variety of chemical system of endogenous and exogenous origin in a multiplicity of pathways. Associate to this, researches have been directed in the development of methods as biosensors that can characterize antioxidants capable of removing harmful radicals in living organisms in an adequate way. Biosensors have represented a broad area of technology useful for environmental, food monitoring, clinical applications and can represent a good alternative method to evaluate the antioxidant status.The demonstration of the highlighted current application of biosensor as a potential tool to evaluate the antioxidant status is the main aim of this review.     

Oxidation of ascorbic acid in the presence of phthalocyanine metal complexes. Chemical aspects of catalytic therapy of cancer 2. Catalysis by cobalt octacarboxyphthalocyanine. Reaction products

The products of ascorbic acid oxidation in the presence of cobalt octa-4,5-carboxy-phthalocyanine sodium salt (TPH) were identified. These include the ascorbate radical (A^·), hydroxyl radical (OH^·), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). The kinetics of accumulation and consumption of the reaction products was studied. For the concentration ranges of ascorbic acid = 0–2.5 ⋅ 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹ and the catalyst C _TPH = 0–3.5 ⋅ 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹, the the highest possible concentration of the ascorbate radical is ∼10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹, the concentration of H₂O₂ is 7 ⋅ 10⁻⁴ (30% of the starting concentration of ascorbic acid) and the concentration of the hydroxyl radical is at most 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹.__________Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2224–2228, October, 2004.     

The effect of reactor irradiation on the dielectric loss peaks of Nylon and Mylar

The effect of irradiation on the dielectric properties of nylon 66.6 and Mylar was studied. In the case of nylon the dielectric loss peak at 350 K measured with an annular frequency of 10⁴ l/s disappeared due to irradiation and the peak at higher temperaturcs shifted to still higher temperatures. In Mylar the α-peak grew in magnitude, indicating an increase in amorphousness, while the β-peak decreased. A rough estimate for the decrease in the magnitude of the effective number of dipoles is presented. The irradiation was carried out up to fast neutron fluence of 3 × 10¹⁷ nvt and gamma dose of 1 × 10⁹ rad.     

Dithiocarboxylation Reactions of N-Containing C-Nucleophiles

Abstract

3-Quinuclidinone reacts with carbon disulfide, strong base and an alkylating agent in dipolar aprotic solvents giving 2-dialkylthiomethylene compounds 1. N-ac-ceptor methyl substituted 2,2,N-trimethyl-propionamides afford in this procedure compounds 2-4 and the N-cyanomethyl-N-methyl-benzamide forms compounds 5. 2-Methyl-benzimidazole leads to the product of N-attack, whereas using 1,2-dibromoethane 1,1'-carbonothioyl-bis(2-methyl-benzimidazole) 6 is formed. 2-Chloro-N-cyanomethyl-N-methyl-benzamide 8 gives on treatment with 2 equivalents of a suitable base, carbon disulfide, and an alkylating agent at lower temperatures the expected substituted ketene dithioacetals 9. At higher temperature the 2-alkylthio-4-methyl-5-oxo-4,5-dihydrobenzo[f]-1,4-thiazepine-3-carbonitriles 10 are formed. Reaction products have been identified and structurally characterized by X-ray analysis.     

Evaluation and optimization of high-throughput enzymatic assays for fast l-ascorbic acid quantification in fruit and vegetables

In this paper, we compare and evaluate the applicability of three UV-VIS absorbance based assays for high-throughput quantification of ascorbic acid in horticultural products. All the methods involve the use of a common enzyme (ascorbate oxidase) in combination with a different indicator molecule. The three methods were retrieved from literature: a direct oxidase-method, an OPDA coupled oxidase-method and a PMS-method, which is commercially available. The analysis in high-throughput context involved the analysis in microplates in combination with the use of an automated liquid handling system. We checked (i) the performance factors of the selected methods on standard solutions, (ii) the applicability of the defined methods in high-throughput context, and, (iii) the accuracy of the methods on real samples using HPLC as a reference technique. The OPDA-method was found to be the most appropriate method for the quantification of ascorbic acid in high-throughput context with a linear range between 7.0 and 950 mg L⁻¹ and excellent correlation parameters (slopes close to 1, intercepts close to 0, R² > 0.91) with the reference technique when real samples were analyzed. Finally, this method was optimized for assay cost and assay time. Hereto the enzymatic reaction was mathematically described using a model for enzyme kinetics, which was then used to calculate the optimal concentrations of ascorbate oxidase and OPDA. As a result of the modeling the amount of enzyme in the assay could be reduced with a factor 2.5 without affecting significantly the reaction time. In a last step the optimal concentrations were used for a successful validation with the HPLC-reference technique.     

青花菜抗坏血酸过氧化物酶基因BoAPX的克隆与表达分析

根据NCBI基因数据库提供的抗坏血酸过氧化物酶(Ascorbate Peroxidase,APX)基因序列设计简并引物,以青花菜(Brassica oleracea var.italica)叶片cDNA和DNA为材料进行PCR扩增,基因定名为BoAPX(Gen-Bank登录号:HQ871864).BoAPX的基因组全长为1 394bp,具7个内含子,编码区全长为753bp,编码250个氨基酸残基.序列分析结果表明,BoAPX的N端中没有信号肽序列,为胞质型APX,BoAPX与已知APX具有较高的同源性.RT-PCR结果表明,BoAPX的表达受霜霉菌(Hyaloperonospora parasitica)诱导,在96h时达最大值,说明BoAPX与霜霉菌抗性相关.以pBI121为植物表达载体,BoAPX为目的基因,成功构建了重组表达载体pBI121-BoAPX.     

Release of electrolytes from W/O/W double emulsions stabilized by a soluble complex of modified pectin and whey protein isolate

W/O/W double emulsions (DEs) stabilized by charged soluble complexes of whey protein isolate (WPI) and modified pectins were investigated in relation to their stability and the release of two types of electrolytes, NaCl and sodium ascorbate.WPI alone cannot properly stabilize the DEs. The droplet size is relatively large (100 μm) and increases with time. However, addition of modified pectin to form a soluble complex with WPI significantly improved the stability.DEs prepared with two types of oils (medium chain triglycerides (MCT) and R(+)-limonene) were studied by measuring droplet size, creaming, viscosity, and electrolyte release. Irrespective of their very different oil phase nature, both emulsions were stable against coalescence, but R(+)-limonene formed smaller droplets (25 μm) than MCT (35 μm). The electrolyte release rate was significantly higher from the R(+)-limonene that formed DEs with much lower viscosity. R(+)-limonene-DE released 75% of the NaCl after 28 days, while MCT-DE released only 50%. NaCl was released more slowly than sodium ascorbate.Apparently, the release mechanism from R(+)-limonene-DE was found to be “thinning the outer interface and release of the entire inner droplets” while it seems that the release from MCT-DE was slower and “diffusion controlled”.DEs stabilized by WPI/C63 released 12% of the sodium ascorbate after 1 day in milk and remained stable for at least 8 days. However, DEs stabilized with only WPI released about 50% of the sodium ascorbate after 1 day, and phase separated after 8 days.     

Catalytic and spectroscopic properties of cytochrome-c, horseradish peroxidase, and ascorbate oxidase embedded in a sol-gel silica matrix as a function of gelation time

In this study, we investigated the optical features of the redox metal-dependent proteins cytochrome-c, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and ascorbate oxidase embedded in a sol-gel-processed silica matrix as a function of gelation time. Circular dichroism, absorbance, and fluorescence spectroscopies revealed that the sol-gel process affects the complex structure of the dimeric ascorbate oxidase (although the prosthetic coppers still remain bound to the enzyme) but not that of monomeric cytochrome-c and HRP. Any modifications in ascorbate oxidase occurred in the initial gelation phase; the drying process induced no further alterations and the enzyme remained stable for months. Unfolding-refolding experiments on cytochrome-c revealed severely restricted motility in the protein moiety in the xerogel, the concentrated matrix that forms after drying. The diffusion time of the solvent within the matrix, which regulated the enzyme-substrate reaction rate, depended on the thickness of the monolith, not on the dryness of the specimen.     

Photo‐Driven Hydrogen Evolution by an Artificial Hydrogenase Utilizing the Biotin‐Streptavidin Technology

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by an artificial hydrogenase based on the biotin‐streptavidin technology is reported. A biotinylated cobalt pentapyridyl‐based hydrogen evolution catalyst (HEC) was incorporated into different mutants of streptavidin. Catalysis with [Ru(bpy)₃]Cl₂ as a photosensitizer (PS) and ascorbate as sacrificial electron donor (SED) at different pH values highlighted the impact of close lying amino acids that may act as a proton relay under the reaction conditions (Asp, Arg, Lys). In the presence of a close‐lying lysine residue, both, the rates were improved, and the reaction was initiated much faster. The X‐ray crystal structure of the artificial hydrogenase reveals a distance of 8.8 Å between the closest lying Co‐moieties. We thus suggest that the hydrogen evolution mechanism proceeds via a single Co centre. Our findings highlight that streptavidin is a versatile host protein for the assembly of artificial hydrogenases and their activity can be fine‐tuned via mutagenesis.     

Quantum chemical study of the autoxidation of ascorbate

Reactions involved in the autoxidation of ascorbate have been investigated with quantum chemical first‐principles and ab initio methods. Reaction energies and Gibbs energies of the reactions were calculated at the density functional theory level applying the gradient‐corrected BP86 and the hybrid B3LYP functionals together with def2‐TZVP basis sets. Results of single‐point CC2, CCSD, and CCSD(T) calculations were used for calibration of the density functional theory data and show excellent agreement with the B3LYP values. Based on the Gibbs energy ascorbic acid AscH₂ is found to be the energetically lowest species in aqueous solution, whereas the monoanion ascorbate AscH is the most abundant one near pH = 7. Asc was found to be the preferred reducing agent for autoxidation and oxidation processes. The results also support a metal‐catalyzed synthesis of the reactive oxygen species H₂O₂ according to a redox cycling mechanism proposed in literature. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.