Nutrition, bioenergetics, and metabolic syndrome

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global nutrition report shows that whilst part of the world's population starves, the other part suffers from obesity and associated complications. A balanced diet counterparts these extreme conditions with the proper proportion, composition, quantity, and presence of macronutrients, micronutrients, and bioactive compounds. However, little is known on the way these components exert any influence on our health. These nutrients aiming to feed our bodies, our tissues, and our cells, first need to reach mitochondria, where they are decomposed into CO2 and H2O to obtain energy. Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell and mainly responsible for nutrients metabolism, but they are also the main source of oxidative stress and cell death by apoptosis. Unappropriated nutrients may support mitochondrial to become the Trojan horse in the cell. This review aims to provide an approach to the role that some nutrients exert on mitochondria as a major contributor to high prevalent Western conditions including metabolic syndrome (MetS), a constellation of pathologic conditions which promotes type II diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Clinical and experimental data extracted from in vitro animal and cell models further demonstrated in patients, support the idea that a balanced diet, in a healthy lifestyle context, promotes proper bioenergetic and mitochondrial function, becoming the best medicine to prevent the onset and progression of MetS. Any advance in the prevention and management of these prevalent complications help to face these challenging global health problems, by ameliorating the quality of life of patients and reducing the associated sociosanitary burden

Oxidation and β-alkylation of alcohols catalysed by Iridium(I) complexes with functionalised N-heterocyclic Carbene ligands

The borrowing hydrogen methodology allows for the use of alcohols as alkylating agents for C-C bond forming processes offering significant environmental benefits over traditional approaches. Iridium(I)-cyclooctadiene complexes having a NHC ligand with a O- or N-functionalised wingtip efficiently catalysed the oxidation and β-alkylation of secondary alcohols with primary alcohols in the presence of a base. The cationic complex [Ir(NCCH)(cod)(MeIm(2- methoxybenzyl))][BF] (cod=1,5-cyclooctadiene, MeIm=1-methylimidazolyl) having a rigid O-functionalised wingtip, shows the best catalyst performance in the dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol in acetone, with an initial turnover frequency (TOF) of 1283 h, and also in the β-alkylation of 2-propanol with butan-1-ol, which gives a conversion of 94 % in 10 h with a selectivity of 99 % for heptan-2-ol. We have investigated the full reaction mechanism including the dehydrogenation, the cross-aldol condensation and the hydrogenation step by DFT calculations. Interestingly, these studies revealed the participation of the iridium catalyst in the key step leading to the formation of the new C-C bond that involves the reaction of an O-bound enolate generated in the basic medium with the electrophilic aldehyde.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO/FEDER, Project CTQ2013-42532-P), MICINN (Project Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00050) and Diputación General de Aragón (DGA/FSE-E07) is gratefully acknowledged. J.F.-T. thanks the Spanish MICINN for a predoctoral fellowship.Peer Reviewe