Electrospun nanofibers are used for many applications due to their large surface area, mechanical properties, and bioactivity. Bacterial biofilms are the cause of numerous problems in biomedical devices and in the food industry. On the other hand, these bacterial biofilms can produce interesting metabolites. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of poly (Ɛ- caprolactone)/Curcumin (PCL/CUR) nanofibers to promote bacterial biofilm formation. These scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which showed homogeneous fibers with diameters between 441–557 nm; thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA and DSC) demonstrated high temperature resilience with degradation temperatures over >350 °C; FTIR and 1H-NMR serve as evidence of CUR incorporation in the PCL fibers. PCL/CUR scaffolds successfully promoted the formation of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. These results will be valuable in the study of controlled harvesting of pathogenic biofilms as well as in metabolites production for biotechnological purposes.
New copper(I) compounds of compositions [Cu(HL)(PPh3)2]·H2O (1) and [Cu(HL)POP]·CH2Cl2 (2), where HL = monoanion of pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, PPh3 = triphenylphosphine and POP = bis [2-(diphenylphosphine)phenyl]ether), are documented. The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic techniques (IR, 1H/31P RMN and UV–VIS), cyclic voltammetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. Single-crystals for 1 and 2 enabled X-ray diffraction analysis, revealing distorted tetrahedral geometries for Cu(I) centers embedded in NOP2 environments. The crystal structures are stabilized by O−H∙∙∙O, C−H∙∙∙O, C−H∙∙∙π and π∙∙∙π interactions that were analyzed by inspection of the Hirshfeld surfaces and fingerprint plots. Compounds 1 and 2 show interesting optical/electrochemical properties, which were studied experimentally in solution by UV–Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry, as well as theoretically using Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT). Additionally, in combination with the ruthenium complex N719, their efficiency as co-sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was assessed, showing good activity.
21 February 2017 in Acta Crystallographica Section C Structural Chemistry