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Dive into the research topics where Luis Cruz is active.

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Featured researches published by Luis Cruz.


Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry | 2010

Pyranoanthocyanin Dimers: A New Family of Turquoise Blue Anthocyanin-Derived Pigments Found in Port Wine

Joana Oliveira; Joana Azevedo; Artur M. S. Silva; Natércia Teixeira; Luis Cruz; Nuno Mateus; Victor de Freitas

In the present work, several compounds bearing similar spectroscopic features were found to occur in aged Port wines and respective sediments (lees). The data obtained revealed two new families of compounds with unique spectroscopic characteristics, displaying a wavelength of the maximum absorption at high wavelength in the visible spectrum at approximately 730 and approximately 680 nm. The structure of these pigments was elucidated by liquid chromatography/diode array detector-mass spectrometry (LC/DAD-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and their formation pathway in wines was established. Their structure is constituted by two pyranoanthocyanin moieties linked together through a methyne bridge. This new family of compounds displays an attractive and rare turquoise blue color at acidic conditions and has never been reported in the literature.


Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry | 2009

Antioxidant and biological properties of bioactive phenolic compounds from Quercus suber L.

Ana Fernandes; Iva Fernandes; Luis Cruz; Nuno Mateus; Miguel Cabral; Victor de Freitas

Phenolic compounds, namely, hydrolyzable tannins and low molecular weight phenolic compounds, were isolated and purified from Portuguese cork from Quercus suber L. Some of these compounds were studied to evaluate their antioxidant activity, including free-radical scavenging capacity (DPPH method) and reducing capacity (FRAP method). All compounds tested showed significant antioxidant activity, namely, antiradical and reducing properties. The antiradical capacity seemed to increase with the presence of galloyl groups. Regarding the reducing capacity, this structure-activity relationship was not so clear. These compounds were also studied to evaluate the growth inhibitory effect on the estrogen responsive human breast cancer cell line (ER+) MCF-7 and two other colon cancer cell lines (Caco-2 and HT-29). Generally, all the compounds tested exhibited, after a continuous exposure during a 48 h period, a dose-dependent growth inhibitory effect. Relative inhibitory activity was primarily related to the number of phenolic hydroxyl groups (galloyl and HHDP moieties) found in the active structures, with more groups generally conferring increased effects, except for HHDP-di-galloyl-glucose. Mongolicain B showed a greater potential to inhibit the growth of the three cell lines tested, identical to the effect observed with castalagin. Since these compounds are structurally related with each other, this activity might be based within the C-glycosidic ellagitannin moiety.


Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry | 2008

Role of Vinylcatechin in the Formation of Pyranomalvidin-3-glucoside−(+)-Catechin

Luis Cruz; Natércia Teixeira; Artur M. S. Silva; Nuno Mateus; Jose Borges; Victor de Freitas

Reactions between malvidin-3-glucoside (mv3glc) and 8-vinylcatechin were carried out to synthesize pyranomv3glc-(+)-catechin pigment and to study the formation of intermediates. A rapid decrease of mv3glc content concomitant with the formation of more complex structures such as mv3glc-vinylcatechin [precursor of pyranomv3glc-(+)-catechin pigment] and mv3glc-divinylcatechin was observed. On the other hand, 8-vinylcatechin undergoes acid-catalyzed dimerization in model wine solution, giving rise to 8-vinylcatechin dimers. These compounds were also found in the reaction between mv3glc and (+)-catechin mediated by acetaldehyde, which provides evidence for the formation of 8-vinylcatechin and its involvement in the formation of pyranoanthocyanins in aged red wines.


Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry | 2013

Structural Features of Copigmentation of Oenin with Different Polyphenol Copigments

Natércia Teixeira; Luis Cruz; Natércia F. Brás; Nuno Mateus; Maria J. Ramos; Victor de Freitas

The copigmentation binding constants (K) for the interaction of different copigments with oenin (major red wine anthocyanin) were determined. All tests were performed in a 12% ethanol citrate buffer solution (0.2 M) at pH 3.5, with an ionic strength adjusted to 0.5 M by the addition of sodium chloride. Over the past years, several copigmentation studies were made and many copigments were tested, but none of them included prodelphinidin B3 or a dimeric-type adduct like oenin-(O)-catechin, probably due to the difficulty in obtaining them. The data yielded from this study allowed concluding that (a) the presence of a pyrogallol group in the B ring of the flavan-3-ol structure slightly increases the copimentation potential and (b) within all copigments tested oenin-(O)-catechin was revealed to be the best. According to computational studies performed on epicatechin/oenin, epigallocatechin/oenin, procyanidin B3/oenin, and oenin-(O)-catechin/oenin complexes, the ΔGbinding energy of the oenin-(O)-catechin/oenin complex is the most negative compared to the other copigmentation complexes, hence being more stable and thermodynamically favored. All structural data show that oenin-(O)-catechin and epigallocatechin are closer to the pigment molecule, which is in accordance with these two copigments having the highest experimental copigmentation binding constants for oenin.


Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling | 2015

Force-Field Induced Bias in the Structure of Aβ21–30: A Comparison of OPLS, AMBER, CHARMM, and GROMOS Force Fields

Micholas Dean Smith; J. Srinivasa Rao; Elizabeth Segelken; Luis Cruz

In this work we examine the dynamics of an intrinsically disordered protein fragment of the amyloid β, the Aβ21-30, under seven commonly used molecular dynamics force fields (OPLS-AA, CHARMM27-CMAP, AMBER99, AMBER99SB, AMBER99SB-ILDN, AMBER03, and GROMOS53A6), and three water models (TIP3P, TIP4P, and SPC/E). We find that the tested force fields and water models have little effect on the measures of radii of gyration and solvent accessible surface area (SASA); however, secondary structure measures and intrapeptide hydrogen-bonding are significantly modified, with AMBER (99, 99SB, 99SB-ILDN, and 03) and CHARMM22/27 force-fields readily increasing helical content and the variety of intrapeptide hydrogen bonds. On the basis of a comparison between the population of helical and β structures found in experiments, our data suggest that force fields that suppress the formation of helical structure might be a better choice to model the Aβ21-30 peptide.


Food Chemistry | 2016

Antioxidant and antiproliferative properties of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins.

André Sousa; Paula Araújo; Joana Azevedo; Luis Cruz; Iva Fernandes; Nuno Mateus; Victor de Freitas

The study of the antioxidant properties of six deoxyanthocyanidins (deoxypeonidin, deoxymalvidin, luteolinidin, apigeninidin, guaiacylcatechinpyrylium and syringylcatechinpyrylium) and an anthocyanin (cyanidin-3-glucoside) was carried out. The aim was to evaluate the relationship between the structure and the antioxidant properties of individual deoxyanthocyanidins, compared to a common anthocyanin derivative, cyanidin-3-glucoside. The ability of these compounds to inhibit lipid peroxidation in a liposome membrane system was examined by monitoring oxygen consumption and the antiradical and reducing capacities were determined using the DPPH and FRAP assay, respectively. The results showed that all the compounds tested presented antioxidant properties. Cyanidin-3-glucoside presented higher antiradical and reducing activities in the DPPH and FRAP assay, although in the liposome model, the guaiacylcatechinpyrylium was more effective inhibiting lipid peroxyl radicals. Additionally, the anti-proliferative effects of deoxyanthocyanidins, have been evaluated against two cancer cell lines from stomach (AGS, MKN-28) and one colon cancer cell (Caco-2), and compared with the effect of the respective anthocyanins. Considering the antiproliferative activity, all compounds were active against Caco-2 cell line, being the ones with glucose moiety and oaklin Scp the most active. Deoxyanthocyanidins, and in particular, guaiacylcatechinpyrylium may be regarded as potential food colorants.


Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry | 2014

Antioxidant Features of Red Wine Pyranoanthocyanins: Experimental and Theoretical Approaches

Joana Azevedo; Joana Oliveira; Luis Cruz; Natércia Teixeira; Natércia F. Brás; Victor de Freitas; Nuno Mateus

This work is focused on the study of the antioxidant properties of red wine anthocyanin derivatives (carboxypyranoanthocyanins, methylpyranoanthocyanins, oxovitisins, and pyranoanthocyanin-phenolics) derived from malvidin-3-glucoside. Some antioxidant features were determined using the DPPH assay and the ability to delay lipid peroxidation in a liposome membrane system by monitoring oxygen consumption. The pyranoanthocyanin-phenolics have higher antioxidant potential than that of malvidin-3-glucoside, suggesting that the addition of a catechol or flavanol moiety increases the antioxidant capacity. The only derivatives that showed lower antioxidant features than malvidin-3-glucoside were oxovitisins and methylpyranomalvidin-3-glucoside. Also, the radical scavenging capacity of these pyranoanthocyanins was computationally explored using DFT methods. All pyranoanthocyanins were suggested as good candidates as antioxidant compounds because they easily donate an H atom to the free radicals, originating stable species. Altogether, these results support the fact that the antioxidant potential arising from anthocyanins is not impaired by some of their transformations during red wine aging.


Journal of Physical Chemistry B | 2010

Establishment of the Chemical Equilibria of Different Types of Pyranoanthocyanins in Aqueous Solutions: Evidence for the Formation of Aggregation in Pyranomalvidin-3-O-coumaroylglucoside-(+)-catechin

Luis Cruz; Vesselin Petrov; Natércia Teixeira; Nuno Mateus; Fernando Pina; Victor de Freitas

The chemical equilibria of the pyranomalvidin-3-glucosides linked to (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, and catechol moieties (and the respective coumaroylglucoside compounds) were established by means of UV-vis spectroscopy. The conjugated double bonds among pyranic rings C and D provide a higher electronic delocalization that prevents the nucleophilic attack of water at position 2. Consequently, besides flavylium cation (AH(+)), the bases A, A(-), and A(2-) have been identified by increasing pH, and the respective acidity constants were determined by spectrophotometry. The formation of dimers at higher concentration was observed for pyranomalvidin-3-O-coumaroylglucoside-(+)-catechin, and the respective data treated by the exciton model suggests the formation of a dimer where the monomers form J-type aggregates with the dipolar moments in opposite directions and rotated by 174° at a distance of 5.2 Å (from the center).


Journal of Physical Chemistry B | 2012

Influence of a Flavan-3-ol Substituent on the Affinity of Anthocyanins (Pigments) toward Vinylcatechin Dimers and Proanthocyanidins (Copigments)

Frederico Nave; Natércia F. Brás; Luis Cruz; Natércia Teixeira; Nuno Mateus; Maria J. Ramos; Florent Di Meo; Patrick Trouillas; Olivier Dangles; Victor de Freitas

The aim of this study is to investigate interactions possibly taking place in red wine between three flavanols (copigments, CP), i.e., two epimeric vinylcatechin dimers (CP1 and CP2) and catechin dimer B3 (CP3), and a specific pigment resulting from the condensation between the main grape anthocyanin malvidin 3-O-glucoside (oenin) and catechin, catechin-(4→8)-oenin. By comparison with our previous work on oenin itself, the influence of the catechin moiety of the anthocyanin in the binding is established. The thermodynamic parameters show that both vinylcatechin dimers exhibit a higher affinity for catechin-(4→8)-oenin, in comparison with proanthocyanidin B3, as previously observed with oenin. However, the corresponding binding constants are weaker, probably due to steric hindrance in the anthocyanin brought by the flavanol nucleus. Consequently, catechin-(4→8)-oenin should be much less stabilized by copigmentation in hydroalcoholic solution than oenin. Quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations are also performed to interpret the binding data, to specify the relative arrangement of the pigment and copigment molecules within the complexes, and to interpret their absorption properties in the visible range.


Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry | 2010

Vinylcatechin Dimers Are Much Better Copigments for Anthocyanins than Catechin Dimer Procyanidin B3

Luis Cruz; Natércia F. Brás; Natércia Teixeira; Nuno Mateus; Maria João Ramos; Olivier Dangles; Victor de Freitas

The binding constants (K) for the interaction of three copigments (CP), two epimeric vinylcatechin dimers (CP1 and CP2), and catechin dimer B3 (CP3) with two pigments, malvidin-3-glucoside (oenin) and malvidin-3,5-diglucoside (malvin), were determined. The K values clearly show that both vinylcatechin dimers have much higher affinity for oenin and malvin than dimer B3: K(CP2) > K(CP1) >> K(CP3). Quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics calculations were also performed to interpret the binding data and specify the relative arrangement of the pigment and copigment molecules within the complexes.

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Fernando Pina

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

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Micholas Dean Smith

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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Nuno Basílio

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

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