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- Chromone: A valid scaffold in medicinal chemistryPublication . Gaspar, Alexandra; Matos, Maria João; Garrido, Jorge; Uriarte, Eugénio; Borges, FernandaChromones are a group of naturally occurring compounds that are ubiquitous in nature, especially in plants. The word chromone is derived from the Greek word chroma, meaning “color”, which point out that many chromone derivatives can exhibit a diversity of colors.
- Microencapsulation of the Biocide Benzisothiazolinone (BIT) by Inclusion in Methyl-β-cyclodextrin and Screening of Its Antibacterial and Ecotoxicity PropertiesPublication . Silva, Vânia F. M.; Silva, Aurora; Garrido, Ermelinda M. P. J.; Borges, Fernanda; Gaspar, Alexandra; Garrido, Jorge P. M. J.; Garrido, E. Manuela; Soares da Silva, Maria Aurora; Garrido, Jorge; Liu, RutaoThe excessive use of biocides has considerable environmental and economic impacts; this is why new technologies have been sought to decrease the concentration levels applied in an effort to reduce the use of these substances. Microencapsulation using cyclodextrins has been widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries as a way of reducing the concentrations of the active substance necessary to achieve a biological effect and/or eliminate its irritating or toxicological effects. In this study, the inclusion complexation behavior and binding ability of benzothiazolinone (BIT) with different β-cyclodextrins (β-CD, HP-β-CD, and Me-β-CD) was investigated. The intermolecular interactions were examined through UV and FTIR spectroscopy, DSC, 1D 1H NMR, and 2D ROESY. The highest stability constant was observed for the BIT/Me-β-CD inclusion complex (299.5 ± 2.9 M−1). Antibacterial activity was investigated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and the results revealed that the BIT/Me-β-CD inclusion complex displays a higher antibacterial activity than BIT. The acute toxicity of the biocide and inclusion complex was also examined using the photobacterium Aliivibrio fischeri. Although BIT exhibited higher toxicity than the inclusion complex, further investigation is needed due to the quorum quenching effect of β-CDs. The data found suggest that BIT microencapsulation can increase its aqueous solubility and can be used as an effective tool to improve its chemical, biological, and ecotoxicological properties.
- Influence of Hydroxypropyl- β -Cyclodextrin on the Photostability of Fungicide PyrimethanilPublication . Fernandes, Carlos; Encarnação, Igor; Gaspar, Alexandra; Garrido, Jorge; Borges, Fernanda; Garrido, E. ManuelaPesticides continue to play an important role in pest management. However, the intensive pesticide application has triggered several environment negative effects that cannot be disregarded. In this study, the inclusion complex of pyrimethanil with HP- β -CD has been prepared and characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The formation of the pyrimethanil/HP- β -CD inclusion complex increased the aqueous solubility of this fungicide around five times. To assess the influence of microencapsulation on the environmental photostability of the fungicide, the photochemical degradation of pyrimethanil and pyrimethanil/HP- β -CD inclusion complex has been investigated in different aqueous media such as ultrapure and river water under simulated solar irradiation. The studies allow concluding that pyrimethanil/HP- β -CD inclusion complex increases significantly the photostability of the fungicide in aqueous solutions, especially in natural water. Actually, the half-life of pyrimethanil/HP- β -CD inclusion complex was increased approximately by a factor of four when compared to the free fungicide. The overall results point out that pyrimethanil can be successfully encapsulated by HP- β -CD, a process that can improve its solubility and photostability properties.
- Synthesis and antioxidant activity of long chain alkyl hydroxycinnamatesPublication . Menezes, Jose C.J.M.D.S; Kamat, Shrivallabh P; Cavaleiro, Jose A.S.; Gaspar, Alexandra; Garrido, Jorge; Borges, FernandaLong chain alkyl hydroxycinnamates (8e21) were synthesized from the corresponding half esters of malonic acid (5e7) and benzaldehyde derivatives by Knoevenagel condensation. The total antioxidant capacity of these hydroxycinnamyl esters was evaluated using DPPH and ABTS assays. The observed antioxidant activity was highest for esters of caffeic acid followed by sinapic esters and ferulic esters. The parameters for drug-likeness of these hydroxycinnamyl esters were also evaluated according to the Lipinski’s ‘rule-of-five’. All the ester derivatives were found to violate one of the Lipinski’s parameters (cLogP >5), even though they have been found to be soluble in protic solvents. The predictive topological polar surface area (TPSA) data allow concluding that they could have a good capacity for penetrating cell membranes. Therefore, one can propose these novel lipophilic compounds as potential antioxidants for tackling oxidative processes.
- Exploring nature profits: development of novel and potent lipophilic antioxidants based on galloylecinnamic hybridsPublication . Teixeira, José; Silva, Tiago; Benfeito, Sofia; Gaspar, Alexandra; Garrido, E. Manuela; Garrido, Jorge; Borges, FernandaPhenolic acids are ubiquitous antioxidants accounting for approximately one third of the phenolic compounds in our diet. Their importance was supported by epidemiological studies that suggest an inverse relationship between dietary intake of phenolic antioxidants and the occurrence of diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. However, until now, most of natural antioxidants have limited therapeutic success a fact that could be related with their limited distribution throughout the body and with the inherent difficulties to attain the target sites. The development of phenolic antioxidants based on a hybrid concept and structurally based on natural hydroxybenzoic (gallic acid) and hydroxycinnamic (caffeic acid) scaffolds seems to be a suitable solution to surpass the mentioned drawbacks. Galloylecinnamic hybrids were synthesized and their antioxidant activity as well as partition coefficients and redox potentials evaluated. The structureepropertyeactivity relationship (SPAR) study revealed the existence of a correlation between the redox potentials and antioxidant activity. The galloylecinnamic acid hybrid stands out as the best antioxidant supplementing the effect of a blend of gallic acid plus caffeic acid endorsing the hypothesis that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In addition, some hybrid compounds possess an appropriate lipophilicity allowing their application as chain-breaking antioxidant in biomembranes or other type of lipidic systems. Their predicted ADME properties are also in accordance with the general requirements for drug-like compounds. Accordingly, these phenolic hybrids can be seen as potential antioxidants for tackling the oxidative status linked to the neurodegenerative, inflammatory or cancer processes.
- Hydroxycinnamic acid antioxidants: an electrochemical overviewPublication . Teixeira, José; Gaspar, Alexandra; Garrido, E. Manuela; Garrido, Jorge; Borges, FernandaHydroxycinnamic acids (such as ferulic, caffeic, sinapic, and p-coumaric acids) are a group of compounds highly abundant in food that may account for about one-third of the phenolic compounds in our diet. Hydroxycinnamic acids have gained an increasing interest in health because they are known to be potent antioxidants. These compounds have been described as chain-breaking antioxidants acting through radical scavenging activity, that is related to their hydrogen or electron donating capacity and to the ability to delocalize/stabilize the resulting phenoxyl radical within their structure.The free radical scavenger ability of antioxidants can be predicted from standard one-electron potentials. Thus, voltammetric methods have often been applied to characterize a diversity of natural and synthetic antioxidants essentially to get an insight into their mechanism and also as an important tool for the rational design of new and potent antioxidants.The structure-property-activity relationships (SPARs) correlations already established for this type of compounds suggest that redox potentials could be considered a good measure of antioxidant activity and an accurate guideline on the drug discovery and development process. Due to its magnitude in the antioxidant field, the electrochemistry of hydroxycinnamic acid-based antioxidants is reviewed highlighting the structure-property-activity relationships (SPARs) obtained so far.