Deyani Nocedo-Mena

Agave distillates are chemically heterogeneous matrices whose composition may affect the performance and transferability of spectroscopic calibration models. Accurate determination of their ethanol content is therefore essential for quality control and regulatory compliance. This study established a comparative ATR-FTIR chemometric framework for ethanol prediction using 46 agave-distillate samples measured in triplicate. Thirty-five samples were assigned to calibration and 11 to a validation set. Eighteen principal PLS configurations were developed by varying spectral-data strategy, spectral-region combination, and number of factors. Replicate dispersion, first- and second-derivative preprocessing, and model dimensionality were also evaluated, and PLS was benchmarked against PCR and PCA–SVR. Models based on averaged spectra produced lower RMSEP and higher r_Pred values than their corresponding individual-replicate configurations in all nine pairwise comparisons. The best averaged-spectrum PLS model achieved an RMSEP of 0.96% v/v and an r_Pred of 0.9897, whereas the best individual-replicate configuration yielded an RMSEP of 2.37% v/v. The benchmark showed that model performance depended on dimensionality and validation criterion; consequently, no regression approach was universally superior. Application of representative PLS, PCR, and PCA–SVR models to three additional samples produced similar descriptive mean absolute errors of 2.16 to 2.32% v/v. Overall, ATR-FTIR combined with multivariate regression provides a promising proof-of-concept strategy for the rapid estimation of ethanol in agave distillates. These findings support the future development of accessible and reliable quality-control protocols for agave spirits and other complex distilled beverages.

El Laboratorio de Análisis de Destilados de la UANL representa un hito en la integración de la ciencia y la tradición en Nuevo León. Su creación tiene un propósito específico: garantizar la calidad del destilado de agave Flammam. Provisto con tecnología analítica de vanguardia y tomando como referencia la NOM-070-SCFI-2016, permite monitorear el proceso productivo de Flammam. El laboratorio avanza, además, hacia la implementación de absorción atómica, quimiometría y metabolómica, fortaleciendo la investigación, la detección de adulteraciones y la mejora del perfil organoléptico. También contribuye a la formación de estudiantes y a la colaboración con productores locales, promoviendo el desarrollo económico y social regional, basado en el conocimiento. Abstract The UANL Distillates Analysis Laboratory represents a milestone in the integration of science and tradition in Nuevo León. Its creation aims to ensure the quality of the Flammam agave distillate. Equipped with cutting-edge analytical technology and using NOM-070-SCFI-2016 as a reference, it enables the monitoring of Flammam’s production process. The laboratory is also advancing toward the implementation of atomic absorption, chemometrics, and metabolomics, strengthening research, adulteration detection, and the improvement of the organoleptic profile. It also contributes to student training and collaboration with local producers, promoting regional economic and social development based on knowledge.

The increasing occurrence of pharmaceuticals and other bioactive contaminants in aquatic environments has raised significant concern due to their potential toxicological effects, continuous human exposure, and implications for public health. These compounds, including drug residues, metabolites, and biologically active pollutants, often persist at trace concentrations that challenge conventional analytical methodologies commonly used in medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry. Biosensor-based analytical strategies have emerged as powerful tools for the detection and quantification of pharmaceuticals and bioactive compounds in complex aqueous matrices, offering high sensitivity, molecular selectivity, reduced analysis time, and the potential for decentralized monitoring. By integrating biological recognition elements with physicochemical transducers, biosensors enable the detection of compounds of medicinal relevance while providing insights into bioavailability, toxicity, and exposure pathways. From a pharmaceutical biotechnology perspective, biosensor platforms based on enzymes, whole cells, nucleic acids, and nanostructured transducers represent scalable analytical tools that complement conventional methods used in pharmaceutical analysis and exposure assessment. This review critically examines recent advances in biosensor technologies applied to the detection of pharmaceuticals and bioactive contaminants in water, with particular emphasis on electrochemical, surface plasmon resonance, whole-cell, bacterial, DNA-based, and microarray biosensing platforms. Attention is given to analytical performance parameters, target analytes of pharmacological relevance, and the suitability of different biosensing approaches for complex aqueous matrices. Selected examples from Mexican research are discussed as a case study illustrating contributions to current analytical challenges. Finally, current limitations and future perspectives are addressed, highlighting the role of biosensor-based strategies as complementary analytical tools in pharmaceutical biotechnology, medicinal chemistry, and toxicological assessment.

Magnetic nanomaterials (MNMs) have been adopted as effective platforms for water remediation owing to their excellent surface-area-to-volume ratios, tunable surface chemistry, and magnetic separability. This review highlights the recent progress made in the synthesis, properties, and environmental applications in the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and one-dimensional magnetic nanofibers. Demonstrated removal rates of organic contaminants such as dyes, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides are often up to 85–100% under laboratory conditions, with adsorption capacities of 580 mg·g⁻¹ for melanoidin, 397.43 mg·g⁻¹ for Congo Red, and 392.64 mg·g⁻¹ for tetracycline. For heavy metals such as As(V), Cd(II), Cr(VI) and Pb(II), efficiencies are generally between 90–99% with maximum adsorption capacities of 909.1 mg·g⁻¹ for Pb(II). In particular, the review compares major synthesis routes such as coprecipitation, hydrothermal, solvothermal, thermal decomposition, sol–gel, microwave, and green methods by evaluating their effect on particle size (6–50 nm), magnetic properties (saturation magnetization up to ~101 emu·g⁻¹), and removal performance. The four principal mechanisms are described in this paper—adsorption, filtration, transformation, and photocatalysis—giving special emphasis to the advantages of magnetic recovery and advanced oxidation processes. Although most studies remain at the laboratory scale, MNMs demonstrate strong potential for scalable wastewater treatment, provided that toxicity, life-cycle impacts, and matrix effects are carefully evaluated.

Cada año, miles de toneladas de algas marinas arriban a las costas del Caribe a causa del Gran Cinturón de Sargazo del Atlántico (GASB, por sus siglas en inglés), el mayor florecimiento de la macroalga de este tipo del mundo, de hasta 8,850 km y un peso que ronda las 22 toneladas. Dichas playas, usualmente adornadas sólo por arena blanca y aguas turquesas, ahora se ven cubiertas por densas pilas en descomposición de macroalgas color pardo, conocidas coloquialmente como “sargazo”.

Background: Cissus incisa is a Vitaceae with a pantropical distribution. In northern Mexico, its leaves have traditionally been used to treat skin infections, abscesses and tumors. Despite its medicinal uses, few studies have been reported. Objective: The objective of this study is to summarize the phytochemical and biological studies carried out so far on the leaves of C. incisa, since this part of the plant is the one frequently used, and awaken scientific interest towards the plant. Methods: Since C. incisa was an undocumented species, most of the information comes from reports of our research group. Databases, books, and websites were also consulted. The information collected was organized and presented in a synthesized way. Plant name was checked with the database “The Plant List”. Results: 171, 260, and 114 metabolites were identified by UHPLC-QFTOF-MS in the hexane, chloroform/ methanol, and aqueous extracts, respectively. Fatty acyls, sphingolipids, sterols, glycerolipids, prenol lipids, and terpenes are common metabolites found in these extracts. 2-(2´-hydroxydecanoyl amino)-1,3,4-hexadecanotriol-8-ene, 2,3-dihydroxypropyl tetracosanoate, β-sitosterol, β-sitosterol-D-glucopyranoside, α-amyrin-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside were also isolated and characterized. Extracts, phytocompounds and semi-synthetic derivatives showed antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant bacteria and various cancer cell lines. Results from Perturbation- Theory-Machine Learning-Information-Fusion model (PTMLIF), molecular docking, and vesicular contents assay identified potential targets on the cell membrane, suggesting an antibacterial mechanism of action for ceramides from C. incisa leaves. Conclusion: This review reports the efforts of the scientific community in authenticating species used in traditional medicine. Moreover, it gives a compendium of phytochemistry and the biological activities of the components from C. incisa leaves.

Cissus incisa leaves have been traditionally used in Mexican traditional medicine to treat certain cancerous illness. This study explored the metabolomic profile of this species using untargeted technique. Likewise, it determined the cytotoxic activity and interpreted all data by computational tools. The metabolomic profile was developed through UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS for dereplication purposes. MetaboAnalyst database was used in metabolic pathway analysis and the network topological analysis. Hexane, chloroform/methanol, and aqueous extracts were evaluated on HepG2, Hep3B, HeLa, PC3, A549, and MCF7 cancer cell lines and IHH immortalized hepatic cells, using Cell Titer proliferation assay kit. Hexane extract was the most active against Hep3B (IC₅₀ = 27 ± 3 μg/mL), while CHCl₃/MeOH extract was the most selective (SI = 2.77) on the same cell line. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed similar profiles between the extracts, while a Venn diagram revealed 80 coincident metabolites between the bioactive extracts. The sesquiterpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis pathway was the most significant identified. The Network Pharmacology (NP) approach revealed several targets for presqualene diphosphate, phytol, stearic acid, δ-tocopherol, ursolic acid and γ-linolenic acid, involved in cellular processes such as apoptosis. This work highlights the integration of untargeted metabolomic profile and cytotoxic activity to explore plant extracts, and the NP approach to interpreting the experimental results.