Changes in the anti-inflammatory activity of soy isoflavonoidgenistein versus genistein incorporated in two types of cyclodextrin derivatives

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The isoflavonoid genistein represents the major active compound from soybean, the vegetalproduct from Glycine max (Fabaceae). The aim of this study is to prove that genistein wasincorporated in two semisynthetic cyclodextrins, beta-cyclodextrin derivatives:hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin and randomly-methylated-beta-cyclodextrin as well as to compare the anti-inflammatory activity of genistein with that of genistein incorporated inthese two types of semisynthetic cyclodextrins. RESULTS: The animal studies were conducted on 8-week old C57BL/6 J female mice. Inflammation wasinduced in both ears of each mouse by topical application of 10 micrograms 12-Otetradecanoylphorbol-3-acetate dissolved in 0.1 ml solvent (acetone : dimethylsulfoxide in amolar ratio 9:1). Thirty minutes later treatment was applied. The inflammatory reaction wascorrelated with increased values in ear thickness. Treatment with genistein and genisteinincorporated in the two cyclodextrins led to decreased values for ear thickness. Better antiinflammatoryaction was found for the complexes of genistein. Both haematoxylin-eosinanalysis and CD45 marker expression are in agreement with these findings. CONCLUSIONS: Results allow concluding that genistein is an active anti-inflammatory phytocompound andits complexation with hydrophilic beta-cyclodextrin derivatives leads to a stronger antiinflammatoryactivity.     

Halloysite nanotubes/pluronic nanocomposites for waterlogged archeological wood: thermal stability and X-ray microtomography

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Filling a polymer with halloysite nanotubes is considered a promising strategy to generate nanocomposites with tailored physicochemical properties. We...     

Understanding the Effects of Crosslinking and Reinforcement Agents on the Performance and Durability of Biopolymer Films for Cultural Heritage Protection

In the last two decades, the naturally occurring polysaccharides, such as chitosan and pectin, have gained great attention having potential applications in different sectors, from biomedical to new generation packaging. Currently, the chitosan and pectic have been proposed as suitable materials also for the formulation of films and coatings for cultural heritage protection, as well as packaging films. Therefore, the formulation of biopolymer films, considering only naturally occurring polymers and additives, is a current challenging trend. This work reports on the formulation of chitosan (CS), pectin (PC), and chitosan:pectin (CS:PC) films, also containing natural crosslinking and reinforcement agents, such as citric acid (CA) and halloysite nanotubes (HNT), through the solvent casting technique. The produced films are characterized through water contact angle measurements, infrared and UV–visible spectroscopy and tensile test, while the durability of the CS:PC films is evaluated subjecting the film to accelerated UVB exposure and monitoring the photo-oxidation degradation in time though infrared spectroscopy. All obtained results suggest that both crosslinking and reinforcement agents have beneficial effects on the wettability, rigidity, and photo-oxidation resistance of biopolymer films. Therefore, these biopolymer films, also containing naturally occurring additives, have good properties and performance and they are suitable as coverage films for cultural heritage protection.     

Metallation reactions. XXXIV. Synthesis of 2‐(1‐hydroxy‐1‐arylethyl)‐1,3‐benzoxathiol‐3‐oxide derivatives

The reaction of benzoxathiole‐3‐oxide with lithiumdiisopropylamide in tetrahydrofuran gave an anion, which was reacted with various aryl‐methyl‐ketones to give 2‐(1‐hydroxy‐1‐arylethyl)‐1,3‐benzoxathiol‐3‐oxide derivatives. The reaction was carried out in different temperature conditions: at ‐88 °C the trans addition stereoisomers to the sulfoxide oxygen atom were the main products.     

Anion reaction of 1,3-benzoxathiole-3-oxide with several electrophilic compounds

The reaction of benzoxathiole-3-oxide with LDA in THF or THF/hexane or THF/HMPA gave a carbanion which was reacted with methyl iodide, aromatic aldehydes or carbon dioxide. The conformational stability (-diastereoselectivity) of the carbanion and the asymmetric induction due to the prochiral electrophiles (β-diastereoselectivity) was studied. The temperature and the solvent effects on the - and β-diastereoselectivity are discussed.     

Green conditions for the Suzuki reaction using microwave irradiation and a new HNT‐supported ionic liquid‐like phase (HNT‐SILLP) catalyst

A new catalytic system based on modified halloysite nanotubes was employed in the Suzuki reaction under microwave irradiation. A set of solvents, times and bases was screened and the best experimental conditions were obtained when the reactions were carried out for 10 min in water–ethanol at 120 °C in presence of K₂CO₃ as base. Good recyclability was observed. The new catalytic system was employed using either 1 mol% or 0.1 mol%. The palladium catalyst displayed good activity, allowing the synthesis of several biphenyl compounds in high yield working with only 0.1 mol% palladium loading. The application of microwave irradiation decreased the reaction time and also improved conversion with respect to traditional heating. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corrosion properties of Zn-Ni-P alloys in neutral model medium

The presented work reports on the peculiarities of the anodic behavior, corrosion resistance and protective ability of electrodeposited Zn-Ni-P alloys with a different composition in a model corrosion medium of 5% NaCl. Three characteristic coating types have been investigated using experimental methods such as potentiodynamic polarization (PD) technique and polarization resistance (Rp) measurements. In addition, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with an Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDAX) device were applied to determine the differences in the chemical composition and surface morphology which appeared as a result of the corrosion treatment. The data obtained are compared to those of electrodeposited pure Zn coatings with identical experimental conditions demonstrating the enhanced protective characteristics of the ternary alloys during the test period in the model medium. The influence of the chemical and phase composition of the alloys on its corrosion resistance and protective ability is also commented and discussed.      

Solving the clique partitioning problem as a maximally diverse grouping problem

In this paper we show that the clique partitioning problem can be reformulated in an equivalent form as the maximally diverse grouping problem (MDGP). We then modify a skewed general variable neighborhood search (SGVNS) heuristic that was first developed to solve the MDGP. Similarly as with the MDGP, significant improvements over the state of the art are obtained when SGVNS is tested on large scale instances. This further confirms the usefulness of a combined approach of diversification afforded with skewed VNS and intensification afforded with the local search in general VNS.