Factors affecting the combustion toxicity of polymeric materials

Fire gas toxicity is an essential component of any fire hazard analysis. However, fire toxicity, like flammability, is both scenario and material dependent. A number of different methods exist to assess the fire toxicity, but many of them fail to relate this to a particular fire scenario. Sample thickness alone, in a closed box test such as the NBS Smoke Chamber, is shown to change the fire scenario from well-ventilated to under-ventilated. Data from two flow-through tests, the static tube furnace (NF X 70-100) and the steady state tube furnace (the Purser furnace, BS 7990 and ISO TS 19700) show that there are different patterns of behaviour for different polymers (LDPE, polystyrene, rigid PVC and Nylon 6.6). The predicted toxicities show variation of up to two orders of magnitude with change in fire scenario. They also show change of at least one order of magnitude for different materials in the same fire scenario. Finally, they show that in many cases CO, which is often assumed to be the most, or even the only toxicologically significant fire gas, is of less importance than either HCl, or HCN, when present, and in some cases less important than organo-irritants. Nylon 6.6 shows the highest predicted toxicity, the greatest scenario dependence, and the least sensitivity to different apparatuses, while polystyrene shows the highest sensitivity to the different apparatuses, but the lowest to different fire scenarios. PVC shows high toxicity, mostly due to HCl in the fire effluent, under all fire conditions, and LDPE shows a more progressive increase in toxicity from well-ventilated flaming to both smouldering and under-ventilated flaming.     

镧对Rhizoctonia solani的毒力及其致病酶活性的影响

采用琼脂平板生长速率法及液体培养基培养测定了La对立枯丝核病菌(Rhizoctoniasolani)的抑制作用和毒力,并测定了其对病菌胞外的果胶酶、蛋白酶和纤维素酶等几种致病酶的活性的影响。结果表明,随着La浓度升高,对病菌菌丝生长的抑制作用增强,固体培养上所测定的对病菌的EC50和EC95分别为171.9和667.7mg·L-1;在液体培养基中所测定的EC50和EC95分别为111 4和500 7mg·L-1。在一定浓度范围内,La提高了单位量菌丝所产生3种致病酶的活性,但由于对菌丝生长量的强烈抑制,使病菌胞外3种致病酶的总量或总活性受到抑制,减低了病菌的致病力。     

Disordering in the crystal structures of thienylgermatranes

The crystal structure of a series of thienylgermatranes has been studied using X-ray diffraction. Disorder of the thiophene ring in a 2-thienylgermatrane has been established. In the same positions of the unit cell of the crystal there are found both molecules with an O(2)-Ge-C-S torsional angle of −166.8(4)° and molecules in which this angle is 14.0(4)°. The lengths of the transannular N→Ge bonds (2.183–2.283 Å) agrees in value with the values of crystalline germatrane structures with a Ge-C bond. The length of the transannular N→Ge bond (2.248 Å) in 4-(2-thienyl)phenylgermatrane (molecule A) is the largest amongst germatranes with a Ge-C_ar bond. Introduction of a second thiophene ring into the 2-thienylgermatrane molecule lowers the acute toxicity of the compound by about 27 times (LD₅₀ for the 2,2′-bithienylgermatrane = 447 mg/kg). __________ Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 2, pp. 299–306, February, 2007.     

Benzocoumarins from the rhizomes of Juncus acutus

Investigation of the ethyl acetate extract of Juncus acutus rhizomes revealed seven benzocoumarins, probably derived from oxidation of phenanthrenes already isolated from the plant. The structures were determined by means of spectroscopic methods. The anti-algal activity of the isolated compounds tested on the green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata are reported here.     

The index of ideality of correlation: improvement of models for toxicity to algae

Toxicity to algae is important characteristic of substances from ecologic point of view. The CORAL software (http://www.insilico.eu/coral) gives possibility to build up model of toxicity to algae using data on the molecular architecture and experimental toxicity, without additional data on physicochemical and/or biochemical parameters. Considerable improvement of the model is observed in the case of using the index of ideality of correlation (IIC) in the role of additional criterion of predictive potential. The IIC is calculated with using of the correlation coefficient between experimental and calculated values of endpoint for the calibration set, with taking into account the positive and negative dispersions between experimental and calculated values. The best model calculated with use the IIC is characterized (the validation set) by n?=?50, r²?=?0.947, RMSE?=?0.401 whereas, model calculated without use the IIC is characterized by n?=?50, r²?=?0.805, and RMSE?=?0.539. The suggested models are built up in accordance to five OECD principles.

     

Design of (quinolin-4-ylthio)carboxylic acids as new Escherichia coli DNA gyrase B inhibitors: machine learning studies,molecular docking,synthesis and biological testing

Spread of multidrug‐resistant Escherichia coli clinical isolates is a main problem in the treatment of infectious diseases. Therefore, the modern scientific approaches in decision this problem require not only a prevention strategy, but also the development of new effective inhibitory compounds with selective molecular mechanism of action and low toxicity. The goal of this work is to identify more potent molecules active against E. coli strains by using machine learning, docking studies, synthesis and biological evaluation. A set of predictive QSAR models was built with two publicly available structurally diverse data sets, including recent data deposited in PubChem. The predictive ability of these models tested by a 5-fold cross-validation, resulted in balanced accuracies (BA) of 59–98% for the binary classifiers. Test sets validation showed that the models could be instrumental in predicting the antimicrobial activity with an accuracy (with BA = 60–99 %) within the applicability domain. The models were applied to screen a virtual chemical library, which was designed to have activity against resistant E. coli strains. The eight most promising compounds were identified, synthesized and tested. All of them showed the different levels of anti-E. coli activity and acute toxicity. The docking results have shown that all studied compounds are potential DNA gyrase inhibitors through the estimated interactions with amino acid residues and magnesium ion in the enzyme active center The synthesized compounds could be used as an interesting starting point for further development of drugs with low toxicity and selective molecular action mechanism against resistant E. coli strains. The developed QSAR models are freely available online at OCHEM http://ochem.eu/article/112525 and can be used to virtual screening of potential compounds with anti-E. coli activity.     

Synthesis and psychotropic properties of furyl- and thienyl-germatranes

Trihalogermyl-furans and -thiophenes were prepared by inserting germanium dibromide (GeBr₂) generated from the dibromogermane(II) dioxanate complex into the carbon-halogen bond of halo-furans and -thiophenes. Their ethanolysis and transesterification by triethanolamine yielded the germatranes which were subjected to psychotropic activity assays. The psychotropic properties of germatranes were found to depend on the type of the heterocycle and on the position of the germatrane moiety.     

Evidence of steric factors in the fungitoxic mechanisms of 8-quinolinol and its 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-and 7-chloro and bromo analogues

Summary A study was made of the fungitoxicity of 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- and 7-chloro and bromo-8-quinolinols againstAspergillus niger,A. oryzae,Myrothecium verrucaria,Trichoderma viride andTrichophyton mentagrophytes in Sabouraud dextrose broth and in Yeast Nitrogen Base supplemented with 1%D-glucose and 0.088%L-asparagine. Based on the presence or absence of synergism between pairs of substituted 8-quinolinols and reversal or nonreversal of toxicity byL-cysteine or N-acetyl-L-cysteine, the following conclusions were reached: (1) substituents on the quinoline ring change the site(s) of action of the toxicant; (2) the sites of action of the 5-, 6-, and 7-chloro-8-quinolinols are different from each other and from 8-quinolinol and its 2-, 3-, and 4-chloro analogues, and the same is true for the corresponding bromo compounds; (3) 8-quinolinol and its 3- and 4-chloro and bromo analogues appear to share common sites of action; (4) for good antifungal activity the 2 position of the ring must not be substituted by sterically bulky groups; (5) the geometry of the binding sites of action are not so constrained that they cannot accommodate the analogously substituted chloro- and bromo-8-quinolinols.

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Nachweis sterischer Faktoren bei der Fungitoxizität von 8-Chinolinol und seinen 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- und 7-Chlor- und -Brom-Analogen

Zusammenfassung Es wurde eine Studie der Fungitoxizität von 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- und 7-Chlor- und-Brom-8-chinolinol gegenüberAspergillus niger,A. oryzae,Myrothecium verrucaria,Trichoderma viride undTrichphyton mentagrophytes in Sabouraud Dextrose Nährmedium und in Hefe-N-Base mit 1%D-Glucose und 0.088%L-Asparagin unternommen. Auf der Basis des Zutreffens oder der Abwesenheit eines Synergismus zwischen Paaren von substituierten 8-Chinolinolen und der Umkehrung oder Nichtumkehrung der Toxizität durchL-Cystein oder N-Acetyl-L-cystein wurden folgende Schlußfolgerungen abgeleitet: (1) Substituenten am Chinolin-Ring ändern die Aktionsstelle(n) des Toxikans; (2) Die Angriffsstellen der 5-, 6- und 7-Chlor-8-chinolinole sind untereinander und von 8-Chinolinol und seinen 2-, 3- und 4-Chlor-Analogen verschieden, wobei das auch für die entsprechenden Brom-Verbindungen gilt; (3) 8-Chinolinol und seine 3- und 4-Chlor- und -Brom-Analogen scheinen gemeinsame Aktionsstellen zu teilen; (4) für eine gute antifungale Aktivität darf die 2-Position des Rings nicht mit sterisch anspruchsvollen Gruppen besetzt sein; (5) Die Geometrie des Bindungsstellen der Wirkung ist nicht so gespannt, daß nicht sowohl analoge Chlor- oder Brom-8-chinolinole Platz finden.

     

Speciation analysis of platinum antitumoral drugs in impacted tissues

Chemical compounds containing platinum have been employed since 1978 as drugs to beat certain type of tumours. Nevertheless, besides of their exceptional antitumoral properties, these drugs also have important deleterious side effects, such as, nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity.A study of Pt accumulation and a speciation analysis has been performed by ICP-MS in samples from kidney and inner ear in a controlled population of Wistar rats treated with, either, cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin. The results on Pt accumulation point out to drug structure and not only to Pt content as the responsible for the alteration of organ functionality.Speciation studies in the samples from kidney and inner ear were performed coupling two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) to ICP-MS. Size exclusion (SEC) and anion exchange fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) was employed for 2D orthogonal separation. After these separations, free drug peaks were not observed in any of the samples.The binding of Pt to biomolecules was demonstrated by SEC and, independently of the drug used, Pt eluted as two main bands with molecular weights of 12 kDa and 25-65 kDa for inner ear samples, and as two different bands with 20 kDa and 50-60 kDa in the samples from kidney. However, the relative band intensity presented important differences for the three drugs. Using the same chromatographic conditions, it was shown that a metallothionein (MT) standard eluted in the same position as some of the cytosolic Pt-biomolecules.High Pt-containing fractions eluting from the SEC column were analysed by anion exchange FPLC after a preconcentration step. Among the different preconcentration methods tested, sample focusing on the head of the FPLC column shows main advantages. In this way, the separation by 2D chromatography of the high molecular Pt-species has been considerably improved.