Search

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles catalyzed the degradation of fuchsin in the entire surfactant concentration range investigated. The pseudo first order rate constants increased with CTAB concentrations. However, there was a decrease in the rate constant at higher concentrations of CTAB. Increase in the rate constant was attributed to the incorporation of fuchsin and hydroxide ion in the stern layer of the CTAB micelles. The kinetics involved the removal of the π-conjugation in fuchsin due to its attack by hydroxide ion on the central C atom of the planar ring which led to the formation of carbinol. The reaction showed first order each to fuchsin and OH-. Menger-Portnoy and Piszkiewicz cooperative models were used to explain the micellar and kinetic effects.

The Ebola virus disease causing hemorrhagic fever in human, has been known for nearly about 40 years, with the most recent outbreak being in West Africa creating humanitarian crisis, where over 11,308 deaths were recorded as reported in 30th March, 2016 (World Health Organization). Till now, Ebola virus drugs have been far from achieving regulatory FDA approval, and coupled with toxicity of these drugs, it is become imperative to appraise the available trail drugs, as well as looking into alternative natural resources of tackling menace. Therefore, in silico methods were used to assess the potency of the bioactive phytochemical, Curcumin from Turmeric and results compared with those obtained for some selected trial drugs in use for the treatment of Ebola virus. This study is focused on molecular docking of Curcumin and eight commercially available drugs (Amodiaquine, Apilimod, Azithromycin, Bepridil, Pyronaridine, Remedesivir and Tilorone) against Ebola transcription activator VP30 proteins (PDB: 2I8B, 4Z9P and 5T3T) and their ADMET profiling. The results showed that binding affinity (ΔG kJ/mol) ranged from -5.8 (Tilorone) to -7.3 (Remdesivir) for 218B, -6.4 (Tilorone) to -8.2 (Pyronaridine, Remedesivir) and -5.8 (Bepridil) to -7.4 (Pyronaridine). Curcumin could be more desirable as inhibitor for than Tilorone, Dronedarone and Bepridil in the treatment of Ebola virus; the ADMET profile revealed that Curcumin presents attractive pharmacokinetic properties than the trial drugs.