Browsing by Author "Mustafa, Muhamad"

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    Investigation of Antiviral Effects of Essential Oils
    (wiley, 2024-01) Mustafa, Ahmad; El-Kashef, Dina H; Abdelwahab, Miada F; Gomaa, Alshymaa Abdel-Rahman; Mustafa, Muhamad; Abdel-Wahab, Nada M; Ibrahim, Alyaa H
    Essential oils (EOs) represent one of the most interesting natural products obtained from various aromatic plants. Their effective use in many industries including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, perfumes and food is predominantly attributed to their distinctive aroma and intriguing bioactivities. The chemical profile of these agents exhibited the presence of a variety of volatile constituents that are mainly classified into terpenes and oxygenated compounds. In fact, most of the EOs and essential oil components (EOCs) have received considerable attention in the last years, owing to their promising biological activities, for instance antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antispasmodic, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities. This chapter emphasizes particularly the potential antiviral effect of EOs by reviewing some recent literature. It illustrates the different methods implemented to investigate the in vitro antiviral activity of both EOs and EOCs, as well as their mechanisms of action. In addition, the efficacy of EOs against several viral infections affecting human body systems, some plants and animals is also highlighted. Besides, this chapter gives insights into the application of nanoencapsulation technology to improve EOs bioavailability and hence their antiviral efficacy.
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    Selective synthesis of alpha monoglycerides by a clean method: Techno-economic and environmental assessment
    (Elsevier, 2022-04-12) Mustafa, Ahmad; Niikura, Fumiya; Pastore, Carlo; Allam, Hoda A; Hassan, Omnia Bassam; Mustafa, Muhamad; Inayat, Abrar; Salah, Sameh A; Abdel Salam, Ahmed; Mohsen, Reham
    This work proposes an alternative green and selective biocatalytic route for Glycerin Mono- stearate (α-monostearin) production. The conventional method of production uses an elevated temperature. Apart from the high energy consumption, such high temperatures darken the final product’s color, lead to random reactions, and produce high orders of diglycerides and tri- glycerides instead of monoglycerides. The proposed production process was performed by esterifying stearic acid with glycerin in an organic medium using Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435) at a mild temperature. The reaction conditions were optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM): optimum conditions were a temperature of 60 ◦C, glycerin to stearic acid molar ratio of 8:1, and Novozym 435 amount of 6% w/w. The solvent addition remarkably improved the α-monostearin yield to nearly 80% without the need for the energy-intensive distillation step. The conventional autocatalytic esterification (AUT) process was also per- formed to investigate the comparative monoglyceride yield, and it was found to be 22.5%. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance and gas-chromatography confirmed that α-monostearin could be produced with the highest purity using the proposed enzymatic method (ENZ). Economic and environmental analyses were also conducted for the proposed ENZ process, and the results were compared with those of the AUT process. The total capital investment of α-monostearin pro- duction, considering a projected capacity of 4950 t year− 1 and 11% interest for the proposed ENZ process, was favorably 2.5 times lower than that of the AUT process, suggesting a promising investment opportunity. However, the total production costs showed unfavorable negative net present value (NPV) and return on investment (ROI) for the ENZ process and favorable positive NPV and ROI for the AUT process, indicating that the proposed venture is not profitable for α-monostearin production. However, the process can be profitable at improved operational sta- bility of Novozym 435 up to 1 kg per 3-ton product. The carbon footprint was calculated on the basis of the given capacity and conditions of 50 and 656 t CO2 eq./year for the ENZ and AUT processes, respectively. The synthesis of α-monostearin using the proposed route can be consid- ered a building block toward a cleaner large-scale production of α-monoglycerides.