This study proposes a screen of variables that have an influence on the modification of the bio-oil chemical composition as a unique critical quality attribute (CQA) throughout the pyrolytic process (zeolite, ZSM-5) by using a 24 full factorial design, followed by optimization through a response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) involving samples of biomass sorghum BRS716 (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). The pyrolysis of pure biomasses and the biomass impregnated with the catalyst was carried out in a vertical bench furnace at 500 °C. Screening design involved factor variation in two levels (-1 and +1) of four variables as critical process parameters (CPPs) such as furnace heating rate (°C min-1), nitrogen flow (mL min-1), amount of biomass (g), and catalyst (% m/m), leading to obtaining bio-oil. Thus, it was possible to create a response surface from these two variables (biomass and catalyst), in which a minimum critical point was reached. The production of a bio-oil rich in hydrocarbon compounds is possible, but a large amount of catalyst was required. Two analytical techniques based on gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy, provided additional information to fully characterize bio-oil chemical composition.

Malaria, a parasitic infection caused by Plasmodium falciparum, is a serious global public health problem. The enzyme enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase present in a limiting step in the biosynthesis of fatty acids type II was used to search for novel molecules with potential inhibitor by virtual screening techniques. A flavonoid library obtained in ChEMBL database (n = 4,008) was filtered through physico-chemical similarity using the Euclidean distance as a criterion. The selected molecules were subjected to molecular docking using the scoring function GridScore in the DOCK 6.5 software. The top 30 ranked molecules by molecular docking were submitted to the AuPosSOM 2.1 software with the aim of clustering molecules by means of intermolecular interactions in order to understand the patterns of these interactions with enoyl-ACP reductase from Plasmodium falciparum (PfENR). We observed the importance of flavonoid moiety to hydrophobic interactions with the active site of enzyme, this confirmed the choice to study this metabolite class as PfENR inhibitors. Moreover, it was possible to recognize which intermolecular interactions contribute to the molecular recognition process.