Volume 236, Issue 4

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to study the interactions of heavy metal ions with DNA with some success. Surface sensitivity and selectivity of XPS are advantageous for identifying and characterizing the chemical and elemental structure of the DNA to metal interaction. This review summarizes the status of what amounts to a large part of the photoemission investigations of biomolecule interactions with metals and offers insight into the mechanism for heavy metal-bio interface interactions. Specifically, it is seen that metal interaction with DNA results in conformational changes in the DNA structure.

The concepts of force and energy are analyzed in the context of state and process equations. In chronological order, the application of the cause-effect principle in process equations is studied in mechanics, thermodynamics, special relativity, general relativity, and quantum theory. The differences in the fundamental approaches to nature and the significance of a consistent physical interpretation of formulas and state variables are emphasized. It is shown that the first origins for the crisis of modern theoretical physics are to be found in the concepts of force and energy in mechanics, which partly violate the cause-effect principle. This affects all theories based on mechanics and underlines their historical conditionality. The systematic application of driving forces and the cause-effect principle in process equations suggests a return to causal realistic physics. It meets the wave character of matter, is compatible with the experiment, and allows a unified description of interaction.

Two new organic based corrosion compounds were prepared from Acryloyl chloride are namely: N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) acrylamide (DEA) and N-(2-hydroxyethyl) acrylamide (MEA). The prepared compounds were studied as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (CS) in 1 M hydrochloric acid solution while the efficiency of the prepared compounds were studied through different chemical (weight loss, WL) and electrochemical techniques [potentiodynamic polarization (PP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)] in addition to, the theoretical techniques as Quantum chemical calculations, Monte Carlo simulation and the surface morphology study using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The obtained results showed that the investigated compounds are working as good corrosion inhibitors, the inhibition efficacy (%IE) increases with the increase of the compound concentrations. However, the %IE decreases with the rise in the temperature proving that the adsorption of the inhibitor molecules on the CS surface is physisorption, while the polarization data revealed that these compounds are classified as mixed kind inhibitors, that inhibits both anodic and cathodic reactions. Results reveal that DEA and MEA exhibit an excellent %IE of 89.2 and 71.6% at 60 ppm for DEA and MEA, respectively. The adsorption of the inhibitor molecules on CS surface following Langmuir adsorption isotherm. There is a strong matching between results obtained from experimental and theoretical studies. The order of the investigated inhibitors based on the %IE is DEA > MEA.

The docking simulation of benzamide derivatives as ligands and protein targets (DNA–gyrase) was performed and Sec14p binding mode interaction was predicted based on binding free energy analysis. Software Molegro Virtual Docking (MVD) was used to visualize the ligand–protein binding interactions. The results indicated the prevalence of steric or hydrophobic interactions among all the benzamide ligands besides hydrogen bonding or electrostatic interactions. The compounds B2, B4 against DNA gyrase, and compounds B3, B5 against Sec14p showed an uncompetitive pattern of inhibition as compared with the reference molecule. While compounds B1, B5 exhibited the best MolDock scores, i.e., −109.736 and −114.391 kcal/mol respectively for DNA gyrase, also compounds B1 and B2 against Sec14p displayed −100.105 and −119.451 kcal/mol sequentially. It was evident from the comparison of MolDock score for both the bacterial and fungal protein receptors that all the ligands were found to be more potent against DNA gyrase than Sec14p. However, only compound B2 with MolDock score −119.451 kcal/mol showed exceptional activity against Sec14p and was predicted to have potency as a lead compound to find a new anti-fungal therapeutic agent. Docking studies further highlighted the unique interactions such as tail-end hydrophobic rings of benzamide inhibitors with catalytically important amino acid residues, allowing flexibility in binding to both the receptors different from other inhibitors. These findings showed us that B1, B2 against Staphylococcus aureus and B5 against Saccharomyces cerevisiae could be leading compounds to discover new multidrug-resistant strains.

In view of eco-benign nature of green synthesis, in the present investigation, the CuO NPs are prepared using Citrullus lanatus seeds extract and photocatalytic degradation efficiency for Acid Blue 40 (AB-40) was evaluated. The CuO NPs were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), EDX (energy dispersive X-ray), and FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared) techniques. The synthesized CuO NPs was in face centered monoclinic crystalline form with particle size in 40–60 nm range. The photocatalytic degradation potential of CuO NPs was assessed for acid blue 40 (AB-40) dye degradation and catalyst dose, concentration of dye, radiation exposure time and pH are considered for dye removal. The CuO NPs exhibited auspicious efficiency, an 84.89% dye removal was attained at optimal conditions and dye degradation followed BMG (Behnajady–Modirshahla–Ghanbery) kinetics model. Results revealed CuO NPs synthesized using C. lanatus seeds extract is photoactive catalyst and green route can be employed for CuO NPs fabrication for photocatalytic applications.