In the present study the aim was to investigate and compare various activation processes for amoxicillin degradation. UV radiation, ultrasound, heat, and hydrogen peroxide were selected as the persulfate activation methods. The effects of various parameters such as pH, persulfate concentration, reaction time, AMX concentration, radical scavengers, and anions were thoroughly investigated. The results showed that AMX degradation was following the pseudo-first order kinetic model. The reaction rate of 0.114 min-1 was calculated for the UV/PS process, which was higher than that of the other investigated processes. The AMX degradation mechanism and pathway investigations revealed that sulfate and hydroxyl radicals were responsible for the degradation of AMX by two degradation pathways of hydroxylation and the opening of the β-lactam ring. Competition kinetic analysis showed that the second-order rate constant of AMX with sulfate radicals was 8.56 × 109 L mol-1 s-1 in the UV/PS process. Cost analysis was conducted for the four investigated processes and it was found that 1.9 $m-3 per order is required in the UV/PS process for the complete destruction of AMX. Finally, cytotoxic assessment of the treated effluent on human embryonic kidney cells showed a considerable reduction in AMX-induced cell cytotoxicity, proving that the investigated process is sufficiently capable of completely destroying AMX molecules to nontoxic compounds. Therefore, it can be concluded that UV radiation is much more effective than other methods for persulfate activation and can be considered as a reliable technique for antibiotic removal.

Pomelo fruitlet is a side-product of pomelo, and this study aimed to extract the antioxidative flavonoid compounds from pomelo fruitlets with high efficiency through ultrasonic-associated microwave methods. Scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that the spatial structure of the pomelo fruitlet powder was changed; microwaves and ultrasonic waves facilitated the formation of globular and curved surfaces, respectively. Ultrasonic-microwave synergistic pretreatment resulted in significantly higher yield. Each type of flavonoid compound was characterized using PR-LCMS analysis, and naringin with high nutritive value was detected in all groups. After purifying the flavone fractions with AB-8 macroporous resin, naringin, 2''-O-acetyl-3'-O-methylrutin, and 5,7,8,3'-tetrahydroxy-3,4'-dimethoxy were identified, which could act as free radical scavengers to protect erythrocytes from AAPH-induced hemolysis. This study strongly improved the effects of ultrasonic-microwave synergetic methods on the high utilization of pomelo fruitlets, especially in terms of flavonoid extraction and bioavailability.

A novel Pd(ii) double complex, [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4], containing the 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine (BAPP) ligand is investigated. X-ray crystallography of a single crystal confirmed the structure of the [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex. The spectroscopic behavior was also elucidated using elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex against all tested microbial strains was lower than that of the BAPP ligand except for C. albicans. The cytotoxic impacts of the BAPP ligand and its [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex were evaluated in vitro for HepG2, CaCo-2 and MCF7 cell lines as well as the WI-38 normal cell line. The anticancer activity was markedly improved by the complexation. The [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex could selectively inhibit the tested cancer cells in a safe way to the non-tumorigenic cell (WI-38). From the DNA binding studies with ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, the [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex interacts more efficiently with the calf thymus DNA than its BAPP ligand through the intercalative binding mode. In the absence of an external reductant, the [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex cleaved the intact supercoiled pBR322 DNA under physiological conditions in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, electrophoretic experiments were performed in the presence of different radical scavengers, namely DMSO, NaN3 and KI, and ruled out the hydrolytic mechanistic pathway of the reaction and suggested that the oxidative mechanism is the preferred one. The results of the binding affinity of the [Pd(BAPP)][PdCl4] complex to human DNA were modeled using a molecular docking study showing that the complex interacts more strongly with human DNA than the ligand. Finally, an in vitro pharmacokinetic study was assessed through in silico ADME predictions.