1,4,9,9-tetramethyloctahydro-4,7-(epoxymethano)azulen-5(1H)-one, a natural product as a potential inhibitor of COVID-19: Extraction, crystal structure, and virtual screening approach

Metabolomics and microscopic profiling of flaxseed meal- incorporated Peda

Functional dairy foods are in high demand due to their convenience, enhanced nutrition, intriguing flavors, and natural ingredients. The valorization of flaxseed by-products can potentially boost the functionality of these foods. This work involves the optimization of flaxseed meal powder (2%, 2.5%, 3%) during Peda preparation based on sensory and textural attributes. The optimized Peda (2%) exhibited significantly reduction in moisture (39.6%) and water activity (18.9%), while significantly increasing crude fiber (1.88%), protein (26.4%), fat (8%) and DPPH inhibition (274.5%) as compared to control Peda. Scanning electron microscopy of the optimized Peda revealed the surface displayed a dense, uneven texture, heavily coated with fat, and intergranular spaces filled with milk serum. Twenty-three primary compounds were recognized in high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS), including 6 organic acids, 6 amino acids, 3 fatty acids, 3 other metabolite derivatives, 2 lipids, 2 bioactive components, and 1 sugar. Besides gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) found six separate types of fatty acids. These compounds have been proven to possess various bioactivities, such as promoting brain activity, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular-protective effects, etc. Flaxseed meal, as a plant-based substitute for dairy ingredients, offers a sustainable and healthy alternative, making flaxseed-incorporated Peda a functional food.

Effects of different cold plasma treatments on chemical composition, phenolics bioaccessibility and microbiota of edible red mini-roses

This study evaluated the effect of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and glow discharge (glow) cold plasma treatments in color, sugars, organic acids, phenolics (concentration and bioaccessibility), antioxidant activity, volatiles, and microbiota of edible mini-roses. Plasma treatments did not affect the flowers' color, while they increased organic acids and phenolics. Flowers treated with DBD had a higher concentration of most phenolics, including hesperidin (84.04 μg/g) related to antioxidant activity, and a higher mass fraction of most volatiles, including octanal (16.46% after 5 days of storage). Flowers treated with glow had a higher concentration of pelargonidin 3,5-diglucoside (392.73 μg/g), greater bioaccessibility of some phenolics and higher antioxidant activity. Plasma treatments reduced the microbiota diversity in mini-roses. Regardless of the plasma treatment, phylum Proteobacteria, family Erwiniaceae, and genus Rosenbergiella were the dominant groups. Results indicate plasma treatments as promising technologies to improve the quality and increase phenolic and specific volatile compounds in mini-roses.

Exploring the effect of high-pressure processing conditions on the deaggregation of natural major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) fibrillar aggregates

High pressure processing is a safe and green novel non-thermal processing technique for modulating food protein aggregation behavior. However, the systematic relationship between high pressure processing conditions and protein deaggregation has not been sufficiently investigated. Major royal jelly proteins, which are naturally highly fibrillar aggregates, and it was found that the pressure level and exposure time could significantly promote protein deaggregation. The 100-200 MPa treatment favoured the deaggregation of proteins with a significant decrease in the sulfhydryl group content. Contrarily, at higher pressure levels (>400 MPa), the exposure time promoted the formation of disordered agglomerates. Notably, the inter-conversion of α-helix and β-strands in major royal jelly proteins after high pressure processing eliminates the solvent-free cavities inside the aggregates, which exerts a 'collapsing' effect on the fibrillar aggregates. Furthermore, the first machine learning model of the high pressure processing conditions and the protein deaggregation behaviour was developed, which provided digital guidance for protein aggregation regulation.

New Pyrimidinone Bearing Aminomethylenes and Schiff Bases as Potent Antioxidant, Antibacterial, SARS-CoV-2, and COVID-19 Main Protease MPro Inhibitors: Design, Synthesis, Bioactivities, and Computational Studies

New 2-thioxopyrimidinone derivatives (A1-A10) were synthesized in 87-96% yields via a simple three-component condensation reaction. These compounds were screened extensively through in vitro assays for antioxidant and antibacterial investigations. The DPPH assays resulted in the excellent potency of A6-A10 as antioxidants with IC50 values of 0.83 ± 0.125, 0.90 ± 0.77, 0.36 ± 0.063, 1.4 ± 0.07, and 1.18 ± 0.06 mg/mL, which were much better than 1.79 ± 0.045 mg/mL for the reference ascorbic acid. These compounds exhibited better antibacterial potency against Klebsiella with IC50 values of 2 ± 7, 1.32 ± 8.9, 1.19 ± 11, 1.1 ± 12, and 1.16 ± 11 mg/mL for A6-A10. High-throughput screenings (HTS) of these motifs were carried out including investigation of drug-like behaviors, physiochemical property evaluation, and structure-related studies involving DFT and metabolic transformation trends. The radical scavenging ability of the synthesized motifs was validated through molecular docking studies through ligand-protein binding against human inducible nitric oxide synthase (HINOS) PDB ID: 4NOS, and the results were promising. Furthermore, the antiviral capability of the compounds was examined by in silico studies using two viral proteins PDB ID: 6Y84 and PDB ID: 6LU7. Binding poses of ligands were discussed, and amino acids in the protein binding pockets were investigated, where the tested compounds showed much better binding affinities than the standard inhibitors, proving to be suitable leads for antiviral drug discovery. The stabilities of the molecular docked complexes in real systems were validated by molecular dynamics simulations.

Preparation, Agricultural Bioactivity Evaluation, Structure-Activity Relationships Estimation, and Molecular Docking of Some Quinazoline Compounds

Quinazoline compounds have gained significant attention in the fields of agriculture and chemistry due to their diverse activities. In this study, we focused on a series of quinazoline derivatives (4a-l). The objectives involved multiple aspects, including preparation, evaluation of their agricultural bioactivity against the maize aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis), estimation of the structure-activity relationships (SAR), and conducting molecular docking analysis. The results of the agricultural bioactivities revealed that compound (4b) possesses the highest insecticidal activity, and the other compounds have good potential as insecticidal agents. We conducted the SARs and also molecular docking investigation to elucidate the binding modes and interactions of these compounds with target proteins relevant to the agricultural bioactivity. The docking results provided valuable information on the binding affinities and molecular interactions, aiding in the rationalization of the observed bioactivity trends. The enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), was docked with the 12 synthetic compounds (4a-l). Among these compounds, (4b), (4i), and (4e)exhibited the highest binding affinity, with docking scores (S) of -7.96, -7.83, and -7.73 kcal/mol, respectively. They were followed by compounds (4d) (S = -7.57 kcal/mol), (4c) (S = -7.53 kcal/mol), (4g) (S = -7.34 kcal/mol), (4f) (S = -7.23 kcal/mol), (4h) (S = -7.14 kcal/mol), (4k) (S = -6.61 kcal/mol), (4j) (S = -6.57 kcal/mol), (4a) (S = -6.28 kcal/mol), and finally (4l) (S = -6.01 kcal/mol). These compounds were shown to have a variety of binding interactions within the 2ACE active site, as evidenced by protein-ligand docking configurations. This study gives evidence that those compounds have AChE-inhibitory capabilities and, hence, may be used for AChE-targeting development. Also, the findings in this study highlight the potential of these compounds as agricultural agents and provide valuable insights for the design and development of some quinazoline derivatives with enhanced bioactivity for crop protection.