Inflammatory properties and adjuvant potential of synthetic glycolipids homologous to mycolate esters of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Hermann Giresse TIMA (1), Juma'a Raheem AL DULAYYMI (2), Olivier DENIS (1), Pauline LEHEBEL (1), Klarah Sherzad BAOLS (2), Mohsin Omar MOHAMMED (2), Laurent L'HOMME (3), Mohaned Mohammed SAHB (2), Georges POTEMBERG (1), Sylvie LEGRAND (3), Roland LANG (4), Rudi BEYAERT (5), Jacques PIETTE (3), MarkStephen BAIRD (2)#, Kris HUYGEN (1)#, Marta ROMANO (1)*#.

Recently, chemical modifications of chitosan (CS) have attracted the attention of scientific researchers due to its wide range of applications. In this research, chitin (CH) was extracted from the scales of Cyprinus carpio fish and converted to CS by three chemical steps: (i) demineralization, (ii) deprotonation, and (iii) deacetylation. The degree (measured as a percentage) of deacetylation (DD %) was calculated utilizing the acid–base titration method. The structure of CS was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Three new CS Schiff bases (CSSBs) (CS-P1, CS-P2, and CS-P3) were synthesized via coupling of CS with 2-chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde, quinazoline-6-carbaldehyde, and oxazole-4-carbaldehyde, respectively. The newly prepared derivatives were verified, structurally, by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated for the prepared compounds against both “Gram-negative” and “Gram-positive” bacteria, namely, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus mutans, in addition to two kinds of fungi, Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigates. Cytotoxicity of the synthesized CSSBs was evaluated via a MTT screening test. The results indicated a critical activity increase of the synthesized compound rather than CS generally tested bacteria and fungi and the absence of cytotoxic activity. These findings suggested that these new CSSBs are novel biomaterial candidates with enhanced antibacterial and nontoxic characteristics for applications in areas of both biology and medicine.

This research included determination of chemical composition of al-ahdaab crude oil (kute-Iraq) using liquidsolid chromatography method. The current study involved separation the components of crude oil by column chromatography was packing with alumina (AL 2 O 3) as a stationary-phases and several solvent as a mobile phase. The results of crude oil fractionations were 17.01% Asphaltene, 82.99% Maltene, which separated to Paraffinic (saturated) 44.11%, Aromatic 30.11% and Resin 4.20%. Crude oil fractionations were characterized using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 1 HNMR and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer FT-IR to determine the chemical composition of each part, which is that represents the first study and novel results. This study also clarified the paraffinic compounds are the main part of materials in the crude oil composition.

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a specific anti-cancer agent that is generally used to treat gastrointestinal, colorectal, and breast cancer. In this work, chitosan (CS) was extracted from local fish scales using an established method. 5-FU was then converted to 1-acetic acid-5-fluorouracil (FUAC) and reacted with this CS to prepare chitosan-1-acetic acid-5-fluorouracil (CS-FUAC) conjugates as a colon-specific prodrug. All compounds were characterized by Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and UV-visible spectroscopy. The synthesized compound was subjected to a chemical stability study in phosphate buffer (0.2 M, pH 7.4) and in KCl/HCl buffer (0.2 M, pH 1.2) at different time intervals (0–240 min) and incubation at 37 °C. This revealed a significantly greater stability and a longer half-life for the CS-FUAC than for FUAC. Hemolytic activity results indicated a much lower toxicity for CS-FUAC than for 5-FU and supported consideration of CS-FUAC for further biological screening and application trials. The percentage of FUAC in the conjugates was determined by subjecting the prodrug to treatment in basic media to hydrolyze the amide bond, followed by absorbency measurements at 273 nm. The cytotoxicity studies of the conjugates were also evaluated on human colorectal cancer cell line (HT-29), which showed that the conjugates are more cytotoxic than the free drug. Therefore, CS-FUAC conjugates can be considered to represent potential colon-specific drug delivery agents, with minimal undesirable side effects, for colon cancer therapy.

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