AIMS To develop a simple, rapid and sensitive fluorimetric assay to detect, isolate and characterize a soil bacterium capable of degrading the organophosphorus pesticide, coumaphos. METHODS AND RESULTS A high throughput microtitre plate-based method was used to quantify coumaphos hydrolysis by the bacterium. The fluorescent hydrolysis product of coumaphos, chlorferon, was detected at levels a...

Electron paramagnetic resonance and electrochemistry are used to evidence the interaction between 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) and KO(t)Bu to form the 1,10-phenanthroline radical anion, Phen˙(-), and the (t)BuO˙ radical via an inner-sphere electron transfer. In addition, electrochemistry is also used to explain the formation of aryl radicals from aryl bromides via outer-sphere electron transfer f...

Organophosphorus (OP) pesticides poison more than 3,000,000 people every year in the developing world, mostly through intentional self-poisoning. Advances in medical therapy for OP poisoning have lagged, and current treatment is not highly effective with mortality of up to 40% in even the most advanced Western medical facilities. Administration of a broadly active bacterial OP hydrolase to pati...

Ir complexes of chiral phosphine-diamine ligands catalyse the hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of aryl-piperidin-4-yl methanones, and ketones bearing both an aryl group and secondary alkyl substituent with up to 98% e.e., and with substrate to catalyst ratios of up to 4000.

New alpha-aminophosphonates were synthesized by the Kabachnik-Fields reaction of 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde (TMB) with p- or m-bromoaniline and a dialkyl phosphite under solvent-free conditions. TMB was prepared from gallic acid via a four step synthetic sequence involving etherification, esterification, hydrazidation and potassium ferricyanide oxidation. The structures of all synthesized com...

As a consequence of organophosphorus (OP) toxins posing a threat to human life globally, organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) has become the enzyme of choice to detoxify such compounds. Organophosphorus hydrolase was covalently immobilized onto a quartz substrate for utilization in paraoxon detection. The substrate was cleaned and modified prior to chemical attachment. Each modification step was mo...

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) can be used to develop reaction beaker which acts as electrochemical cell for the measurement of OP pesticides. Being chemically inert, corrosion resistant, and easy in molding to various shapes and size, PVC can be used for the immobilization of enzyme. Organophosphorus hydrolase was immobilized covalently onto the chemically activated inner surface of PVC beaker by us...

Although the use of pesticides in inner-city homes of the United States is of considerable magnitude, little is known about the potentially adverse health effects of such exposure. Recent animal data suggest that exposure to pesticides during pregnancy and early life may impair growth and neurodevelopment in the offspring. To investigate the relationship among prenatal pesticide exposure, parao...

Although organophosphorus pesticides (OP) share a common mode of action, there is increased awareness that they elicit a diverse range of gene expression responses. As yet however, there is no clear understanding of these responses and how they interact with ambient environmental conditions. In the present study, we investigated genome-wide gene expression profiles in the nematode Caenorhabditi...

SsoPox is a lactonase endowed with promiscuous phosphotriesterase activity isolated from Sulfolobus solfataricus that belongs to the Phosphotriesterase-Like Lactonase family. Because of its intrinsic thermal stability, SsoPox is seen as an appealing candidate as a bioscavenger for organophosphorus compounds. A comprehensive kinetic characterisation of SsoPox has been performed with various phos...