Catalytic sulfation of betulin with sulfamic acid : experiment and DFT calculation

Betulin is an important triterpenoid substance isolated from birch bark, which, together with its sulfates, exhibits important bioactive properties. We report on a newly developed method of betulin sulfation with sulfamic acid in pyridine in the presence of an Amberlyst(®)15 solid acid catalyst. It has been shown that this catalyst remains stable when being repeatedly (up to four cycles) used and ensures obtaining of sulfated betulin with a sulfur content of ~10%. The introduction of the sulfate group into the betulin molecule has been proven by Fourier-transform infrared, ultraviolet-visible, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra contain absorption bands at 1249 and 835–841 cm(−1); in the UV spectra, the peak intensity decreases; and, in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, of betulin disulfate, carbons С3 and С28 are completely shifted to the weak-field region (to 88.21 and 67.32 ppm, respectively) with respect to betulin. Using the potentiometric titration method, the product of acidity constants K(1) and K(2) of a solution of the betulin disulfate H(+) form has been found to be 3.86 × 10(–6) ± 0.004. It has been demonstrated by the thermal analysis that betulin and the betulin disulfate sodium salt are stable at temperatures of up to 240 and 220 °C, respectively. The density functional theory method has been used to obtain data on the most stable conformations, molecular electrostatic potential, frontier molecular orbitals, and mulliken atomic charges of betulin and betulin disulfate and to calculate the spectral characteristics of initial and sulfated betulin, which agree well with the experimental data

Genome-wide transcriptome study in wheat identified candidate genes related to processing quality, majority of them showing interaction (quality x development) and having temporal and spatial distributions

BACKGROUND: The cultivated bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) possesses unique flour quality, which can be processed into many end-use food products such as bread, pasta, chapatti (unleavened flat bread), biscuit, etc. The present wheat varieties require improvement in processing quality to meet the increasing demand of better quality food products. However, processing quality is very complex and controlled by many genes, which have not been completely explored. To identify the candidate genes whose expressions changed due to variation in processing quality and interaction (quality x development), genome-wide transcriptome studies were performed in two sets of diverse Indian wheat varieties differing for chapatti quality. It is also important to understand the temporal and spatial distributions of their expressions for designing tissue and growth specific functional genomics experiments. RESULTS: Gene-specific two-way ANOVA analysis of expression of about 55 K transcripts in two diverse sets of Indian wheat varieties for chapatti quality at three seed developmental stages identified 236 differentially expressed probe sets (10-fold). Out of 236, 110 probe sets were identified for chapatti quality. Many processing quality related key genes such as glutenin and gliadins, puroindolines, grain softness protein, alpha and beta amylases, proteases, were identified, and many other candidate genes related to cellular and molecular functions were also identified. The ANOVA analysis revealed that the expression of 56 of 110 probe sets was involved in interaction (quality x development). Majority of the probe sets showed differential expression at early stage of seed development i.e. temporal expression. Meta-analysis revealed that the majority of the genes expressed in one or a few growth stages indicating spatial distribution of their expressions. The differential expressions of a few candidate genes such as pre-alpha/beta-gliadin and gamma gliadin were validated by RT-PCR. Therefore, this study identified several quality related key genes including many other genes, their interactions (quality x development) and temporal and spatial distributions. CONCLUSIONS: The candidate genes identified for processing quality and information on temporal and spatial distributions of their expressions would be useful for designing wheat improvement programs for processing quality either by changing their expression or development of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers

Role of enzymes in improving the functionality of proteins in non-wheat dough systems

40 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables.-- Available online 25 September 2015Gluten free systems lack the viscoelastic network required to resist gas production and expansion during baking. Enzymatic treatments of the GF flours have been proposed initially for creating protein aggregates that mimic gluten functionality but then also for modifying proteins changing their functionality in GF systems. To better exploit the technological function and the potentials of enzymatic processing for improving GF bread quality, it is important to understand the key elements that define the microstructure and baking functionality of GF batters as compared to wheat dough. In this review, some keys are pointed out to explain the different mechanisms that are available for understanding the action of enzymes to effectively design GF viscoelastic matrixes. Focus will be on protein modifying enzymes, because they play a decisive role in the formation of the fine network responsible for improving the expansion of rice batters.Financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project AGL2014-52928-C2-1-R), the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).Peer reviewe

Exploring QSARs of some Translocator protein (TSPO) ligands using MLR and PC-ANN techniques

Quantitative structure-activity relationship study was performed to understand the activity of a set of 136 ligands of Translocator protein (TSPO) compounds. QSAR models were developed using multiple linear regression (MLR) as linear method. While principal component - artificial neural networks (PC-ANN) modeling method was used as nonlinear method. The results obtained offer good regression models having good prediction ability. The MLR resulted with models (12-24) which have coefficient of determination (R 2 ) >0.6, the best model (number 24) resulted with correlation coefficient (R) = 0.909, coefficient of determination (R 2 ) = 0.826, and adjusted coefficient of determination (R 2 adj) = 0.788. Cross Validation leave one out (LOO) and leave many out (LMO) were performed on the resulted MLR models, models 19-24 showed a good predictive power. After that principle component analysis (PCA) performed to divide the data into three data sets, then the ANN performed on the chosen models (19-24) from leave one out (LOO) and leave many out (LMO) validation. ANN resulted models were validated through randomization test, then the conditions proposed by Golbraikh and Tropsha were applied to conclude that the QSAR models has acceptable prediction power or not. However the best ANN model with a good predictivepower was model #24, with R test values 0.83

Quantum Computational Investigation of (E)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5-methyl-N?-(3-phenoxybenzylidene)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbohydrazide

The title compound was synthesized and structurally characterized. Theoretical IR, NMR (with the GIAO technique), UV, and nonlinear optical properties (NLO) in four different solvents were calculated for the compound. The calculated HOMO–LUMO energies using time-dependent (TD) DFT revealed that charge transfer occurs within the molecule, and probable transitions in the four solvents were identified. The in silico absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) analysis was performed in order to determine some physicochemical, lipophilicity, water solubility, pharmacokinetics, drug-likeness, and medicinal properties of the molecule. Finally, molecular docking calculation was performed, and the results were evaluated in detai

3D printed functional cookies fortified with Arthrospira platensis: Evaluation of its antioxidant potential and physical-chemical characterization

In the last few decades, consumers' growing attention to the close relationship between health and nutrition is emerging as a new trend, mostly regarding the incorporation of natural ingredients into food. Among those ingredients, microalgae are considered as innovative and promising compounds, rich in valuable nutrients and bioactive molecules. In the present work, 3D printed cookies were fortified with the microalga Arthrospira platensis aiming at developing a new functional food with antioxidant properties. A. platensis antioxidants were recovered using ultrasound-assisted extraction in hydroalcoholic solutions. Ethanol/water and biomass/solvent ratios were optimised through a Design of Experiments (DOE) approach, using the antioxidant activity (ORAC and ABTS) and total phenolic content (TPC) as response variables. The highest ORAC, ABTS and TPC values were observed in the extract obtained with 0% ethanol and 2.0% biomass; thus, this extract was chosen to be incorporated into a printable cookie dough. Three different incorporation approaches were followed: (1) dried biomass, (2) freeze-dried antioxidant extract and (3) antioxidant extract encapsulated into alginate microbeads to enhance the stability to heat, light, and oxygen during baking and further storage. All dough formulations presented shape fidelity with the 3D model. The cookies had aw values low enough to be microbiologically stable, and the texture remained constant after 30 days of storage. Moreover, the extract encapsulation promoted an improvement in the ORAC value and colour stability when compared to all other formulations, revealing the potential of A. platensis for the development of a functional 3D food-ink.This work was funded by the European Union INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the project “Enhance Microalgae: High added-value industrial opportunities for microalgae in the Atlantic Area” (Ref. EAPA_338/2016).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Comprehensive Study of N-Butyl-1H-Benzimidazole

Imidazole derivatives have found wide application in organic and medicinal chemistry. In particular, benzimidazoles have proven biological activity as antiviral, antimicrobial, and antitumor agents. In this work, we experimentally and theoretically investigated N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole. It has been shown that the presence of a butyl substituent in the N position does not significantly affect the conjugation and structural organization of benzimidazole. The optimized molecular parameters were performed by the DFT/B3LYP method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. This level of theory shows excellent concurrence with the experimental data. The non-covalent interactions that existed within our compound N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole were also analyzed by the AIM, RDG, ELF, and LOL topological methods. The color shades of the ELF and LOL maps confirm the presence of bonding and non-bonding electrons in N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole. From DFT calculations, various methods such as molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), Fukui functions, Mulliken atomic charges, and frontier molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) were characterized. Furthermore, UV-Vis absorption and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis were calculated. It is shown that the experimental and theoretical spectra of N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole have a peak at 248 nm; in addition, the experimental spectrum has a peak near 295 nm. The NBO method shows that the delocalization of the aσ-electron from σ (C1–C2) is distributed into antibonding σ* (C1–C6), σ* (C1–N26), and σ* (C6–H11), which leads to stabilization energies of 4.63, 0.86, and 2.42 KJ/mol, respectively. Spectroscopic investigations of N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole were carried out experimentally and theoretically to find FTIR vibrational spectra. © 2022 by the authors

Lignin from sugarcane bagasse as a prebiotic additive for poultry feed

Diet is a crucial factor on health and well-being of livestock animals. Nutritional strengthening with diet formulations is essential to the livestock industry and animal perfor-mance. Searching for valuable feed additives among by-products may promote not only circular economy, but also functional diets. Lignin from sugarcane bagasse was proposed as a potential prebiotic additive for chickens and incorporated at 1 % (w/w) in commercial chicken feed, tested in two feed forms, namely, mash and pellets. Physico-chemical characterization of both feed types with and without lignin was performed. Also, the prebiotic potential for feeds with lignin was assessed by an in vitro gastrointestinal model and evaluated the impact on chicken cecal Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. As for the pellet's physical quality, there was a higher cohesion of the pellets with lignin, indicating a higher resistance to breakout and lignin decreases the tendency of the pellets for microbial contamination. Regarding the prebiotic potential, mash feed with lignin showed higher promotion of Bifidobacterium in comparison with mash feed without lignin and to pellet feed with lignin. Lignin from sugarcane bagasse has prebiotic potential as additive to chicken feed when supplemented in mash feed diets, presenting itself as a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to chicken feed additives supplementation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio