Mohammad H. El-Dakdouki

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Beirut Arab University

Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction in which molecular hydrogen (H2) is added to an unsaturated compound, converting it to a saturated one. It is a key reaction in organic chemistry, playing a pivotal role in the synthesis of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and materials. Among the various methods, transfer hydrogenation has gained attention as a...

Urbanization has caused severe negative impacts on intra-urban river water worldwide. In this study, the WHO drinking water standards (2024) were used as reference to assess the physicochemical properties, heavy metals (HMs) content and microbial load in water and sediment samples collected from 25 locations along Rachiine River, located in Norther...

The phytochemical profile of essential oils is influenced by genetic and paragenetic factors. In this research, we studied the essential oils of Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula x intermedia cultivated in Lebanon. The latter is a cross hybrid between Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula latifolia and is also known as lavandin and Lavandula hybr...

Corrosion is a detrimental persistent industrial conundrum that can cause the failure of operating equipment and weakening of construction assemblies, thus threatening the lives of humans, and accelerating the consumption of the natural metals reservoirs. In this study, we deployed green silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as corrosion inhibitors for mild...

In recent years, the booming essential oil industry has produced residues that, if mismanaged, can harm ecosystems by contaminating soil and water. This study introduces a sustainable solution by transforming these residues into biochar using pyrolysis. Specifically, we evaluate the potential of oregano and citronella biochars to remove methylene o...

This study focused on testing the antibacterial and antifungal activity of Origanum syriacum (O. syriacum) and Cimbopogon winterianus (C. winterianus) extracts and their essential oils (EOs). The bacteria were isolated from urine samples and identified by a VITEK assay, and the fungi were isolated from spoiled food samples and further identified by...

Background Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae including Escherichia coli (E. coli), are recognized as a global public health threat due to their multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotypes and their rapid dissemination in aquatic environments. Nevertheless, studies investigating the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance...

The preparation of metallic nanoparticles using green synthetic approaches and its application toward the efficient degradation of environmentally hazardous dyes constitutes an attractive alternative to currently employed methods. In the current report, the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was successfully achieved using Actinidia de...

Certain plants like Rosemarinus officinalis, Lavandula angustifolia and Origanum vulgare have been used in the food industry for centuries. Cymbopogon winterianus (Java Citronella plant) is one of the most significant plants. The objective of this study is to screen for secondary metabolites by phytochemical screening, evaluate the antioxidant cont...

Citation: Kilo M., Saad I., Younes G., El-Dakdouki, M. H. (2024) Corrosion inhibition of carbon steel in acidic solutions using Phaseolus vulgaris L. extract as a green inhibitor, Mor. J. Abstract: The anticorrosion characteristics of Phaseolus vulgaris L. aqueous leaves extract were examined for the protection of carbon steel in 0.5 M sulfuric aci...

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation has emerged as a pivotal chemical process with transformative potential in various industries. This review highlights the significance of catalytic transfer hydrogenation, a reaction that facilitates the transfer of hydrogen from one molecule to another, using a distinct molecule as the hydrogen source in the presen...

Introduction: The anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities of a novel series of eleven pyrimido[1,2-b]pyridazin-2-one analogues substituted at position 7 were assessed in the current study. Methods: The physicochemical characteristics were studied using MolSoft software. The antiproliferative activity was investigated by MTT cell viability assay...

In this study, the impact of adding samarium iron garnet (Sm3Fe5O12; SmIG) nanoparticles to the (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr1.9Ca0.9Y0.2Cu2.1O8+δ ((Bi, Pb)-2212) superconductor was investigated. The conventional solid-state reaction method was utilized to synthesize (SmIG)x(Bi, Pb)-2212 phase with different concentrations (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, and 2 wt%)....

The green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was successfully achieved using Actinidia deliciosa (kiwifruit) peels aqueous extract as a bioreducing agent under optimized synthesis conditions. TEM and SEM images revealed quasi-spherical monodisperse nanoparticles 25 nm in diameter. The hydrodynamic diameter of the nanoparticles was 106 nm as...

The impact of adding the orthoferrite NdFeO3, at the nanoscale, on the (Cu0.5Tl0.5)Ba2Ca2Cu3O10–δ phase formation, microstructure, electrical and mechanical performance was studied. The nano-(NdFeO3)x/(CuTl)-1223 composites, with x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, and 2.00 wt.%, were prepared using the solid-state reaction technique. The X-ray diffr...

An efficient and straightforward palladium acetylacetonate-catalyzed hydrogen transfer of 4'- (phenylethynyl)acetophenone was developed in this study. Formic Acid was found to be the best hydrogen source in this catalytic system in the presence of triethylamine. Excellent conversions and selectivity were obtained in reducing the starting internal a...

The current study provides the first comprehensive assessment of rose geranium oil (commercially referred to as a hybrid of Pelargonium graveolens L'Hér.) extracted from plants cultivated in Lebanon. The chemical composition was deciphered by GC–MS, and citronellol (30.5%), citronellyl formate (15.9%), trans-geraniol (12.8%), linalool (8.6%), and i...

Background: Transfer hydrogenation methods that employ non-H2 hydrogen sources have evolved as an attractive alternative for conventional hydrogenation approaches. Objective: In this study, we aimed at developing optimized conditions to induce the selective transfer hydrogenation reduction of aromatic alkynes catalyzed by PdCl2(PPh3)2 and using fo...

The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of three vanadium-substituted polyoxomolybdates, [PMo11VO40]4−, [PMo10V2O40]5−, and [PMo9V3O40]6−, for the removal of methylene blue dye (MB) from aqueous solutions. The materials were synthesized and initially characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm purit...

Neodymium (Nd3+)-doped yttrium iron Garnet (YIG) nanoparticles, with compositional variation of NdxY3−xFe5O12 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 3.0), were prepared by co-precipitation method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized using TGA, XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX, and FTIR. The calcination temperature was chosen according to the maximum decomposition temperature (˃ 8...

Quinoxaline-1,4-dioxides (QDOs) constitute an intriguing class of heterocyclic bioactive compounds that found applications both in human and veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, the poor aqueous solubility of these analogues hampered their biological efficiency where higher doses are administered to achieve the desired clinical outcome, leading to a...

The present study aimed at evaluating the levels of microbiological contamination, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), and heavy metals (As, Cd, Hg, and Pb) in the edible tissues of commonly consumed fish (8 species) collected from the marine area of Tripoli, Northern Lebanon. Total coliform levels in all sampled fish, and Escherichia coli levels...

The inhibitory nature, thermodynamics and adsorptive properties of Phaseolus vulgaris L. extract, known as Fasolia seed extract were evaluated for carbon steel and zinc alloy corrosion in 0.5 M HCl using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. Theoretical fittings for kinetic-thermodynamic and Flory...

Background Plants of the genus Rubus (family Rosaceae) have been used for diverse medicinal purposes for centuries. We hypothesized that the scarcely investigated R. canescens DC. should, like other species of the genus Rubus, exhibit prominent antioxidant activity. Objective The present study investigates the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant acti...

l-Carnosine (β-alanyl-l-histidine) is an endogenous dipeptide that has been recognized for its broad spectrum of beneficial biological activities. However, the therapeutic utility of molecule has been hampered by its instability in human plasma (half-life in human serum < 5 min) due to the presence of carnosinase enzyme that catalyzes its hydrolysi...

The increased anthropogenic pressure and microbial discharges into the Eastern Mediterranean coasts necessitates continuous water quality assessment studies. The aim of the current study is to assess bacteriological loads in Tripoli's coastal water (northern Lebanon) in samples collected from two locations: site 1 including three distances from a l...

Length-weight relationships (LWRs) and relative condition factor are of great importance in fishery assessment studies since it provide information about the growth of the fish, its general wellbeing, and fitness in a marine habitat. LWRs for 9 fish species collected from the marine area of Tripoli-El Mina, North Lebanon, were established, and thei...

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of arterial walls and the rupturing of atherosclerotic plaques is a major cause of heart attack and stroke. Imaging techniques that can enable the detection of atherosclerosis plaques before clinical manifestation are urgently needed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful technique to image the mo...

Methods for the construction of C3-amino substituted 2. H-indazole motifs are scarce. While the Davis-Beirut reaction proved useful and versatile in the construction of alkoxy- and thia- C3-substituted 2. H-indazoles under mild basic conditions, the same success was not enjoyed when confronted with nitrogen-based nucleophiles. Therefore, we set out...

The study of interactions between metal ions and nucleobases, nucleosides, nucleotides, or nucleic acids has become an active research area in chemical, biological, and therapeutic fields. In this respect, the coordination behavior of nucleobase derivatives to transition metals was studied in order to get a better understanding about DNA-metal inte...

Cytotoxicity, radiosensitivity, and hyperthermia sensitivity of hyaluronan-mediated dextran-coated super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (HA-DESPIONs) were assessed in CD44-expressing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines at clinically relevant radiation dose and temperatures. Low-passage HNSCC cells were exposed to HA-DESP...

Heparan sulfates are implicated in a wide range of biological processes. A major challenge in deciphering their structure and activity relationship is the synthetic difficulties to access diverse heparan sulfate oligosaccharides with well-defined sulfation patterns. In order to expedite the synthesis, a divergent synthetic strategy was developed. B...

Adenine, thymine and uracil thio‐derived acyclonucleosides were synthesized and characterized by UV‐Vis, FT‐IR, 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopic techniques. The photophysical properties of the derivatives were evaluated in solvents with diverse polarities and at various pH values. The solvent dependent absorbance and emission spectral shifts were ana...

Triple negative breast cancer exhibit increased IL-6 expression compared with matched healthy breast tissue and a strong link between inflammation and cancer progression and metastasis has been reported. We investigated whether doxorubicin-hyaluronan-super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (DOX-HA-SPION) would show greater therapeutic efficacy...

A multi-functional “turn-off” fluorescent probe, N-[[(6-Amino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1,3- dimethyl-2,4-dioxo-5-pyrimidinyl)amino]thioxomethyl]- benzamide, was synthesized and characterized. The probe showed high sensitivity and selectivity towards copper(II), iron(III) and silver(I) ions via quenching of its fluorescence. The detection limits were foun...

Aim: We examine in this study the effect of two antitumor drugs metothrexate (MTX) and carboplatin (CPT) on the phospholipid content of plasma membrane of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. MTX is a folate analog that inhibit dihydrofolate reductase. CPT is a platinum-containing Short Communication antineoplastic drug that inter-chelates DNA and inhibits r...

Amphibian skin glands have gained a lot of attention for secreting a wide variety of bioactive chemical compounds, with notable significance in pharmacology and therapeutics. The continuous emergence of bacterial and fungal strains with varying degrees of resistance to common antimicrobial agents justifies the urgent need to develop new antimicrobi...

With their nanometer dimensions and unique magnetic properties, magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) have been used in a variety of biological applications including bioseparation, biosensing, noninvasive imaging, targeted drug delivery as well as disease treatment based on hyperthermia. The recognition of the many potential applications of magnetic NPs ha...

Magnetic nanoparticles are attractive platforms for biomedical applications including diagnosis and treatment of diseases. We have shown previously that hyaluronan-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (HA-SPION) enhanced the efficacy of the conjugated anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) in vitro against drug-sensitive and drug-resistant...

The development of a noninvasive method for the detection of Alzheimer's disease is of high current interest, which can be critical in early diagnosis and in guiding treatment of the disease. The aggregates of β-amyloid are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Carbohydrates such as gangliosides have been shown to play significant roles i...

Purpose: The cell surface adhesion molecule CD44 plays important roles in the initiation and development of atherosclerotic plaques. We aim to develop nanoparticles that can selectively target CD44 for the non-invasive detection of atherosclerotic plaques by magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: Magnetic glyconanoparticles with hyaluronan immobil...

We report that receptor mediated transcytosis can be utilized to facilitate tumor penetration by drug loaded nanoparticles (NPs). We synthesized hyaluronan (HA) coated silica nanoparticles (SNPs) containing a highly fluorescent core to target CD44 expressed on the cancer cell surface. Although prior studies have primarily focused on CD44 mediated e...

Nanoparticles (NPs) are being extensively studied as carriers for drug delivery, but they often have limited penetration inside tumors. We envision that by targeting an endocytic receptor on the cell surface, the uptake of NPs can be significantly enhanced through receptor mediated endocytosis. In addition, if the receptor is recycled to the cell s...

Finishing first: The highly complex structure of the title compound was assembled. The protective groups utilized, as well as the sequences for formation of the glycosyl linkages and protecting group removal are critical to the success of the synthesis. This first preparation of a heparan sulfate glycopeptide lays the foundation for accessing other...

Water-soluble, β-cyclodextrin conjugated superparamagnetic nanoparticles have been constructed. These particles showed selective binding to cholesterol crystals, which opens the door for the detection of cholesterol crystal-related diseases such as atherosclerosis by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Currently, there is high interest in developing multifunctional theranostic platforms for cancer monitoring and chemotherapy. Herein, we report hyaluronan (HA)-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (HA-SPION) as a promising system for targeted imaging and drug delivery. When incubated with cancer cells, HA-SPIONs were rapidly taken up a...

The benefits of utilizing marketed drugs as starting points to discover new therapeutic agents have been well documented within the IUPAC series of books that bear the title Analogue-based Drug Discovery (ABDD). Not as clearly demonstrated, however, is that ABDD also contributes to the elaboration of new basic principles and alternative drug design...

The area of nanotechnology has greatly expanded over the past two decades with applications in a diverse range of fields. The physical properties and therapeutic window of many drugs can be tuned by loading them into biocompatible nanocarriers that can help them reach the desired destinations. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a 'biologically green' multifun...

Mono- and bis-N-oxides of a 9-aza-anthrapyrazole derivative having two 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl appendages were prepared by using a mild oxaziridine reagent. Biochemical and cell culture assays indicate that the bis-oxide is an inactive prodrug that readily converts to the active parent molecule under hypoxic conditions that are analogous to those pr...

Highly stable colloidal hyaluronic acid coated magnetic nano-particles were prepared via a ligand exchange method. These particles exhibited excellent cell labeling efficiencies and superior potential as MRI contrast agents, which are useful to target tumor cells expressing hyaluronic acid receptors such as CD44.

Traditional chemical synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides first involves assembly of the full length oligosaccharide backbone followed by sulfation. Herein, we report an alternative strategy in which the O-sulfate was introduced onto glycosyl building blocks as a trichloroethyl ester prior to assembly of the full length oligosaccharide. This allow...

Scaled-up procedures and preparation of glyceollin I in multigram quantities are described. The synthesis features construction of a cis-fused ring system in high enantiomeric excess after Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of a key intermediate that is initially produced by an intramolecular Wittig reaction to afford the requisite alkene while s...