Sulfonamides are the first successfully synthesized antimicrobial drugs. The mechanism of sulfonamides antimicrobial action involves competitive inhibition of folic acid synthesis which prevents the growth and reproduction of microorganisms. Due to this mechanism of action, sulfonamides belong to the group of bacteriostatic agents. Although they have been applied in therapy for more than 70 years, sulfonamides are still the drugs of choice for the treatment of several conditions and diseases. A wider sulfonamides application in the therapy is limited by bacterial resistance and sulfonamides side effects. Antimicrobial sulfonamides and their metabolites are classified as persistent organic pollutants. For sulfonamides degradation and removal from the environment, various techniques can be applied such as different oxidation techniques, including chlorination and advanced oxidation processes, adsorption processes, membrane processes and combined processes.

The stability constants indicated the rapid release of EA from the inclusion complexes in the aqueous medium at 25 °C. The antioxidant activity of EA was increased, while the antimicrobial activity was preserved after complexation with CDs.

The process of amygdalin extraction from plum seeds was optimized using central composite design (CCD) and multilayer perceptron (MLP). The effect of time, ethanol concentration, solid-to-liquid ratio, and temperature on the amygdalin content in the extracts was estimated using both mathematical models. The MLP 4-3-1 with exponential function in hidden layer and linear function in output layer was used for describing the extraction process. MLP model was more superior compared with CCD model due to better prediction ability. According to MLP model, the suggested optimal conditions are: time of 120 min, 100% (v/v) ethanol, solid-to liquid ratio of 1:25 (m/v) and temperature of 34.4°C. The predicted value of amygdalin content in the dried extract (25.42 g per 100 g) at these conditions was experimentally confirmed (25.30 g per 100 g of dried extract). Amygdalin (>90%) was isolated from the complex extraction mixture and structurally characterized by FT-IR, UV, and MS methods.

Storage of a great amount of plum kernel waste becomes a challenge for food industry. In this work, the plum seed was used as a source of fixed oil that can be an ingredient of commercial products. Soxhlet extraction was carried out using the different solvents, such as n-hexane, n-heptane, ethyl acetate, acetone, or chloroform:methanol mixture (2:1 v/v). The highest yield of oil (about 30%) was obtained using n-heptane and n-hexane, while the lowest yield was obtained using ethyl acetate. The analysis of physico-chemical parameters indicated that all samples of plum seed oil have an exceptional quality. Schaal oven test indicated that the fixed oil of plum seed exhibited satisfactory oxidative stability at moderate storage temperatures (up to 65 °C). The composition of phenolic compounds in the oil samples was determined using HPLC method. The most abundant compound of seven identified and quantified phenolic compounds was vanillic acid. The highest content of β-carotene (1.67 mg 100 g−1 fixed oil) spectrophotometrically determined was in the oil extracted with n-hexane. The lowest content of β-carotene (1.26 mg 100 g−1 fixed oil) was determined in the oil extracted with a mixture of chloroform:methanol (2:1 v/v). This oil had the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 value of 4.35 mg mL−1) compared to other oil samples. The antioxidant activity was probably caused by the presence of phenolic compounds. The investigated physico-chemical properties demonstrated that the plum seed oil has a potential for application in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industry.

Phytoestrogens represent polyphenolic and non-steroid compounds that have a similar structure and biological activity as human estrogens. They are the plant secondary metabolites and widespread in over 300 various plant species. The phytoestrogens are divided into two main subgroups, isoflavonoids and lignans. The isoflavonoids are divided into isoflavones and coumestans. Isoflavones are most present in soybean and red clover. A great number of isoflavones has been identified in the plants in the form of non-active glycosides (daidzein and genistein) and in the form of 4'-methylated derivatives (formononetin and biochanin A). Coumestans can also be found in red clover and legumes, while lignans are most present in the flax seed. Coumestans have the most pronounced estrogenic effect of all phytoestrogens. The most famous representative of this subgroup of compounds is coumestrol. Lignans include matairesinol, secoisolariciresinol, lariciresinol, pinoresinol and their metabolites, enterodiol, enterolactone and equol. Numerous studies in animals and humans have shown that phytoestrogens can have protective effects in the estrogen-dependent conditions and estrogen-dependent diseases. It was also shown that the use of phytoestrogens can have a positive effect on insomnia and cognitive functions, i.e. neural disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. They can express the antioxidant activity in two ways, as the scavengers of free radicals or by the formation of chelating complexes with metal ions. Free metal ions increase the amount of reactive oxygen species by reduction of hydrogen peroxide resulting in a very reactive hydroxyl radical.

Conventional extraction techniques require high consumption of available resources and thus are ineffective and expensive, especially at an industrial scale. The aim of the study was to optimize the ultrasound-assisted extraction of polyphenols from fresh wheatgrass (Triticum aestivum L.). The effects of different extraction techniques and solvents were investigated on the yield of extractive substances and antioxidant activity. The ultrasound-assisted extraction technique and ethanol gave the highest yield of extractive substances so that they were used in the optimization studies. The central composite design was employed to find the optimal levels of ethanol concentration, extraction temperature, and extraction time. The total phenolic content was varied in the range of 10.50-15.50 grams of gallic acid equivalents per 100 g of dry weight of plant material (g GAE 100 g -1 dw). The optimal conditions for ultrasound-assisted extraction were: (1) 56% (v/v) ethanol, (2) temperature of 59°C, and (3) extraction time of 28 min. The results of ANOVA indicated that the highest impact had the extraction temperature on the total phenolic content. The toxic solvents were not used in the developed extraction procedure. The consumption of energy and raw plant material is estimated to be lower by at least 10% compared to conventional techniques. Keywords Extraction kinetics Á Reflux extraction Á Ultrasound-assisted extraction Á Polyphenols Á Wheatgrass Abbreviations DPPH 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazine BHT Butylhydroxytoluene UAE Ultrasound-assisted extraction CCD Central composite design TPC Total phenolic content FEP Fast extraction period EE Extraction efficiency ANOVA Analysis of variance GAE Gallic acid equivalents dw Dry weight of plant material df Degree of freedom SS Sum of squares MS Mean squares Std. dev. Standard deviation Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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