The exploration of nanoscale materials for their therapeutic potential against emerging and re-emerging infections has been increased in recent years. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are known to possess antimicrobial activities against different pathogens including viruses and provide an excellent opportunity to develop new antivirals. The present study focused on biological synthesis of AgNPs from Andrographis paniculata, Phyllanthus niruri, and Tinospora cordifolia and evaluation of their antiviral properties against chikungunya virus. Synthesized plants AgNPs were characterized to assess their formation, morphology, and stability. The cytotoxicity assays in Vero cells revealed that A. paniculata AgNPs were most cytotoxic with maximum non-toxic dose (MNTD) value of 31.25 μg/mL followed by P. niruri (MNTD, 125 μg/mL) and T. cordifolia AgNPs (MNTD, 250 μg/mL). In vitro antiviral assay of AgNPs based on degree of inhibition of cytopathic effect (CPE) showed that A. paniculata AgNPs were most effective, followed by T. cordifolia and P. niruri AgNPs. The results of antiviral assay were confirmed by cell viability test using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) dye, which revealed that A. paniculata AgNPs inhibited the virus to a maximum extent. The cell viability of CHIKV-infected cells significantly increased from 25.69% to 80.76 and 66.8%, when treated with A. paniculata AgNPs at MNTD and ½MNTD, respectively. These results indicated that use of plants AgNPs as antiviral agents is feasible and could provide alternative treatment options against viral diseases which have no specific antiviral or vaccines available yet.

Ionic liquids (ILs) have been characterized as contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) that often resist biodegradation and impose toxicity upon environmental release. Sphingomonas sp. MKIV has been isolated as an extreme microorganism capable for biodegradation of major classes of ILs. Six imidazolium-, pyridinium- and ammonium-based ILs (pyridinium trifluoromethanesulfonate [Py][CF3SO3], 1-(4-pyridyl)pyridinium chloride [1-4PPy][Cl], 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide [BMIM][Br], 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate [BMIM][MeSO4], tetrabutylammonium iodide [n-Bu4N][I] and tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate [n-Bu4N][PF6]) were used for microbial growth. The strain achieved 91% and 87% removal efficiency for cultures supplemented with 100 mg L-1 of [BMIM][MeSO4] and [n-Bu4N][I] respectively. The metabolic activity of MKIV was inhibited following preliminary stages of cultures conducted using [BMIM][MeSO4], [BMIM][Br], [Py][CF3SO3] and [n-Bu4N][PF6], indicating potential accumulation of inhibitory metabolites. Thus, a comprehensive toxicological study of the six ILs on Aliivibrio fischeri, Daphnia magna and Raphidocelis subcapitata was conducted demonstrating that the compounds impose moderate and low toxicity. The end-products from [BMIM][MeSO4] and [n-Bu4N][I] biodegradation were assessed using Aliivibrio fischeri, exhibiting increased environmental impact of the latter following biotreatment. MKIV produced 19.29 g L-1 of biopolymer, comprising mainly glucose and galacturonic acid, from 25 g L-1 of glucose indicating high industrial significance for bioremediation and exopolysaccharide production.

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite semiconductors have shown potential to develop into a new generation of light-emitting diode (LED) technology. Herein, an important design principle for perovskite LEDs is elucidated regarding optimal perovskite thickness. Adopting a thin perovskite layer in the range of 35-40 nm is shown to be critical for both device efficiency and stability improvements. Maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of 17.6% for Cs0.2 FA0.8 PbI2.8 Br0.2 , 14.3% for CH3 NH3 PbI3 (MAPbI3 ), 10.1% for formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3 ), and 11.3% for formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr3 )-based LEDs are demonstrated with optimized perovskite layer thickness. Optical simulations show that the improved EQEs source from improved light outcoupling. Furthermore, elevated device temperature caused by Joule heating is shown as an important factor contributing to device degradation, and that thin perovskite emitting layers maintain lower junction temperature during operation and thus demonstrate increased stability.

A novel method was developed to simultaneously determine the ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin levels in human urine using an ionic liquid-based, dual-molecular imprinted polymer-coated graphene oxide solid-phase extraction monolithic column coupled with high performance liquid chromatography. The molecular imprinted monolithic column was prepared using ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin as templates, 1-vinyl-3-ethylimidazolium bromide as the functional monomer, and graphene oxide as the core material. The resulting imprinted monolithic were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy. The efficiency and capacity of the ionic liquid-based imprinted monolithic column were investigated by varying the synthesis conditions (ciprofloxacin: levofloxacin ratio and template: functional monomer: cross-linker ratio). The solid-phase extraction process was optimized by changing the washing and eluting conditions. The results suggested that the proposed ionic liquid-based molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction monolithic-HPLC method could separate ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin efficiently and simultaneously from human urine. The mean recoveries of ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin ranged from 89.2% to 93.8% and 86.7% to 94.6%, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviation ranged from 0.9% to 3.2%, and 0.8% to 2.9%, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the recoveries of ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin were more than 93.8%. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This study describes the development of an analytical methodology based on the use of microchip electrophoresis (ME) devices integrated with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4 D) for the separation and detection of inorganic anions in post-blast explosive residues. The best separation condition was achieved using a running buffer composed of 35 mmol/L lactic acid, 10 mmol/L histidine and 0.070 mmol/L cetyl(trimethyl ammonium) bromide. For C4 D measurements, the highest sensitivity was obtained applying a 700 kHz sinusoidal wave with excitation voltage of 20 Vpp . The separation of Cl- , NO3- , NO2- , SO42- , ClO4- and ClO3- was performed within ca. 150 s with baseline resolution and efficiencies between 4.4 × 104 and 1.7 × 105 plates/m. The found limits of detection ranged between 2.5 and 9.5 μmol/L. Lastly, real samples of post-blast explosive residues were analyzed on the ME-C4 D devices obtaining successfully the determination of Cl- , NO3- and SO42- . The achieved concentration values varied between 12.8ࣧ72.5 mg/L for Cl- , 1.7ࣧ293.1 mg/L for NO3- and 1.3ࣧ201.3 mg/L for SO42- . The data obtained using ME-C4 D devices were in good agreement with the concentrations found by ion chromatography. The approach reported herein has provided short analysis time, instrumental simplicity, good analytical performance and low cost. Furthermore, the ME-C4 D devices emerge as a powerful and portable analytical platform for on-site analysis demonstrating to be a promising tool for the crime scene investigation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Hypochlorous (OCl-) acid is the most well-known bacterial oxidant to be produced by neutrophils. Excess amounts of OCl- can cause various disorders in living systems. Herein, we have designed, synthesized, and characterized two novel organoselenium-based target molecules (Probe-1 and Probe-OCl) based on a synthetic intermediate of mycophenolic acid for the aqueous detection of OCl-. Probe 1 has been recently reported (Org. Lett. 2018, 20, 3557-3561); both probes show immediate "turn-on" fluorescence (<1 s) upon the addition of OCl-, display an increase in the fluorescence quantum yield (3.7-fold in Probe-1 and 11.6-fold in Probe-OCl), and are completely soluble in aqueous media without the help of any cosolvent. However, a decrease in the "turn-on" intensity with the oxidized version of Probe-1 in cell assays due to the anhydride/phthalate functionality suggests that probe degradation occurs based on hydrolytic action (a probe degradation half-life of ∼1500 s at 15 μM Probe-1 and 150 μM OCl). Thus, the change of "anhydride" to "methylamide" begets Probe-OCl, which possesses more stability without sacrificing its water solubility properties and responses at short times. Further studies suggest that Probe-OCl is highly stable within physiological pH (pH = 7.4). Surprisingly, in live cell experiments involving U-2 OS cells and HeLa cells, Probe-OCl accumulated and aggregated in lipid droplets and gives a "turn-on" fluorescence response. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays confirmed that Probe-OCl is not toxic. Cuvette aggregation studies were also performed (tetrahydrofuran/H2O) to demonstrate aggregation-induced fluorescence at longer times. Our current hypothesis is that the "turn-on" fluorescence effect is caused by the aggregation-induced emission mechanism available for Probe-OCl. In this case, in tandem, we reanalyzed the Mes-BOD-SePh derivative to compare and contrast cell localization as imaged by confocal microscopy; fluorescence emission occurs in the absence of, or prior to, Se oxidation.

Glycan-binding molecules, such as lectins, are very important tools for characterizing, imaging, or targeting glycans and are often involved in either physiological or pathological processes. However, their availability is far less compared to the diversity of native glycans. Therefore, development of lectin mimetics with desired specificity and affinity is in high demand. Boronic acid reacts with 1,2- and 1,3-diols of saccharides in aqueous media through reversible boronate ester formation and are regarded as synthetic lectin mimetics. In this study, bovine serum albumin (BSA)-phenylboronic acid (PBA) conjugates were synthesized in a density-controlled manner by targeting both aspartic and glutamic acids to afford lectin mimetics with multivalent PBA, as multivalency is a key factor for glycan recognition in both specificity and affinity. The resultant BSA-PBA conjugates were characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis. Their macrophage cell surface glycan-binding capacity was characterized by a competitive lectin-binding assay examined by flow cytometry, and 3-(4,5-di-methylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay showed biocompatibility. These novel lectin mimetics will find a broad range of applications as they can be wittingly modified, altering binding specificity and capacity.