Local Xylocarpus granatum leaves were extracted by ethyl acetate solvent and characterized by TLC fingerprinting and 2D 1H NMR spectroscopy to contain phenolic compounds as well as several organic and amino acids as metabolic byproducts, such as succinic acid and acetic acid. Traces of flavonoids and other non-categorized phenolic compounds exhibited intermediate antioxidant activity (antioxidant IC50 84.93 ppm) as well as anticancer activity against HeLa, T47D, and HT-29 cell lines; which the latter being most effective against HT-29 with Fraction 5 contained the strongest activity (anticancer IC50 23.12 ppm). Extracts also behaved as a natural growth factor and nonlethal towards brine shrimps as well as human adipose-derived stem cell hADSC due to antioxidative properties. A stability test was performed to examine how storage conditions factored in bioactivity and phytochemical structure. Extracts were compared with several studies about X. granatum leaves extracts to evaluate how ethnogeography and ecosystem factored on biologically active compounds. Further research on anticancer or antioxidant mechanism on cancer cells is needed to determine whether the extract is suitable as a candidate for an anticancer drug.

The increasing release of micropollutants into water resources and their adverse effects on aquatic ecosystem and human health have aroused global concerns. [1] Steroid hormones including natural estrone (E1) and estradiol (E2) and synthetic 17β-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) are one such type of micropollutants widely found in wastewater. [2,3] Despite their trace levels (1-100 ng L −1) in water sources, steroid hormones can disrupt the endocrine system of human and other organisms by interfering the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding of natural hormones. [4] The negative health impacts of steroid hormones on animals are well documented, such as feminization in fish, [5] intersexuality in wild roach, [6] and tachycardia in bullfrog tadpoles. [7] In addition, increasing evidence has shown that exposures to steroid hormones causes negative impacts on human health like obesity, diabetes, intellectual disability, and male infertility. [8] Therefore, it is an urgent task to remove steroid hormones from water source for protecting human health and ecosystem. Inadequate removal of steroid hormones by conventional wastewater treatment systems has motivated the development of advanced treatment technologies such as activated carbon adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, and membrane technology for treating such micropollutants. [9] Among them, membrane technology is considered to be a promising strategy for water purification because of its high efficiency, ease of operation, and small footprints. [10] For example, nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) processes have been used to remove hormones via a combination of mechanisms such as size exclusion, charge repulsion, and adsorption. [11-13] However, the low water permeability of NF and RO membranes requires high operation pressure and frequent membrane cleaning, [14,15] which significantly increases the operation and maintenance of such processes. Hence, development of advanced membranes that are able to reject or capture steroid hormones at higher water permeability is highly desired. Affinity membranes separate molecules based on the specific physical and chemical interactions between ligands and target molecules rather than by sieving mechanisms. [16-19] Combining The occurrence of steroid hormones in water and their serious impact on human and ecosystem demand high performance materials for efficient removal of such micropollutants. Here, an affinity membrane is developed for hormone removal with regenerable binding sites. By using photodynamic disulfides as a linker, UV induced detachment of β-CD ligands from the membrane surface is demonstrated. The macroporous base membrane is first fabricated via a polymerization induced phase separation method using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and ethylene dimethylacrylate (EDMA) monomers. Then the affinity membranes are prepared by immobilizing β-CD ligands to the poly(HEMA-co-EDMA) base membrane through the 2-carboxyethyl disulfide linker. The β-CD functionalized affinity membrane shows a 30% increase of E2 ho...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an S. aureus strain that has developed resistance against ß-lactam antibiotics, resulting in a scarcity of a potent cure for treating Staphylococcus infections. In this study, the anti-MRSA and antioxidant activity of the Indonesian mangrove species Sonneratia caseolaris, Avicennia marina, Rhizophora mucronata, and Rhizophora apiculata were studied. Disk diffusion, DPPH, a brine shrimp lethality test, and total phenolic and flavonoid assays were conducted. Results showed that among the tested mangroves, ethanol solvent-based S. caseolaris leaves extract had the highest antioxidant and anti-MRSA activities. An antioxidant activity assay showed comparable activity when compared to ascorbic acid, with an IC50 value of 4.2499 ± 3.0506 ppm and 5.2456 ± 0.5937 ppm, respectively, classifying the extract as a super-antioxidant. Moreover, S. caseolaris leaves extract showed the highest content of strongly associated antioxidative and antibacterial polyphenols, with 12.4% consisting of nontoxic flavonoids with the minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol-based S. caseolaris leaves extract being approximately 5000 ppm. LC-MS/MS results showed that phenolic compounds such as azelaic acid and aspirin were found, as well as flavonoid glucosides such as isovitexin and quercitrin. This strongly suggested that these compounds greatly contributed to antibacterial and antioxidant activity. Further research is needed to elucidate the interaction of the main compounds in S. caseolaris leaves extract in order to confirm their potential either as single or two or more compounds that synergistically function as a nontoxic antioxidant and antibacterial against MRSA.