Starch is second most abundant biomaterial available after cellulose but the intensity of research on starch is less compared to cellulose. It is a carbohydrate based polymer synthesized in plants for the storage of the energy. Major percentage of starch is being utilized by food industries as raw material for giving texture, flavor, gelling, fat replacement etc. and also has multiple applications in different area due to its biological origin and properties. Native starch possesses low shear stress, poor thermal properties and less digestion resistance and retro-gradation. Thus, it has to be modified using physical, chemical, enzymatic and/or genetic treatments. Physical and chemical modifications using ultrasound and acid hydrolysis is time-efficient and effective process. These economical treatments are predominant for production of digestion resistant starch with increased shelf-life and thermal properties. Ultrasound assisted acid hydrolyzed starch (potato) exfoliates the native starch and modifies the structural arrangement. On acid treatment the amorphous nature of starch converted to crystalline nature. The physical and structural properties of the native starch were enhanced. The digestibility and structure of the modified starch effects on the double helices structure of starch. The size of the starch particle was changed from 1596 nm (Conventional) to 80 and 42 nm on ultrasonication and acid hydrolyzed ultrasonication approaches respectively. The crystallite of the particles was evaluated from XRD analysis. From TEM analysis the starch nanoparticles were found to have spherical morphology.

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Three nanorods (NRs) of γ-AlOOH, γ-MnOOH, and α-Mn2O3 were synthesized by controlled regimes and applied as antimicrobial agents. Different microbial strains were used for the assessments and the results approved the highest activity for α-Mn2O3 NRs.

Fungal endophytes are considered promising sources of new bioactive natural products. In this study, a Mucor sp. has been isolated as an endophyte from the medicinal plant Centaurea stoebe. Through bioactivity-guided fractionation, the isolation of the new bioactive terezine E in addition to the previously reported 14-hydroxyterezine D was carried out. The isolated compounds were fully characterised by HRESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR analyses. Both compounds exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against K-562 and HUVEC cell lines and antifungal efficacy against the tested fungal strains.

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The combination of liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRESMS)-based dereplication and antiproliferative activity-guided fractionation was applied on the Red Sea-derived soft coral Sarcophyton sp. This approach facilitated the isolation of five new cembrane-type diterpenoids (1–5), along with two known analogs (6 and 7), as well as the identification of 19 further, known compounds. The chemical structures of the new compounds were elucidated while using comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, including one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) NMR and HRMS. All of the isolated cembranoids (1–7) showed moderate in vitro antiproliferative activity against a human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), with IC50 ranging from 22.39–27.12 µg/mL. This class of compounds could thus serve as scaffold for the future design of anticancer leads.

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Research Highlights The anti- Helicobacter pylori effects of the bioflavonoid hesperidin (Hesp) [hesperetin-7-rhamnoglucoside] isolated from Citrus uranium fruits peels were investigated. Hesperetin-7-rhamnoglucoside inhibited H. pylori ( HpUre ) in a competitive and concentration – dependent manner with jack bean urease (JBU). Hesp interacted with bacterial cells and disrupted the cell membrane through creating holes in outer membrane. Molecular docking and 20 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed that Hesp inhibits target proteins by slow-binding inhibition and forming hydrogen bonding interactions with active pocket residues.