Tandem chemiluminescence-flow injection analysis for dimethoate determination

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain (Project CTM2006-11991) and FEDER funds.Catalá Icardo, M.; López Paz, JL.; Choves Barón, C. (2010). Tandem chemiluminescence-flow injection analysis for dimethoate determination. Luminescence. 25:235-236. https://doi.org/10.1002/bio.1217S2352362

Effects of Wood Distillate (Pyroligneous Acid) on the Yield Parameters and Mineral Composition of Three Leguminous Crops

The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture is increasing the demand for novel products to improve the quality of crops in a more sustainable way. Wood distillate (WD, pyroligneous acid) is a by-product obtained during the pyrolysis of plant biomass that can be successfully applied in agriculture due to its ability to enhance the growth, size, and weight of edible plant parts. However, there is little information concerning its plant yield-promoting effects on leguminous crops. The present work investigated the effects of WD on the yield, protein content and mineral composition of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), lentil (Lens culinaris L.) and bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) plants grown in field conditions. The application of WD showed remarkable yield-promoting effects mostly in lentil plants, which significantly increased plant and shoot biomass, the number and weight of both pods and seeds, as well as the total seed protein content. Furthermore, seeds from WD-treated plants differentially increased the concentration of elements with high nutritional value for human health, including Fe, Ca, Mg and K. These results suggest that the effects of WD among the legumes tested are species-specific and that WD could be an optimal candidate to grow high-yielding legumes with improved seed nutritional quality

Unravelling the ultrafast dynamics of a N-BODIPY compound

Although the photophysics of BODIPY compounds has been widely investigated in the last few years, their analogues N-BODIPY, with nitrogen substitution at the boron center, did not receive comparable attention. In this work we report the synthesis and photochemical characterization of a substituted N-BODIPY compound, by means of a combined theoretical and spectroscopic approach. Compared to a standard BODIPY, the compound under investigation presents a lower fluorescence quantum yield (QY) in the visible region. The excited state relaxation dynamics of the dye was studied in different solvents, showing further fluorescence quenching in polar solvents, and excited state decay rates strongly dependent on the environment polarity. The role of the pendant moieties and the involvement of charge transfer states in the excited state dynamics was experimentally addressed by transient absorption spectroscopy, and further analyzed with TD-DFT calculations, which allowed precise assignment of the transient signals to the correspondent electronic configuration. The complete picture of the N-BODIPY behavior shows the presence of both charge transfer and localized states, influencing the observed photophysics to different amounts, depending on the excitation conditions and the surrounding environment

Effects of blue, orange and white lights on growth, chlorophyll fluorescence, and phycocyanin production of Arthrospira platensis cultures

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different light colors on growth, pigment composition, and photosynthetic performance of Arthrospira platensis. Results showed that under orange light the biomass productivity increased due to the capability of A. platensis to fully absorb this portion of the light spectrum. Under blue light, phycocyanin increased continuously up to 13.2% ± 1.96 of dry weight at day 5, while under orange and white lights the phycocyanin content resulted lower, 7.1 ± 0.39 and 6.7% ± 1.58 of dry weight, respectively. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements showed the maximum electron transport rate (rETRmax) in cells grown under orange light. The results of this study indicated that the orange light increased both growth and phycocyanin productivities, while blue light increased mostly the phycocyanin content, while biomass productivity was much lower. Further increase of phycocyanin content was observed shifting the light illuminating the cultures from orange to blue, attaining a raise in phycocyanin content from 8.6% to 12.5% of dry weight within 48 h from the start of the illumination with blue light. Within the same period of time no growth was observed indicating that the synthesis of phycocyanin can be decoupled from growth. This study provides useful physiological information regarding the effects of different light spectra on growth, phycocyanin, and photosynthetic performance, as a prerequisite to optimize the production of high value pigments from cultures of A. platensis

(3R,4S)-3,4-Isopropylidenedioxy-5-phenylsulfonylmethyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrrole 1-oxide

The title compound, C14H17NO5S, was prepared by oxidation of (2R,3S,4R)-2-phenyl­sulfonyl­methyl-1-hy­droxy-3,4-iso­pro­pyl­idene­dioxy­pyrrolidine. Its crystal structure confirms unequivocally its configuration. Two inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions help to establish the packing

Azido-Substituted BODIPY Dyes for the Production of Fluorescent Carbon Nanotubes

© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. A series of azido-dyes were synthesized through Knoevenagel reactions of an azido-BODIPY with aromatic aldehydes. The nature of the substituents allowed the fine tuning of their spectroscopic properties. The dyes were used to decorate oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (ox-MWCNTs), bearing terminal triple bond groups, by CuAAC reactions, affording fluorescent materials. This decoration allowed the efficient determination of the internalization of the ox-MWCNT derivatives by different model cancer cells, such as MCF7

The "click-on-tube" approach for the production of efficient drug carriers based on oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes

© 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.To demonstrate the potential of azido-substituted carbon nanotubes for application in nanomedicine, multiple-decorated oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes as drug delivery systems have been synthesized. These DDSs were able to carry doxorubicin inside breast MCF-7 cancer cell lines resulting in an enhanced cytotoxic effect with respect to the free drug. Decoration of the carbon nanotubes was accomplished through both covalent and non-covalent approaches: versatile click reactions and π-π interactions were exploited. To assess the internalization of the carbon nanotubes inside cells, decoration with a BODIPY fluorescent molecule was performed. Furthermore, the nanotubes were decorated with a biotin selector molecule to increase the uptake of the system by cancer cells. Comparative studies were performed on the complete drug delivery system to highlight its effect with respect to the free drug and the contribution of the selector in the internalization efficiency. Finally, preliminary in vivo tests were performed on MCF-7 inoculated mice. A net improvement in efficiency, concerning the minor growth of the tumors, has been found when using doxorubicin loaded on our drug delivery system with respect to free doxorubicin