Worldwide, there are plants known as psychoactive plants that naturally contain psychedelic active components. They have a high concentration of neuroprotective substances that can interact with the nervous system to produce psychedelic effects. Despite these plants' hazardous potential, recreational use of them is on the rise because of their psychoactive properties. Early neuroscience studies relied heavily on psychoactive plants and plant natural products (NPs), and both recreational and hazardous NPs have contributed significantly to the understanding of almost all neurotransmitter systems. Worldwide, there are many plants that contain psychoactive properties, and people have been using them for ages. Psychoactive plant compounds may significantly alter how people perceive the world.
1. Food Chem. 2024 Oct 18;464(Pt 2):141656. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141656. Online ahead of print. Enzymatic synthesis of vanillyl fatty acid esters from salmon oil in a solvent-free medium. Roby MHH(1), Targino BN(2), Alves Da Silva PH(2), Paris C(3), Desobry S(3), Alsulami T(4), Humeau C(5). Author information: (1)Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire Ingénierie des Biomolécules (LIBio), 2 av. de la Forêt d'Haye, TSA 40602, 54518 Vandoeuvre Cedex, France; Fayoum University, Food Science and Technology Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, 63514 Fayoum, Egypt. Electronic address: mhr00@fayoum.edu.eg. (2)Federal University of Viçosa, Department of Food Technology, Av Peter Henry Rolfs s/n 36570-900, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. (3)Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire Ingénierie des Biomolécules (LIBio), 2 av. de la Forêt d'Haye, TSA 40602, 54518 Vandoeuvre Cedex, France. (4)Department of Food Science & Nutrition, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. (5)Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire Ingénierie des Biomolécules (LIBio), 2 av. de la Forêt d'Haye, TSA 40602, 54518 Vandoeuvre Cedex, France. Electronic address: catherine.humeau@univ-lorraine.fr. This study hypothesizes that the solvent-free alcoholysis of oil recovered from salmon heads using vanillyl alcohol (VA) and immobilized lipase B can efficiently produce esters with enhanced stability and antioxidant properties. The objective was to investigate the selectivity and resulting ester profile, which may provide nutritional and functional advantages compared to supplementing oil with vanillyl alcohol. After 24 h, nearly complete conversion of vanillyl alcohol was achieved, leading to the production of various esters reflective of the oil's original fatty acid composition. The synthesis of esters like oleoyl and linolenoyl was favored over docosahexaenoyl and linoleoyl esters, influenced by fatty acid distribution and enzyme specificity, along with potential intra-molecular acyl transfer isomerization. The reaction medium demonstrated significant stability and antioxidant activity, highlighting the potential benefits of vanillyl esters over traditional supplementation methods. These findings suggest that the phenolic alcohol-based alcoholysis of fish oil offers a promising approach to generating stable, nutritionally valuable extracts with potent antioxidant capabilities. Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141656 PMID: 39442218 Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. 2. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Oct 2;12:1435190. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1435190. eCollection 2024. Metabolic engineering of hairy root cultures in Beta vulgaris for enhanced production of vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, and vanillyl alcohol. Husain Z(1), Warsi ZI(1), Khan S(1), Mahendran G(1), Afroz S(1), Chandran A(1), Kashyap PK(2), Khatoon K(1), Parween G(1), Tandon S(2), Rahman LU(1). Author information: (1)CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. (2)Phytochemistry Division, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The flavor of vanilla is a complex blend of compounds, with vanillin as the most prominent, along with vanillyl alcohol and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Natural vanillin extracted from vanilla beans is expensive, so researchers use heterologous synthesis to produce nature-identical vanillin in plant hosts. Consequently, alternative traditional farming and gathering methods are required to bridge the significant disparity between supply and demand. The current research successfully developed a method to induce hairy root formation from leaves. It integrated the Vanillin synthase (VpVAN) gene into transgenic hairy root lines of Beta vulgaris, synthesizing vanillin-related compounds. The presence of the VpVAN gene in transgenic roots was confirmed using PCR analysis. Additionally, RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated the expression of the VpVAN gene in the transgenic root lines. The transgenic hairy root clones H1, H2, and H5 showed enhanced vanillin production, vanillyl alcohol, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Elicitation with methyl jasmonate (MJ) and salicylic acid (SA) further improved the production of these compounds in B. vulgaris hairy roots. The maximum hairy root biomass was observed after 60 days, with the maximum synthesis of vanillin and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid obtained from hairy root clones H5 and HR2, respectively. Vanillyl alcohol HR2 was obtained on the 45th day of cultivation. Elicitation with wound-associated hormone methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid enhanced the yield of vanillin, vanillyl alcohol, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, with a 215-fold increase in vanillin, a 13-fold increase in vanillyl alcohol, and a 21 fold increase in 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. The study results indicate that establishing transgenic hairy root cultures with the VpVAN gene is a promising alternative method for enhancing the production of vanilla flavor compounds such as vanillin, vanillyl alcohol, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. A cost-effective protocol has been developed to mass-produce phenolic compounds using a hairy root culture of B. vulgaris. This approach addresses the increasing demand for these substances while reducing the cost of natural vanillin production, making it suitable for industrial-scale applications. Copyright © 2024 Husain, Warsi, Khan, Mahendran, Afroz, Chandran, Kashyap, Khatoon, Parween, Tandon and Rahman. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1435190 PMCID: PMC11480924 PMID: 39416280 Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. 3. Chem Asian J. 2024 Sep 10:e202401035. doi: 10.1002/asia.202401035. Online ahead of print. Cerium-Organic Framework UiO-66(Ce) as a Support for Nanoparticulate Gold for Use in Oxidation Catalysis. Zhao B(1), Kashtiban RJ(2), Huband S(2), Walker M(2), Walton RI(1). Author information: (1)Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. (2)Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. An optimised synthesis of the metal-organic framework (MOF) UiO-66(Ce) is reported using a modulator-free route, yielding ~5 g of material with high crystallinity and 22 % ligand defect. Two methods are developed for loading gold nanoparticles onto the MOF. The first uses a double-solvent method to introduce HAuCl4 onto UiO-66(Ce), followed by reduction under 5 % H2 in N2, while the second is a novel one-pot method where HAuCl4 is added to the synthesis mixture, forming Au nanoparticles within the pores of the UiO-66(Ce) during crystallisation. Analysis using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), nitrogen adsorption isotherms, transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) reveals that the two-step double-solvent method yields gold crystallites on the external surface of the MOF particles that are visible by PXRD. In contrast, the one-pot method forms smaller gold crystallites, with a distribution of sizes centred on ~4 nm diameter as seen by SAXS, with evidence from PXRD for the smallest particles being present within the MOF structure. The Au-loaded UiO-66(Ce) materials are evaluated for the catalytic oxidation of vanillyl alcohol to vanillin at 60 °C. Our findings indicate that incorporating Au nanoparticles via the one-pot synthesis method, enhances redox activity, achieving 43 % conversion and 90 % selectivity towards vanillin. © 2024 The Authors. Chemistry - An Asian Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. DOI: 10.1002/asia.202401035 PMID: 39254915 4. Macromol Rapid Commun. 2024 Aug 29:e2400323. doi: 10.1002/marc.202400323. Online ahead of print. A Systematic Study on Biobased Epoxy-Alcohol Networks: Highlighting the Advantage of Step-Growth Polyaddition over Chain-Growth Cationic Photopolymerization. Fantoni A(1)(2), Koch T(3), Liska R(2), Baudis S(1)(2). Author information: (1)Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Polymers for Biomaterials and 3D Printing, Getreidemarkt 9, Vienna, 1060, Austria. (2)Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, 1060, Austria. (3)Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, 1060, Austria. Vanillyl alcohol has emerged as a widely used building block for the development of biobased monomers. More specifically, the cationic (photo-)polymerization of the respective diglycidyl ether (DGEVA) is known to produce materials of outstanding thermomechanical performance. Generally, chain transfer agents (CTAs) are of interest in cationic resins not only because they lead to more homogeneous polymer networks but also because they strikingly improve the polymerization speed. Herein, the aim is to compare the cationic chain-growth photopolymerization with the thermally initiated anionic step-growth polymerization, with and without the addition of CTAs. Indeed, CTAs lead to faster polymerization reactions as well as the formation of more homogeneous networks, especially in the case of the thermal anionic step-growth polymerization. Resulting from curing above the TG of the respective anionic step-growth polymer, materials with outstanding tensile toughness (>5 MJ cm-3) are obtained that result in the manufacture of potential shape-memory polymers. © 2024 The Author(s). Macromolecular Rapid Communications published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH. DOI: 10.1002/marc.202400323 PMID: 39207801 5. Bioresour Technol. 2024 Oct;410:131270. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131270. Epub 2024 Aug 13. Enhancing detoxification of inhibitors in lignocellulosic pretreatment wastewater by bacterial Action: A pathway to improved biomass utilization. Wang H(1), Zhu S(1), Elshobary M(2), Qi W(1), Wang W(1), Feng P(1), Wang Z(1), Qin L(3). Author information: (1)School of Energy Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province 230026, PR China; Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy Research and Development, Guangzhou 510640, PR China. (2)Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt. (3)School of Energy Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province 230026, PR China; Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy Research and Development, Guangzhou 510640, PR China. Electronic address: qinlei@ms.giec.ac.cn. The process of preprocessing techniques such as acid and alkali pretreatment in lignocellulosic industry generates substantial solid residues and lignocellulosic pretreatment wastewater (LPW) containing glucose, xylose and toxic byproducts. In this study, furfural and vanillin were selected as model toxic byproducts. Kurthia huakuii as potential strain could tolerate to high concentrations of inhibitors. The results indicated that vanillin exhibited a higher inhibitory effect on K. huakuii (3.95 % inhibition rate at 1 g/L than furfural (0.45 %). However, 0.5 g/L vanillin promoted the bacterial growth (-2.35 % inhibition rate). Interestingly, the combination of furfural and vanillin exhibited antagonistic effects on bacterial growth (Q<0.85). Furfural and vanillin could be bio-transformed into less toxic molecules (furfuryl alcohol, furoic acid, vanillyl alcohol, and vanillic acid) by K. huakuii, and inhibitor degradation rate could be promoted by expression of antioxidant enzymes. This study provides important insights into how bacteria detoxify inhibitors in LPW, potentially enhancing resource utilization. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131270 PMID: 39147108 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. We declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.