Research Articles (Chemistry and Polymer Science)

4-Benzyloxylonchocarpin and muracatanes A-C from Ranunculus muricatus L. and their biological effects

Hussain, Hidayat; Ali, Iftikhar; Wang, Daijie; Mamadalieva, Nilufar Z.; Hussain, Wahid; Csuk, Rene; Loesche, Anne; Fischer, Lucie; Staerk, Dan; Anam, Syariful; AlZain, Mashail N.; Mushtaq, Maria; Ul-Haq, Zaheer; Ullah, Riaz; Noman, Omar M.; Abbas, Ghulam; Green, Ivan R. (MDPI, 2020-11-17)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ranunculus muricatus L. is a spiny fruit buttercup that is used in various traditional medicinal systems. In the current investigation of R. muricatus, the new chalcone 4-benzyloxylonchocarpin (1), the ...

A calix[4]arene based boronic acid catalyst for amide bond formation : proof of principle study

Mafaune, Asslly Tafara; Arnott, Gareth E. (ARKAT USA, 2018-06-25)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A calix[4]arene boronic acid was synthesized and tested for catalysis in amide formation. The results were positive and paved the way for future designs, even though protodeboronation was observed under ...

The development and refinement of a questionnaire on the investigation of students' experience of first-year chemistry practicals

Retief, Liezel; Lutz, Marietjie; Potgieter, Marietjie (University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2013)

This article reports on the development and refinement of a questionnaire for first-year Chemistry students. Three subscales were probed, namely affective attitudes, perceptions towards tutor effectiveness and outcomes achieved.

Critical self-assembly concentration of bolaamphiphilic peptides andpeptide hybrids determined by fluorescence measurements

Martari, Marco; Sanderson, Ronald D. (University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2013)

The study of the self-assembly properties of peptides and proteins is important for the understanding of molecular recognition processes and for the rational design of functional biomaterials. Novel bolaamphiphilic peptides ...

Coordinated autophagy modulation overcomes glioblastoma chemoresistance through disruption of mitochondrial bioenergetics

Kriel, Jurgen; Muller-Nedebock, Kristian; Maarman, Gerald; Mbizana, Siyasanga; Ojuka, Edward; Klumperman, Bert; Loos, Ben (Nature Research, 2018-07-09)

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is known to be one of the most malignant and aggressive forms of brain cancer due to its resistance to chemotherapy. Recently, GBM was found to not only utilise both oxidative phosphorylation ...

Computational investigation of Au...H hydrogen bonds involving neutral AuI N-heterocyclic carbene complexes and amphiprotic binary hydrides

Groenewald, Ferdinand; Raubenheimer, Helgard G.; Dillen, Jan; Esterhuysen, Catharine (Springer, 2019-04-26)

In this computational study we investigate the ability of various neutral R-AuI-NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) complexes [R = H, CH3, Cl, OH] to form hydrogen bonds with the amphiprotic binary hydrides NH3, H2O and HF. ...

Steric and electronic effects in gold N-heterocyclic carbene complexes revealed by computational analysis

Dillen, Jan; Esterhuysen, Catharine; De Kock, Sunel (Wiley, 2019-04-29)

A computational analysis of a series of cationic and neutral gold imidazolylidene and benzimidizolylidene complexes is reported. The Bond Dissociation Energies of the various ligands in the complexes calculated at the ...

Chemical constituents isolated from Lycium shawii and their chemotaxonomic significance

Rehman, Najeeb Ur; Hussain, Hidayat; Al-Riyami, Samia Ahmed; Green, Ivan. R.; Al-Harrasi, Ahmed (ACG Publications, 2017-11-15)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Phytochemical investigation of Lycium shawii Roem. & Schult provided fourteen compounds, including lyciumate (1), dehydrocostus lactone (2), costunolide (3), catechin (4), lyciumaside (5), emodin (6), ...

A review on recent syntheses of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids and isocarbostyrils (time period mid-2016 to 2017)

Van Otterlo, Willem A. L.; Green, Ivan R. (Sage Publishing, 2018)

Alkaloids from the Amaryllidaceae have become valuable targets for synthetic organic chemists, mainly due to their wide variety of bioactivities and potential for utilization in medicinal chemistry ventures. In addition, ...

Removal of organic pollutant (pyrene) from aqueous solution using coordination polymer of [Cu(Pic)2(H2O)2]·H2O (CP-1) as adsorbent

Tella, Adedibu C.; Olawale, Margaret D.; Obaleye, Joshua A.; Adimula, Vincent O.; Alimi, Lukman O.; Ajibade, Peter A. (Springer, 2019-09-24)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Adsorptive removal of organic pollutant (pyrene) was carried out using coordination polymer [Cu(Pic)2(H2O)2]·H2O (CP-1) (where “Pic” represents picolinic acid), which was prepared from copper acetate ...

Visualizing structural transformation and guest binding in a flexible metal-organic framework under high pressure and room temperature

Yang, Hui; Guo, Feng; Lama, Prem; Gao, Wen-Yang; Wu, Hui (American Chemical Society, 2018)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Understanding the effect of gas molecules on the framework structures upon gas sorption in porous materials is highly desirable for the development of gas storage and separation technologies. However, ...

The garlic compound ajoene covalently binds vimentin, disrupts the vimentin network and exerts anti-metastatic activity in cancer cells

Kaschula, Catherine H.; Tuveri, Rosanna; Ngarande, Ellen; Dzobo, Kevin; Barnett, Christopher; Kusza, Daniel A.; Graham, Lisa M.; Katz, Arieh A.; Rafudeen, Mohamed Suhail; Parker, M. Iqbal; Schafer, Georgia (BMC (part of Springer Nature), 2019)

Background: Garlic has been used for centuries for its flavour and health promoting properties that include protection against cancer. The vinyl disulfide-sulfoxide ajoene is one of the phytochemicals found in crushed cloves, ...

The impact of plasticizer and degree of hydrolysis on free volume of poly(vinyl alcohol) films

Fong, Rebecca J.; Robertson, Alexander; Mallon, Peter E.; Thompson, Richard L. (MDPI, 2018-05)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The effect of plasticizer species and the degree of hydrolysis (DH) on the free volume properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were studied using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. Both glycerol ...

Solid state NMR characterization and adsorption properties of lignocellulose-clinoptilolite composites prepared with siloxanes coupling agents

Vala, R. M. K.; Tichagwa, L.; Pasch, H.; Dikio, E. D. (South African Chemical Institute, 2015-02-15)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study reports the preparation of lignocellulose-clinoptilolite composites by means of N-terminated siloxanes as coupling agents, after acid hydrolysis. Reactions were carried out in the presence of ...

The cytotoxicity of the ajoene analogue BisPMB in WHCO1 oesophageal cancer cells is mediated by CHOP/GADD153

Siyo, Vuyolwethu; Schafer, Georgia; Hunter, Roger; Grafov, Andriy; Grafova, Iryna; Nieger, Martin; Katz, Arieh A.; Parker, M. Iqbal; Kaschula, Catherine H. (MDPI, 2017-05-28)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Garlic is a food and medicinal plant that has been used in folk medicine since ancient times for its beneficial health effects, which include protection against cancer. Crushed garlic cloves contain an ...

Lack of co-crystal formation with cyclotriphosphazenes : a cautionary tale

Wahl, Helene; Haynes, Delia A.; Le Roex, Tanya (South African Chemical Institute, 2016)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The attempted formation of co-crystals with a series of cyclotriphosphazene derivatives has been investigated. Despite numerous attempts, only one co-crystal was obtained. The crystal structure of this ...

Alkaloids with activity against the Zika virus vector Aedes aegypti (L.) - crinsarnine and sarniensinol, two new crinine and mesembrine type alkaloids isolated from the South African Plant Nerine sarniensis

Masi, Marco; Cala, Antonio; Tabanca, Nurhayat; Cimmino, Alessio; Green, Ivan R.; Bloomquist, Jeffrey R.; Van Otterlo, Willem A. L.; Macias, Francisco A.; Evidente, Antonio (MDPI, 2016-10-27)

Two new Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, belonging to the mesembrine- and crinine-types, named crinsarnine (1) and sarniensinol (2), were isolated from the dried bulbs of Nerine sarniensis together with bowdensine (3), sarniensine ...