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Assessment of bacterial growth is an essential tool in many fields of study. Numerous methods are available for that purpose, but they are not without disadvantages. The present study aimed to investigate the application of a water soluble oxygen sensor [Ru(dpp(SO3Na)2)3]Cl2x6H2O (RuBPS) in physiological and biochemical studies of Pectobacterium spp. and other bacteria in 96-well microplate systems. The method was optimized with respect to compound concentration, microplate type, and measurement parameters. The growth of bacteria was assessed under increased salinity, acidic and alkaline pH, decreased water availability, and osmotic stress. Utilization of various sugars by bacteria as the only carbon source and the usefulness of RuBPS in antibiotic susceptibility assays were also investigated. The studies confirmed that the respirometry assay can be successfully used to assess bacterial growth in place of the optical density measurement and the resazurin assay, or in conjugation with those methods. The assay is of special value when growth media are non-homogeneous, bacteria produce reductive compounds during growth, or when bacteria do not grow well in the medium of choice. It may be used to study adaptation potential of plant pathogenic bacteria and other bacteria, and their possible spread into new ecological niches.

Carbazole skeleton plays a significant role as a structural scaffold of many pharmacologically active compounds. Pyrazine-functionalized carbazole derivative was constructed by coupling 2-amino-5-bromo-3-methylaminepyrazine (ABMAP) into 3 and 6 positions of the carbazole ring. Multi-experimental methods were used, e.g., potentiometric, spectroscopic (ATR, UV, XRD powder,1H and13C NMR), electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry), and optical techniques, to receive the complete structural analysis, physicochemical (pKa, logP) and biological profile of a new carbazole derivative with acronym 3,6-PIRAMICAR. The interaction ability of the compound studied with potential cellular targets like Calf Thymus DNA (CT-DNA), or Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) were also taken into account. Experiments showed the existence of strong binding, but no DNA or BSA cleavage was observed. The comparative analyzes of compounds anti-Candida action clearly show pH-dependent antifungal activity of 3,6-PIRAMICAR, which was strongly stimulated in the acidic media. Surprisingly, the titled compound turn out to be much more effective (14 times by MIC50; 8 times by MIC; c.a. 4 times by MFC) against Candida krusei than fluconazole at pH 4.

The synthesised complex cis-[Cr(C2O4)(AaraNH2)(OH2)(OSO2)]− anion with SO32− as a ligand in the inner coordination sphere, where AaraNH2 denotes methyl 3-amino-2,3-dideoxy-α-d-arabino-hexopyranoside, was hydrolysed in the presence of acid at H+ concentrations from 0.01 to 2.7 m (HClO4). The reaction kinetics was studied with the stopped-flow spectrophotometric (u.v.–vis.) technique at temperatures of 5, 10, 15, 18 and 20 °C. This hydrolysis turned out to be a single-step process. Determined for this reaction were the rate constant k1 for the removal of SO2 from the coordination sphere of the cis-[Cr(C2O4)(AaraNH2)(OH2)(OSO2)]− ion and the constant pK1 of the protonation of this species in the reaction preceding the hydrolysis. The final product of this reaction – a new complex of CrIII, cis-[Cr(C2O4)(AaraNH2)(OH2)2]+, was obtained. A mechanism for the acid hydrolysis reaction is put forward based on the analysis of the rate constants obtained.