On the Thermodynamic Thermal Properties of Quercetin and Similar Pharmaceuticals

The thermodynamic properties of pharmaceuticals are of major importance since they are involved in drug design, processing, optimization and modelling. In this study, a long-standing confusion regarding the thermodynamic properties of flavonoids and similar pharmaceuticals is recognized and clarified. As a case study, the thermal behavior of quercetin is examined with various techniques. It is shown that quercetin does not exhibit glass transition nor a melting point, but on the contrary, it does exhibit various thermochemical transitions (structural relaxation occurring simultaneously with decomposition). Inevitably, the physical meaning of the reported experimental values of the thermodynamic properties, such as the heat of fusion and heat capacity, are questioned. The discussion for this behavior is focused on the weakening of the chemical bonds. The interpretations along with the literature data suggest that the thermochemical transition might be exhibited by various flavonoids and other similar pharmaceuticals, and is related to the difficulty in the prediction/modelling of their melting point.     

A Molecular Electron Density Theory Study of the [3+2] Cycloaddition Reaction of an Azomethine Ylide with an Electrophilic Ethylene Linked to Triazole and Ferrocene Units

The [3+2] cycloaddition (32CA) reaction of an azomethine ylide (AY) with an electrophilic ethylene linked to triazole and ferrocene units has been studied within the Molecular Electron Density Theory (MEDT) at the ωB97X-D/6-311G(d,p) level. The topology of the electron localization function (ELF) of this AY allows classifying it as a pseudo(mono)radical species characterized by the presence of two monosynaptic basins, integrating a total of 0.76 e, at the C1 carbon. While the ferrocene ethylene has a strong electrophilic character, the AY is a supernucleophile, suggesting that the corresponding 32CA reaction has a high polar character and a low activation energy. The most favorable ortho/endo reaction path presents an activation enthalpy of 8.7 kcal·mol⁻¹, with the 32CA reaction being exergonic by −42.1 kcal·mol⁻¹. This reaction presents a total endo stereoselectivity and a total ortho regioselectivity. Analysis of the global electron density transfer (GEDT) at the most favorable TS-on (0.23 e) accounts for the high polar character of this 32CA reaction, classified as forward electron density flux (FEDF). The formation of two intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the two interacting frameworks at the most favorable TS-on accounts for the unexpected ortho regioselectivity experimentally observed.     

Can Natural Products Targeting EMT Serve as the Future Anticancer Therapeutics?

Cancer is the leading cause of death and has remained a big challenge for the scientific community. Because of the growing concerns, new therapeutic regimens are highly demanded to decrease the global burden. Despite advancements in chemotherapy, drug resistance is still a major hurdle to successful treatment. The primary challenge should be identifying and developing appropriate therapeutics for cancer patients to improve their survival. Multiple pathways are dysregulated in cancers, including disturbance in cellular metabolism, cell cycle, apoptosis, or epigenetic alterations. Over the last two decades, natural products have been a major research interest due to their therapeutic potential in various ailments. Natural compounds seem to be an alternative option for cancer management. Natural substances derived from plants and marine sources have been shown to have anti-cancer activity in preclinical settings. They might be proved as a sword to kill cancerous cells. The present review attempted to consolidate the available information on natural compounds derived from plants and marine sources and their anti-cancer potential underlying EMT mechanisms.     

Aggregation-Induced Intermolecular Charge Transfer Emission for Solution-Processable Bipolar Host Material via Adjusting the Length of Alkyl Chain

Molecules with donor–spacer–acceptor configuration have been developed rapidly given their peculiar properties. How to utilize intermolecular interactions and charge transfers for solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) greatly relies on molecular design strategy. Herein, soluble luminophores with D-spacer-A motif were constructed via shortening the alkyl chain from nonane to propane, where the alkyl chain was utilized as a spatial linker between the donor and acceptor. The alkyl chain blocks the molecular conjugation and induces the existence of aggregation-induced intermolecular CT emission, as well as the improved solubility and morphology in a solid-state film. In addition, the length of the alkyl chain affects the glass transition temperature, carrier transport and balance properties. The mCP-3C-TRZ with nonane as the spacer shows better thermal stability and bipolar carrier transport ability, so the corresponding solution-processable phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes exhibit superior external quantum efficiency of 9.8% when using mCP-3C-TRZ as a host material. This work offers a promising strategy to establish a bipolar host via utilizing intermolecular charge transfer process in an aggregated state.     

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study of Iron Site Manganese Substituted Yttrium Orthoferrite

In this work, manganese (Mn)-doped YFeO₃, i.e., YFM_xO powders with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1, was synthesized by a hydrothermal method to study the influences of doping on its structural, morphological, optical, magnetic, and local electrical properties. The experimental results show that all the samples exhibit an orthorhombic structure with space group Pnma. Refined structure parameters are presented. Morphology images show the shape evolution from layered to multilayered with increasing Mn content. Infrared spectra reveal the characteristic vibrations of the obtained YFM_xO samples. From the magnetic study, an increased magnetic moment in the range of 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.075 is observed. The Fe and Y K-edge local structure studies indicate that the valency of Fe and Y is mainly found in the trivalent state, which also indicates that the substitution of Mn ions not only affects the nearest neighbor atomic shell of Fe but also affects the nearest neighbor’s local structure of Y atoms. Our results show that the addition of Mn exhibits an evident influence on the local structural and magnetic properties.     

Effect of Phenolic Compounds from Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf. Leaves on Micellar Solubility of Cholesterol

Dyslipidemias are one of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death and hospitalization worldwide. One way to control cholesterol levels is to control the exogenous cholesterol intake in the body. Natural polyphenolic compounds, namely theaflavins from plant extracts such as black tea, showed the ability to inhibit the formation of the micellar structure, essential for the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine. There are several methodologies to determine this effect, many of which are expensive and time-consuming. Due to these facts, the main purposes of this work were to optimize an inexpensive colorimetric method to study, in vitro, the micellar solubility of cholesterol and applied it to plant extracts. In this work, Cymbopogon citratus leaf extracts, its phenolic fractions, and flavonoids were evaluated. The non-delipidified infusion (CcI) obtained a maximum percentage of micelle destruction of 59.22% for a concentration of 50 μg/mL and the delipidified infusion (CcdI) obtained a maximum percentage of micelle destruction of 58.01% for a concentration of 200 μg/mL. In the case of the fraction of phenolic acids (CcPAs), 23.85% of maximum micellar destruction was recorded for the concentration of 100 μg/mL, while for the fraction of flavonoids (CcF), the micellar destruction was 92.74% at 1 μg/mL, and for the tannin fraction (CcT) of 99.45% at 25 μg/mL. Luteolin presented a percentage of micelle destruction of 94.83% in the concentration of 1 ng/mL, followed by luteolin-7-O-glucoside with 93.71% and luteo-lin-6-C-glucoside with 91.26% at the concentrations of 25 ng/mL and 50 ng/mL, respectively. These results suggest the capability of polyphenols from Cymbopogon citratus to prevent the cholesterol absorption in the gut by micellar destruction, and its contribution for cholesterol-lowering activity.     

Iridium and Ruthenium Complexes Bearing Perylene Ligands

The present review summarizes the work carried out mostly in the last decade on iridium and ruthenium complexes bearing various perylene ligands, of particular interest for bioimaging, photodynamic therapy, and solar energy conversion. In these complexes, the absorption spectra and the electrochemical properties are those of the perylene subunit plus those of the metal moiety. In contrast, the emissions are completely changed with respect to perylenes considered alone. Thus, fully organic perylenes are characterized by a strong fluorescence in the visible region, lifetimes of a few nanoseconds, and luminescence quantum yields approaching 100%, whereas perylene Ir and Ru complexes usually do not emit; however, in few cases, weak phosphorescent emissions, with lifetimes in the range of microseconds and relatively low quantum yields, are reported. This is due to a strong interaction between the perylene core and the heavy metal center, taking place after the excitation. Nevertheless, an important advantage deriving from the presence of the heavy metal center is represented by the ability to generate large amounts of singlet oxygen, which plays a key role in photodynamic therapy.     

开链冠醚Schiff碱配体与过渡金属离子相互作用研究

合成了开链冠醚Schiff碱配体H₂L(H₂L=N,N′-双(邻羟苯亚甲基)-3,6-二氧杂-1,8-二氨基辛烷).详细研究了该配体在不同溶剂中和过渡金属离子存在下的荧光光谱,探讨了溶剂极性和不同金属离子对其荧光光谱的影响.结果表明:溶剂的极性和金属离子对其荧光性质有较大影响,随着溶剂极性的减小,配体的荧光增强,且谱峰发生蓝移.金属离子Zn²⁺、Cd²⁺对配体具有荧光增敏作用,Ni²⁺、Cu²⁺具有荧光猝灭作用.探讨了配体与金属离子结合的pH范围,结果显示最佳pH值为7—8.     

First Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Compounds Formed by Ge-V-O Clusters and Transition Metal Complexes of Aromatic Organic Ligands

Three compounds based on Ge-V-O clusters were hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by IR, UV-Vis, XRD, ESR, elemental analysis and X-ray crystal structural analysis. Both [Cd(phen)(en)]₂[Cd₂(phen)₂V₁₂O₄₀Ge₈(OH)₈(H₂O)]∙12.5H₂O (1) and [Cd(DETA)]₂[Cd(DETA)₂]_0.5[Cd₂(phen)₂V₁₂O₄₁Ge₈(OH)₇(0.5H₂O)]∙7.5H₂O (2) (1,10-phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, en = ethylenediamine, DETA = diethylenetriamine) are the first Ge-V-O cluster compounds containing aromatic organic ligands. Compound 1 is the first dimer of Ge-V-O clusters, which is linked by a double bridge of two [Cd(phen)(en)]²⁺. Compound 2 exhibits an unprecedented 1-D chain structure formed by Ge-V-O clusters and [Cd₂(DETA)₂]⁴⁺ transition metal complexes (TMCs). [Cd(en)₃]{[Cd(η₂-en)₂]₃[Cd(η₂-en)(η₂-μ₂-en)(η₂-en)Cd][Ge₆V₁₅O₄₈(H₂O)]}∙5.5H₂O (3) is a novel 3-D structure which is constructed from [Ge₆V₁₅O₄₈(H₂O)]¹²⁻ and four different types of TMCs. We also synthesized [Zn₂(enMe)₃][Zn(enMe)]₂[Zn(enMe)₂(H₂O)]₂[Ge₆V₁₅O₄₈(H₂O)]∙3H₂O (4) and [Cd(en)₂]₂{H₈[Cd(en)]₂Ge₈V₁₂O₄₈(H₂O)}∙6H₂O (5) (enMe = 1,2-propanediamine), which have been reported previously. In addition, the catalytic properties of these five compounds for styrene epoxidation have been assessed.     

Sargassum fusiforme Polysaccharide-Based Hydrogel Microspheres Enhance Crystal Violet Dye Adsorption Properties

In this study, a polysaccharide-based hydrogel microsphere (SFP/SA) was prepared using S. fusiforme polysaccharide (SFP) and sodium alginate (SA). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) demonstrated that SFP was effectively loaded onto the hydrogel microsphere. Texture profile analysis (TPA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that, with the increase of SFP concentration, the hardness of SFP/SA decreased, while the springiness and cohesiveness of SFP/SA increased, and the thermal stability of SFP/SA improved. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of SFP/SA increased from 8.20 mg/g (without SFP) to 67.95 mg/g (SFP accounted 80%) without swelling, and from 35.05 mg/g (without SFP) to 81.98 mg/g (SFP accounted 80%) after 24 h swelling. The adsorption of crystal violet (CV) dye by SFP/SA followed pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetics (both with R² > 0.99). The diffusion of intraparticle in CV dye was not the only influencing factor. Moreover, the adsorption of CV dye for SFP/SA (SFP accounted 60%) fit the Langmuir and Temkin isotherm models. SFP/SA exhibited good regenerative adsorption capacity. Its adsorption rate remained at > 97% at the 10th consecutive cycle while SFP accounted for 80%. The results showed that the addition of Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharide could increase the springiness, cohesiveness and thermal stability of the hydrogel microsphere, as well as improve the adsorption capacity of crystal violet dye.