Selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde in aqueous solution, under acidic conditions, through the TiO2/Cu(II)/solar UV photocatalytic system, was investigated. Different commercial TiO2 samples were tested. The best result found, in terms of yield, was of 35% for benzaldehyde with respect to the initial benzyl alcohol concentration. During a single run, a partial conversion of ben...

4-(Methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), a potent tobacco-specific carcinogen, has been demonstrated to induce lung tumors in animals and is suspected to be a human carcinogen. Cytochromes P450 are the major enzymes responsible for the activation of NNK in microsomes from the lung and liver of rat and mouse, as well as human liver. The present study investigated the enzymes respons...

An iron(iii) complex bearing a cross-bridged cyclam ligand (4,11-dimethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazabicyclo[6.6.2]hexadecane) is an efficient catalyst for the oxidation of both water and alcohols using sodium periodate as the oxidant. In catalytic water oxidation a maximum turnover number (TON) of 1030 is achieved, while in catalytic alcohol oxidation >95% conversions and yields can be obtained.

The manganese(V) nitrido complex (PPh(4))(2)[Mn(N)(CN)(4)] is an active catalyst for alkene epoxidation and alcohol oxidation using H(2)O(2) as an oxidant. The catalytic oxidation is greatly enhanced by the addition of just one equivalent of acetic acid. The oxidation of ethene by this system has been studied computationally by the DFT method.

It has been reported that chronic and acute alcohol exposure decreases cerebral glucose metabolism and increases acetate oxidation. However, it remains unknown how much ethanol the living brain can oxidize directly and whether such a process would be affected by alcohol exposure. The questions have implications for reward, oxidative damage, and long-term adaptation to drinking. One group of adu...

We have been working to develop an enzymatic assay for the alcohol 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (232-MB), which is produced and emitted by certain pines. To this end we have isolated the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida MB-1, which uses 232-MB as a sole carbon source. Strain MB-1 contains inducible 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol (321-MB) and 3-methyl-2-buten-1-al dehydrogenases, suggesting that 232-MB is meta...

BACKGROUND Epidemiological evidence has been presented for an increased risk of development of colon cancer after chronic alcohol abuse. Alcohol is degraded by cytosolic alcohol dehydrogenases that also are capable of retinol oxidation. Inhibition of retinol oxidation to retinoic acid has been shown to occur in parallel with profound impairment of intracellular retinoid signal transduction and ...

2-Chloro-1,4-dimethoxybenzene (2Cl-14DMB) is a natural compound produced de novo by several white rot fungi. This chloroaromatic metabolite was identified as a cofactor superior to veratryl alcohol (VA) in the oxidation of anisyl alcohol (AA) by lignin peroxidase (LiP). Our results reveal that good LiP substrates, such as VA and tryptophan, are comparatively poor cofactors in the oxidation of A...

The rate of metabolism of ethanol’ in the animal body is generally accepted as being relatively constant regardless of the amount of alcohol present. The first step in the chain of oxidations of alcohol to acetaldehyde with the simultaneous reduction of diphosphopyridine nucleotide has been found to be the ratelimiting factor (1). A variety of conditions has been found effective in greater or l...

Vanadium haloperoxidases catalyse the oxidation of halides leading to halogenation of substrates or, in the absence of suitable substrates, to oxidation of hydrogen peroxide into singlet oxygen and water. Furthermore, V-haloperoxidases are capable to give enantioselective sulfoxidation under the appropriate conditions. The most interesting model compounds that have been synthesised and studied ...