Recent Developments of Electrospinning-Based Photocatalysts in Degradation of Organic Pollutants: Principles and Strategies

Degradation Efficiency of Organic Dyes on CQDs As Photocatalysts: A Review

Across the globe, the task of providing clean and safe drinking water is getting harder. Organic contaminants, including dyes and pharmaceutical medications, are a significant environmental threat, especially in aquatic bodies due to their uncontrolled emission. Therefore, a method for their degradation in water bodies that is both environmentally friendly and commercially feasible must be developed. In the realm of photocatalysis, carbon-based nanomaterials have drawn more attention in the last ten years. Due to their exceptional and distinct qualities, metal-free carbon-based photocatalytic systems have received a lot of attention recently for their ability to degrade organic contaminants into semiconductor quantum dots, which are already available. A class of nanomaterials with a particle size between 2 and 10 nm showing distinct optoelectrical characteristics is among the variety of catalytic quantum dots. This review covers several synthesis techniques such as electrochemical, laser ablation, microwave radiation, hydrothermal, and optical features of CQDs such as the photoluminescent (PL) property and quantum confinement effect. The uses of CQDs in the degradation of various dyes as well as the difficulties that still exist and the opportunities that lie ahead have also been explored.

Molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and MM/PBSA analysis of ginger phytocompounds as a potential inhibitor of AcrB for treating multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae infections

The emergence of Multidrug resistance (MDR) in human pathogens has defected the existing antibiotics and compelled us to understand more about the basic science behind alternate anti-infective drug discovery. Soon, proteome analysis identified AcrB efflux pump protein as a promising drug target using plant-driven phytocompounds used in traditional medicine systems with lesser side effects. Thus, the present study aims to explore the novel, less toxic, and natural inhibitors of Klebsiella pneumoniae AcrB pump protein from 69 Zingiber officinale phyto-molecules available in the SpiceRx database through computational-biology approaches. AcrB protein's homology-modelling was carried out to get a 3D structure. The multistep-docking (HTVS, SP, and XP) were employed to eliminate less-suitable compounds in each step based on the docking score. The chosen hit-compounds underwent induced-fit docking (IFD). Based on the XP GScore, the top three compounds, epicatechin (-10.78), 6-gingerol (-9.71), and quercetin (-9.09) kcal/mol, were selected for further calculation of binding free energy (MM/GBSA). Furthermore, the short-listed compounds were assessed for their drug-like properties based on in silico ADMET properties and Pa, Pi values. In addition, the molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) studies for 250 ns elucidated the binding mechanism of epicatechin, 6-gingerol, and quercetin to AcrB. From the dynamic binding free energy calculations using MM/PBSA, 6-gingerol exhibited a strong binding affinity towards AcrB. Further, the 6-gingerol complex's energy fluctuation was observed from the free energy landscape. In conclusion, 6-gingerol has a promising inhibiting potential against the AcrB efflux pump and thus necessitates further validation through in vitro and in vivo experiments.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.