The occurrence of residual antifungal agents through indiscriminate prophylactic use and inappropriate disposal has been reported in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), surface water, and groundwater environments. Opportunistic pathogenic aquatic yeasts develop resistance to commonly used antifungal agents through continued exposure to residual antifungal agents in environmental waters. This poses a major public health concern. The present review attempts to provide a brief description of antifungal drugs, with a focus on the most widely used class of antifungal drugs, the azoles, as emerging contaminants in environmental water. Routes of exposure of azole antifungal drugs in wastewater treatment plants, surface water, and groundwater are discussed. The presence of pathogenic yeasts in environmental water, the associated azole resistance, and the risk of exposure to humans and microbiota are highlighted. Management actions needed to curtail the spread and minimise the risks are also indicated. Further research on the occurrence of antifungal agents in wastewater and environmental water is vital to better understand and mitigate the associated health-related risks.

(1) Background: Essential oil from Vitex negundo is known to have repellent and insecticidal properties toward the Anopheles gambiae and this is linked to its monoterpene and sesquiterpene content. In this work, an effort is made to delineate the constitution of V. negundo essential oil (VNEO) and their interaction with odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) of A. gambiae and hence access its repellent efficiency as cost-effective and safer malaria vector control alternatives. (2) Methods: Anopheles species authentication was performed by genomic DNA analysis and was subjected to behavioral analysis. GC-MS profiling was used to identify individual components of VNEO. Anopheles OBPs were obtained from the RCSB protein data bank and used for docking studies. Determination of ligand efficiency metrics and QSAR studies were performed using Hyper Chem Professional 8.0.3, and molecular dynamics simulations were performed using the Desmond module. (3) Results: GC-MS analysis of VNEO showed 28 compounds (monoterpenes, 80.16%; sesquiterpenes, 7.63%; and unknown constituents, 10.88%). The ligand efficiency metrics of all four ligands against the OBP 7 were within acceptable ranges. β-selinene (−12.2 kcal/mol), β-caryophellene (−9.5 kcal/mol), sulcatone (−10.9 kcal/mol), and α-ylangene (−9.3 kcal/mol) showed the strongest binding affinities for the target proteins. The most stable hydrophobic interactions were observed between β-selinene (Phe111 and Phe120), Sulcatone (Phe54 and Phe120), and α-ylangene (Phe111), while only sulcatone (Tyr49) presented H-bond interactions in the simulated environment. (4) Conclusions: Sulcatone and β-caryophyllene presented the best log p values, 6.45 and 5.20, respectively. These lead phytocompounds can be used in their purest as repellent supplement or as a natural anti-mosquito agent in product formulations.

Corrosion presents a significant challenge to various industries, compromising the integrity and longevity of materials like mild steel. This study explores the efficacy of a polyphenol-rich fraction extracted from the stem bark of Senegalia senegal (PRFSS) as a green corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in acidic environments. The PRFSS extract, containing tannins, phenols, and anthocyanins, was assessed for its corrosion inhibition capabilities through various experimental methods, including gravimetric weight loss, phytochemical screening, and potentiodynamic polarization measurements. Results indicated that increasing concentrations of PRFSS notably reduced the corrosion rate of mild steel and enhanced surface coverage, suggesting effective protective layer formation. Thermodynamic analyses confirmed that the adsorption process of PRFSS onto mild steel is exothermic and spontaneous, with the adsorption behavior fitting Langmuir, Freundlich, and El-Awady isotherm models. FT-IR spectrum analysis further validated the successful adsorption of PRFSS on the mild steel surface, while TGA highlighted the extract’s thermal stability. SEM images corroborated the protective role of PRFSS, showing a smoother and less corroded surface compared to untreated steel. The study demonstrates that PRFSS is a promising, environmentally benign alternative to conventional chemical inhibitors, offering significant corrosion protection for mild steel. These findings open avenues for its application in industries. Future research should investigate the long-term stability and performance of this green inhibitor under diverse operational conditions

The immunomodulatory property of some parasitic helminths is well documented. The glycoprotein ES-62 from the nematode, acanthocheilonema viteae has been found to possess immunomodulatory properties. Two small molecule analogues (SMA’s) of ES-62 (S3 and S5) were found to mimic its immunomodulatory properties in vivo and were active in animal models of allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. In this work, new efforts were made to further optimise the activities of compound S3 by making small but directed structural changes. A variety of analogues based on the S3 prototype were simulated by making variations at one position and then screened in silico. The best compounds were selected based on predicted physiochemical properties and medicinal chemistry indices and synthesised. Structural elucidation was done via HNMR, LCMS, FTIR and HRESIMS. The predicted properties were evaluated by HPLC method. A total of 11 novel molecules were synthesised and characterised. Significant correlation was obtained between the predicted physicochemical properties and their HPLC retention times (RT) for eight of our novel compounds. This suggests that these compounds may behave in a physiological environment as closely as computationally predicted. This entails, lesser host toxicity while maintaining good or better activities compared to the earlier prototype. They hence provide a good opportunity for development of drugs for immune conditions such as asthma, inflammation and autoimmune diseases.

Biopolymers like locust bean gum (LBG) and chitosan have been useful in developing controlled-release matrices for drugs. In this work, efforts were made to develop a biopolymer composite of chitosan and LBG as coating films on metronidazole for improved colon-specific delivery. Four coating levels of Chitosan/LBG coating solution, F1, F2, F3 and F4 , corresponding to 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%, respectively, of average tablet weight were prepared. A dip-coating method was used to coat metronidazole tablets in triplicates with the biopolymeric system. Simulated colonic fluid (pH 6.8) and simulated gastric fluid (pH 1.2) were prepared and used for drug release studies. F4-coated tablets (40% average tablet weight) showed the most controlled release in colonic medium (SCF), with the lowest drug release of 60.3% after 30 minutes, slowly peaking to 99.3% after 210 minutes. Paradoxically, an inverse relationship was observed between coating levels and %drug release in SGF (pH 1.2), with the highest maximum drug release after one hour (47.8%) observed for F4 coated tablets, followed by F3 (43.9%), F2 (34.9%), and F1 (30.6%). Overall, the coated tablets show significantly higher maximum % drug release (p = < 0.05) in colonic medium (SCF) (pH 6.8), compared to gastric medium (SGF), suggesting that our biopolymer system may be capable of controlled release of metronidazole and better delivery to the colonic site of action over gastric release. These findings hold strong implications for biopolymer composites in pharmaceutical formulations and drug delivery, improvement of metronidazole efficacy and larger implications for other drug formulations.

Hybrid antimalarial drugs may delay the development of Plasmodial resistance. Two of our previously reported antiplasmodial fragments F56 (2-fluorobenzoyl chloride) and F67 (2-fluorobenzylchloride) were coupled to mefloquine and evaluated as potentially usable hybrids. Mefloquine hydrochloride was basified to obtain the freebase (MFQ), and its amine was Boc-protected (BMB). This was combined with F56 under microwave irradiation to yield the ester and with F67 under reflux to give the ether. Products were obtained as hydrochloride salts—doubling as a deprotection step—after purification by flash chromatography. NMR spectra were obtained at 600 MHz. Molecular descriptors were obtained from the ADMETLab3.0, SwissADME and SApredictor webservers. Both products showed LC Rt_major = 13.09 and 13.59 min, respectively, with possible diastereomer products at Rt_minor = 16.67 and 14.47 min, respectively. Spectral data were consistent with their expected structures. Meanwhile, the microwave irradiated ester product, MBF56B (27.73% yield), had a significantly faster reaction time than the ether product MBF67B (44.3%). They were both rule-of-five (Ro5)-compliant with Quantitative Estimation of Druglikeness (QED) scores, 0.33 and 0.40, respectively, favouring the ether. Their high lipophilicities, however, suggest potential ADME issues, and their low predicted aqueous solubilities pose a threat to developability. These two new O-linked mefloquine hybrids were successfully synthesised, with little to separate them based on their preliminary evaluation. The results suggest the success of this fragment-plus-drug approach in developing druglike hybrids that could, on further optimisation, be useful dual-acting antimalarial agents—tackling resistance.