New clerodane diterpenoid from the bulbils of Dioscorea bulbifera

A new clerodane diterpenoid has been isolated from the acetone extract of bulbils of Dioscorea bulbifera. The structure of compound 1 was established as 15,16-epoxy-6alpha-O-acety1-8beta-hydroxy- 9-nor-clero-13(16),14-diene-17,12;18,2-diolide on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic techniques.     

Solvent effects in electrocoagulation of selected plant pigments and tannin

Electrocoagulation of a plant extract and certain substances representative of selected classes of plant pigments, viz. chlorophyll, a carotenoid, a phenolic substance and a tannin, was performed in ethanol containing varying amounts of water (15-75%). The results showed that the extent and efficiency of coagulation of these substances tends to vary in a manner directly related to the water content of the solvent, although the tannin and the phenolic substance were less sensitive to the solvent composition and are equally well coagulated in all solvent systems studied. The findings can be applied to the removal of these substances from aqueous alcoholic plant extracts using the electrocoagulation technique.     

A chemical approach for cell-specific targeting of nanomaterials: small-molecule-initiated misfolding of nanoparticle corona proteins

A major challenge in nanomaterial science is to develop approaches that ensure that when administered in vivo, nanoparticles can be targeted to their requisite site of action. Herein we report the first approach that allows for cell-specific uptake of nanomaterials by a process involving reprogramming of the behavior of the ubiquitous protein corona of nanomaterials. Specifically, judicious surface modification of quantum dots with a small molecule that induces a protein-misfolding event in a component of the nanoparticle-associated protein corona renders the associated nanomaterials susceptible to cell-specific, receptor-mediated endocytosis. We see this chemical approach as a new and general method for exploiting the inescapable protein corona to target nanomaterials to specific cells.     

Quantitative analysis and evaluation of the solubility of hydrophobic proteins recovered from brain, heart and urine using UV-visible spectrophotometry

There is a need for a simple method that can directly quantify hydrophobic proteins. UV-visible spectrophotometry was applied in the present study for this purpose. Absorbance at λ=280 nm (A ₂₈₀) was detected for both Escherichia coli membrane proteins and bovine serum albumin, whereas absorbance at λ=620 nm (A ₆₂₀) was only detected for E. coli membrane proteins. The A ₆₂₀ values of the brain samples were greater than those of heart samples when equal concentrations were used, regardless of the type of solubilizing agent employed. Because hydrophobic proteins tend to form colloidal microparticles in solution, we also applied UV-visible spectrophotometry to evaluate the efficacies of different extraction protocols for solubilizing hydrophobic proteins. For brain protein extraction, the highest A ₆₂₀ was observed in samples recovered using Tris, whereas the lowest was from samples recovered using SDS. Solubilizing brain tissue with 0.25% SDS (above the CMC) gave a lower A ₆₂₀ than extraction with 0.025% SDS (below the CMC). Addition of 0.25% SDS to samples recovered with Triton caused A ₆₂₀ to drop. A ₆₂₀ could also be used to distinguish between the hydrophobic fractions (pellets) of brain and urine proteins and their hydrophilic fractions (supernatants) prefractionated using high-speed centrifugation. Additionally, an A ₆₂₀/A ₂₈₀ ratio exceeding 0.12 appears to denote highly hydrophobic samples. Our data suggest that direct UV-visible spectrophotometry can be used as a simple method to quantify and evaluate the solubilities of hydrophobic proteins.     

Electrocoagulation of quinone pigments

Some representative quinones, viz. one naphthoquinone (plumbagin) and five anthraquinones (alizarin, purpurin, chrysazin, emodin, and anthrarufin), were subjected to electrocoagulation. It was found that the rate and extent of coagulation of these compounds appears to correlate with the number and relative position of their phenolic substituent groups, and that all of the coagulated quinones could be recovered. Attempts were then made to electrochemically isolate three quinones, namely plumbagin, morindone and erythrolaccin, from natural sources.     

Dechlorophyllation by electrocoagulation

Electrocoagulation was used for dechlorophyllation of alcoholic extracts from five plants. The results showed that for every plant extract studied, electrocoagulation was more efficient than the classical solvent extraction method in removing plant pigments, while not affecting the important secondary metabolites in those extracts.