Identification of punicalagin as the bioactive compound behind the antimicrobial activity of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peels.

Extracts from 'Zhéri' and 'Hicaznar' varieties of pomegranate, Punica granatum L., were obtained by subjecting powdered peels to extraction using water, water/ethanol (1:1; v/v), ethanol, acetone and heptane. Using the agar diffusion assay, extracts with water and/or ethanol were shown to display significant antimicrobial activity with diameters of inhibition zones up to 20 mm.

Orchids and their mycorrhizal fungi: an insufficiently explored relationship.

Orchids are associated with diverse fungal taxa, including nonmycorrhizal endophytic fungi as well as mycorrhizal fungi. The orchid mycorrhizal (OM) symbiosis is an excellent model for investigating the biological interactions between plants and fungi due to their high dependency on these symbionts for growth and survival. To capture the complexity of OM interactions, significant genomic, numerous transcriptomic, and proteomic studies have been performed, unraveling partly the role of each partner.

Development of a selective solid phase extraction method for nitro musk compounds in environmental waters using a molecularly imprinted sorbent.

A powerful analytical method for the determination of the family of the nitro musk compounds at trace level in environmental waters-river, sea, and water from a treatment plant-is presented. The method is based on the use of molecularly imprinted silica (MIS) as sorbent for solid phase extraction (SPE) used for the clean-up and the concentration step of the target analytes previous to their determination by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The optimized extraction procedure allowed extraction recoveries between 61% and 87% using the MIS.

Identification of the nitroaromatic explosives in post-blast samples by online solid phase extraction using molecularly imprinted silica sorbent coupled with reversed-phase chromatography.

In a previous work, a molecularly imprinted silica (MIS) sorbent was synthesized for the selective extraction of nitroaromatic explosives from real samples. This MIS packed in a cartridge was used for an off-line solid phase extraction procedure mainly based on hydrophobic and π-π interactions. In this work, the MIS was packed in a precolumn to be connected online with a reversed-phase LC system and a diode array detector.