Improvement of humic acid (HA) removal using a new inorganic-organic composite coagulant: α-costic acid as a modifier of polyaluminum chloride properties.

In this work, α-costic acid (αCA), a plant sesquiterpenoid from Dittrichia viscosa, was grafted into polyaluminum chloride (PAC), forming a new eco-sustainable composite coagulant PAC-αCA with improved functionality. The α-costic acid fraction grafted into the PAC and the distribution of aluminum forms in the composite coagulant were evaluated for their effectiveness in removing bentonite and humic acid from synthetic water. The interaction mechanism between PAC and α-CA was examined by the Al-Ferron time spectrophotometric method, density functional theory (DFT), and FTIR analysis. By monitoring the aluminum speciation in the composite coagulant PAC-αCA, it was discovered that the introduction of α-CA impacted the distribution of various aluminum forms, including mononuclear Ala, highly polymeric Alb, colloidal, and medium polymeric Alc. The theoretical analysis identified the Alb species as particularly sensitive to reacting with α-CA. Furthermore, coagulation performance tests demonstrated that increasing the percentage of α-CA and promoting the prevalence of Alb and Alc species over Ala species in PAC-αCA led to improved removal of turbidity and UV254. This study provides an attractive and practical option for water treatment plants to remove colloidal suspensions in raw water effectively.

Synthesis of eugenol derivative by the ring opening of epoxide eugenol and its analysis through chemical reactivity: a DFT approach.

Eugenol, a plant bioactive component, is frequently found in a variety of medicinal plants with well-defined functional attributes. Essential oils containing eugenol were extracted from buds of Eugenia caryophyllata commonly named clove using hydrodistillation. Afterwards, the analysis of the essential oils using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) shows that eugenol is the major constituent with 70.14% of it. The alkene group in eugenol was epoxidised using m-chloroperbenzoic acid leading to the synthesis of epoxide eugenol. The epoxide ring was cleaved to vanillyl glycol by mixed the epoxide eugenol with aluminum chloride hydrate in an ethanolic medium. A Density Functional Theory (DFT) study was investigated to understand the reactivity of the epoxide eugenol with the aluminum chloride hydrate. The results obtained from DFT based reactivity descriptors were in good agreement with the experiment results.

Optimisation and characterization of α-D-glucan produced by Bacillus velezensis RSDM1 and evaluation of its protective effect on oxidative stress in Tetrahymena thermophila induced by H2O2.

A novel exopolysaccharide was isolated from Bacillus velezensis RSDM1, purified and characterized. The optimization was carried out by Box-Behnken design and the highest yield of EPS-RSDM1 was 1969.53 mg/L. The EPS was composed by glucose with a molecular weight of 1.78 × 104 Da and connected by α-1,6 and α-1,3. The EPS was thermally stable and showed pseudoplastic rheology. The SEM have demonstrated a porous structure. Furthermore, EPS-RSDM1 showed a protective effect against the oxidative stress induced by H2O2 in Tetrahymena thermophila. The exposure of the cells to H2O2 reduced significantly the cell survival and CAT, SOD, GR, SDH and GAPDH activities, and increased the MDA production. However, pretreatment of the cells with EPS-RSDM1 prior to H2O2 exposure elevated the cell survival and enzyme activities, and decreased the level of MDA activity. Our study suggest that EPS-RSDM1 could be useful for preventing cellular oxidation in pharmaceutical and food industries.

Effect of encapsulated probiotic in Inulin-Maltodextrin-Sodium alginate matrix on the viability of Enterococcus mundtii SRBG1 and the rheological parameters of fermented milk.

In the current research, Enterococcus mundtii SRBG1 newly isolated from Bat guano was encapsulated using spray drying technique to create a probiotic powder using six combinations of inulin, maltodextrin and sodium alginate. The encapsulation yield, moisture content, physical characteristics, and shape were investigated. Microcapsules yields ranged from 67 to 85 percent, which is consistent with typical B-290 spray-drier yields. The moisture content showed to increase (4 ± 0.15%) with the addition of sodium alginate to inulin and maltodextrin. In the gastrointestinal conditions (simulated gastric juice and bile salts), it was shown that the viability of probiotic cells in capsules was higher than that of free cells. This demonstrated the effectiveness of combining inulin and maltodextrin to encapsulate substances in surviving in gastro-intestinal conditions. Additionally, we evaluated the non-encapsulated and encapsulated SRBG1 by assessing their impact on the rheological parameters of fermented milk. The results showed that in the absence of sodium alginate the viscosity of milk was lower than with the other protectors, which was confirmed by the quick acidification of the fermented milk by microcapsules containing sodium alginate.

Performance Evaluation of New Chalcone Oxime Functionalized Graphene Oxide as a Corrosion Inhibitor for Carbon Steel in a Hydrochloric Acid Solution.

This study aims to synthesize new chalcone oxime functionalized graphene oxide (CO-GO) and investigate the enhancement in corrosion protection. The morphology and structure of the synthesized CO-GO have been characterized by elemental analysis: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the effectiveness of corrosion inhibition was investigated by utilizing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP). The results of the above analyses demonstrate that CO-GO has an outstanding corrosion inhibitor performance of up to 94% and acts as a mixed-type inhibitor with a primarily anodic action. The effect of temperature on a carbon steel surface indicates that the tested composites are chemisorbed. A few techniques were able to provide surface characterization such as scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectroscopy to confirm inhibitor adsorption on the carbon steel surface.

Screening, optimization and characterization of exopolysaccharides produced by novel strains isolated from Moroccan raw donkey milk.

Two exopolysaccharides (EPS) producing strains, isolated from raw donkey milk were identified as Leuconostoc mesenteroides SL and Enterococcus viikkiensis N5 using 16S rDNA sequencing. The Box Benheken design exhibited the highest yield of EPS-SL (672.342 mg/L) produced by SL and of EPS-N5 (901 mg/L) produced by N5. The molecular weight was 1.68×104 for EPS-SL and 1.55×104 Da for EPS-N5. FTIR, NMR and GC-MS analysis showed that the EPS are heteropolysaccharides. The SEM image showed that the EPS-SL was smooth and represented a lotus leaf shape and EPS-N5 revealed a stiff-like, porous appearance and was more compact than EPS-SL. The TGA analyses showed high thermal stability and degradation temperature. Additionally, the two EPSs possessed antibacterial and antioxidant activity, and the EPS-SL had the stronger antioxidant activity. Consequently, these results suggest that the functional and biological properties of EPS-SL and EPS-N5 imply the potential application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

QSAR for anti-malarial activity of 2-aziridinyl and 2,3-bis(aziridinyl)-1,4-naphthoquinonyl sulfonate and acylate derivatives.

Quantitative structure-activity antimalarial relationships have been studied for 63 analogues of 2-aziridinyl and 2,3-bis(aziridinyl)-1,4-naphthoquinonyl sulfonate and acylate derivatives by means of multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural networks (ANN). The antimalarial activity [-log(IC50x10(6))] of the compounds studied were well correlated with descriptors encoding the chemical structure. Using the pertinent descriptors revealed by a stepwise procedure in the multiple linear regression technique, a correlation coefficient of 0.9394 (s=0.2121) for the training set was obtained for the ANN model in a [3-5-1] configuration. The results show that the antimalarial activity of 2-aziridinyl and 2,3-bis(aziridinyl)-1,4-naphthoquinonyl sulfonate and acylate derivatives is strongly dependent on hydrophobic character, hydrogen-bond acceptors and also steric factors of the substituents.