Flowers of St. John's Wort serve as green catalyst
2021-02-12
(Press-News.org) Since ancient times, St. John's Wort has been used as a medicinal herb covering a wide range of applications such as the treatment of burns, skin injuries, neuralgia, fibrosis, sciatica and depression. Due to its high medicinal potential, the plant known in technical terminology as Hypericum perforatum even became "Medicinal Plant of the Year" in 2015. Now, scientists at TU Dresden have shown that there is much more to the herb than its healing properties.
To this end, two interdisciplinary groups from biology and inorganic chemistry have joined forces and thus achieved astonishing results.
Originally, the research groups led by botanist Prof. Stefan Wanke and chemist Prof. Jan. J. Weigand wanted to synthesize graphene-like 2D structures from natural products in the joint project funded by the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB; HyperiPhen project 100315829 in TG70 Bioleben). For this purpose, hypericin, a compound of St. John's Wort, served as a template and starting material. In the course of the investigations, it turned out that hypericin efficiently catalyzes photochemical reactions. Prof. Weigand then came up with the idea of using the dried flowers of St. John's Wort, from which hypericin can be obtained by extraction, as a green and sustainable alternative to common catalysts.
"The chemistry of natural substances and especially the background of botany were completely new to us. The exciting results that came out of it are all the more gratifying. The interdisciplinary project shows how important it is in science to think outside the "box,"" says Prof. Weigand, commenting on the success of the collaboration.
The team is thus following a current trend in modern synthetic chemistry to include sustainable aspects. The search for sustainable, renewable and environmentally friendly photoredox catalysts is proving to be extremely challenging. The results now obtained are all the more promising. The plant compound hypericin, a secondary metabolite from St. John's Wort, is used as the active compound in chemical reactions without the need for prior chemical processing. The Dresden scientists have successfully applied for a German patent for this newly developed method (DE 10 2019 215 871).
Also Prof. Wanke is amazed at the success of the collaboration: "Although the research project started with a good idea, bringing it to life was not entirely trivial, as the two working groups first had to "get to know" each other. Our research fields and methods used were far apart. But soon the first unusually exciting results emerged. Everyone involved learned a lot. We would like to continue the research, but the funding is still missing."
INFORMATION:
Original publication:
Jun-jie Wang, Kai Schwedtmann, Kun Liu, Stephen Schulz, Jan Haberstroh, Gerrit Schaper, Anja Wenke, Julia Naumann, Torsten Wenke, Stefan Wanke and Jan J. Weigand. Flowers of the plant genus Hypericum as versatile photoredox catalysts. Green Chem., 2021,23, 881-888.
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-02-12
Less intense mean daily precipitation, more intense and localised extreme events. This is what the future climate scenarios indicate for the Eastern Alps, according to the study "Evaluation and Expected Changes of Summer Precipitation at Convection Permitting Scale with COSMO-CLM over Alpine Space", published by the CMCC Foundation in the journal Atmosphere. The research is conducted in the context of the European project H2020 EUCP (European Climate Prediction system) and contributes to the work of the international scientific community for the development of climate models that can support ...
2021-02-12
Photos
A new analysis of thousands of native and nonnative Michigan bees shows that the most diverse bee communities have the lowest levels of three common viral pathogens.
University of Michigan researchers netted and trapped more than 4,000 bees from 60 species. The bees were collected at winter squash farms across Michigan, where both managed honeybee colonies and wild native bees pollinate the squash flowers.
All but one species--Apis mellifera, the common European honeybee--are native bees. The number of bee species found at each farm ranged from seven to 49.
Consistently, lower virus levels were strongly linked to greater species richness among the local bee communities. ...
2021-02-12
In Huntington's disease, a faulty protein aggregates in brain cells and eventually kills them. Such protein aggregates could, in principle, be prevented with a heat shock protein. However, it is not well known how these proteins interact with the Huntington's disease protein. New research by Patrick van der Wel (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and colleagues at the University of Texas has partially resolved the structure of heat shock proteins that bind to such aggregating proteins, helping us to understand how they work. The results were published on 11 February in the journal Nature Communications.
Heat shock proteins (Hsp) are produced by cells that are exposed to stressful conditions. The Hsp family is diverse, and quite a few of the ...
2021-02-12
A new study has identified early risk factors that predicted heightened anxiety in young adults during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The findings from the study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, could help predict who is at greatest risk of developing anxiety during stressful life events in early adulthood and inform prevention and intervention efforts.
The investigators examined data from 291 participants who had been followed from toddlerhood to young adulthood as part of a larger study on temperament and socioemotional development. The researchers ...
2021-02-12
Osteoporosis is a leading global health challenge. Besides its own adverse effects, it also impairs the function of bone implants - normally made of a metal called titanium (Ti). Because there is less bone than normal in the implantation site, the implants could easily loosen, and persistent inflammation often accompanies.
Recently, Chinese scientists from the University of Macau and Nanjing University, in collaboration with National Dental Centre Singapore, invent a bioactive coating that can be chemically linked onto normal Ti surface. This coating, ...
2021-02-12
WHAT:
The rise of several significant variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has attracted the attention of health and science experts worldwide. In an editorial published in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, experts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, outline how these variants have arisen, concerns about whether vaccines currently authorized for use will continue to protect against new variants, and the need for a global approach to fighting SARS-CoV-2 as it spreads and acquires additional mutations.
The article was written by NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.; John R. Mascola, ...
2021-02-12
How much does a power system's reliability depend on the temperature? Electric power system generator resource adequacy modeling is designed to help determine capacity requirements for electric power system operators across the United States. While calculating resource adequacy requirements has been done for a century, it requires ongoing attention as the generation mix is constantly expanding and changing. A new paper contributes to these ongoing reliability considerations by using a unique data set to determine how both low and high temperatures reduce the reliability of coal, gas, diesel, hydroelectric, and nuclear power generators and thus affect the amount of generation markets should contract for.
The paper, "Resource Adequacy Implications ...
2021-02-12
In a courtesy call to HE the President of Malta at San Anton Palace on Thursday, February 11, 2021, Dr Noel Aquilina from the Department of Chemistry, accompanied by Professor Emmanuel Sinagra, Head of the Department of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Malta, presented the findings of a landmark study. This study shows and confirms that airborne particulate matter (PM), apart from several toxic components, is also contaminated with tobacco smoke-driven particulates.
After 30 years, Dr Noel Aquilina, alongside world renowned tobacco smoke-related researchers, ...
2021-02-12
The Internet has revolutionized our lives - whether in terms of working, finding information or entertainment, connecting with others, or shopping. The online world has made many things easier and opened up previously unimaginable opportunities. At the same time, it presents both individuals and societies with major challenges: The underlying technologies do not necessarily serve users' best interests.
"We're interested in questions such as: How can we create online environments that respect human autonomy and promote truth? And what can people themselves do to avoid being ...
2021-02-12
An international team of scientists has determined how harmless E. coli gut bacteria in chickens can easily pick up the genes required to evolve to cause a life-threatening infection. Their study, published in Nature Communications, warns that such infections not only affect the poultry industry but could also potentially cross over to infect humans.
E. coli is a common bacterium that lives in the intestines of most animals, including humans. It is usually harmless when it stays in the gut, however it can become very dangerous if it invades the bloodstream, causing ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Flowers of St. John's Wort serve as green catalyst
