Elucidation of Binding Mechanism of Photodynamic Therapeutic Agent Toluidine Blue O with Chicken Egg White Lysozyme by Spectroscopic and Molecular Dynamics Studies

The nature of binding mechanism of toluidine blue O (TBO) with chicken egg white lysozyme was studied comprehensively by various spectroscopic and computational methods. Both steady state and time‐resolved fluorescence studies unambiguously point to the prevalence of static quenching mechanism in lysozyme–TBO system. Thermodynamic parameters revealed that the association of TBO with lysozyme was a spontaneous process in which hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions played a pivotal role in the binding process. The secondary and tertiary conformational changes of lysozyme in the presence of TBO were unraveled using absorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) and circular dichroism (CD) techniques. Molecular docking studies of lysozyme–TBO system substantiated the findings of site marker experiment and revealed TBO adjacent to Trp‐63 and Trp‐108 residues of lysozyme. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies of lysozyme–TBO system indicate a stable and effective complexation of TBO with lysozyme. It is hoped that the results presented here will enable further understanding of TBO toxicity.     

Concentration Dependent Catalytic Activity of Glutathione Coated Silver Nanoparticles for the Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol and Organic Dyes

In the present study, we have synthesized glutathione modified silver nanoparticles (GSH-AgNPs) in aqueous medium and are characterized by absorption, high resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM), selective area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern, dynamic light scattering (DLS), Zeta potential and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic measurements. Catalytic activity of GSH-AgNPs has been evaluated for the reduction reactions of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), methylene blue (MB dye) and eosin Y (EY dye) in presence of sodium borohydride including the effect of catalyst concentration on the catalytic activity. Furthermore, the rate constants of reduction reactions are determined, which are linearly enhanced upon increasing the concentrations of GSH-AgNPs. It is explored that reduction reactions such as 4-NP, organic dyes by NaBH₄ in the presence of catalyst follow a pseudo first order kinetics. The catalytic reduction of 4-NP and organic dyes proceed with a faster rate even in the presence of nanomolar concentration of catalyst.     

Colorimetric determination of sulfide using chitosan-capped silver nanoparticles

Microchimica Acta - The article describes a simple method for the rapid photometric and visual detection of sulfide in water samples. Silver nanoparticles were capped with chitosan (chit-AgNPs) and...