sustainable development – Teresa Ambrosio Consulting

Lignina come materiale di recupero per la produzione di prodotti farmaceutici

In una nuova pubblicazione in Green Chemistry, una gazzetta della Royal Society of Chemistry specializzata nella pubblicazione di articoli di chimica sostenibile, gli autori propongono nuove strategie per la valorizzazione della lignina. In particolare, questo articolo guarda alla lignina sotto il punto di vista di materia prima per la produzione di nuove sostanze farmaceutiche. Ebbene non proprio la lignina, ma i prodotti che si ottengono dalla sua degradazione, ovvero acidi benzoici e devirati costituiti da preziosi e importanti anelli aromatici.

Peptoids & their use in drug discovery

Peptoids are small sequences of the amino acid glycine modified on the nitrogen atom. They look like amino acids but the ramification is located on the nitrogen rather than the alpha-carbon. Plus, as the amino acid glycine, they also lack chirality. The concept of peptoids was first introduced in the 80s. [1] Back at the time, important biological targets such as enzymes, growth factors and antibodies were quickly identified, produced and validated due to new discoveries of gene editing. However, small organic molecules to screen against those biological targets weren’t made at the same pace.

New methods to extend pesticide lifetime

Pesticides have been used in agriculture for decades to protect crops from pests and weeds with consequent increase for production yield. Additionally, they decrease the frequency of plant diseases which is usually the major cause of low crop yields or make harvest unsuitable for sale. With the growth of the global population, more agricultural production is in demand. In fact, it is expected that, within the next decade, the food industry should increase its production by 15% to meet the nutritional needs of the increasing population. [1] Therefore, the use of pesticides to keep up with this demand seems a necessity.