Current Chemical Biology - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2013

Biofuels have been hailed as the fuels of the future with the potential to completely replace petroleum sourced fuels and also help in combating some of the current environmental issues associated with the intensive use of petroleum based fuels. Biofuels are of two types: primary and secondary. Primary biofuels are derived from sources like firewood, animal wastes, forest and crop residues etc. and are used in their u Read More

Biodiesel fuels (BDFs) have emerged as environmentally friendly substitutes for the fossil fuels being used extensively today. BDFs are essentially methyl esters of fatty acids and are produced by a reaction called as transesterification using catalysts. Alkali catalysis is widely applied for biodiesel production but suffers from certain drawbacks such as high energy consumption, difficulty in the transesterification of triglyceri Read More

Lipases are versatile biocatalysts that catalyze a plethora of reactions such as hydrolysis, esterification, transesterification, aminolysis and acidolysis, making them one of the most sought biocatalysts for industrial applications. However, their widespread use in industry is hampered by problems arising mainly due to loss of activity, thermal denaturation, deactivation by organic solvents etc., which affect reaction yields a Read More

Given the importance of butyl laurate in various industrial fields, its production by enzymatic catalysis has received greater interest. Butyl laurate was successfully synthesised by the esterification of lauric acid with butanol. This reaction was catalyzed by Rhizopus oryzae lipase immobilized onto silica aerogel in organic media. Response surface methodology was applied in order to approximate the effect of the butanol/ lauri Read More

Nuclear sphingomyelin is mainly localized in specific lipid microdomains of the inner nuclear membrane in which the active chromatin is attached. Evidence of the presence of PKCξ in cell nucleus, where it acts on the chromatin remodeling, phosphorylation of histones, formation of the mitotic spindle is increasing. Although the pathway of the sphingomyelin in the cells was described as target of PKCξ or vice versa the PKCξ as t Read More

We present herein the results of a receptor independent 4D-QSAR analysis conducted on 4-aryl-2- trichloromethylquinazoline derivatives displaying in vitro antiplasmodial properties against the W2 multi-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strain. Conformational analysis was performed on a set of 14 molecules in order to obtain batches of lowest energy conformers. A linear regression model with Boltzmann-weighted descriptors w Read More

Flavonoids, a subclass of polyphenols, are abundant components of fruit and vegetables, prevalent in the diet and having an inverse association with the incidence of various degenerative diseases and cancer. Mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of flavonoids on the human health are being investigated worldwide. Flavonoids have been found to reduce the risk of carcinogenesis by blocking the initiation and suppres Read More

Cadmium toxicity remains a major public health concern, despite a huge amount of work to explain its effects. The kidney is the most sensitive organ; and we recently provide the first evidence of a direct upregulation of autophagy by cadmium particularly in response to environmental relevant concentrations. Investigation of autophagy is greatly progressed and various strategies have been reported for studying this m Read More

Phytochemical investigation of the methanolic extract of Eryngium campestre L. aerial parts led to isolation of eleven known flavonol glycosides. Structures were elucidated by spectroscopic and chemical methods. The methanol extract of E. campestre and the isolated flavonols exhibited moderate to strong antioxidant activity in DPPH radical scavenging and reducing power assays. Eryngium campestre extract showed sig Read More

The molecular mechanisms whereby small molecules that contaminate our environment cause physiological effects are largely unknown, in terms of both targets and mechanisms. The essential human enzyme porphobilinogen synthase (HsPBGS, a.k.a. 5-aminolevulinate dehydratase, ALAD) functions in heme biosynthesis. HsPBGS catalytic activity is regulated allosterically via an equilibrium of inactive hexamers and active oct Read More

Important roles for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in physiological and pathological function are emerging. H2S is the fourth signaling gas molecule, following O2, NO and CO, that has been shown to be important for intra- and intermolecular signal transduction. These gas molecules should bind to the heme iron complex and regulate numerous important physiological functions such as transcription, guanylate cyclase, and phosp Read More