In this study Cu-chitosan nanoparticles (Cu-CNP) have been employed as eco-friendly and safer priming agents to induce salt and PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress tolerance in wheat seedlings. Seed priming is a facile on-farm stress management technique that requires a little amount of priming agent and minimizes the eco-toxicological effects on soil fertility. The wheat seeds were primed with 0.12% and 0.16% Cu-CNP for eight hours and were allowed to germinate under normal, PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress (15% PEG-6000 – 3.0 Mpa) and salt stress (150 mM). For comparison, non-primed and hydro-primed seeds were also allowed to germinate as control under the same conditions. The biochemical analyses suggested the priming treatments enhanced the POD activity under salt stress but it was decreased under PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress. Priming with 0.12% Cu-CNP induced a significant increase in CAT while the opposite effect was observed in 0.16% treated seedling under stress and non-stress conditions. Both priming treatments did not allow the over-expression of SOD under both stress conditions. The total phenolic contents were also decreased significantly under all conditions. Except for priming with 0.16% Cu-CNP under PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress, a suppression in MDA was observed under both stress conditions. Surprisingly, the Cu-CNP priming induced a significant increase in β-carotenoids, total carotenoids, chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll under normal and stress conditions. In conclusion, the controlled expression of enzymatic antioxidants, low contents of non-enzymatic antioxidants and suppression of MDA mirror the stress mitigating role of Cu-CNP against PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress and salinity. The stress-insulating potential has also been reinforced by the enhanced production of plant and photosynthetic pigments. All these priming-induced biochemical changes produced positive effects on growth and germinating parameters in wheat seedlings under PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress as well as salinity.

This study is a novel approach toward the development of a chemical-free and sustainable textile dyeing process with minimum environmental risks. Cotton fabrics were cationized with (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) trimethylammonium chloride in four concentrations and subsequently dyed with the black tea extract. Eco-friendly colorant extraction from raw black tea leaves was carried out in aqueous media avoiding the use of hazardous organic solvents. The major coloring components in the black tea extract are polyphenols like theaflavins and thearubigin. Cationized cotton fabrics were dyed in four different shade depths without employing auxiliary chemicals in the dyeing process. For comparison, un-cationized cotton was dyed with the same extract in the same shades. It was observed that un-cationized cotton samples exhibited very low color strength (K/S) values and excellent colorfastness rating. However, the cationized samples showed remarkable enhancement in their color strength with an increase in the concentration of the cationizing agent. Furthermore, colorfastness to washing, rubbing, and perspiration was excellent, but lightfastness was poor. Deep shades (K/S = 8.996) were obtained for cotton sample cationized (20 g/l) and dyed (6%) shades. Thus, the extraction of natural colorants without toxic solvents, economically viable surface modification of cotton, and chemical-free dyeing render the dyeing process cleaner, sustainable, and practicable at an industrial scale. The textile units could easily adopt this approach to regulate a pollution-free dyeing process without modifying their existing infrastructure.

Azo dyes are the main group of dyes used in different industrial applications. These dyes are highly toxic for aquatic life, so their removal is of utmost importance before they can be disposed of in a main water body. The present study focused on degrading/mineralizing the synthetic reactive dye wastewater. Initial experiments were done with four indigenous white rot fungi. P. chrysosporium (PC) showed more potential toward degradation of synthetic dye wastewater than other three fungal strains, so it was selected for further optimization of different fermentation parameters. Maximum decolorization (84.8%) of reactive dye wastewater was obtained at pH 5, inoculum size 4 mL, and 30ºC. After optimizing experimental parameters, the effects of different nutritional factors like carbon and nitrogen sources were also studied. Decolorization of synthetic dye wastewater was increased from 84.8 to 89.2%, when rice bran was used as an additional carbon source. However, no increase in decolorization of synthetic dye wastewater was observed in the presence of nitrogen supplements. The screened fungal strain decolorized the wastewater up to 90%. The effect of different nutritional factors enhanced the degradation capability of the fungal strain under study. UV-visible and FTIR analyses confirmed the degradation of synthetic dye wastewater into simpler, non-toxic products.

Single-nitrogen containing saturated cyclic amines are an important part of both natural and synthetic bioactive compounds. A number of methodologies have been developed for the synthesis of aziridines, azetidines, pyrrolidines, piperidines, azepanes and azocanes. This review highlights some facile and green synthetic routes for the synthesis of unsubstituted, multisubstituted and highly functionalized saturated cyclic amines including one-pot, microwave assisted, metal-free, solvent-free and in aqueous media.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by a progressive memory loss that leads to a profound emotional disturbance in later stages. As no safe and effective drug is yet available for the treatment of AD, secondary metabolites from plants may be instrumental in meeting this challenge. Keeping in view this point we evaluated sesquiterpenes of medicinal plant Amberboa ramosa for their cholinesterase inhibitory activity.

The emerging concepts of sustainable textiles and controlled production strategy demands ideally zero emissions of contaminants into the aquatic environment. However, the currently in-practiced conventional processes in textiles dispose of a number of contaminants especially super toxic synthetic dyes as effluents. In recent years, nanomaterials have become attractive choice for eco-friendly removal of organic dyestuff. Accordingly, this article reports synthesis and characterization of biocomposite wherein copolymer of polyaniline (PANI) and Polypyrrole (PPY) was grafted onto hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). Further, adsorption properties of as-prepared composite were evaluated using textile dyes Rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl Orange (MO)- as model adsorbate. The characterization of novel biocomposite (HEC/PANI-PPy) was carried out using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyzer (BET), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The operational parameters such as dye initial concentration, adsorbent amount, pH and contact time were also studied to evaluate the efficiency level of the prepared biocomposite. Interestingly, the composite-mediated adsorption of RhB and MO followed pseudo-second order and the Langmuir isotherm. It is found that the adsorption capacity HEC/PANI-PPy is 30.06 and 29.3 for RhB and MO respectively. Thus, HEC/PANI-PPy is an inexpensive and highly efficient adsorbent that could be employed for could be employed for the separation and removal of toxic organic dyes from polluted textile effluents.