Nuclear receptors (NRs) constitute a superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors with a paramount role in ubiquitous physiological functions such as metabolism, growth, and reproduction. Owing to their physiological role and druggability, NRs are deemed attractive and valid targets for medicinal chemists. Pentacyclic triterpenes (PTs) represent one of the most important phytochemical classes present in higher plants, where oleanolic acid (OA) is the most studied PTs representative owing to its multitude of biological activities against cancer, inflammation, diabetes, and liver injury. PTs possess a lipophilic skeleton that imitates the NRs endogenous ligands. Herein, we report a literature overview on the modulation of metabolic NRs by OA and its semi-synthetic derivatives, highlighting their health benefits and potential therapeutic applications. Indeed, OA exhibited varying pharmacological effects on FXR, PPAR, LXR, RXR, PXR, and ROR in a tissue-specific manner. Owing to these NRs modulation, OA showed prominent hepatoprotective properties comparable to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in a bile duct ligation mice model and antiatherosclerosis effect as simvastatin in a model of New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits. It also demonstrated a great promise in alleviating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis, attenuated alpha-naphthol isothiocyanate (ANIT)-induced cholestatic liver injury, and controlled blood glucose levels, making it a key player in the therapy of metabolic diseases. We also compiled OA semi-synthetic derivatives and explored their synthetic pathways and pharmacological effects on NRs, showcasing their structure-activity relationship (SAR). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review article to highlight OA activity in terms of NRs modulation.

The possible eight rotamers of 3′-Methyl-quercetin have been optimized by using density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-31G∗ level of theory. The molecular structure and molecular properties of the most stable rotamers have been investigated at the same level of theory. We have computed the descriptors; electronegativity (χ), hardness (η), electrophilicity (ω), softness (S) and electrophilicity index (ωi) by DFT approach. We have shed light on the structure–property relationship. The absorption spectrum has been computed by time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) at TD-B3LYP/6-31G∗ level of theory. Radical scavenging activity has been explained on the basis of bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) and the adiabatic ionization potential (IP). Two mechanisms have been explained for the radical scavenging processes, i.e., hydrogen atom transfer and one-electron transfer

The use of sewage sludge activated carbon (thickened samples ACS1 and non-thickened samples ACS2) in a variety of applications and simple environmentally friendly production techniques are attracting more and more attention. We offer here a novel environmentally friendly method based on the green synthesis of activated carbons (ACS1/ACS2) using sewage sludge (SS). These activated carbons are then used to effectively remove the water-based reactive dye phenol red (PR). The ACS1 and ACS2 produced are porous materials with an average diameter of 20.72–13.30 and 6.20–7.34 nm, respectively. These ACS1/ACS2 were analyzed using a range of characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Elimination of toxic PR dye was investigated using several operational factors, including ACS1/ACS2 dose, initial PR dye concentration, pH and temperature. Under the best experimental conditions, the ACS1 and ACS2 adsorbents absorbed nearly 89.58% and 97.69% of the PR dye, respectively. It was found that both ACS1 and ACS2 adsorption corresponded to pseudo-first-order kinetics (R = 0.996 and 0.980) and fulfilled Langmuir’s (ACS1) and Freundlich’s (ACS2) models well, with maximum adsorption capacities of 65.35 and 122.72 mg/g, respectively. It was found that the adsorption processes are basically exothermic. The results suggest that sewage sludge can be effective as a low-cost and environmentally beneficial synthesis of ACS1 and ACS2 in the purification of water sources contaminated with hazardous dyes.

The limited supply of drinking water has aroused people’s curiosity in recent decades. Adsorption is a popular method for removing hazardous substances from wastewater, especially heavy metals, as it is cheap, highly efficient, and easy to use. In this work, a new sludge-based activated carbon adsorbent (thickened samples SBAC1 and un-thickened samples SBAC2) was developed to remove hazardous metals such as cadmium (Cd⁺²) and lead (Pb⁺²) from an aqueous solution. The chemical structure and surface morphology of the produced SBAC1 and SBAC2 were investigated using a range of analytical tools such as CHNS, BET, FT-IR, XRD, XRF, SEM, TEM, N₂ adsorption/desorption isothermal, and zeta potential. BET surface areas were examined and SBAC2 was found to have a larger BET surface area (498.386 m²/g) than SBAC1 (336.339 m²/g). While the average pore size was 10–100 nm for SBAC1 and 45–50 nm for SBAC2. SBAC1 and SBAC2 eliminated approximately 99.99% of Cd⁺² and Pb⁺² out the water under all conditions tested. The results of the adsorption of Cd⁺² and Pb⁺² were in good agreement with the pseudo-second-order equation (R² = 1.00). Under the experimental conditions, the Cd⁺² and Pb⁺² adsorption equilibrium data were effectively linked to the Langmuir and Freundlich equations for SBAC1 and SBAC2, respectively. The regeneration showed a high recyclability for the fabricated SBAC1 and SBAC2 during five consecutive reuse cycles. As a result, the produced SBAC1 and SBAC2 are attractive adsorbents for the elimination of heavy metals from various environmental and industrial wastewater samples.

Acetylcholinesterase, tyrosinase, and α-glucosidase inhibition activities of Euphorbia schimperiana and Euphorbia balsamifera extracts, fractions, and available pure compounds were evaluated for the first time. Acetylcholinesterase assay revealed a significant inhibitory activity of E. balsamifera total extract and n-hexane fraction with 47.7% and 43.3%, respectively, compared to the reference drug, which was 75%. The n-butanol fraction demonstrated tyrosinase inhibitory activity for E. balsamifera and E. schimperiana with 36.7% and 29.7%, respectively, compared to 60% for the reference drug. Quercetin-3-O-α-glucuronide, quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucuronide-methyl ester, quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside, 3,3′-di-O-methyl ellagic acid, 3,3′-di-O-methyl-ellagic acid-4-β-D-xylopyranoside, and 4-O-ethyl gallic acid were identified from E. schimperiana while quercetin-3-O-glucopyranoside and isoorientin were determined from E. balsamifera. The AChE inhibitory effect of pure compounds exhibited promising activity, where 4-O-ethylgallic acid demonstrated 51.1%, while the highest tyrosinase inhibition was demonstrated by isoorientin with 50.6% compared to the reference drug (60%). Finally, a molecular docking study was performed for the most promising AChE and tyrosinase inhibitors. The extracts, fractions, and isolated compounds showed no α-glucosidase inhibitory activity.

Nuclear receptors (NRs) constitute a superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors with a paramount role in ubiquitous physiological functions such as metabolism, growth, and reproduction. Owing to their physiological role and druggability, NRs are deemed attractive and valid targets for medicinal chemists. Pentacyclic triterpenes (PTs) represent one of the most important phytochemical classes present in higher plants, where oleanolic acid (OA) is the most studied PTs representative owing to its multitude of biological activities against cancer, inflammation, diabetes, and liver injury. PTs possess a lipophilic skeleton that imitates the NRs endogenous ligands. Herein, we report a literature overview on the modulation of metabolic NRs by OA and its semi-synthetic derivatives, highlighting their health benefits and potential therapeutic applications. Indeed, OA exhibited varying pharmacological effects on FXR, PPAR, LXR, RXR, PXR, and ROR in a tissue-specific manner. Owing to those NRs modulation, OA exhibited prominent hepatoprotective properties comparable to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in a bile duct ligation mice model and antiatherosclerosis effect as simvastatin in a model of New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits. It also demonstrated a great promise in alleviating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis, attenuated alpha-naphthol isothiocyanate (ANIT)-induced cholestatic liver injury, and controlled blood glucose levels, making it a key player in the therapy of metabolic diseases. We also compiled OA semi-synthetic derivatives and explored their synthetic pathways and pharmacological effects on NRs, showcasing their structure-activity relationship (SAR). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review article to highlight OA activity in terms of NRs modulation.