Fabricating Cationic Lignin Hydrogels for Dye Adsorption

Due to the low content of adsorption-active groups in lignin,its application in the field of adsorption is limited.Herein,we first prepared cationic kraft lignin acrylate,from which a cationic lignin(CKLA)hydrogel was further prepared by cationic kraft lignin acrylate,acrylamide,and N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide.The morphology,compression properties and swelling properties of CKLA hydrogels were investigated.The prepared CKLA hydrogel was applied as an adsorbent for Congo red.The effect of CKLA hydrogel dosages,initial concentration of Congo red,and pH on adsorption efficiency was investigated.The maximum Congo red removal efficiency was obtained at the initial concentration of Congo red of 50 mg/L,pH 7,and 5 mg dosage of CKLA hydrogel with 20%cationic lignin content.After five cycles of adsorption,the adsorption efficiency of the hydrogel for Congo red still reached more than 80%.The CKLA hydrogel showed pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetics for Congo red adsorption.These results demonstrate the potential of the CKLA hydrogel as an adsorbent for water treatment.

Preparation of Amide-Containing Insecticidal Derivatives from the Renewable Natural Productβ-Pinene

The preparation of bioactive derivatives from the renewable natural product pinene is a hot research topic in the deep processing and utilization of pinene.In this study,β-pinene was used to develop novel molecules as a promising new precursor of insecticide.A series of amide-containing derivatives ofβ-pinene were synthesized and characterized.The insecticidal activities of these derivatives against Mythimna separate and Semiaphis heraclei were tested.The structure characterization results showed that the characterization data of amide-containing derivatives were in full agreement with their proposed structures.The insecticidal activities evaluation results indicated that amide-containing derivatives exhibited weak insecticidal activity against Mythimna separate,but exhibited moderate to good insecticidal activity against Semiaphis heraclei.After testing for 72 h,the corrected mortality against Semiaphis heraclei of compounds 5c,5e,5f,5 h,5j,and 5 m was 100%at 1000 mg/L.The structure-activity relationship analysis results showed that the introduction of an amide group into the structure of derivatives improved their insecticidal activity against Semiaphis heraclei.Meanwhile,the amide-containing derivatives containing the F and NO_(2) substituted benzene ring might improve their insecticidal activity against Semiaphis heraclei.This study will be helpful for the high value-added utilization of the natural renewable resourceβ-pinene and the development of novel insecticides.

High-Value-Added Utilization of Turpentine:Screening of Anti-Influenza Virus Agents fromβ-Pinene Derivatives

Turpentine is a renewable and resourceful forest product.The deep processing and utilization of turpentine,particularly its primary componentβ-pinene,has garnered widespread attention.This study aimed to synthesize 40 derivatives ofβ-pinene,including nopinone,3-cyanopyridines of nopinone,myrtanyl acid,myrtanyl acylthioureas,and myrtanyl amides.We assessed the antiviral activities of theseβ-pinene derivatives against influenza virus A/Puerto Rico/8/34(H1N1)using the 3-(4,5-dimetylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide method.Theβ-pinene derivatives were used before and after cellular infection with the influenza virus to evaluate their preventive and therapeutic effects against the H1N1 virus.The results showed that only compound 10o exhibited a preventive effect against the H1N1 virus with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration(IC50)value of 47.6μmol/L.Among the compounds,4e,4i,and 4l demonstrated therapeutic effects against cellular infection,with compound 4e displaying the most potent therapeutic effect(IC50=17.5μmol/L),comparable to the positive control ribavirin.These findings indicated that certainβ-pinene derivatives exhibited in vitro antiviral activity against the H1N1 influenza A virus,warranting further investigation as potential anti-influenza agents.

Fluorescent properties and in vitro studies of new dehydroabietic acid-based diarylamines fluorescent probes

A series of dehydroabietic acid-based diarylamines have been synthesized in order to investigate their fluorescent properties, photostability, cell toxicity and in vitro fluorescence imaging. The geometries as well as their molecular properties were optimized at the B3LYP/6-31G~* level using Gaussian 03. The results indicate that molecular geometry, HOMO and LUMO energies, and energy gaps are important to predict absorption and fluorescent properties. Five of the compounds can be effectively taken up by human cervical carcinoma, human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721, human gastric cancer SGC-7901 and human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells and strong blue fluorescent signals are detected in these cells. These compounds are potential candidates for fluorescent probes in biological diagnosis.

Synthesis and anticancer activity of(+)-nopinone-based 2-amino-3-cyanopyridines

Twelve(+)-nopinone-based 2-amino-3-cyanopyridines 4a-1 were synthesized from(–)-β-pinene.The structures of these compounds were characterized by FT-IR,1H NMR,and ESI-MS.All the compounds were tested for their anticancer activity against lung cancer cell line A549,gastric cancer cell line MKN45 and breast cancer cell line MCF7 by MTT method,respectively.The results showed that compounds 4f,4j and 4k had promising anticancer activity against these cancer cell lines,in particular,compound 4f exhibited broad-spectrum and highly efficient anticancer activity against cell lines A549,MKN45 and MCF7 with IC50 of 23.78,67.61 and 53.87μmol·L^(-1),respectively.The preliminary analysis of the structure activity relationship implied that the Br or Cl substituted group of the benzene ring in these derivatives significantly contributed to the anticancer activity.

Synthesis and bulk polymerization kinetics of monomer dehydroabietic acid-(2-acryloyloxy-ethoxy)-ethyl ester

A bulk polymerization monomer dehydroabietic acid-(2-acryloyloxy-ethoxy)-ethyl ester(DHADG-AC) was synthesized from dehydroabietic acid(DHA). The chemical structure of DHA-DG-AC was characterized by1~HNMR,(13)~CNMR, MS and FT-IR. The kinetics of the bulk polymerization of DHA-DG-AC was investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimeter(DSC).Two kinds of kinetic model(nth-order model and autocatalytic model) were used to investigate the polymerization process. The results showed that the experim e nt al DSC c u r ve s w e r e c o n si st e nt wi th t he computational data generated by the autocatalytic kinetic model, and the value of E_a was 95.73 k J·mol^(–1).

IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS OF FIVE MEDICINAL PLANT SPECIES ON PLANT PATHOGENIC FUNGI

The antifungal effectiveness of extracts of five medicinal plant species was determined.The inhibitory activity of extracts of Eucalyptus tereticornis,Xanthium sibiricum,Artemisia argyi,Tupistra chinensis and Pyrola calliantha were evaluated against the mycelial growth of the plant pathogenic fungi Aspergillus niger,Botrytis cinerea,Penicillium digitatum,P.expansum,P.italicum and Rhizopus stolonifer.All plant extracts were prepared at 60°C using solvents(either water,50%ethanol(v/v),95%ethanol(v/v),ethyl acetate or petroleum ether).Fungicidal effects of all plants tested were confirmed.Different extracts from the same plant species gave different degrees of inhibition.All aqueous extracts had weak or no activity on all fungi tested.Ethyl acetate and 95%ethanol extracts from T.chinensis rhizomes gave greater inhibition and a broader spectrum inhibition than the other extracts.T.chinensis may have potential as a new natural fungicide and may be used for the preservation of agricultural and forestry products such as fruits and vegetables.

Synthesis and characterization of castor oil-based polymeric surfactants

Dehydrated castor oil was epoxidized using phosphoric acid as a catalyst and acetic acid peroxide as an oxidant to produce epoxidized castor oil(ECO). Ringopening polymerization with stannic chloride was used to produce polymerized ECO(PECO), and sodium hydroxide used to give hydrolyzed PECO(HPECO). The HPECO was characterized by Fourier transform infrared,1H and13 Cnuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies,gel permeation chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry. The weight-average molecular weight of soluble PECO and HPECO were 5026 and2274 g$mol^(–1), respectively. PECO and HPECO exhibited glass transition. Through neutralizing the carboxylic acid of HPECO with different counterions, castor oil-based polymeric surfactants(HPECO-M, where M = Na^+, K^+or triethanolamine ion) exhibited high ef ficiency to reduce the surface tension of water. The critical micelle concentration(CMC) values of HPECO-M ranged from0.042 to 0.098 g$L^(–1)and the minimum equilibrium surface tensions at CMC(g cmc) of HPECO-M ranged from 25.6 to30.0 m N$m^(–1). The water-hexadecane interfacial energy was calculated from measured surface tension using harmonic and geometric mean methods. Measured values of water-hexadecane interfacial tension agreed well with those calculated using the harmonic and geometric mean methods.