Anti-UV Microgel Based on Interfacial Polymerization to Decrease Skin Irritation of High Permeability UV Absorber Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate.

Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC) is frequently employed as a photoprotective agent in sunscreen formulations. EHMC has been found to potentially contribute to health complications as a result of its propensity to produce irritation and permeate the skin. A microgel carrier, consisting of poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (pEDGMA), was synthesized using interfacial polymerization with the aim of reducing the irritation and penetration of EHMC. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that the EHMC content accounted for 75.72% of the total composition. Additionally, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images depicted the microgel as exhibiting a spherical morphology. In this study, the loading of EHMC was demonstrated through FTIR and contact angle tests. The UV resistance, penetration, and skin irritation of the EHMC-pEDGMA microgel were additionally assessed. The investigation revealed that the novel sunscreen compound, characterized by limited dermal absorption, had no irritant effects and offered sufficient protection against ultraviolet radiation.

Experimental and theoretical studies on inhibition against tyrosinase activity and melanin biosynthesis by antioxidant ergothioneine.

Ergothioneine, a natural derivative of histidine with a thiol/thine tautomeric structure, exhibits exceptional antioxidant properties and inhibition activities on tyrosinase. In this study, enzyme kinetics experiments and chromatographic spectral analysis revealed that ergothioneine inhibited tyrosinase in a reversible and non-competitive manner, with an inhibition constant of 0.554 mg/mL (2.41 mM). As the concentration of ergothioneine increased, the extremely flexible loop structure of tyrosinase extended from 40.1 % to 41.0 %, effectively covering the active center or binding site. Theoretical molecular docking simulation results show that ergothioneine forms complexes with tyrosinase through hydrogen bonding and salt bridges in the active center of Cu ions. Additionally, it was observed that ergothioneine's antioxidant had a stronger reducing impact on dopaquinone, an intermediate in melanin production, than the effect of ascorbic acid at an equivalent concentration (0.5 mg/mL). Ergothioneine reduced the intracellular reactive oxygen species to lower levels than the control group without UVA radiation and regulated the proliferation and differentiation in B16-F10 melanocytes. Clinical trials have shown that a 0.1 % concentration of ergothioneine can effectively suppress melanin production in irradiated skin. The significant reduction in melanin index and an increase in the individual type angle (ITA°) degree were measured after 4 weeks. These results collectively suggest that ergothioneine may be a promising inhibitor of natural antioxidant tyrosinase. Furthermore, due to its safety and efficacy, ergothioneine could be considered one of the bioactive substances for further study on diseases related to melanin production and tyrosinase activity which is of great significance for the cosmetics, medicine and food industries.

Extraction Optimization, Characterization and Biological Activities of Polysaccharide Extracts from Nymphaea hybrid.

In this study, polysaccharide-rich Nymphaea hybrid extracts (NHE) were obtained using the ultrasound-assisted cellulase extraction (UCE) method optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). The structural properties and thermal stability of NHE were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and thermogravimetry-derivative thermogravimetry (TG-DTG) analysis, respectively. Moreover, the bioactivities of NHE, including the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, whitening and scratch healing activities were evaluated by different in vitro assays. NHE conveyed a good ability to scavenge against the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals and inhibit the hyaluronidase activity. NHE can effectively protect the HaCaT cells against oxidative damage by inhibiting the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the H2O2 stimulation assays and promoting the proliferation and migration in the scratch assays. In addition, NHE was proven to inhibit melanin production in B16 cells. Collectively, the above results seem to be the evidence needed to promote the potential of NHE to be regarded as a new functional raw material in the cosmetics or food industries.

Optimization of Fermentation Process of Pomegranate Peel and Schisandra Chinensis and the Biological Activities of Fermentation Broth: Antioxidant Activity and Protective Effect Against H2O2-induced Oxidative Damage in HaCaT Cells.

In this study, the lactobacillus fermentation process of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peel and Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill (PP&SC) was optimized by using the response surface method (RSM) coupled with a Box-Behnken design. The optimum fermentation condition with the maximal yield of ellagic acid (99.49 ± 0.47 mg/g) was as follows: 1:1 (w:w) ratio of pomegranate peel to Schisandra chinensis, 1% (v:v) of strains with a 1:1 (v:v) ratio of Lactobacillus Plantarum to Streptococcus Thermophilus, a 37 °C fermentation temperature, 33 h of fermentation time, 1:20 (g:mL) of a solid-liquid ratio and 3 g/100 mL of a glucose dosage. Under these conditions, the achieved fermentation broth (FB) showed stronger free radical scavenging abilities than the water extract (WE) against the ABTS+, DPPH, OH- and O2- radicals. The cytotoxicity and the protective effect of FB on the intracellular ROS level in HaCaT cells were further detected by the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The results showed that FB had no significant cytotoxicity toward HaCaT cells when its content was no more than 8 mg/mL. The FB with a concentration of 8 mg/mL had a good protective effect against oxidative damage, which can effectively reduce the ROS level to 125.94% ± 13.46% (p < 0.001) compared with 294.49% ± 11.54% of the control group in H2O2-damaged HaCaT cells. The outstanding antioxidant ability and protective effect against H2O2-induced oxidative damage in HaCaT cells promote the potential for the FB of PP&SC as a functional raw material of cosmetics.

Optimization of Ultrasonic Cellulase-Assisted Extraction and Antioxidant Activity of Natural Polyphenols from Passion Fruit.

In this paper, ultrasonic cellulase extraction (UCE) was applied to extract polyphenols from passion fruit. The extraction conditions for total phenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with a Box-Behnken design (BBD). The results showed that the liquid-to-solid ratio (X2) was the most significant single factor and had a positive effect on all responses. The ANOVA analysis indicated quadratic models fitted well as TPC with R2 = 0.903, DPPH scavenging activity with R2 = 0.979, and ABTS scavenging activity with R2 = 0.981. The optimal extraction parameters of passion fruit were as follows: pH value of 5 at 30 °C for extraction temperature, 50:1 (w/v) liquid-to-solid ratio with extraction time for 47 min, the experimental values were found matched with those predicted. Infrared spectroscopy suggested that the extract contained the structure of polyphenols. Furthermore, three main polyphenols were identified and quantified by HPLC. The results showed the content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of the optimized UCE were 1.5~2 times higher than that determined by the single extraction method and the Soxhlet extraction method, which indicates UCE is a competitive and effective extraction technique for natural passion fruit polyphenols.

Dual-specific interaction to detect DNA on gold nanoparticles.

An approach to selectively and efficiently detect single strand DNA is developed by using streptavidin coated gold nanoparticles (StAuNPs) as efficient quenchers. The central concept for the successful detection is the combination the of streptavidin-biotin interaction with specific probe-target DNA hybridization. Biotin labeled probe DNAs act as "bridges" to bring Cy5 labeled targets to the particle surface and the fluorophore dye can be rapidly and efficiently quenched by StAuPNs. By measuring the changes of photoluminescence intensity of Cy5, an efficient, selective, and reversed detection of DNA hybridization is realized. The methodology may pave a new way for simple and rapid detections of biomolecules.

rac-3-{4-[(2-Hy-droxy-benzyl-idene)amino]-3-phenyl-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl}-1,3-diphenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title compound, C(30)H(24)N(4)O(2)S, the four phenyl rings of the substituent groups make dihedral angles of 88.1 (2), 81.0 (2), 21.4 (2) and 44.6 (2)° with the triazole group. An intra-molecular hy-droxy-imino O-H⋯N hydrogen bond results in the formation of an approximately planar (r.m.s deviation = 0.0230 Å) six-membered ring.

rac-3-{4-[(4-Nitro-benzyl-idene)amino]-3-phenyl-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl}-1,3-diphenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(30)H(23)N(5)O(3)S, the 1,2,4-triazole ring is approximately planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.006 Å), and forms dihedral angles of 66.0 (2), 65.1 (2), 30.1 (2) and 28.1 (2)° with the four phenyl rings. The phenyl ring of the benzyl group directly attached to the triazole ring is almost perpendicular to the nitro-phenyl ring, making a dihedral angle of 84.9 (2)°.

2-[(3-Propyl-sulfanyl-5-p-tolyl-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)imino-meth-yl]phenol.

In the title mol-ecule, C(19)H(20)N(4)OS, the two benzene rings form dihedral angles of 16.2 (1) and 12.0 (1)°, respectively, with the central triazole ring. In the crystal, inter-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds link mol-ecules into chains in the [010] direction.

3-{4-[(4-Meth-oxy-benzyl-idene)amino]-3-phenyl-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl}-1,3-diphenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(31)H(26)N(4)O(2)S, the phenyl ring attached to the 1,2,4-triazole ring forms dihedral angles of 65.4 (2), 63.4 (2) and 62.2 (2)° with the other three rings. The 1,2,4-triazole ring makes dihedral angles of 78.0 (2), 87.9 (2), 24.9 (2) and 62.8 (2)° with three phenyl rings and the methoxyphenyl ring.

3-(4-Amino-3-ethyl-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-3-(2-chloro-phen-yl)-1-phenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(19)H(19)ClN(4)OS, the 1,2,4-triazole ring forms dihedral angles of 86.0 (2) and 65.6 (2)° with the phenyl and chloro-phenyl rings, respectively. In the crystal, inter-molecular N-H⋯S and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link mol-ecules into centrosymmetric dimers, which are further linked into chains in [001] via weak C-H⋯π inter-actions.

3-[4-(2-Chloro-benzyl-idene-amino)-3-methyl-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl]-1,3-diphenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(25)H(21)ClN(4)OS, the triazole ring forms dihedral angles of 47.9 (2), 84.5 (2) and 3.9 (2)° with the two phenyl rings and the chloro-phenyl ring, respectively. The chloro-phenyl ring, the triazole ring and the conjugative linker between the two aromatic rings are nearly coplanar with an r.m.s. deviation of 0.0483 (2) Šand a maximum deviation of 0.0911 (2) Å.

rac-3-{4-[(Furan-2-ylmethyl-idene)-amino]-3-methyl-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl}-1,3-diphenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(23)H(20)N(4)O(2)S, the triazole ring forms dihedral angles of 150.3 (2), 77.3 (2) and 77.6 (2)°, respectively, with the furan ring and the phenyl rings. The furan ring is almost perpendicular to the central phenyl ring, making a dihedral angle of 86.0 (3)°.

3-[4-Amino-3-(4-methyl-phen-yl)-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl]-3-(2-chloro-phen-yl)-1-phenyl-propan-1-one.

In the title mol-ecule, C(24)H(21)ClN(4)OS, the 1,2,4-triazole ring forms dihedral angles of 37.2 (2), 71.9 (2) and 84.9 (2) ° with the three benzene rings. In the crystal, weak inter-molecular N-H⋯S hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into centrosymmetric dimers.

1,4-Bis{[5-(pyridin-4-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]sulfan-yl}butane.

In the centrosymmetric title compound, C(18)H(16)N(6)O(2)S(2), the 1,3,4-oxadiazole and the attached pyridinyl ring are twisted by 5.3 (3)°.

3-[3-Methyl-4-(4-nitro-benzyl-idene-amino)-5-sulfanyl-idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl]-1,3-diphenyl-propan-1-one dichloro-methane monosolvate.

In the title compound, C(25)H(21)N(5)O(3)S·CH(2)Cl(2), the dichloro-methane solvent mol-ecule is disordered over four positions, with an occupancy ratio of 0.271 (3):0.3884 (18):0.298 (2):0.0424 (15). The 1,2,4-triazole ring makes dihedral angles of 47.3 (2)/87.3 (2) and 3.6 (2)° with the phenyl and nitro-phenyl rings, respectively. An intra-molecular C-H⋯S hydrogen bond results in the formation of an almost planar six-membered ring [r.m.s. derivation = 0.0051 (2) Å]. Inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonding consolidates the structure.