Tomoko Matsumoto

By Masahide Yasuda, Keisuke Takeo, Tomoko Matsumoto, Tsutomu Shiragami, Kazuhiro Sugamoto, Yoh-ichi Matsushita and Yasuyuki Ishii

Part of the book: Sustainable Degradation of Lignocellulosic Biomass

By Jin Matsumoto, Tomoko Matsumoto, Kazuya Yasuda and Masahide Yasuda

The activity of singlet-oxygen sensitizers for photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of microorganisms and photodynamic therapy of tumor cells has been evaluated using Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and human cancer cell lines. In this chapter, drug resistance of E. coli was examined based on the PDI activity of a variety of RPy-P-porphyrin sensitizers with different number of ionic valence and different hydrophobic characters. The PDI activities toward E. coli were evaluated using the minimum effective concentrations ([P]) of the porphyrin sensitizers. It was found that the [P] value for E. coli was larger than that for S. cerevisiae. E. coli has drug-resistance toward hydrophobic and mono-cationic porphyrins. However, E. coli has weak drug-resistance toward the porphyrins with both polycationic character and hydrophobicity. Since the outer membrane mainly consists of lipopolysaccharides and phospholipids that are negatively charged, cationic porphyrins are able to adsorb to the outer leaflet. Then the cationic porphyrins with hydrophobic character can interact with not only the outer leaflet but also inner leaflet of the outer membrane and the plasma membrane. Thus, porphyrins may be incorporated inside E. coli cells via the self-promoted uptake pathway. Moreover, polycationic porphyrins can interact with DNA and proteins by strong binding affinities.

Part of the book: The Universe of Escherichia coli

By Masahide Yasuda, Tomoko Matsumoto and Toshiaki Yamashita

Biodiesel fuel (BDF) has gained much attention as a new sustainable energy alternative to petroleum-based fuels. BDF is produced by transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fats with methanol along with the co-production of glycerol. Indeed, transesterification of vegetable oil (136.5 g) with methanol (23.8 g) was performed under heating at 61°C for 2 h in the presence of NaOH (0.485 g) to produce methyl alkanoate (BDF) and glycerol in 83.7 and 73.3% yields, respectively. Although BDF was easily isolated by phase separation from the reaction mixture, glycerol and unreacted methanol remained as waste. In order to construct a clean BDF synthesis, the aqueous solution of glycerol and methanol was subjected to sacrificial H2 production over a Pt-loaded TiO2 catalyst under UV irradiation by high-pressure mercury lamp. H2 was produced in high yield. The combustion energy (ΔH) of the evolved H2 reached 100.7% of the total ΔH of glycerol and methanol. Thus, sacrificial agents such as glycerol and methanol with all of the carbon attached to oxygen atoms can continue to serve as an electron source until their sacrificial ability was exhausted. Sacrificial H2 production will provide a promising approach in the utilization of by-products derived from BDF synthesis.

Part of the book: Glycerine Production and Transformation