Previous studies have shown that accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) can be the cause of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in diabetic patients. Dihydrochalcone 3′-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl α,4,2′,4′,6′-pentahydroxy–dihydrochalcone (1) is a powerful antiglycation compound previously isolated from Eysenhardtia polystachya. The aim was to investigate whether (1) was able to protect against diabetic nephropathy in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice, which displayed renal dysfunction markers such as body weight, creatinine, uric acid, serum urea, total urinary protein, and urea nitrogen in the blood (BUN). In addition, pathological changes were evaluated including glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the kidney, as well as in circulation level and pro-inflammatory markers ICAM-1 levels in diabetic mice. After 5 weeks, these elevated markers of dihydrochalcone treatment (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) were significantly (p < 0.05) attenuated. In addition, they ameliorate the indices of renal inflammation as indicated by ICAM-1 markers. The kidney and circulatory AGEs levels in diabetic mice were significantly (p < 0.05) attenuated by (1) treatment. Histological analysis of kidney tissues showed an important recovery in its structure compared with the diabetic group. It was found that the compound (1) attenuated the renal damage in diabetic mice by inhibiting AGEs formation.

The photocatalytic reduction of benzophenone was studied focusing on improving the yield to benzhydrol. TiO2 was synthesized by means of a hydrothermal technique. TiO2 (Degussa TiO2-P25) was used as a reference. Catalysts were characterized by XRD and nitrogen physisorption. The photocatalytic reduction was carried out in a batch reactor at 25 °C under nitrogen atmosphere, acetonitrile as solvent and isopropanol as electron donor. A 200 W Xe-Hg lamp (λ= 360 nm) was employed as irradiation source. The chemical composition of the reaction system was determined by HPLC. Structural and textural properties of the synthesized TiO2 depended on the type of acid used during sol formation step. Using HCl, a higher specific surface area and narrower pore size distribution of TiO2 was obtained in comparison with acetic acid. As expected, the photochemical reduction of benzophenone yielded benzopinacol as main product, whereas, benzhydrol is only produced in presence of TiO2 (i.e. photocatalytic route). In general, the hydrothermally synthesized catalysts were less active and with a lower yield to benzhydrol. The optimal reaction conditions to highest values of benzhydrol yield (70-80%) were found at 2 g/L (catalyst loading) and 0.5 mM of initial concentration of benzophenone, using commercial TiO2-P25.

The transformation of benzoin to tetraphenylfuran catalyzed with a superacid sulfonic clay under different reaction conditions was investigated. Three products with different yields were produced under a nitrogen stream and four products were obtained under an air atmosphere.

Hoy en día es una necesidad urgente con carácter social, de salud humana, ambiental e incluso política, asegurar el abastecimiento de agua a las ciudades y poblados de nuestro país. En el caso del Distrito Federal, esta ciudad cuenta con una geografía característica que permite cada año un aporte de agua de lluvia de casi 780 millones de m3 pero solo cerca del 13% de este volumen, se aprovecha. La naturaleza da ejemplos de cómo pueden ser diseñados los sistemas para capturar agua pluvial. Al proceso de estudiar las soluciones que la propia naturaleza ha adoptado se le conoce como biomimetismo y la biomimética es la tecnología que imita a la naturaleza. El objetivo de este trabajo fue copiar principios simples de la naturaleza para diseñar un sistema biomimético de captura y filtración de agua pluvial para casas particulares y unidades habitacionales. Para el diseño del captador biomimético se trabajó con materiales ligeros que no absorben agua sino que la conducen con rapidez a depósitos, debido a que se favorece el fenómeno de cohesión. De los estudios se obtuvo la impermeabilidad de los materiales, su resistencia al flujo y se calcularon los coeficientes de cohesión alcanzados, lo que indica que tanto la moléculas de agua se agrupan entre si y así se evita que se humedezcan los materiales captadores. Estos datos permitieron el diseño final de un primer prototipo.

Several batch scale assays were performed in order to establish a correlation between the microbial removals of neicosane, in presence of different concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which showed a partial removing.The selected VOCs were toluene and benzene. Results with benzene showed that the removal of this aromatic compoundwas decreased in presence of n-eicosane and the lowest removal was obtained when VOC concentration was higher. Theremoval of hydrocarbon was increased when VOC concentration was increased. In the assays with toluene, n-eicosanereached a higher removal when VOC concentration was increased, but the aromatic compound showed a decrease in itselimination dynamics. Control assays performed with VOCs at 28 mg/L without hydrocarbon showed higher removaldynamics for benzene than toluene. Also control assays of n-eicosane at two different concentrations but without anyVOC showed that its removal dynamic decreased in the absence of the aromatic compounds for both assays. The kineticadjustrnent obtained for toluene (Hill kinetic model) showed that the removal rate of this compound increased while itsconcentration at water-phase was higher. Although, when it was used a concentration of 50 mg/L or higher, the removalrate became almost constant. For benzene, the higher removal rate was reached with 38 mg/L. With higher concentration,the kinetic model showed inhibition, so the adjustrnent analyses fitted for a Monod kinetic model. n-Eicosane showed abetter adjustrnent with the Haldane kinetic model with an initial concentration of 188 mg/L for the highest removal rate.