Thioglycerol matrix interactions in the positive ion fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of several Hantzsch and Biginelli ester derivatives of boronic acids

Modification of fibrous membrane for organic and pathogenic contaminants removal: from design to application

In this study, a flexible multifunctional fibrous membrane for heterogeneous Fenton-like removal of organic and pathogenic contaminants from wastewater was developed by immobilizing zerovalent iron nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) on an amine/thiol grafted polyester membrane. Full characterization of the resulting polyester membranes allowed validation of successful grafting of amine/thiol (NH₂ or SH) functional groups and immobilization of Fe-NPs (50–150 nm). The Fenton-like functionality of iron immobilized fibrous membranes (PET–Fe, PET–Si–NH₂–Fe, PET–NH₂–Fe, and PET–SH–Fe) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) was comparatively studied in the removal of crystal violet dye (50 mg L⁻¹). The effect of pH, amount of iron and H₂O₂ concentration on dye removal was systematically investigated. The highest dye removal yield reached 98.87% in 22 min at a rate constant 0.1919 min⁻¹ (R² = 95.36) for PET–SH–Fe providing 78% toxicity reduction assessed by COD analysis. These membranes could be reused for up to seven repeated cycles. Kinetics and postulated mechanism of colour removal were proposed by examining the above results. In addition, the resultant membranes showed substantial antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli) strains studied through disc diffusion-zone inhibitory and optical density analysis. These findings are of great importance because they provide a prospect of textile-based flexible catalysts in heterogeneous Fenton-like systems for environmental and green chemistry applications.

Multifunctional fibrous membrane for heterogeneous Fenton-like removal of organic and pathogenic contaminants from wastewater was developed by immobilizing zerovalent iron nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) on an amine/thiol grafted polyester membrane.

Alternative mass spectrometry techniques for the validation of the fragmentation pattern of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin

RATIONALE

Capsaicinoids are prevalent secondary metabolites in many natural and synthetic pharmacological compounds. To date, several soft ionization studies related to capsaicinoids have been reported; they all proposed a common fragmentation pattern based on a rearrangement of the aromatic double bonds and the fragmentation of the various positional acyl chains. However, the mechanism has never been validated by high-resolution analyses. Consequently, in this work, a validated fragmentation mechanism of the main capsaicinoids, capsaicin (1) and dihydrocapsaicin (2), is offered.

METHODS

In order to propose and validate a common electron ionization (EI) fragmentation mechanism for the target analytes, the following mass spectrometric methods were employed: collision-induced dissociation (CID) by means of linked scans (LS), reinforcing the methodology by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), in addition to appropriate deuterium-labeled experiments performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and direct analysis in real time (DART).

RESULTS

In a first stage, a common EI fragmentation pattern comprising two pathways was proposed for compounds 1 and 2; then, the suggested mechanism was validated by CID-LS together with HRMS complemented by DART-deuterium-labeling studies. The obtained results are indicative that the corresponding molecular ions were conveniently observed, m/z 305 and m/z 307; it is worth noting that the common base peak is in correspondence with a tropylium ion derivative (m/z 137), as a consequence of a McLafferty rearrangement. In addition to these highlighted fragments, other common ions, m/z 122 and m/z 94, and their corresponding trajectory, were confirmed using the same approach. Finally, the proposed mechanism was complementarily validated by deuterium-labeling studies, taking into account the two exchangeable hydrogens present in the phenolic and the amidic moieties.

CONCLUSIONS

A common validated EI fragmentation pattern for both capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin was established using appropriated mass spectrometric methods together with convenient hydrogen/deuterium labeling. This study provides a new alternative to validate mechanisms of fragmentation of important natural products.

Green approach—multicomponent production of boron—containing hantzsch and biginelli esters

Multicomponent reactions are excellent methods that meet the requirements of green chemistry, by reducing the number of steps, and consequently reducing purification requirements. Accordingly, in this work, 11 novel hybrid-boron-containing molecules, namely eight 1,4-dihydropyridines and three 3,4-dihydropyrimidinones, derived from formylphenylboronic acids (ortho, meta and para), were obtained using a green approach, involving H-4CR and B-3CR practices, in the presence of ethanol, which is a green solvent, and using three comparatively different modes of activation (mantle heating, yield 3%-7% in 24 h, Infrared Radiation (IR) irradiation, yield 12%-17% in 12 h, and microwave irradiation, yield 18%-80%, requiring very low reaction times of 0.25-0.33 h). In addition, as a green-approach is offered, a convenient analysis, of the 12 green chemistry principles for the overall procedure was performed. Finally, since all the products are new, characterizations were carried out using common analytic procedures (1H, 11B, and 13C NMR, FAB+MS, HRMS, and IR). The accurate mass data of unexpected ions related to interactions between thioglycerol and the expected products, in the FAB+-mode, enabled unequivocal characterization of the target molecules.