Editorial

Wishing all readers better times, the Editor together with the Eclet. Quim. J. team, proudly present the third edition of this year, with the certainty that the authors and readers of this issue will be satisfied with the scientific findings here reported.

Opening this issue, a review article presents an interesting discussion about two philosophical premises of science applied in the understanding of diseases and in the planning of drugs. The first premise is the reductionism which is the predominant way in modern science and considers that a problem can be reduced to the sum of its individual parts. Thus, diseases can be understood as the metabolic action of few enzymes, drugs can be planned through the mimicry of a specific enzymatic substrate. The second premise is the holistic view of the phenomenon which must be understood as the whole. Then, drug design would be seen from a viewpoint of a network of proteins and not from a single enzymatic target. Nowadays, a holistic view combined with methodological reductionism is used to develop new potential drugs. In the sequence, it is presented an interesting methodology to determine magnesium in beer based on ultrasound-assisted extraction and direct analysis by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. According to the authors, this methodology was demonstrated to be suitable for quality control routines of beer samples in the industry. Follow, it is described unknown volatile chemicals present in the in natura leaves of two Casearia sylvestris populations from Atlantic Forest and Cerrado compared to the composition of dried leaf essential oil. All compounds identified were Sesquiterpenes with the main components being (E)-caryophyllene, bicyclogermacrene, β-elemene, spathulenol, and caryophyllene oxide. The sesquiterpene hydrocarbon content increased and the oxygenated sesquiterpene content decreased going from the in natura leaves to the dried leaf essential oil and the volatile chemical composition was different between the two studied populations. Completes this issue, the description of an important methodology based on artificial intelligence that can be used to evaluate a big issue in biorefineries, that is solid impurity in raw sugarcane, which requires a high-frequency, low-cost, and noninvasive method. The methodology has low-computational cost and a simple setup for image acquisition method could screen solid impurity in sugarcane shipments, standing out as a promising application.

The Editor and the team of Eclet. Chem. J. are immensely grateful to the authors and reviewers’ dedication, who spared no effort for the successful completion of this issue.

Assis Vicente Benedetti

Editor-in-Chief of EQJ