Bioprospecting Fluorescent Plant Growth Regulators from Arabidopsis to Vegetable Crops

The phytohormone auxin is involved in almost every process of a plant’s life, from germination to plant development. Nowadays, auxin research connects synthetic chemistry, plant biology and computational chemistry in order to develop innovative and safe compounds to be used in sustainable agricultural practice. In this framework, we developed new fluorescent compounds, ethanolammonium p-aminobenzoate (HEA-pABA) and p-nitrobenzoate (HEA-pNBA), and investigated their auxin-like behavior on two main commercial vegetables cultivated in Europe, cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and tomato (Solanumlycopersicum), in comparison to the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Moreover, the binding modes and affinities of two organic salts in relation to the natural auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) into TIR1 auxin receptor were investigated by computational approaches (homology modeling and molecular docking). Both experimental and theoretical results highlight HEA-pABA as a fluorescent compound with auxin-like activity both in Arabidopsis and the commercial cucumber and tomato. Therefore, alkanolammonium benzoates have a great potential as promising sustainable plant growth stimulators to be efficiently used in vegetable crops

Mechanical properties of one-dimensional coordination polymer [Cu(adi)(4-pyao)2]n

Blue block crystals of title compound, [Cu(adi)(4-pyao)2]n 1 were obtained by blending the solution of copper (II) fluoride with 4-pyridine-aldoxime (4-pyao) and adipic acid (H2adi). X-ray single crystal structure analysis revealed that 1 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P-1 (No 2). The metal N2O2-square-planar geometry is completed by two N-pyridine and two carboxylic oxygen atoms. The adipate dianions act in the bis-monodentate coordination mode and bridge the copper cations giving rise to 1D polymeric chain, while the 4-pyao ligands co-ordinate via pyridine nitrogen atoms (Figure, left). The Cu•••Cu separation across the carboxylic group in the polymeric tapes is equal to 9.692 Å

Structure – mechanical properties correlation for the laminar solid {[Co(OAc)2(bpe)(H2O)]•0.5(dmf)}n

Mechanical propeties of metal-organic materials (MOMs) deserve growing attention since they are essential variables for a majority of possible applications. The nanoindentation allows estimating the stability liinits of MOMs, anisotropy of hardness on different planes, and contribution of different types of interatomic and intermolecular interactions to the overall crystal stability. Laminar title compound 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c [1]. The Co(II) cation coordinates three AcO- anions, one water and two bpe molecules