No abstract

Ethylene, the ripening hormone produced by climacteric plants, is an important parameter that determines the shelf life of fresh fruits. Cinnamaldehyde (CA) encapsulated in halloysite nanotube (HNT) nanocarriers was studied as an ethylene production inhibition agent. The slow release of CA from HNT-CA nanohybrids was demonstrated to last for over 180 d and cause inhibition of ethylene production in bananas. The HNT-CA nanohybrids were incorporated into polypropylene (PP) via melt extrusion, resulting in PP/HNT-CA nanocomposite films with suitable mechanical properties for use as flexible packaging. Bananas stored in PP/HNT-CA nanocomposite film bags for 7 d presented significantly lower weight loss, higher firmness, and higher color scores, indicating freshness, than bananas stored in neat PP film bags. The nanocomposite films presented in this study were shown to slow down the ripening by inhibiting ethylene production, and they have strong potential as active food packaging materials that can prevent spoilage of ethylene-sensitive fresh fruits.

In this study, 4‐{2‐(2‐thienyl)ethoxy}phthalonitrile (3) and its tetra substituted peripherally metal‐free (4), lead (II) (5), magnesium (II) (6), and cobalt (II) (7) phthalocyanines were synthesized. The structural characterization of the obtained compounds was performed by a combination of FTIR, 1H‐NMR, UV–vis, and MALDI‐TOF techniques. The inhibitory properties of these compounds were determined using Ingkaninan's methods against cholinesterase enzymes. Compound (7) had the highest enzyme inhibitory effect toward AChE and BuChE enzymes with IC50 values of 23.71 ± 0.39 and 27.29 ± 0.22 μM, respectively. The enzyme kinetic study of compound (7) demonstrated noncompetitive AChE inhibition and uncompetitive BuChE inhibition. The Ki values of compound (7) against AChE and BuChE were found to 39.15 and 7.25 μM, respectively. In the tested compounds, (7) deserves further investigation for potential therapeutic candidates of Alzheimer's disease.

No abstract

No abstract