A method for obtaining plastid pigments from the biomass of Chlorella microalgae

Microalgae are distinguished from land plants by the high content of plastid pigments and the biodiversity of carotenoids. The aim of this study is to develop a technology for extracting a pigment complex from the biomass of the microalgae of the genus Chlorella and to determine the extracted pigments’ composition. To obtain biomass, a crude cell suspension of microalgae was used, which was obtained under laboratory conditions for pre-culture cultivation of C. sorokiniana (strain 211-8k). The extraction of plastid pigments from air-dry biomass after disintegration of cell membrane was performed in the 40 kHz mode. It was found that the highest pigment content in ethanol extracts was observed after 30 min (870.0 ± 27.1 mg L -1 ) at 45−50 °C. The pigments’ composition in the resulting total extracts was determined by spectrophotometry and the Reverse Phase HPLC method. The established content of chlorophyll a in the obtained extracts was 537.5 ± 10.0 mg L -1 , the content of chlorophyll b was 182.5 ± 27.5 mg L -1 ; the maximum output of the amount of carotenoids in extracts was 150.0 ± 10.0 mg L -1 . Thus, the main identified forms of carotenoids in extracts from the biomass of microalgae C. sorokiniana were xanthophylls: lutein and fucoxanthin (18.6 and 4.7% of the amount of pigment in extract, respectively) and β-carotene (1.8% of the amount of pigment). It is planned to further fractionate the obtained total extracts of the pigment complex to obtain various forms of chlorophylls and carotenoids to study the spectrum of physiological activity of plastid pigments

Multivalent Tryptophan‐ and Tyrosine‐Containing [60]Fullerene Hexa‐Adducts as Dual HIV and Enterovirus A71 Entry Inhibitors

Unprecedented 3D hexa-adducts of [60]fullerene peripherally decorated with twelve tryptophan (Trp) or tyrosine (Tyr) residues have been synthesized. Studies on the antiviral activity of these novel compounds against HIV and EV71 reveal that they are much more potent against HIV and equally active against EV71 than the previously described dendrimer prototypes AL-385 and AL-463, which possess the same number of Trp/Tyr residues on the periphery but attached to a smaller and more flexible pentaerythritol core. These results demonstrate the relevance of the globular 3D presentation of the peripheral groups (Trp/Tyr) as well as the length of the spacer connecting them to the central core to interact with the viral envelopes, particularly in the case of HIV, and support the hypothesis that [60]fullerene can be an alternative and attractive biocompatible carbon-based scaffold for this type of highly symmetrical dendrimers. In addition, the functionalized fullerenes here described, which display twelve peripheral negatively charged indole moieties on their globular surface, define a new and versatile class of compounds with a promising potential in biomedical applications