Acidified groundnut cake for enhanced bio adsorption of anionic textile dye Reactive Red 195.

This study focuses on the improvement of bioremediation of textile dye Reactive Red 195 using agro-industrial waste, groundnut oil cake (GNOC) obtained after oil-pressing. The treatment of GNOC with 1 N H2SO4 had resulted in physiochemical changes on the insoluble porous adsorbent, which improved their adsorption efficiency. The dye removal efficiency increased from 55% to 94% on acidification of GNOC. The raw groundnut oil cake (RGNOC) and acid-treated groundnut oil cake (AGNOC) were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, and zeta potential. The rate and efficiency of dye adsorption were examined using adsorption kinetics and isotherm models. The results confirm that acid-treated GNOC eliminates impurities, alter the surface functional groups, and significantly increase porous surface areas of RGNOC. The investigation of key factors such as contact time, initial concentration of dye, static/agitation impact, particle size, and adsorbent dose had significantly influenced adsorption capacity of GNOC. Adsorption of dye fits best into the Langmuir model and equilibrium data of dye on AGNOC was explained by psuedo-second-order reaction with maximum adsorption capacity of 12.65 mg/g. This emphasis AGNOC has a very excellent potential to remove the textile dye Reactive Red dye from industrial effluent.

This study reports the primary investigation exploring the application of groundnut oil cake (RGNOC) and its acid-modified (AGNOC) version for the bioremediation of industrially used textile dye Reactive Red 195 (RR195). The core objective of this study is to use a low-cost biosorbent to remove RR195 dye from effluent that pose risk to the health and environment. This study analyses the adsorption capacity of RGNOC and its acid-modified version AGNOC to treat contaminated water and the influencing parameters. AGNOC adsorption potential for RR195 dye sequestration was shown to be higher compared to RGNOC. Acidification of the adsorbent is simple, cost expensive, and more efficient alternate approaches to scale up for industrial application. As a result, an attempt has been made to add a new adsorbent to the database.

Phytofabricated bimetallic synthesis of silver-copper nanoparticles using Aerva lanata extract to evaluate their potential cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities.

In this study, we demonstrate the green synthesis of bimetallic silver-copper nanoparticles (Ag-Cu NPs) using Aerva lanata plant extract. These NPs possess diverse biological properties, including in vitro antioxidant, antibiofilm, and cytotoxic activities. The synthesis involves the reduction of silver nitrate and copper oxide salts mediated by the plant extract, resulting in the formation of crystalline Ag-Cu NPs with a face-centered cubic structure. Characterization techniques confirm the presence of functional groups from the plant extract, acting as stabilizing and reducing agents. The synthesized NPs exhibit uniform-sized spherical morphology ranging from 7 to 12 nm. They demonstrate significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, inhibiting extracellular polysaccharide secretion in a dose-dependent manner. The Ag-Cu NPs also exhibit potent cytotoxic activity against cancerous HeLa cell lines, with an inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 17.63 µg mL-1. Additionally, they demonstrate strong antioxidant potential, including reducing capability and H2O2 radical scavenging activity, particularly at high concentrations (240 µg mL-1). Overall, these results emphasize the potential of A. lanata plant metabolite-driven NPs as effective agents against infectious diseases and cancer.

Identification of potential ZIKV NS2B-NS3 protease inhibitors from Andrographis paniculata: An insilico approach.

Andrographis paniculata is a widely used medicinal plant for treating a variety of human infections. The plant's bioactives have been shown to have a variety of biological activities in various studies, including potential antiviral, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects in a variety of experimental models. The present investigation identifies a potent antiviral compound from the phytochemicals of Andrographis paniculata against Zika virus using computational docking simulation. The ZIKV NS2B-NS3 protease, which is involved in viral replication, has been considered as a promising target for Zika virus drug development. The bioactives from Andrographis paniculata, along with standard drugs as control were screened for their binding energy using AutoDock 4.2 against the viral protein. Based on the higher binding affinity the phytocompounds Bisandrographolide A (-11.7), Andrographolide (-10.2) and Andrographiside (-9.7) have convenient interactions at the binding site of target protein (ZIKV NS2B-NS3 protease) in comparison with the control drug. In addition, using insilico tools, the selected high-scoring molecules were analysed for pharmacological properties such as ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion profile) and toxicity. Andrographolide was reported to have strong pharmacodynamics properties and target accuracy based on the Lipinski rule and lower binding energy. The selected bioactives showed lower AMES toxicity and has potent antiviral activity against zika virus targets. Further, MD simulation studies validated Bisandrographolide A & Andrographolide as a potential hit compound by exhibiting good binding with the target protein. The compounds exhibited good hydrogen bonds with ZIKV NS2B-NS3 protease. As a result, bioactives from the medicinal plant Andrographis paniculata can be studied in vitro and in vivo to develop an antiviral phytopharmaceutical for the successful treatment of zika virus.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.