The alternative use of natural products, like royal jelly (RJ), may be an important tool for the treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. RJ presents a large number of bioactive substances, including antimicrobial compounds. In this study, we carried out the chemical characterization of fresh and lyophilized RJ and investigated their antibacterial effects with the purpose of evaluating if the lyophilization process maintains the chemical and antibacterial properties of RJ. Furthermore, we evaluated the antibacterial efficacy of the main fatty acid found in RJ, the 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10H2DA). Chromatographic profile of the RJ samples showed similar fingerprints and the presence of 10H2DA in both samples. Furthermore, fresh and lyophilized RJ were effective against all bacteria evaluated; that is, the lyophilization process maintains the antibacterial activity of RJ and the chemical field of 10H2DA. The fatty acid 10H2DA exhibited a good antibacterial activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae. Therefore, it may be used as an alternative and complementary treatment for infections caused by antibiotic-resistant S. pneumoniae.

Currently, wastewater treatment processes that are more sustainable in the long term are needed, thus leading to the development of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Those processes have the ability to mineralize pollutants, instead of just transferring them from one phase to another, as it is the case with many conventional treatment methods. The mineralization of pollutants, i.e. the transformation of organic contaminants into carbon dioxide, water and inorganic anions, is based on degradation reactions involving the generation of highly oxidizing species such as hydroxyl radical (• OH). During the manufacturing process, a certain amount of dye is always lost and often causes environmental problems. The dyes affect the nature of water and inhibit the penetration of sunlight into rivers, thus reducing their photosynthetic activity. Because of this, the wastewaters from industries that use dyes in their production processes require appropriate treatment for the removal of these contaminants. Therefore, it was studied the application of heterogeneous photocatalysis (using TiO 2 as the photocatalyst) in order to remove the color of a synthetic wastewater containing dyes of the cosmetics industry (D&C Red 6, Carmin, and D&C Orange 5). For that purpose, an experimental design 2 3 was used and an optimal treatment condition was found: 7.0, 0.5 g L-1 and 25°C for pH, concentration of TiO 2 and temperature, respectively, resulting in a color removal of 80% with 15 minutes of irradiation. Kinetic experiments showed that the heterogeneous photocatalysis follows a 0.5 order model, with a constant k of (7.2 ± 1.2) × 10-2 min-1 and R 2 of 0.997. Photolysis followed a first order model, with a constant k of (8.9 ± 2.5) × 10-3 min-1 and R 2 of 0.977. The COD decrease of approximately 80% shows that the effluent was effectively oxidized. The initial COD/BOD 5, 20 ratio demonstrates that the effluent is not biodegradable, but after treatment, that ratio indicated that the effluent became biodegradable. The DOC removal, i.e. the mineralization of the effluent was approximately 70% with 30 minutes of treatment. The MOC confirmed that the effluent was actually oxidized by the treatment. The raw effluent had a slight ecotoxicity while after treatment it became non-toxic. It could be concluded that heterogeneous photocatalysis was able to remove the color of the effluent, to increase its biodegradability, to remove its ecotoxicity and to mineralize it.