The extraction of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from plant proteins remains challenging due to their low abundance, structural diversity, and the need for mild, efficient, and selective enrichment methods. In this study, a phosphorylated biochar adsorbent (BCp-KOH) derived from oil-tea seed husk was developed and applied to the rapid enrichment of AMPs from fava bean protein hydrolyzate. The material exhibited a high surface area, abundant phosphate groups, and strong cation-exchange capacity. BCp-KOH selectively enriches cationic AMPs from papain and pepsin digests, yielding adsorption ratios of 30.00% and 29.80%, respectively. The enriched peptides demonstrated markedly enhanced antibacterial activity. LC-MS/MS identification, network pharmacology analysis, and molecular docking further confirmed the strong affinity of the enriched peptides toward bacterial dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and DNA gyrase. Overall, this biochar-based extraction strategy not only provides an efficient approach for isolating plant-derived AMPs but also opens a feasible pathway for developing natural antimicrobial agents as alternatives to chemical preservatives, controlling microbial contamination during food processing and storage, and improving food safety. Future studies should validate the antibacterial efficacy and stability of these peptides in real food matrices (e.g., meat products, dairy, or fruits and vegetables) to promote their practical application in food preservation.

This study developed a sustainable, edible composite film based on carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) and gelatin (GL), incorporating antimicrobial peptides from fava beans (FBAP) for active food packaging. The antimicrobial composite film (U-CMCS/GL-FBAP) was prepared via ultrasonication-assisted cross-linking. Structural analysis confirmed enhanced hydrogen-bonding interactions among the components. The film exhibited a water contact angle of 108.3°, indicating modulated surface wettability. The incorporation of FBAP markedly improved the mechanical properties, increasing the tensile strength and flexibility by approximately 2 times and 1.12 times, respectively. The film also demonstrated a low water vapor permeability (WVP) of 3.55× 10-11 g·m/(m2·s·Pa) and significant antioxidant activity, with a DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging rates of 40.89% and 79.44%. Furthermore, the film demonstrated strong UV-blocking properties and sustained antibacterial activity, achieving a cumulative FBAP release of 65.82% over 96 h. In application trials on winter jujubes and cherry tomatoes, the coating effectively extended the shelf life by 11 days, respectively, primarily by suppressing microbial growth and reducing quality deterioration. Overall, the U-CMCS/GL-FBAP film combines balanced surface properties, enhanced mechanical and barrier performance, antioxidant capacity, and controlled antimicrobial release, offering a promising and sustainable strategy for the high-value utilization of legume by-products in food preservation.

This study presents an effective strategy for the screening and enrichment of antioxidant peptides from soybean protein using Fe3O4-modified carbon fibers with abundant metal-binding sites. Successful material synthesis was confirmed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Under optimized adsorption conditions, an adsorption ratio of 22.95% was achieved, and the resulting peptide fractions displayed significantly enhanced antioxidant activity. Through integrated Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis, bioactivity prediction tools, four highactivity peptides were identified: KFFFR, RYFPF, FLWLR, and WERLY. Among them, WERLY exhibited the most potent antioxidant properties, with IC50 values of 0.437, 0.638, 0.182, and 0.583 mg/mL for ABTS, superoxide, hydroxyl radical scavenging, and ferrous ion chelation, respectively. Notably, its hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity was comparable to that of the positive control, glutathione. Cellular assays further demonstrated that WERLY protected HepG2 cells against oxidative damage, as evidenced by increased activities of Catalase (CAT), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), and Glutathione Peroxidase (GSH-Px), along with reduced Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations suggested that WERLY may interact with the Keap1 protein, providing supportive insight into its potential involvement in cellular antioxidant defense mechanisms. However, the precise molecular mechanism requires further validation. Overall, this study demonstrates that Fe3O4-modified carbon fibers provide an efficient platform for screening antioxidant peptides from soybean protein, offering a promising strategy for the development of functional bioactive peptides.

Food-derived antioxidant peptides are promising natural alternatives to synthetic antioxidants, but their targeted discovery remains challenging. Here, an integrated strategy combining activity-guided fractionation, peptidomics, molecular simulations, and biological validation was used to identify antioxidant peptides from large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) protein hydrolysates. LPH-3 and its gel filtration sub-fraction F3 showed the highest antioxidant activities. Peptidomics of F3 identified 89 peptides, from which SG-8, DN-11, and GR-13 were prioritized. Among them, SG-8 showed the strongest radical-scavenging activity and the most significant protection against H₂O₂-induced oxidative damage in Caco-2 cells. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations indicated that SG-8 bound more strongly and stably to the Keap1 Kelch domain than DN-11. RT-qPCR and ML385 inhibition further suggested that its cytoprotective effect was associated with modulation of the Keap1–Nrf2 pathway. Overall, SG-8 is a promising marine-derived antioxidant peptide.

In this work, a magnetic N-doped Zn/Co-MOF derived carbon with superior anti-interference performance was prepared by calcining bimetallic organic frameworks (ZIF-67@ZIF-8) under nitrogen protection, demonstrating exceptional adsorption capabilities toward emerging new cyclic chlorine disinfection byproducts (Cl-DBPs) in aquatic environments. The pyrolysis process endowed the resultant material (M-NC-700) with superior magnetic properties (saturation magnetization of 76.81 emu/g), enabling facile magnetic separation to streamline operational procedures. Notably, the hierarchical nanoporous architecture generated during high-temperature treatment significantly enhanced mass transfer efficiency, achieving rapid adsorption equilibrium within 2 min and delivering a maximum capacity of 295.1-297.8 mg g- 1. The main forces involved during the adsorption procedure include it-it, halogen bonding, complexation, and hydrophobic interactions. Remarkably, M-NC-700 exhibited outstanding anti-interference ability, maintaining high adsorption performance across an extended pH range (3-11), under elevated humic acid concentrations (50 mg L- 1), and at high ionic strength conditions (0.1 mol L- 1). In addition, M-NC-700 has extremely strong stability, with little change in adsorption capacity within 8 adsorption-desorption cycles. Cell experiments show that M-NC-700 has relatively high safety. M-NC-700 ' s applicability was validated using real water samples, establishing a new technology for efficient, rapid, and stable removal of Cl-DBPs from aqueous environments.

As a toxic persistent organic pollutant, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) accumulates in surface water at varying concentrations, thereby posing a significant hazard to human health and ecological safety. Thus, the development of adsorbents applicable to multiple scenarios is urgently needed. In this study, we propose a metal center engineering strategy for porphyrin-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Leveraging density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experimental analysis, we systematically investigated five metals (Ti, Fe, Cu, In, Ce) and established a clear correlation: a narrower energy gap between the d-band center of the metal center and the Fermi level corresponds to significantly enhanced PFOA adsorption efficiency. Ce-COF exhibited an exceptional maximum adsorption capacity for PFOA of 1494.1 ± 52.0 mg·g-1 and demonstrated high removal efficiency across a broad concentration range, from trace levels (1 μg L-1, 96%) to high concentrations (20 mg·L-1, 99%). These findings elucidate the critical role of the d-band center in M-COF design, offering a novel mechanistic pathway for the rational construction of next-generation adsorbents for efficient PFOA remediation.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics (FQs) persist in aquatic environments due to high stability, causing ecological and health risks by promoting drug-resistant strains. Efficient purification technologies are thus urgently needed. However, existing adsorbents have critical flaws: single-functionalization cannot achieve both high capacity and selectivity, while powders agglomerate, are hard to recover, and show slow kinetics and poor anti-interference ability. To solve this, this study prepared a bifunctional composite membrane (SO3H-FCOF@CMCF) by in-situ growth of fluorinated covalent organic framework on carboxymethyl cellulose fiber and sulfonation, realizing "dual-functionalization + membrane morphology" synergy. Fluorine atoms enhance selective affinity via F-F interactions, and -SO3H groups increase adsorption capacity through electrostatic and hydrogen bonding. Their synergy forms a four-way adsorption mechanism, improving selectivity and stability. The material reaches adsorption equilibrium in 20 min, with maximum adsorption capacities of 305.45-358.64 mg g- 1 for norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin. It keeps over 90% capacity after six cycles and shows strong resistance to pH changes, high salt, coexisting ions and natural organic matter. In raw well water, tap water, and commercially bottled water, the material achieves over 85% FQs removal efficiency, demonstrating robust practical applicability. This study provides an efficient and convenient dual-functional membrane material solution for FQs pollution control.

A non-derivatized high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of hydroxyl acids and their amination products in ammonolysis reaction mixtures. By optimizing the mobile phase composition and pH (0.04 M KH2PO4-5% methanol, pH = 2.7), complete separation of hydroxyl acids and their amination products was achieved, using lactic acid as a model substrate. Lactic acid exhibited excellent linearity within the range of 0.02 to 25 mM (R2 = 0.99968), with a relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 6) of 3.51% and a recovery ratio between 96.10% and 102.23%. Similarly, alanine exhibited good linearity from 0.02 to 50 mM (R2 = 0.99999) with an RSD of 4.04% and recovery ratios between 97.30% and 100.03%. Both analytes demonstrated good intra-day precision, with RSDs of 4.23% and 1.18%, respectively. The substrate universality tests confirmed the method's ability to rapidly and effectively separate other hydroxyl acids and their corresponding amino acids in ammonolysis reactions. The results of quantitative comparison with AQC, PITC, and OPA derivatization also proved the method to be a reliable approach for the individual or simultaneous quantification of hydroxyl acids and amino acids, offering essential support for monitoring the conversion ratio and selectivity in hydroxyl acid amination processes. Moreover, it provides valuable guidance for optimizing the amination reaction of hydroxyl groups, potentially extending catalytic advantages to other related reactions.

Magnetic relaxation switch (MRS) sensors based on magnetic nanoparticles have received much attention in the field of environmental monitoring due to their rapid response and resistance to complex matrix interference. However, conventional MRS (cMRS) sensors constructed using magnetic nanoparticles have low sensitivity due to the lower relaxation rate of the magnetic probe. In this study, self-generated porous Fe3O4 were employed in the MRS sensors for detection of caffeine, and the regulation of transverse relaxation performance by porous structure has been explored. The abundant porous structure of self-generated porous Fe3O4 restricted the diffusion of the surrounding water molecules, and the controllable pore size can effectively adjust the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), as a result, improving the transverse relaxation properties. The developed MRS sensor exhibits a wide linear detection range from 0.5 to 100 ng/mL and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.047 ng/mL for caffeine. The LOD is 12 times lower than that of cMRS sensors. Consequently, the MRS sensor was further applied to the detection of caffeine in surface water samples. The results were consistent with those detected using high-performance liquid chromatography, demonstrating its superior anti-interference ability and the significant potential in environmental monitoring and food safety domains.

Several bioactive peptides derived from food sources exhibit high immunomodulatory activity. In our previous analyses, a potential rice-derived immunoregulatory peptide, GBP1 (NSVFRALPVDVVANAYR) was screened. However, its immunomodulatory function was not thoroughly investigated. In this study, we explored the immunomodulatory activity of the GBP1 peptide using mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DC2.4). The results showed that GBP1 entered DC2.4 cells and stimulated their maturation. 10 μg/mL of GBP1 peptide promoted cell proliferation and maintained healthy cell morphology. Compared to the control group, the expression levels of CD86 and MHC II molecules in the 10 μg/mL GBP1 peptide group increased by 25.82

Ganoderma, as a representative resource of both food and medicine, has held a significant place in traditional medicine since ancient times. It is rich in various bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, triterpenoids, sterols, and proteins, and exhibits a wide range of pharmacological activities including immunomodulatory, antitumor, antioxidant, and hypoglycemic effects. This review focuses on the chemical characteristics and molecular mechanisms of the major active constituents of G. lucidum, and briefly outlines the development trends of its product types, with particular emphasis on its potential applications in the prevention and management of chronic diseases and in health promotion. Based on this, the current trends in G. lucidum product development are further summarized. Future research should concentrate on elucidating the synergistic mechanisms of active components, accumulating clinical evidence, and establishing standardized evaluation systems to promote the scientific application of G. lucidum as a medicinal and edible product.

In this study, rice husk biochar was engineered with abundant iron ion sites to enhance the enrichment of antioxidant peptides from rice protein hydrolysates through metal-chelating interactions. The it-it interactions and metal ion chelation were identified as the primary mechanisms for the enrichment process. Through peptide sequencing, four peptides were identified: LKFL (P1: Leu-Lys-Phe-Leu), QLLF (P2: Gln-Leu-Leu-Phe), WLAYG (P3: Trp-Leu-Ala-Tyr-Gly), and HFCGG (P4: His-Phe-Cys-Gly-Gly). The vitro analysis and molecular docking revealed that peptides P1-P4 possessed remarkable scavenging ability against radicals and Fe2+ chelating ability. Notably, peptide P4 showed radical scavenging activity comparable to glutathione (GSH) against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2 '-azinobis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate (ABTS) radicals. Cellular experiments further confirmed that peptide P4 effectively protected HepG2 cells from oxidative stress-induced damage. The modified rice husk biochar proved to be an effective means for enriching rice antioxidant peptides from protein hydrolysates.

Immunosuppressant drugs (ISDs) are widely used in the treatment of organ rejection following human transplantation and in autoimmune diseases. Herein, this study demonstrates that carbonylated covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with pore-matching capabilities can serve as promising interference-resistant adsorbents for the rapid and efficient capture of ISDs (cyclosporin A (CsA), tacrolimus (FK-506), and rapamycin (RPM)) from complex whole blood matrices. Under optimized conditions, MCOF-2-COOH, with a pore size 1.5 times the diameter of the drug molecule, demonstrated superior ISDs adsorption performance, achieving an adsorption capacity of up to 84.95 mg g−1 in 10 min. Instrumental characterization and theoretical calculations elucidated the potential adsorption matrix, revealing that the COF provides multiple forces, including hydrogen bonding, electrostatics, and π-π interactions, with the carboxyl site playing a crucial role. This study provides both a theoretical basis and experimental evidence for the use of COF materials in the selective adsorption of drugs from complex matrices, as well as a strategy for designing functionally customized COFs for drug therapy monitoring applications.

By precisely regulating ionic liquids (ILs) as dual functional mediators (green solvents/pore structure directing agents), we have achieved synthesis of three-dimensional hierarchical porous covalent organic frameworks (3DCOF). The prepared IL@3D-COF exhibited a multiscale nanopores structure and larger specific surface area, which was used as the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coating material for the dual-mode SPME of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from thermal processed meats. Especially, the incorporation of ILs functional groups provided abundant active adsorption sites, while the unique hierarchical pore architecture of IL@3D-COF significantly enhanced mass transfer kinetics. Under the accelerated extraction of high mass transfer rate and multiple interactions (it-it stacking, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions), extraction equilibrium can be achieved in just 8 min. When combined with gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), the 16 PAHs in meat samples have wide linear range (0.2-500 mu g kg- 1) with low quantitative limits of 0.02-0.78 mu g kg- 1. Compared with other coating materials, IL@3D-COF coating materials are not only efficient and time-saving in the extraction process, with excellent extraction effects, but also have mild synthesis conditions and are environmentally friendly. It can provide a new alternative for sensitive analysis of PAHs in thermal processed meat products.

Bisphenols, as a new class of environmental endocrine disruptors (EED), can interfere with the endocrine system of the human body and lead to various diseases. In this study, a novel polyaniline functionalized metal–organic framework (PANI@MIL-101@HF) was synthesized by utilizing hollow fibers (HF) as the the immobilization carrier, and combined with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) for solid-liquid cooperative adsorption to determine bisphenols (BPs) in serum samples. The immobilized adsorbent exhibited excellent high stability and hydrophobicity. Furthermore, the inclusion of amino and benzene rings in PANI enhanced the adsorption efficiency of BPs through π–π and hydrogen bond interactions. Surprisingly, owing to the synergies of size exclusion effect of the MIL-101 and HF, the exclusion rate of protein reached as high as 99.2–99.9

Pea peptides can lead to degradation through oxidation, deamidation, hydrolysis, or cyclization during production, processing, and storage, which in turn limit their broader application. To stabilize pea peptides, this study employed spray drying technology to create a pea peptide micro-encapsule using maltodextrin, gum tragacanth, and pea peptides. Four key factors, including polysaccharide ratio, glycopeptide ratio, solid-liquid ratio, and inlet temperature, were optimized to enhance the antioxidant properties of the pea peptide micro-encapsule. The results indicated that the utilization of maltodextrin and gum tragacanth significantly improves the storage stability and antioxidant activity of pea peptides. Moreover, optimal storage stability for pea peptides was achieved with a polysaccharide ratio of 9:1, a glycopeptide ratio of 10:1, a solid-liquid ratio of 4:40, and an inlet temperature of 180 °C. After 60 days of storage, the encapsulated pea peptides maintained 70.22 %, 25.19 %, and 40.32 % for scavenging abilities to hydroxyl radical, superoxide anion, and ABTS radical, respectively. In contrast, the unencapsulated pea peptides showed a decline to 47.02 %, 0 %, and 24.46 % in the same antioxidant activities after storage. These findings underscore the potential of spray drying technology to enhance the functional properties of pea peptides for various applications.

The extraction methods for antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from plants are varied, but the absence of a standardized and rapid technique remains a challenge. In this study, a functionalized biochar was developed and characterized for the extraction of AMPs from pea protein hydrolysates. The results indicated that the biochar mainly enriched AMPs through electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding and pore filling. Then three novel cationic antimicrobial peptides were identified, among which the RDLFK (Arg-Asp-Leu-Phe-Lys) had the greatest inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis, showcasing IC50 value of 2.372 and 1.000 mg/ mL, respectively. Additionally, it was found that RDLFK could damage bacterial cell membranes and penetrate the cells to inhibit DNA synthesis. These results provided that the biochar-based extraction method presents an efficient and promising avenue for isolating AMPs, addressing a critical gap in the current methodologies for their extraction from plant sources.

Capsaicin (CAP) is a primary indicator for assessing the level of pungency. Herein, iron-based single-atom nanozymes (SAzymes) (Fe/NC) with exceptional oxidase-like activity were used to construct an immunosensor for CAP analysis. Fe/NC could imitate oxidase actions by transforming O-2 to O-center dot(2)- radicals in the absence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which could avoid complex operations and unstable results. By regulating the Fe atom loads, an optimal Fe-0.7/NC atom usage rate could improve the catalytic activity (Michaelis-Menten constant (K-m) = 0.09 mM). Fe-0.7/NC was integrated with goat antimouse IgG by facile mix incubation to develop a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Our Fe-0.7/NC immunosensing platform is anticipated to outperform the conventional ELISA in terms of stability and shelf life. The proposed immunosensor provided color responses across 0.01-1000 ng/mL CAP concentrations, with a detection limit of 0.046 ng/mL. Fe/NC may have potential as nanozymes for CAP detection in spicy foods, with promising applications in food biosensing.

Due to the complexity of biological sample matrix, the automated and high-throughput pretreatment technology is urgently needed for monitoring the antipsychotic drugs for mental patients. In this study, functionalized magnetic zirconium-based organic framework nanocomposites (Fe3O4@SiO2@Zr-MOFs) were successfully designed and synthesized by the layer-by-layer growth. Among them, Fe3O4@SiO2@UiO-67-COOH showed the best adsorption performance, and at the same time it exhibited excellent water dispersibility, high thermal stability, chemical stability and high hydrophobicity. Results of adsorption kinetics, isotherm and FT-IR showed that the adsorption process was dominated by chemical adsorption (hydrogen bond, electrostatic interaction, pi-pi interaction) and monolayer adsorption. Moreover, the smaller pore size improved the protein exclusion rate which reached 98.9-99.8%. Based on the above result, the synthesized magnetic nanoparticles were introduced to 96-well automatic extractor, antipsychotic drugs in 96 serum samples were automatically extracted within 9 min, which most greatly saved the time and labor costs and avoided artificial errors. By further integrating with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), antipsychotic drugs can be detected in the range of 0.2-3.0 ng mL-1 with a quantitative limit of 0.06-0.9 ng mL-1. The recoveries of antipsychotic drugs and their metabolites in serum ranged from 95.7% to 112.3% within 1.4-6.5% of RSD. These features indicate that the proposed method is promising for high throughput and sensitively monitoring of drugs and other hazardous substances.

In this work, a novel porous carbon nanocomposite was successfully prepared by creatively using polyacrylic acid to modify N-doped porous carbon, which was used to adsorb and remove new cyclic chlorine disinfection byproducts in various water environments. The high-temperature calcination process at 1000 degrees C created a hierarchical pore structure that contained both micropores and mesopores. This structure significantly increased the mass transfer efficiency of the target on the adsorbent. The incorporation of N atoms enhanced NC's binding affinity and furnished target adsorption sites. The dispersion of N-doped porous carbon was significantly improved after polyacrylic acid modification. Moreover, the surface charge of NC -1000 was also altered, facilitating easier electrostatic interaction with DBPs. Subsequently, faster adsorption kinetics was obtained within 2 min, and the removal efficiency of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) were promoted to 94.10 % and 98.71 %, respectively. Characterization and data analysis revealed that the primary adsorption mechanism was chemical (electrostatic interaction, hydrophobic interaction, pi-pi interaction, and hydrogen bond). Surprisingly, factors such as ionic strength, natural organic matter and pH had minimal impact on the adsorption process, indicating that NC-1000@PAA had excellent anti-interference performance. Despite undergoing four adsorption-desorption cycles, NC-1000@PAA upheld a steady composition along with a remarkable adsorption capability. Furthermore, NC-1000@PAA had negligible cytotoxicity, which was assessed by cell experiments. The application of NC-1000@PAA was attested in various environmental waters. The proposed method provided a new strategy to pollutant removal by NC-1000@PAA under extensive conditions, which had wide perspective and practicability on the purification treatment of environmental water.