Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications

A simple wet chemical ultrasonic-assisted synthesis method was employed to prepare visible light-driven g-C₃N₄-ZnO-Co₃O₄ (GZC) heterojunction photocatalysts. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electromicroscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), ultraviolet (UV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are used to characterize the prepared catalysts. XRD confirms the homogenous phase formation of g-C₃N₄, ZnO, and Co₃O₄, and the heterogeneous phase for the composites. The synthesized ZnO and Co₃O₄ by using cellulose as a template show a rod-like morphology. The specific surface area of the catalytic samples increases due to the cellulose template. The measurements of the energy band gap of a g-C₃N₄-ZnO-Co₃O₄ composite showed red-shifted optical absorption to the visible range. The photoluminescence (PL) intensity decreases due to the formation of heterojunction. The PL quenching and EIS result shows that the reduction of the recombination rate and interfacial resistance result in charge carrier kinetic improvement in the catalyst. The photocatalytic performance in the degradation of MB dye of the GZC-3 composite was about 8.2-, 3.3-, and 2.5-fold more than that of the g-C₃N₄, g-C₃N₄-ZnO, and g-C₃N₄-Co₃O₄ samples. The Mott–Schottky plots of the flat band edge position of g-C₃N₄, ZnO, Co₃O₄, and Z-scheme g-C₃N₄-ZnO-Co₃O₄ photocatalysts may be created. Based on the stability experiment, GZC-3 shows greater photocatalytic activity after four recycling cycles. As a result, the GZC composite is environmentally friendly and efficient photocatalyst and has the potential to consider in the treatment of dye-contaminated wastewater.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance has become a major handicap in the fight against bacterial infections, prompting researchers to develop new, more effective, and multimodal alternatives. Silver and its complexes have long been used as antimicrobial agents in medicine because of their lack of resistance to silver, their low potency at low concentrations, and their low toxicity compared to most commonly used antibiotics. N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are widely used for coordination of transition metals, mainly in catalytic chemistry. In this study, several N-alkylated benzimidazolium salts 2a–j were synthesized. Then, the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) precursor was treated with Ag₂O to give silver (I) NHC complexes (3a–j) at room temperature in dichloromethane for 48 h. Ten new silver-NHC complexes were fully characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis, and LC-MSMS (for complexes) techniques. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities of salt 2 and its silver complex 3 were evaluated. All of these complexes were more effective against bacterial strains than comparable ligands. With MIC values ranging from 6.25 to 100 g/ml, the Ag-NHC complex effectively showed strong antibacterial activity. Antioxidant activity was also tested using conventional techniques, such as 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazine (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assays. In DPPH and ABTS experiments, compounds 3a, 3b, 3c, 3e, 3g, and 3i showed significant clearance.

Zinc molybdate nanoparticles with molybdate are synthesized through green method with different salt precursors using Moringa oleifera leaf extract. Those nanoparticles had structural, vibrational, and morphological properties, which were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The crystalline size of synthesized zinc molybdate was 24.9 nm. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) clearly showed the attachment of molybdate with ZnO. The synthesized nanomaterial was also characterized through UV-visible spectroscopy which had 4.40 eV band gap energy. Those nanoparticles were also characterized via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA-DTA) and photoluminance spectroscopy (PL). ZnMoO₄ had photocatalytic property via methylene blue dye. After 190 minutes, the dye changed to colourless from blue colour. The degradation efficiency was around 92.8%. It also showed their antibacterial effect via Escherichia coli and Staphylococcusaureus bacterial strains. In the presence of light and air, nanoparticles of ZnMoO₄ inhibit the growth of cells of E. coli and S. aureus bacterial strains because of ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation. Because of the formation of singlet oxygen (), hydrogen oxide radical (), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), ZnMoO₄ showed photodegradation reaction against aq. solution of methylene blue dye at 6 pH with constant time interval. With time, the activity of ZnMoO₄ also decreased because of the generation of a layer of hydrogen oxide (-OH) on nanomaterial surface, which could be washed with ethanol and distilled water. After drying, the catalytic Zinc molybdate nanoparticles could be reused again in the next catalytic reaction.

Insects act as vectors to carry a wide range of bacteria and viruses that can cause multiple vector-borne diseases in humans. Diseases such as dengue fever, epidemic encephalitis B, and epidemic typhus, which pose serious risks to humans, can be transmitted by insects. Due to the absence of effective vaccines for most arbovirus, insect control was the main strategy for vector-borne diseases control. However, the rise of drug resistance in the vectors brings a great challenge to the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases. Therefore, finding an eco-friendly method for vector control is essential to combat vector-borne diseases. Nanomaterials with the ability to resist insects and deliver drugs offer new opportunities to increase agent efficacy compared with traditional agents, and the application of nanoagents has expanded the field of vector-borne disease control. Up to now, the reviews of nanomaterials mainly focus on biomedicines, and the control of insect-borne diseases has always been a neglected field. In this study, we analyzed 425 works of the literature about different nanoparticles applied on vectors in PubMed around keywords, such as“nanoparticles against insect,” “NPs against insect,” and “metal nanoparticles against insect.” Through these articles, we focus on the application and development of nanoparticles (NPs) for vector control, discussing the lethal mechanism of NPs to vectors, which can explore the prospect of applying nanotechnology in the prevention and control of vectors.

A series of divalent and one trivalent metal chelates of the azo ligand resulting from coupling of sulfafurazole diazonium chloride with resorcinol have been designed and synthesized. Structure investigation of the isolated chelates have been achieved by applying spectroscopic and analytical tools which collaborated to assure the formation of the metal chelates in the molar ratios of 1L: 1M for Ni(II), Co(II), and Fe(III) chelates, where Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes formed in the ratio 2L : 1M. The geometrical arrangement around the metal canters was concluded from UV-Vis spectra to be octahedral for all metal chelates. The attachment of the ligand to the metal ions took place through the azo group nitrogen and o-hydroxyl oxygen through proton displacement leading to the ligand being in monobasic bidentate binding mode. Antimicrobial and antitumor activities of the interested compounds have been evaluated against alternative microorganisms and cancer cells, respectively, in a trial to investigate their extent of activity in addition to docking studies. The mode of interaction of the compounds with SS-DNA has been examined by UV-Vis spectra and viscosity studies.

In this paper, the novel Schiff base ligand containing quinoline moiety and its novel copper chelate complexes were successfully prepared. The catalytic activity of the final complex in the organic reaction such as synthesis of chiral benzimidazoles and anti-HIV-1 activity of Schiff base ligand and the products of this reaction were investigated. In addition, green chemistry reactions using microwaves, powerful catalyst synthesis, green recovery and reusability, and separation of products with economic, safe, and clean methods (green chemistry) are among the advantages of this protocol. The potency of these compounds as anti-HIV-1 agents was investigated using molecular docking into integrase (IN) enzyme with code 1QS4 and the GROMACS software for molecular dynamics simulation. The final steps were evaluated in case of RMSD, RMSF, and Rg. The results revealed that the compound VII exhibit a good binding affinity to integrase ( = −10.99 kcal/mol) during 100 ns simulation time, and the analysis of RMSD suggested that compound VII was stable in the binding site of integrase.