Vanadosilicates isostructural to ETS-10 and AM-6 microporous materials were synthesized hydrothermally using derivatives of cis-and trans-3,5-dimethyl-piperidine as organic structure directing agents (SDAs) and were subsequently tested as heterogeneous catalysts for the oxidehydration of glycerol to acrylic acid. The best performances were obtained with vanadosilicates prepared with 1,1,3,5-tetramethyl piperidinum cations, which were capable of converting 93.6% of glycerol to acrylic acid in one step, with 85.4% selectivity. Other important chemicals such as acrolein (3.8%), propanal (2.3%), acetaldehyde (3.2%), acetic acid (2.5%), and propionic acid (1.4%) were produced in smaller amounts. The results clearly indicated that these vanadosilicates are potential multifunctional catalysts capable of performing the oxidehydration of glycerol to acrylic acid in a single step. Spectroscopic data obtained from 51 VMAS-NMR, UV-Vis, XPS, and Raman scattering analyses suggested that the selectivity of these vanadosilicates for the oxidative dehydration of glycerol to acrylic acid could be attributed to the capacity of the vanadium species for dynamic adoption of multiple oxidation states during the catalytic reaction.

The cytotoxic response, cellular uptake, and metabolomic profile of HeLa and HaCaT cell lines treated with cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CoFeO NPs) were investigated in this study. Cell viability assays showed low cytotoxicity caused by the uptake of the nanoparticles at 2 mg/mL. However, metabolomics revealed that these nanoparticles impacted cell metabolism even when tested at a concentration that presented low cytotoxicity according to the cell viability assay. The two cell lines shared stress-related metabolic changes such as increase in alanine and creatine levels. A reduced level of fumarate was also observed in HeLa cells after treatment with the nanoparticles, and this alteration can inhibit tumorigenesis. Fumarate is considered to be an oncometabolite that can inhibit prolyl hydroxylase, and this inhibition stabilizes HIF1α, one of the master regulators of tumorigenesis that promotes tumor growth and development. In summary, this study showed that nanoparticle-treated HeLa cells demonstrated decreased concentrations of metabolites associated with cell proliferation and tumor growth. The results clearly indicated that treatment with these nanoparticles might cause a perturbation in cellular metabolism.

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