In Vitro

Despite the enormous achievements in conventional medicine, herbal-based medicines are still a common practice for the treatment of diabetes. Trigonella foenum-graecum, Atriplex halimus, Olea europaea, Urtica dioica, Allium sativum, Allium cepa, Nigella sativa, and Cinnamomum cassia are strongly recommended in the Greco-Arab and Islamic medicine for the treatment and prevention of diabetes. Cytotoxicity (MTT and LDH assays) of the plant extracts was assessed using cells from the liver hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2) and cells from the rat L6 muscle cell line. The effects of the plant extracts (50% ethanol in water) on glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) translocation to the plasma membrane was tested in an ELISA test on L6-GLUT4myc cells. Results obtained indicate that Cinnamomon cassia is cytotoxic at concentrations higher than 100 μg/mL, whereas all other tested extracts exhibited cytotoxic effects at concentrations higher than 500 μg/mL. Exposing L6-GLUT4myc muscle cell to extracts from Trigonella foenum-graecum, Urtica dioica, Atriplex halimus, and Cinnamomum verum led to a significant gain in GLUT4 on their plasma membranes at noncytotoxic concentrations as measured with MTT assay and the LDH leakage assay. These findings indicate that the observed anti-diabetic properties of these plants are mediated, at least partially, through regulating GLUT4 translocation

Ru-gC3N4 Catalyzed Hydrodebenzylation of Benzyl Protected Alcohol and Acid Groups Using Sodium Hypophosphite as a Hydrogen Source

A straightforward process for hydrodebenzylation of benzyl protected acid and alcohol derivatives to the corresponding acids and alcohols using sodium hypophosphite in the presence of Ru-GCN catalyst is reported. The developed Ru-GCN catalyst is cost effective compared to other noble metal-based catalysts and has been explored to exhibit excellent activity for catalytic hydrodebenzylation reactions under moderate reaction conditions. The non-corrosive sodium hypophosphite has been found as a better hydrogen donor compared to alkali metal formats in presence of Ru-GCN catalyst. The stated catalyst was characterized using several spectrometric and material characterization methods such as PXRD, IR, SEM, TEM, XPS, and TGA. The Ru-GCN catalyst corroborated good reusability and stability for multiple cycles. The catalyst preparation is facile and the developed process is simple and safe as it avoids use of high hydrogen pressure. The developed protocol can also be replicated on industrial scale on account of excellent recyclability and retained activity after multiple cycles and makes the process sustainable. Gram scale reaction was performed to verify the industrial potential of reported catalyst

Hierarchical Nanostructured 3D Flowerlike BiOCl_<i>x</i>Br_1–<i>x</i> Semiconductors with Exceptional Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

With careful rational optimization and substantial simplification of the syntheses of the recently reported alloys BiO­(Cl_<i>x</i>Br_1–<i>x</i>), we fabricated, via a very simple procedure and at room temperature, a unique visible-light-driven photocatalyst with excellent activity. The alloy BiOCl_0.875Br_0.125 totally decomposed 15 mg/L aqueous Rhodamine B solution within 120 s upon irradiation with visible light (λ > 422 nm). The transparent substrate acetophenone was also swiftly destroyed under the above conditions. The catalyst maintained partial activity even after switching off the light source. Initial mechanistic studies clearly suggest that the mode of action of these materials is fundamentally different from previously reported photocatalytic mechanisms. Evidently, the putative molecular mechanism does not engage dye photosensitization or oxygen radicals

Nanostructured 3D Sunflower-like Bismuth Doped BiOCl_<i>x</i>Br_1–<i>x</i> Solid Solutions with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity as a Remarkably Efficient Technology for Water Purification

Following our report on the fabrication of BiOCl_<i>x</i>Br_1–<i>x</i> (0 ≤ <i>x</i> ≤ 1) alloys, and via careful rational optimization and substantial tuning, we upgraded the previous photocatalytic system by means of a controlled doping with elemental bismuth particles. The latter leads to the formation of well-defined structures characterized by effective separation of electron–hole pairs and more reductive photoexcited electrons. These advanced semiconductors, specifically heterojunctioned doped alloys, were synthesized via a simple soft chemical route at room temperature and used for demonstrating the enhanced and complete mineralization of recalcitrant organic contaminants in water such as toluene, benzene, chlorobenzene, xylene, terephthalic acid, and benzoquinone. The molecular photocatalytic mechanism of the above degradation processes was thoroughly elucidated