Meldrum’s acid furfural conjugate MAFC: a new entry as chromogenic sensor for specific amine identification. - In: Molecules, ISSN 1420-3049, Bd. 28 (2023), 18, 6627, S. 1-17
Bioactive amines are highly relevant for clinical and industrial application to ensure the metabolic status of a biological process. Apart from this, generally, amine identification is a key step in various bioorganic processes ranging from protein chemistry to biomaterial fabrication. However, many amines have a negative impact on the environment and the excess intake of amines can have tremendous adverse health effects. Thus, easy, fast, sensitive, and reliable sensing methods for amine identification are strongly searched for. In the past few years, Meldrum’s acid furfural conjugate (MAFC) has been extensively explored as a starting material for the synthesis of photoswitchable donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASA). DASA formation hereby results from the rapid reaction of MAFC with primary and secondary amines, which has so far been demonstrated through numerous publications for different applications. The linear form of the MAFC-based DASA exhibits intense pink coloration due to its linear conjugated triene-2-ol conformation, which has inspired researchers to use this easy synthesizable molecule as an optical sensor for primary, secondary, and biogenic amines. Due to its new entry into amine identification, a collection of the literature exclusively on MAFC is demanded. In this mini review, we intend to present the state-of-the-art of MAFC as an optical molecular sensor in hopes to motivate researchers to find even more applications of MAFC-based sensors and methods that pave the way to their usage in medicinal applications.
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28186627
Beta-diversity enhancement by archaeological structures: bacterial communities of an historical tannery area of the city of Jena (Germany) reflect the ancient human impact. - In: Ecologies, ISSN 2673-4133, Bd. 4 (2023), 2, S. 325-343
Soil samples taken during archaeological investigations of a historical tannery area in the eastern suburb of the medieval city of Jena have been investigated by 16S r-RNA gene profiling. The analyses supplied a large spectrum of interesting bacteria, among them Patescibacteria, Methylomirabilota, Asgardarchaeota, Zixibacteria, Sideroxydans and Sulfurifustis. Samples taken from soil inside the residues of large vats show large differences in comparison to the environmental soil. The PCAs for different abundance classes clearly reflect the higher similarity between the bacterial communities of the outside-vat soils in comparison with three of the inside-vat soil communities. Two of the in-side vat soils are distinguishable from the other samples by separate use of each abundance class, but classes of lower abundance are better applicable than the highly abundant bacteria for distinguishing the sampling sites by PCA, in general. This effect could be interpreted by the assumption that less abundant types in the 16S r-RNA data tend to be more related to an earlier state of soil development than the more abundant and might be, therefore, better suited for conclusions on the state of the soils in an earlier local situation. In addition, the analyses allowed identification of specific features of each single sampling site. In one site specifically, DNA hints of animal residue-related bacteria were found. Obviously, the special situation in the in-site vat soils contributes to the diversity of the place, and enhances its Beta-diversity. Very high abundancies of several ammonia-metabolizing and of sulphur compound-oxidizing genera in the metagenomics data can be interpreted as an echo of the former tannery activities using urine and processing keratin-rich animal materials. In summary, it can be concluded that the 16S r-RNA analysis of such archaeological places can supply a lot of data related to ancient human impacts, representing a kind of “ecological memory of soil”.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ecologies4020021
Cholesterin aus Hirn. - In: Nachrichten aus der Chemie, ISSN 1439-9598, Bd. 71 (2023), 1, S. 30-32
Cholesterin hat es bis in den Alltagssprachgebrauch gebracht. Allein deshalb ist es für Praktika im Chemiestudium ein interessanter Vertreter der Steroide. Zudem ist es einfach zu gewinnen.
Cholesterin aus Hirn. - In: Nachrichten aus der Chemie, ISSN 1868-0054, Bd. 71 (2023), 1, S. 30-32
Cholesterin hat es bis in den Alltagssprachgebrauch gebracht. Allein deshalb ist es für Praktika im Chemiestudium ein interessanter Vertreter der Steroide. Zudem ist es einfach zu gewinnen.
https://doi.org/10.1002/nadc.20234132329
Application of nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes decorated with gold nanoparticles in biosensing. - In: Journal of solid state electrochemistry, ISSN 1433-0768, Bd. 27 (2023), 10, S. 2645-2658
Novel films consisting of nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) were fabricated by means of chemical vapor deposition technique and decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) possessing diameter of 14.0 nm. Electron optical microscopy analysis reveals that decoration of N-MWCNTs with AuNPs does not have any influence on their bamboo-shaped configuration. The electrochemical response of fabricated composite films, further denoted as N-MWCNTs/AuNPs, towards oxidation of dopamine (DA) to dopamine-o-quinone (DAQ) in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) was probed in real pig serum by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The findings demonstrate that N-MWCNTs/AuNPs exhibit slightly greater electrochemical response and sensitivity towards DA/DAQ compared to unmodified N-MWCNTs. It is, consequently, obvious that AuNPs improve significantly the electrochemical response and detection ability of N-MWCNTs. The electrochemical response of N-MWCNTs/AuNPs towards DA/DAQ seems to be significantly greater compared to that of conventional electrodes, such as platinum and glassy carbon. The findings reveal that N-MWCNTs/AuNPs could serve as powerful analytical sensor enabling analysis of DA in real serum samples.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-023-05562-2
Synthesis and electrochemical properties of sulfur-nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes. - In: Fullerenes, nanotubes & carbon nanostructures, ISSN 1536-4046, Bd. 31 (2023), 11, S. 1082-1095
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes doped with sulfur and nitrogen (S-N-MWCNTs) were grown onto silicon/silicon oxide wafer by means of chemical vapor deposition upon decomposition of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and acetonitrile (ACN) in presence of catalyst. The S-N-MWCNTs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The findings demonstrate that S-N-MWCNTs exhibit bamboo-shaped nanostructure, quite similar to pure nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes. The S-N-MWCNTs were investigated with respect to their electrochemical response to ferrocyanide/ferricyanide, [Fe(CN)6]4-/3- in potassium chloride aqueous solutions by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The recorded CVs demonstrate strong dependence of electrochemical response, electron transfer kinetics, and sensitivity of S-N-MWCNTs on concentration of decomposed DMSO precursor. Namely, upon increasing concentration of decayed DMSO up to 2% wt. the current density, the electron transfer kinetics, and the sensitivity of S-N-MWCNTs toward [Fe(CN)6]4-/3- tend to enhance. The extracted EIS results approve that when DMSO reaches the optimum concentration of 2% wt. the barrier for electron transfer decreases significantly leading, consequently, to faster electron transfer kinetics. The S-N-MWCNTs exhibit considerable stability and excellent reproducibility, and thus it can be considered suitable analytical tool for detection of redox systems at micromolar level.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1536383X.2023.2240916
Structural and optical properties of C70 fullerenes in aqueous solution. - In: Fullerenes, nanotubes & carbon nanostructures, ISSN 1536-4046, Bd. 31 (2023), 10, S. 983-988
The simple method of preparation of highly stable and purified C70 fullerene aqueous solution (C70FAS) is proposed. The features of structural stabilization of C70 fullerenes in an aqueous solution by studying their structural and optical properties using Raman, photoluminescence, infrared reflection-absorption, UV-VIS absorption, and dynamic light scattering spectroscopy methods were analyzed. The experimental results showed that the most likely mechanism for C70 fullerenes stabilization in water is surface hydroxylation with covalent attachment of water hydroxyls to C70 fullerene carbons. Raman and infrared absorption spectra of C70FAS showed characteristic vibrational bands of C70 fullerenes with a slight broadening and low-frequency shift of ∼1 cm^−1, indicating the attachment of water hydroxyls to the C70 fullerene carbons. The photoluminescence spectra showed excitonic emission bands of C70 molecules with intensity depending on their content. UV-VIS absorption spectra demonstrate the absorption bands typical for monomeric C70 fullerene. Finally, the dynamic light scattering data confirmed that C70FAS is a typical colloidal fluid containing both individual C70 molecules and their nano aggregates up to 100 nm. These findings provide insights into the stabilization mechanism of C70 fullerenes in water and may have implications for their potential application in nanobiotechnology.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1536383X.2023.2229461
Current to biomass: media optimization and strain selection from cathode-associated microbial communities in a two-chamber electro-cultivation reactor. - In: Environments, ISSN 2076-3298, Bd. 10 (2023), 6, 97, S. 1-19
Cathode-associated microbial communities (caMCs) are the functional key elements in the conversion of excess electrical energy into biomass. In this study, we investigated the development of electrochemical caMCs based on two-chamber microbial electrolytic cells (MECs) after optimization of media composition. Microbial communities obtained from a historical soil sample were inoculated into the cathode chamber of MECs. The inorganic medium with (A) carbon dioxide in air or (B) 100 mM sodium bicarbonate as carbon source was used in the absence of any organic carbon source. After 12 days of operation, the experimental results showed that (1) the bacterial community in group B exhibited lush growth and (2) a single strain TX168 Epilithonimonas bovis isolated from group A indicated electrochemical activity and synthesized large volumes of biomass using sodium bicarbonate. We also analyzed the caMCs of the MECs and reference samples without electro-cultivation using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed that the caMCs of MECs in groups A and B were dominated by the genera Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas. The caMCs were further inoculated and cultured on different agars to isolate specific electroactive bacterial strains. Overall, our study highlights the possibility of converting excess energy into biomass by electro-cultivation and the importance of selecting appropriate media to enrich specific microbial communities and single strains in MECs.
https://doi.org/10.3390/environments10060097
Deformability and collision-induced reorientation enhance cell topotaxis in dense microenvironments. - In: Biophysical journal, ISSN 1542-0086, Bd. 122 (2023), 13, S. 2791-2807
In vivo, cells navigate through complex environments filled with obstacles such as other cells and the extracellular matrix. Recently, the term “topotaxis” has been introduced for navigation along topographic cues such as obstacle density gradients. Experimental and mathematical efforts have analyzed topotaxis of single cells in pillared grids with pillar density gradients. A previous model based on active Brownian particles (ABPs) has shown that ABPs perform topotaxis, i.e., drift toward lower pillar densities, due to decreased effective persistence lengths at high pillar densities. The ABP model predicted topotactic drifts of up to 1% of the instantaneous speed, whereas drifts of up to 5% have been observed experimentally. We hypothesized that the discrepancy between the ABP and the experimental observations could be in 1) cell deformability and 2) more complex cell-pillar interactions. Here, we introduce a more detailed model of topotaxis based on the cellular Potts model (CPM). To model persistent cells we use the Act model, which mimics actin-polymerization-driven motility, and a hybrid CPM-ABP model. Model parameters were fitted to simulate the experimentally found motion of Dictyostelium discoideum on a flat surface. For starved D. discoideum, the topotactic drifts predicted by both CPM variants are closer to the experimental results than the previous ABP model due to a larger decrease in persistence length. Furthermore, the Act model outperformed the hybrid model in terms of topotactic efficiency, as it shows a larger reduction in effective persistence time in dense pillar grids. Also pillar adhesion can slow down cells and decrease topotaxis. For slow and less-persistent vegetative D. discoideum cells, both CPMs predicted a similar small topotactic drift. We conclude that deformable cell volume results in higher topotactic drift compared with ABPs, and that feedback of cell-pillar collisions on cell persistence increases drift only in highly persistent cells.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2023.06.001
Five-level structural hierarchy: microfluidically supported synthesis of core-shell microparticles containing nested set of dispersed metal and polymer micro and nanoparticles. - In: Particle & particle systems characterization, ISSN 1521-4117, Bd. 14 (2023), 10, 2300030, S. 1-13
This study presents the development of a hierarchical design concept for the synthesis of multi-scale polymer particles with up to five levels of organization. The synthesis of core-shell microparticles containing nested sets of dispersed metal and polymer micro- and nanoparticles is achieved through in situ photopolymerization using a double co-axial capillaries microfluidic device. The flow rates of the carrier, shell, and core phases are optimized to control particle size and result in stable core-shell particles with well-dispersed three-level composites in the shell matrix. The robustness and reversibility of these core-shell particles are demonstrated through five cycles of drying and re-swelling, showing that the size and structure of core-shell particles remain unchanged. Additionally, the permeability and mobility of dye molecules within the shell matrix are tested and showed that different molecular weight dyes have different penetration times. This study highlights the potential of microfluidics as a powerful tool for the controlled and precise synthesis of complex structured materials and demonstrates the versatility and potential of these core-shell particles for sensing applications as particle-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppsc.202300030