Formation of Larger Molecular Weight Disinfection Byproducts from Acetaminophen in Chlorine Disinfection.

Acetaminophen is widely used to treat mild to moderate pain and to reduce fever. Under the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, this over-the-counter pain reliever and fever reducer has been drastically consumed, which makes it even more abundant than ever in municipal wastewater and drinking water sources. Chlorine is the most widely used oxidant in drinking water disinfection, and chlorination generally causes the degradation of organic compounds, including acetaminophen. In this study, a new reaction pathway in the chlorination of acetaminophen, i.e., oxidative coupling reactions via acetaminophen radicals, was investigated both experimentally and computationally. Using an ultraperformance liquid chromatograph coupled to an electrospray ionization-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, we detected over 20 polymeric products in chlorinated acetaminophen samples, some of which have structures similar to the legacy pollutants "polychlorinated biphenyls". Both C-C and C-O bonding products were found, and the corresponding bonding processes and kinetics were revealed by quantum chemical calculations. Based on the product confirmation and intrinsic reaction coordinate computations, a pathway for the formation of the polymeric products in the chlorination of acetaminophen was proposed. This study suggests that chlorination may cause not only degradation but also upgradation of a phenolic compound or contaminant.

An in silico study on inhibitability of Baloxavir marboxil, Baricitinib, Galidesivir, Nitazoxanide, and Oseltamivir against SARS-CoV-2

Baloxavir marboxil (D1), Baricitinib (D2), Galidesivir (D3), Nitazoxanide (D4), and Oseltamivir (D5) are well-known performing broad-spectrum activity against a variety of viruses, thus holding high potentiality towards SARS-CoV-2. Quantum properties were examined using density functional theory (DFT). The inhibitability of the drugs towards Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and SARS-CoV-2 main protease (6LU7) was evaluated by molecular docking simulation, while their bio-compatibility was justified by physicochemical properties obtained from QSARIS-based analysis in reference to Lipinski's rule of five. Quantum analysis suggests that the compounds are highly favourable for intermolecular interaction towards protein structures. Given ligand-ACE2 systems, the inhibitory effectiveness follows the order D3-ACE2?>?D4-ACE2?>?D2-ACE2?>?D5-ACE2?>?D1-ACE2;and the corresponding order for ligand-6LU7 systems is D2-6LU7?>?D4-6LU7?>?D3-6LU7?>?D5-6LU7?>?D1-6LU7. Galidesivir is predicted as the most effective inhibitor towards both targeted protein structures (DSaverage -13.1 kcal.mol-1) and the most bio-compatible molecule (Mass 264.9 amu;LogP -0.9;Polarisability 26.8 Å3). The theoretical screening suggests all drugs, especially Galidesivir (D3), promising for treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection and encourages in-related clinical trials.

Unravelling multiple removal pathways of oseltamivir in wastewater by microalgae through experimentation and computation.

Increased worldwide consumption of antiviral drugs (AVDs) amid COVID-19 has induced enormous burdens to the existing wastewater treatment systems. Microalgae-based bioremediation is a competitive alternative technology due to its simultaneous nutrient recovery and sustainable biomass production. However, knowledge about the fate, distribution, and interaction of AVDs with microalgae is yet to be determined. In this study, a concentration-determined influence of AVD oseltamivir (OT) was observed on the biochemical pathway of Chlorella sorkiniana (C.S-N1) in synthetic municipal wastewater. The results showed that high OT concentration inhibited biomass growth through increased oxidative stress and restrained photosynthesis. Nevertheless, complete OT removal was achieved at its optimized concentration of 10 mg/L by various biotic (82%) and abiotic processes (18.0%). The chemical alterations in three subtypes of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were primarily investigated by electrostatic (OT +8.22 mV vs. C.S-N1 -18.31 mV) and hydrophobic interactions between EPS-OT complexes supported by secondary structure protein analysis. Besides, six biodegradation-catalyzed transformation products were identified by quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometer and by density functional theory. Moreover, all the TPs exhibited log Kow ≤ 5 and bioconcentration factor values of < 5000 L/kg, meeting the practical demands of environmental sustainability. This study broadens our understanding of microalgal bioadsorption and biodegradation, promoting microalgae bioremediation for nutrient recovery and AVDs removal.

Searching potential antiviral candidates for the treatment of the 2019 novel coronavirus based on DFT calculations and molecular docking.

In the present work, the succinic acid (SA), L-pyroglutamic acid (L-PGA), N-phenyl-thioacetamide (N-NPTA), 2-amino-5-chloropyridine hydrogen succinate (ACPS), epigallocatechine Gallate (EGCG) or KDH and, selenomethionine (SeM) compounds have been proposed as potential antiviral candidates to treatment of COVID-19 based on B3LYP/6-311++G∗∗ calculations and molecular docking. Solvation energies, stabilization energies, topological properties have been evaluated as function of acceptors and donors groups present in their structures. ACPS presents the higher reactivity in solution possibly because has the higher nucleophilicity and elecrophilicity indexes while KDH evidence the higher solvation energy probably due to the higher quantity of donors and acceptors groups. NBO studies show that KDH is the most stable in solution. Mapped MEP surfaces have evidenced stronger nucleophilic and electrophilic sites in ACPS, in agreement with the three C=O and two N-H and O-H groups present in this species while KDH has only a C=O group but a total of 19 acceptors and donors groups. From the above studies for six species we can propose that the better potential antiviral candidate to treatment of COVID-19 is ACPS and then, KDH. For a better prediction of the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties of the proposed compounds, molecular docking calculations were performed by using four structures of COVID-19. Docking results were discussed basing on binding affinities and the interaction types among ligands and different amino acid residues, indicating the powerful ability of KDH and then ACPS ligands on front of the novel coronavirus disease especially for the first and the fourth species (6LU7, 7BTF).