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Phenol is one of the greatest menaces among the industrial pollutants. A treatment method which utilizes agricultural wastes in a simple manner has become the need of the hour. In this investigation, details on the extraction, optimization of parameters and study of detoxification potential of the peroxidase enzyme obtained from baby corn waste have been elaborated. The enzyme has been extracted from both corn silk and husk, and studies have been conducted on both the samples. Estimation of amount of protein and enzyme activity has shown promising results, and the conditions optimized are easily attainable at larger scales, making this work feasible for scale-up.

Nanocarriers have been explored widely for targeted and sustainable delivery of drugs and other bioactive molecules. Kinetic modeling on the drug release and optimization of the process parameters offers a fundamental explanation for the release mechanism along with an insight on the properties of the carrier. In the present work, a hybrid Bovine serum albumin- Calcium ferrite (BSA-CFNP) nanocarrier in conjugation with folic acid has been developed for the controlled release of curcumin, as a model anticancer drug. Super paramagnetic calcium ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method. Curcumin was loaded onto the BSA and hybrid BSA-CFNP carriers by desolvation technique. Folic acid conjugation was performed, using EDC coupling reaction, to enable the receptor mediated endocytosis of the drug. The synthesized samples were characterized by FTIR, XRD and SEM techniques. Optimization of curcumin loading on the carrier was evaluated using Taguchi method, which provided a simpler yet effective route to study the influence of the process parameters under consideration. In-vitro stimuli responsive curcumin release studies were investigated. The amount of FA conjugated was also optimized. The drug release trends were studied at different simulated physiological environments. The drug release mechanism was evaluated by applying various kinetic models such as zero order, first order, Higuchi, Korsmeyer Peppas and Hixson Crowell. The controlling parameters and their effects on the release of curcumin from the devised system were elucidated from the best fit model.