Dharm Dutt

ergy products such as bio-ethanol, 1-butanol, bio-methane, bio-hydrogen, organic acids including citric acid, succinic acid and lactic acid, microbial polysaccharides, single cell protein and xylitol. The biotechnological aspect of bio-transformation of lignocelluloses research and its future prospects are also discussed.

Eleven eucalyptus species are characterized for morphological, chemical, pulp and paper-making characteristics to get high pulp yield of good strength through social forestry in north Indian topological conditions. Eucalyptus grandis of Bhadrachalam and Saharanpur origins give very good fibre dimensions, especially slenderness ratio, which is directly comparable to Pinus kesiya. Other eucalyptus species have shorter fibres and narrow lumen with thick wall resulting to poorer flexibility, higher Runkel ratio and rigidity coefficient. The chemical analysis of eucalyptus species reveal satisfactory levels of holocellulose (except Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Klason lignin content ( 25%) lignin content except E. ‒413 (hybrid) might require additional pulping time and chemical charge compared to other species. Kappa number ( 48%) and higher strength properties of E. grandis of Bhadrachalam and Saharanpur origins, Eucalyptus torrelliana, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus alba showed their suitability for social forestry.

Ferulic acid (FA) is a widely distributed hydroxycinnamic acid found in various cereals and fruits exhibiting potent antioxidant and anticancer activities. However, due to low solubility and permeability, its availability to biological systems is limited. Non-toxic chitosan-tripolyphosphate pentasodium (CS-TPP) nanoparticles (NPs) are used to load sparingly soluble molecules and drugs, increasing their bioavailability. In the present work, we have encapsulated FA into the CS-TPP NPs to increase its potential as a therapeutic agent. Different concentrations of FA were tested to obtain optimum sized FA-loaded CS-TPP nanoparticles (FA/CS-TPP NPs) by ionic gelation method. Nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analyses and evaluated for their anticancer activity against ME-180 human cervical cancer cell lines. The FTIR spectra confirmed the encapsulation of FA and thermal analysis depicted its degradation profile. A concentration-dependent relationship between FA encapsulation efficiency and FA/CS-TPP NPs diameter was observed. Smooth and spherical FA-loaded cytocompatible nanoparticles with an average diameter of 125 nm were obtained at 40 µM FA conc. The cytotoxicity of 40 µM FA/CS-TPP NPs against ME-180 cervical cancer cell lines was found to be higher as compared to 40 µM native FA. Apoptotic morphological changes as cytoplasmic remnants and damaged wrinkled cells in ME-180 cells were visualized using scanning electron microscopic and fluorescent microscopic techniques. Data concluded that chitosan enveloped FA nanoparticles could be exploited as an excellent therapeutic drug against cancer cells proliferation.