Photocatalytic production and biological activity of D-arabino-1,4-lactone from D-fructose.

Lactones play crucial roles in various fields, such as pharmaceuticals, food, and materials science, due to their unique structures and diverse biological activities. However, certain lactones are difficult to obtain in large quantities from natural sources, necessitating their synthesis to study their properties and potential. In this study, we investigated the photocatalytic conversion of D-fructose, a biomass-derived and naturally abundant sugar, using a TiO photocatalyst under light irradiation in ambient conditions.

Denaturation of Lysozyme with Visible-light-responsive Photocatalysts of Ground Rhodium-doped and Ground Rhodium-antimony-co-doped Strontium Titanate.

Protein denaturants play an important role in medical and biological research, and development of new denaturants is widely explored to study aging and various diseases. In this research, we treated lysozyme, a model protein, with photocatalysts of ground Rh-doped SrTiO (g-STO:Rh) and ground Rh-Sb-co-doped SrTiO (g-STO:Rh/Sb) under visible light irradiation to explore the potential of those photocatalysts as denaturants. SDS-PAGE showed that photocatalysis with g-STO:Rh induced the fragmentation of lysozyme into unidentifiable decomposition products.

Selective Inactivation of Bacteriophage in the Presence of Bacteria by Use of Ground Rh-Doped SrTiO Photocatalyst and Visible Light.

Bacteriophage (denoted as phage) infection in the bacterial fermentation industry is a major problem, leading to the loss of fermented products such as alcohol and lactic acid. Currently, the prevention of phage infection is limited to biological approaches, which are difficult to apply in an industrial setting. Herein, we report an alternative chemical approach using ground Rh-doped SrTiO (denoted as g-STO:Rh) as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst.

Sporicidal performance induced by photocatalytic production of organic peroxide under visible light irradiation.

Bacteria that cause serious food poisoning are known to sporulate under conditions of nutrient and water shortage. The resulting spores have much greater resistance to common sterilization methods, such as heating at 100 °C and exposure to various chemical agents. Because such bacteria cannot be inactivated with typical alcohol disinfectants, peroxyacetic acid (PAA) often is used, but PAA is a harmful agent that can seriously damage human health.

Different hollow and spherical TiO2 morphologies have distinct activities for the photocatalytic inactivation of chemical and biological agents.

The inactivation of Escherichia coli and Qβ phage was examined following their photocatalytic treatment with TiO2 hollows and spheres that had been prepared by electrospray, hydrothermal treatment, and calcination. The crystal structures of the hollows and spheres were assigned to TiO2 anatase, and the surface areas of the hollows and spheres were determined to be 91 and 79 m(2) g(-1), respectively. Interestingly, TiO2 spheres exhibited higher anti-pathogen performance than TiO2 hollows, a difference we ascribe to the prevention of light multi-scattering by microorganisms covering the surfaces of the TiO2 particles.