Muhammad Mustaqeem

The journal retracts the article titled “Fluorescent and Phosphorescent Nitrogen-Containing Heterocycles and Crown Ethers: Biological and Pharmaceutical Applications”

The simple storage of ammonia combined with the tendency to liberate hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions has made ammonia breakdown popular among the research community in recent years. This review article has discussed the current advances in ammonia breakdown technology for hydrogen generation, focusing on new materials and mechanical designs for catalysis. Moreover, it would help to update the knowledge about the catalytic reaction processes and emphasize the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy. Furthermore, the significance of discovering a cost-effective metal catalyst with better efficiency and higher reliability is also debated. This article may serve as a fundamental resource to scale up information about the catalytic production of hydrogen from ammonia.

Addressing the growing need for methods for ecofriendly dye removal from aqueous media, this study explores the potential of rice husks coated with iron oxide (Fe₂O₃@RH composites) for efficient Acid Blue 25 decontamination. The adsorption potential of Acid Blue 25 is analyzed using raw rice husks and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles in the literature, but their enhanced removal capacity by means of Fe₂O₃@RH composites is reported for the first time in this study. Fe₂O₃@RH composites were analyzed by using analytical techniques such as TGA, SEM, FTIR, BET, and the point of zero charge (pH_(PZC)). The Acid Blue 25 adsorption experiment using Fe₂O₃@RH composites showed maximum adsorption at an initial concentration of Acid Blue 25 of 80 ppm, a contact time of 50 min, a temperature of 313 K, 0.25 g of Fe₂O₃@RH composites, and a pH of 2. The maximum percentage removal of Acid Blue 25 was found to be 91%. Various linear and nonlinear kinetic and isothermal models were used in this study to emphasize the importance and necessity of the adsorption process. Adsorption isotherms such as the Freundlich, Temkin, Langmuir, and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) models were applied. The results showed that all the isotherms were best fitted on the data, except the linear form of the D–R isotherm. Adsorption kinetics such as the intraparticle kinetic model, the Elovich kinetic model, and the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were applied. All the kinetic models were found to be best fitted on the data, except the PSO model (types II, III, and IV). Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔG° (KJ/mol), ΔH° (KJ/mol), and ΔS° (J/K*mol) were studied, and the reaction was found to be exothermic in nature with an increase in the entropy of the system, which supported the adsorption phenomenon. The current study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the adsorption process and its underlying mechanisms through characterization, the optimization of the conditions, and the application of various models. The findings of the present study suggest practical applications of this method in wastewater treatment and environmental remediation.

The present study reports the one-step synthesis of several 3-formyl-4-hydroxycouramin-derived enamines (4a–4i) in good yields (65–94%). The characterization of the synthesized compounds was carried out via advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques, such as melting point, electron impact mass spectrometry (EI-MS), ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, elemental analysis, FTIR, and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The reaction conditions were optimized, and the maximum yield was obtained at 3–4 h of reflux of the reactants, using 2-butanol as a solvent. The potato disc tumor assay was used to assess Agrobacterium tumefaciens-induced tumors to evaluate the anti-tumor activities of compounds (4a–4i), using Vinblastine as a standard drug. The compound 4g showed the lowest IC₅₀ value (1.12 ± 0.2), which is even better than standard Vinblastine (IC₅₀ 7.5 ± 0.6). For further insight into their drug actions, an in silico docking of the compounds was also carried out against the CDK-8 protein. The binding energy values of compounds were found to agree with the experimental results. The compounds 4g and 4h showed the best affinities toward protein, with a binding energy value of −6.8 kcal/mol.

Environmental sustainability appraisal of adsorption for exclusion of the malachite green toxic dye was the center of attention in this work. The influenced goals were to analyze the consequences of novel composites fabricated by sodium alginate with guar gum and birm (SA@GG@B composites) by ion gelation. This work not only explains the feasibility of the sorbent and its application for the removal of dye stuff but also proclaimed various effects of different parameters affecting the removal efficiency. Adsorption processes were carried out in the batch process. The composite was characterized by SEM, which revealed that the irregular surface of composites has pores present for high adsorption, FTIR (for functional groups detection) reveals the presence of –OH group which provides attachment sites for dye, and BET (surface analysis) with a surface area of 5.01 m²/g shows that it has a wide surface area for greater adsorption process. Adsorption was performed on synthetic composites by varying different parameters like contact time, the concentration of sorbent and sorbate, and pH. Maximum adsorption was achieved (92.7%) at 100 ppm initial concentration, 120 min interaction time, and pH 9. Adsorption isotherms (Freundlich, Langmuir, Dubnin, and Elvoich isotherm) were applied in this work and evaluated the adsorption phenomenon and nature of adsorption. Freundlich adsorption capacity K_F (9.45) reveals effective adsorption of dye by the proposed adsorbent. The kinetics models show that it was better with the pseudo-second-order reaction. Effective removal of malachite green by synthesized composites reveals their importance for the industrial water purification from hazardous dyes.

Fluorescent molecules absorb photons of specific wavelengths and emit a longer wavelength photon within nanoseconds. Recently, fluorescent materials have been widely used in the life and material sciences. Fluorescently labelled heterocyclic compounds are useful in bioanalytical applications, including in vivo imaging, high throughput screening, diagnostics, and light-emitting diodes. These compounds have various therapeutic properties, including antifungal, antitumor, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activities. Different neutral fluorescent markers containing nitrogen heterocycles (quinolones, azafluoranthenes, pyrazoloquinolines, etc.) have several electrochemical, biological, and nonlinear optic applications. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which destroys tumors and keeps normal tissues safe, works in the presence of molecular oxygen with light and a photosensitizing drugs (dye) to obtain a therapeutic effect. These compounds can potentially be effective templates for producing devices used in biological research. Blending crown compounds with fluorescent residues to create sensors has been frequently investigated. Florescent heterocyclic compounds (crown ether) increase metal solubility in non-aqueous fluids, broadening the application window. Fluorescent supramolecular polymers have widespread use in fluorescent materials, fluorescence probing, data storage, bio-imaging, drug administration, reproduction, biocatalysis, and cancer treatment. The employment of fluorophores, including organic chromophores and crown ethers, which have high selectivity, sensitivity, and stability constants, opens up new avenues for research. Fluorescent organic compounds are gaining importance in the biological world daily because of their diverse functionality with remarkable structural features and positive properties in the fields of medicine, photochemistry, and spectroscopy.

Cyclic organic compounds with several ether linkages in their structure are of much concern in our daily life applications. Crown ethers (CEs) are generally heterocyclic and extremely versatile compounds exhibiting higher binding affinity. In recent years, due to their unique structure, crown ethers are widely used in drug delivery, solvent extraction, cosmetics manufacturing, material studies, catalysis, separation, and organic synthesis. Beyond their conventional place in chemistry, this review article summarizes the synthesis, biological, and potential pharmacological activities of CEs. We have emphasized the prospects of CEs as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal agents and have explored their amyloid genesis inhibitory activity, electrochemical, and potential metric sensing properties. The central feature of these compounds is their ability to form selective and stable complexes with various organic and inorganic cations. Therefore, CEs can be used in gas chromatography as the stationary phase and are also valuable for cation chromatographic to determine and separate alkali and alkaline-earth cations.

The SARS CoV-2 pandemic has affected millions of people around the globe. Despite many efforts to find some effective medicines against SARS CoV-2, no established therapeutics are available yet. The use of phytochemicals as antiviral agents provides hope against the proliferation of SARS-CoV-2. Several natural compounds were analyzed by virtual screening against six SARS CoV-2 protein targets using molecular docking simulations in the present study. More than a hundred plant-derived secondary metabolites have been docked, including alkaloids, flavonoids, coumarins, and steroids. SARS CoV-2 protein targets include Main protease (M^Pro), Papain-like protease (PL^pro), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), Spike glycoprotein (S), Helicase (Nsp13), and E-Channel protein. Phytochemicals were evaluated by molecular docking, and MD simulations were performed using the YASARA structure using a modified genetic algorithm and AMBER03 force field. Binding energies and dissociation constants allowed the identification of potentially active compounds. Ligand-protein interactions provide an insight into the mechanism and potential of identified compounds. Glycyrrhizin and its metabolite 18-β-glycyrrhetinic acid have shown a strong binding affinity for M^Pro, helicase, RdRp, spike, and E-channel proteins, while a flavonoid Baicalin also strongly binds against PL^pro and RdRp. The use of identified phytochemicals may help to speed up the drug development and provide natural protection against SARS-CoV-2.

The present study focuses on the design and synthesis of a cage-like organic skeleton containing two triazole rings jointed via imine linkage. These molecules can act as urease inhibitors. The in-vitro urease inhibition screening results showed that the combination of the two triazole skeleton in the cage-like morphology exhibited comparable urease inhibition activity to that of the reference thiourea while the metallic complexation, especially with copper, nickel, and palladium, showed excellent activity results with IC₅₀ values of 0.94 ± 0.13, 3.71 ± 0.61, and 7.64 ± 1.21 (3a–c), and 1.20 ± 0.52, 3.93 ± 0.45, and 12.87 ± 2.11 µM (4a–c). However, the rest of compounds among the targeted series exhibited a low to moderate enzyme inhibition potential. To better understand the compounds’ underlying mechanisms of the inhibitory effect (3a and 4a) and their most active metal complexes (3b and 4b), we performed an enzymatic kinetic analysis using the Lineweaver–Burk plot in the presence of different concentrations of inhibitors to represent the non-competitive inhibition nature of the compounds, 3a, 4a, and 4b, while mixed type inhibition was represented by the compound, 3b. Moreover, molecular docking confirmed the binding interactive behavior of 3a within the active site of the target protein.