Search

The interaction between natural amino acids and hydrogen peroxide is of paramount importance due to the widespread use of hydrogen peroxide in biological and environmentally significant processes. Given that both amino acids and hydrogen peroxide occur in nature in two enantiomeric forms, it is crucial to investigate the formation of complexes between them, considering the role of molecular chirality. In this work, we report a theoretical study on the hydrogen peroxide enantiomers and their interactions with L- and S-serine and their clusters. We aimed to evaluate the non-covalent interactions between each hydrogen peroxide enantiomer and the L- and D-enantiomers of the non-essential amino acid serine and their clusters. First, the potential energy surfaces (PES) of transitions between enantiomers of the simplest chiral molecule, hydrogen peroxide, in the gas phase and in aqueous solution were studied using the Møller–Plesset theory method MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ. The activation energies of such transitions were calculated. The interactions of both hydrogen peroxide enantiomers (P and M) with L- and D-serine enantiomers were analyzed by density functional theory (DFT) with ωb97xd/6-311+G**, B3Lyp/6-311+G**, B3P86/6-311+G**, and M06/6-311+G** functionals. We found that both enantiomers of hydrogen peroxide bind more strongly to L-serine and its clusters than to D-serine, especially highlighting that the L form is the predominant natural form of this and other chiral amino acids. The optimized geometric parameters, interaction energies, and HOMO-LUMO energies for various complexes were estimated. Furthermore, circular dichroism (CD) spectra, which are optical chirality characteristics, were simulated for all the complexes under study.

In this work, we, for the first time, manufactured a plasma-chemical reactor operating at a frequency of 0.11 MHz. The reactor allows for the activation of large volumes of liquids in a short time. The physicochemical properties of activated liquids (concentration of hydrogen peroxide, nitrate anions, redox potential, electrical conductivity, pH, concentration of dissolved gases) are characterized in detail. Antifungal activity of aqueous solutions activated by a glow discharge has been investigated. It was shown that aqueous solutions activated by a glow discharge significantly reduce the degree of presence of phytopathogens and their effect on the germination of such seeds. Seeds of cereals (sorghum and barley) and fruit (strawberries) crops were studied. The greatest positive effect was found in the treatment of sorghum seeds. Moreover, laboratory tests have shown a significant increase in sorghum drought tolerance. The effectiveness of the use of glow-discharge-activated aqueous solutions was shown during a field experiment, which was set up in the saline semi-desert of the Northern Caspian region. Thus, the technology developed by us makes it possible to carry out the activation of aqueous solutions on an industrial scale. Water activated by a glow discharge exhibits antifungicidal activity and significantly accelerates the development of the grain and fruit crops we studied. In the case of sorghum culture, glow-discharge-activated water significantly increases drought resistance.