Effective stability enhancement in ZnO-based perovskite solar cells by MACl modification

Low-temperature solution-processed ZnO has decided advantages in flexible and tandem solar cells, while its application encountered difficulties in perovskite optoelectronic devices due to the chemical instability at ZnO-perovskite interface. It...

Mechanism of enhancing the water-solubility and stability of curcumin by self-assembled cod protein nanoparticles at alkaline pH

Curcumin (Cur) is a bioactive phytochemical claimed to have several health-promoting benefits, whose applications are challenged due to its poor water-solubility, chemical instability, and low bioavailability. In this research, the...

Hydroxysafflor Yellow A: A Systematical Review on Botanical Resources, Physicochemical Properties, Drug Delivery System, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacological Effects

Hydroxysafflower yellow A (HSYA), as a principal natural ingredient extracted from safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), has significant pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, and anticancer effects. However, chemical instability and low bioavailability have been severely hampering the clinical applications of HSYA during the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Therefore, this present review systematically summarized the materials about HSYA, including acquisition methods, extraction and detection methods, pharmacokinetics, pharmacological effects and molecular mechanism, especially focus on the possible causes and resolutions about the chemical instability and low bioavailability of HSYA, in order to provide relatively comprehensive basic data for the related research of HSYA.

Caution: Chemical Instability of Natural Biomolecules During Routine Analysis

Natural products (NPs) constitute a significant source of active biomolecules widely used in medicine, pharmacology and cosmetics. However, NPs structural characterization has the drawback of their chemical instability during the extraction steps and their likely transformation during the analytical protocol. In particular, tamariscol and conocephalenol are two compounds largely used in the cosmetic industry for their odorant properties. Thus, in the present study, we focused on the evolution of these two metabolites (extracted from Frullania tamarisci and Conocephalum conicum, respectively), as followed by NMR. Interestingly, we found that, once dissolved in deuterated chloroform, these two tertiary alcohols are both subjected to transformation processes, leading to degradation compounds with altered structures. Accordingly, these detected degradation compounds have been fully characterized by NMR and the experimental findings were supported by computational chemistry data.