Publications

Abstract Oxidative treatment of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT's) was done by chemical functionalization by using the mixture acid, which is a mixture of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3). Functionalization was governed by four parameters namely mixture acid concentration, temperature(T), time of heating(t) and the amount of MWCNTs used. After functionalization, functionalized MWCNT's were then diluted in dimethylformamide (DMF) to analyse the percentage of soluble MWCNT's. Also, by increasing the time of functionalization, it was observed that overall yield decreases but the percentage of functionalized product inside the yield quantity remains the same. Material characterization was also carried out at several steps to validate this theory. Chemical functionalization of MWCNT's is generally significant for the manufacturing of polymerbased nanocomposites. Oxidative treatment enhances the dispersion and interfacial bonding within the epoxy matrix. In this research work, a bio-based epoxy resin was selected for the manufacturing of nanocomposite samples with various concentrations of pristine and functionalized MWCNTs. Mechanical and electrical characterization was finally carried out to increase the knowledge on the interaction of MWCNT's with the selected green epoxy matrix system and their influence on the original properties of the resin. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Abstract Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease and leading cause of death worldwide, affecting more than 420 million people. High blood glucose levels are a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes, which can cause serious health damage. Diabetic individuals must measure their blood glucose levels regularly in order to control glycemic levels and minimize the effects of the disease. Glucose sensors have been used in the management of diabetes for more than 50 years, when Clark and Ann Lyons developed the first glucose enzyme electrode in 1962. Electrochemical sensors have become the leading technology for glucose concentration measuring with most of the commercially available devices being based on amperometric detection. However, the detection of glucose in the blood is still an object of intense research. The development of new fluorescent nanomaterials begins to constitute an alternative for glucose blood quantification. These sensors include carbon dots, quantum dots, graphene quantum dots, gold, silver and upconversion nanoparticles. This paper reviews the last 10 year fluorescent nanoparticles based technologies proposed for glucose monitoring and provide an insight into emerging optical fluorescence glucose biosensors.

Abstract Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, complex and progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Exogenous antioxidants can be beneficial for decreasing oxidative stress, as they are able to reward the lack of efficacy of the endogenous defense systems and raise the overall antioxidant response in a pathological condition. Along our overarching project related with the design and development of potent and safe multi-target mitochondriotropic antioxidants, based on dietary antioxidants, novel derivatives were obtained. Overall, mitochondriotropic antioxidants showed remarkable antioxidant and chelating properties, presenting low cytotoxic effects on human differentiated neuronal (SH-SY5Y) and hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cells and exhibited neuroprotective properties on SH-SY5Y cells against 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) oxidative insults. Moreover, compounds 58, 59, 62, 63, 66 and 67 were able to permeate a layer of hCMEC/D3 cells in a time-dependent manner. Mitochondriotropic antioxidant 67 stands out by its remarkable iron chelating and neuroprotective properties toward both H2O2 and 6-OHDA-induced oxidative damage, drug-like properties and BBB permeability.

Abstract This paper offers a critical review from classical to new perspectives of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) coupled to two- and multi-way calibration strategies based on multivariate curve resolution alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS) and parallel factory analysis (PARAFAC) with various analytical techniques to monitor the degradation of contaminants in environmental samples. It focuses on the generation of highly reactive hydroxyl (HO center dot) radicals (classical AOPs with emphasis on Fenton, photo-Fenton and ozonation processes) and emerging reactive sulphate (SO4 center dot) radicals (new perspectives of AOPs) for effective degradation of recalcitrant compounds. Other new perspectives of AOPs were also addressed, namely semiconductor photocatalysis (TiO2/UV), combination of processes involving at least one AOP (hybrid or single-step processes and sequential or two-step processes), novel advanced electrochemical oxidation technologies (electro-Fenton and electro-photo-Fenton) and nanocatalytic heterogeneous Fenton technology with high specific surface area. Literature reports since 2008 for real applications in the environmental remediation based on AOPs (from classical to new perspectives) coupled to PARAFAC and MCR-ALS with first-, second- and third-order data were reviewed and the improvements obtained were briefly discussed. The two- and multi-way calibration strategies allow one the successful decomposition of first-, second- and third-order data collected from different analytical techniques. Therefore, the respective profiles obtained allowed qualitative (spectral profiles) and quantitative (concentration profiles) analysis of complex samples during the degradation of contaminants through the second-order advantage. Finally, trends of future research directions for AOPs coupled to various analytical techniques and advanced chemometric models were provided.

Abstract Polyphenols like caffeic acid and its phenethyl ester have been associated with potent anti-aggregating activity. Accordingly, we screened a library of polyphenols and synthetic derivatives thereof for their capacity to inhibit tau-aggregation using a thioflavin T-based fluorescence method. Our results show that the nitrocatechol scaffold is required for a significant anti-aggregating activity, which is enhanced by introducing bulky substituents at the side chain. A remarkable increase in activity was observed for alpha-cyanocarboxamide derivatives 26-27. Molecular docking studies showed that the amide bond provides superior conformational stability in the steric zipper assembly of tau, which drives the increase in activity. We also found that derivatives 24-27 were potent chelators of copper(II) - a property of pharmacological significance in abnormal protein aggregation. These small molecules can provide promising leads to develop new drugs for tauopathies and AD. These findings open a new window on the repurposing of nitrocatechols beyond their established role as catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Abstract The discovery of new chemical entities endowed with potent and selective acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and/or butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activity is still a relevant subject for Alzheimer's disease therapy. Therefore, a small library of benzoic based amide nitrones (compounds 24 to 42) was synthesized and screened toward cholinesterase enzymes. SAR studies showed that the tert-butyl moiety is the most favourable nitrone pattern. In general, tert-butyl derivatives effectively inhibited AChE, being compound 33 the most potent (IC50 = 8.3 +/- 0.3 mu M; Ki 5.2 mu M). The data pointed to a non-competitive inhibition mechanism of action, which was also observed for the standard donepezil. None of compounds showed BChE inhibitory activity. Molecular modelling studies provided insights into the enzyme-inhibitor interactions and rationalised the experimental data, confirming that the binding mode of nitrones 33 and 38 towards AChE has the most favourable binding free energy. The tert-butylnitrones 33 and 38 were not cytotoxic on different cell lines (SH-SY5Y and HepG2). Moreover, compound 33 was able to prevent t-BHP-induced oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y differentiated cells. Due to its AChE selectivity and promising cytoprotective properties, as well as its appropriate drug-like profile pointing toward blood-brain barrier permeability, compound 33 is proposed as a valid lead for a further optimization step. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Abstract Pure TiO2 and Fe- and Co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) as photocatalysts were synthesized using wet chemical methods (sol-gel + precipitation). Their crystalline structure and optical properties were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible light (UV-Vis) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated through degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ) under UV-A and visible-light irradiations. The XRD and Raman analyses revealed that all synthesized nanomaterials showed only the anatase phase. The DRS results showed that the absorption edge was blue-shifted for Fe-doped TiO2 NPs. The decrease in charge recombination was evidenced from the PL investigation for both Co-doped and Fe-doped TiO2 nanomaterials. An enhancement in photocatalytic degradation of carbamazepine in aqueous suspension under both UV-A light and visible-light irradiations was observed for Fe-doped Titania NPs by comparison with pure TiO2. These results suggest that the doping cations could suppress the electron/hole recombination. Therefore, the photocatalytic activity of TiO2-based nanomaterials was enhanced.

Abstract The current pharmacological treatments for Parkinson's disease only offer symptomatic relief to the patients and are based on the administration of levodopa and catechol-O-methyltransferase or monoamine oxidase-B inhibitors (IMAO-B). Since the majority of drug candidates fail in pre- and clinical trials, due largely to bioavailability pitfalls, the use of polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) as drug delivery systems has been reported as an interesting tool to increase the stealth capacity of drugs or help drug candidates to surpass biological barriers, among other benefits. Thus, a novel potent, selective, and reversible IMAO-B (chromone C27, IC50 = 670 +/- 130 pM) was encapsulated in poly(caprolactone) (PCL) NPs by a nanoprecipitation process. The resulting C27-loaded PEGylated PCL NPs (similar to 213 nm) showed high stability and no cytotoxic effects in neuronal (SH-SY5Y), epithelial (Caco-2), and endothelial (hCMEC/D3) cells. An accumulation of PEGylated PCL NPs in the cytoplasm of SH-SY5Y and hCMEC/D3 cells was also observed, and their permeation across Caco-2 and hCMEC/D3 cell monolayers, used as in vitro models of the human intestine and blood-brain barrier, respectively, was demonstrated. PEGylated PCL NPs delivered C27 at concentrations higher than the MAO-B IC50 value, which provides evidence of their relevance to solving the drug discovery pitfalls.

Abstract Imidazopyrazinone is a typical scaffold present in marine bioluminescence, in which thermal energy is converted into excitation energy in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. In fact, the imidazopyrazinone scaffold is a common link among organisms of eight phyla. The characterization of the light emission mechanism is essential for the development of future applications in bioimaging, bioanalysis and biomedicine. Herein, we have studied the chemiluminescent reaction of three commercially-available imidazopyrazinones (Cypridina luciferin, Coelenterazine and Coelenterazine-e) in several aprotic solvents at different pH. We have found that at acidic pH only DMF and DMSO consistently present high light emission, while chemiluminescence in other solvents is negligible. We have attributed this to the inability of most solvents to allow for the deprotonation of the imidazopyrazinone core, thereby preventing the oxygenation step. We have also observed that increasing the pH of the solution leads to the inhibition of chemiluminescence, which we attributed to the deprotonation of the dioxetanone intermediate, as the neutral species is the one associated with efficient chemiexcitation. We have also observed that the pK(a) of dioxetanone increases with the dielectric constant of the medium. Finally, our work indicated that the chemiexcitation yield increases with increasing polarity of the medium, due to a reduced transition dipole moment associated with S-0 -> S-1 transition.

Abstract The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) uses the brain as reservoir, which turns it as a promising target to fight this pathology. Nanoparticles (NPs) of poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) are potential carriers of anti-HIV drugs to the brain, since most of these antiretrovirals, as efavirenz (EFV), cannot surpass the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Forasmuch as the conventional production methods lack precise control over the final properties of particles, microfluidics emerged as a prospective alternative. This study aimed at developing EFV-loaded PLGA NPs through a conventional and microfluidic method, targeted to the BBB, in order to treat HIV neuropathology. Compared to the conventional method, NPs produced through microfluidics presented reduced size (73 nm versus 133 nm), comparable polydispersity (around 0.090), less negative zeta-potential (-14.1 mV versus -28.0 mV), higher EFV association efficiency (80.7% versus 32.7%) and higher drug loading (10.8% versus 3.2%). The microfluidics-produced NPs also demonstrated a sustained in vitro EFV release (50% released within the first 24 h). NPs functionalization with a transferrin receptor-binding peptide, envisaging BBB targeting, proved to be effective concerning nuclear magnetic resonance analysis (delta = -0.008 ppm; delta = -0.017 ppm). NPs demonstrated to be safe to BBB endothelial and neuron cells (metabolic activity above 70%), as well as non hemolytic (1-2% of hemolysis, no morphological alterations on erythrocytes). Finally, functionalized nanosystems were able to interact more efficiently with BBB cells, and permeability of EFV associated with NPs through a BBB in vitro model was around 1.3-fold higher than the free drug.