Value Added Products Generation from Sugarcane Bagasse and Its Impact on Economizing Biorefinery and Sustainability of Sugarcane Industry

Augmenting value-added products generation with the biorefinery process of sugar cane by utilizing the by-products helps to achieve a more sustainable model of the sugarcane industry and in turn, contributes to the circular economy. Among the value-added products produced from sugarcane waste, functional foods offer additional health benefits besides their nutritional and calorific value. In recent years non-digestible sugars gained interest as potential prebiotic functional foods which benefit the host without increasing calorific value. These sugars are produced by the breakdown of carbohydrate polymers like cellulose and xylan, by thermochemical treatment or by enzymatic hydrolysis, or a combination of both. Sugar cane bagasse (SB) is an economical source of xylan which can serve as the substrate for xylooligosaccharides (XOS), xylobiose, xylitol, and ethanol. Cellulases, xylanases, and ligninases have wide applications in food processing, agro-fiber, pharmaceutical, and the paper and pulp industries including nutraceuticals production, where these enzymes provide eco-friendly alternatives to some chemical processes and help to reduce environmental impact. Conventional thermochemical methods for nutraceuticals production require chemicals that result in the release of toxic byproducts thus requiring additional steps for refining. In this context, the sustainable and eco-friendly processes for the production of nutraceuticals require employing biocatalysts like microbial enzymes or microbes as a whole, where in addition to averting the toxic byproducts the refining process requires lesser steps. The present chapter discusses the current research and challenges in the production of value-added products from sugarcane byproducts and their contribution to the sustainability of the sugarcane industry

Catalyst-free synthesis of pyrazole-aniline linked coumarin derivatives and their antimicrobial evaluation

Catalyst-free one-pot CN and CC bond formation is described as a simple and ecofriendly method for the synthesis of pyrazole-aniline linked coumarin derivatives. Employing this protocol, a series of derivatives were synthesized in good to excellent yields and tested against different bacterial strains as well as fungal strains. Most of the compounds exhibited potential antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. Among them, the compounds 4b, 4e, 4 h, 4i and 4 k exhibited promising activity on all the tested bacterial strains with values ranging between 1.9 and 7.8 µg/mL. In addition, these compounds were tested against various fungal strains and were found to exhibit potential antifungal activity. Fascinatingly, among the tested derivatives, the compounds 4e, 4 h and 4i were found to be equipotent to miconazole (positive control) against some of the tested fungal strains. Moreover, these compounds showed promising bactericidal, Candida-cidal and biofilm inhibition activities. Further, mechanistic study was carried out with the most active derivative 4i indicated that these compounds inhibit the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway. Keywords: 4-Hydroxycoumarin, Pyrazole, Catalyst-free, Antimicrobial, Ergosterol, Biofil