Molecules, Volume 14, Issue 1

Squalene is a triterpene that is an intermediate in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway. It was so named because of its occurrence in shark liver oil, which contains large quantities and is considered its richest source. However, it is widely distri...

Coniferyl ferulate, which is noted for its multiple pharmacological activities and chemical instability, is abundant in Angelica sinensis. In this paper, five methods, namely sonication extraction (SE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), supercriti...

A new anthraquinone, Rubiacordone A (1) (6-acetoxy-1-hydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside), was isolated together with the known anthraquinone, 1-acetoxy-6-hydroxy-2-methylanthraquinone-3-O-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyrano...

Bioactivity-guided fractionation led to the successful isolation of antiosteoporotic components, i.e. physicion (1), rubiadin-1-methyl ether (2), 2-hydroxy-1-methoxy- anthraquinone (3), 1,2-dihydroxy-3-methylanthraquinone (4), 1,3,8-trihydroxy-2-meth...

As has now become a custom for Molecules, as one year ends and another starts its Publisher and Editor-in-Chief would like to take stock of our progress in 2008 and offer our readership a preview of things to come in 2009. Just as we had hoped in las...

Water infusions of Ligustrum delavayanum and Ligustrum vulgare leaves and eight phenolics isolated therefrom have been assayed in vitro on ofloxacin-induced genotoxicity in the unicellular flagellate Euglena gracilis. The tested compounds luteolin, q...

Five thiourea derivative ligands and their Ni²⁺ and Cu²⁺ complexes have been synthesized. The compounds were screened for their in vitro anti-bacterial activity using Gram-positive bacteria (two different standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus, St...

A solvent-free synthesis of 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazoles using neat azides and alkynes and a copper(I) polymer supported catalyst (Amberlyst^® A21•CuI) is presented herein. As it provides the products in high yields and purities within minutes, t...

The Plasmodium falciparum cysteine protease falcipain-2 (FP-2) is an important cysteine protease and an essential hemoglobinase of erythrocytic P. falciparum trophozoites. The discovery of new FP-2 inhibitors is now a hot topic in the search for pote...

The aim of this paper was to assess the total antioxidant capacity of some commercial fruit juices (namely citrus), spectrophotometrically and by the biamperometric method, using the redox couple DPPH· (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl)/DPPH (2,2-diphen...

Recent advances in molecular dynamics simulation methodologies and computational power have allowed accurate predictions of dendrimer size, shape, and interactions with bilayers and polyelectrolytes with modest computational effort. Atomistic and coa...

Phenolic compounds may be of natural or anthropogenic origin and be present in the environment as well as in food. They comprise a large and diverse group of compounds that may be either beneficial or harmful for consumers. In this review first a non...

Solvent-free synthesis of pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-diones by ball-milling and without any catalyst is described. This method provides several advantages such as being environmentally friendly, using a simple workup procedure, and affording...

A new atisane-type diterpene, ent-16α-hydroxy-atisane-3,4-lactone (4) and three known diterpenes, ent-16α-hydroxy-atisane-3-one (1), ent-atisane-3β,16α-diol (2), ent-3,4-seco-16α-hydroxyatis- 4(19)-en -3-oic acid (3) were isolated from the bark of th...

A fast, general, environmentally friendly and facile method for preparation of five- and six-membered ring diazaheterocylic salts under microwave irradiation is presented. The N-alkylation reactions of imidazole, pyrimidine, pyridazine and phthalazin...

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The synthetic access to 2-sec-amino-4H-3,1-benzothiazin-4-ones 2 was explored. Compounds 2 were available from methyl 2-thioureidobenzoates 1, 2-thioureidobenzoic acids 3, and novel 2-thioureidobenzamides 6, respectively, under different conditions....

The imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid scaffold is readily derivatized with amino acid esters to afford symmetrically- and dissymmetrically-disubstituted imidazole-4,5-dicarboxamides with intramolecularly hydrogen bonded conformations that predispose th...

Synthesis and characterization of resorcinol-acetone copolymer is described. The polymer was prepared by trifluoroacetic acid-catalyzed polymerization of resorcinol with acetone. According to the ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and MALDI-TOF Mass spectra data, the...

The antimicrobial activity of methanol and acetone extracts of Butomus umbellatus, Polygonum amphibium, and two species of the genus Sparganium (S. erectum and S. emersum)against three Gram-positive, five Gram-negative bacteria and one fungus was ass...

In recent years vitamin B6 has become a focus of research describing the compound’s critical function in cellular metabolism and stress response. For many years the sole function of vitamin B6 was considered to be that of an enzymatic cofactor. Howev...

In this study, five biologically phenolic antioxidant Turkish red wines from different regions of Turkey were determined using HPLC with PDA detection. The antioxidant capacities (AC) of the investigated wines are also determined and the relationship...

Phenolic derivatives are among the most important contaminants present in the environment. These compounds are used in several industrial processes to manufacture chemicals such as pesticides, explosives, drugs and dyes. They also are used in the ble...

Activity-guided fractionation of a MeOH extract of the roots of Saussurea lappa C.B.Clarke (Compositae), using an in vitro protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibition assay, led to the isolation of four active constituents: betulinic acid (1),...

The essential oils of the aerial parts of Ocimum basilicum Linn.var. pilosum (Willd.) Benth., an endemic medicinal plant growing in China, was obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC-MS. Fifteen compounds, representing 74.19% of the total oi...

There is an urgent need for novel and improved drugs against several tropical diseases caused by protozoa. The marine sponge (Agelas sp.) metabolite agelasine D, as well as other agelasine analogs and related structures were screened for inhibitory a...

The alcoholic extract from seed kernels of Thai mango (Mangifera indica L. cv. ‘Fahlun’) (Anacardiaceae) and its major phenolic principle (pentagalloylglucopyranose) exhibited potent, dose-dependent inhibitory effects on tyrosinase with respect to L-...

Some novel2,3-dioxo-5-(substituted)arylpyrroles have been synthesized. Among these, pyrrolidine compound 1b was converted to 2,3-dioxo-5-aryl pyrrolidine 2b. Finally a set of hydrazone derivatives was obtained from the reaction of 2b with various hyd...

The potential antifungal effects of Thymus vulgaris L., Thymus tosevii L., Mentha spicata L., and Mentha piperita L. (Labiatae) essential oils and their components against 17 micromycetal food poisoning, plant, animal and human pathogens are presente...

Coumarins, as a family of molecules, exhibit a wide range of fluorescence emission properties. In many cases, this fluorescence is extremely sensitive to the local environment of the molecule, especially the local polarity and microviscosity. In addi...

Chocolate contains a wide range of antioxidants that includes soluble phenolic compounds (phenolic acids, catechin, epicatechin, and proanthocyanidins), insoluble polymeric phenolics and methylxanthines. The objective of this study was to determine p...

Seven pimarane type-diterpenes re-isolated from Viguiera arenaria Baker and two semi-synthetic pimarane derivatives were evaluated in vitro against the following main microorganisms responsible for dental caries: Streptococcus salivarius, S. sobrinus...

This investigation describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of oxabicyclic analogues related to the helminthosporins. Four oxabicycles were prepared by [4+3] cycloaddition of an oxyallyl carbocation, generated in situ from 2,4-di...

Transition metal complexes of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) metal ions with general stoichiometry [M(L)X]X and [M(L)SO₄], where M = Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II), L = 3,3’-thiodipropionic acid bis(4-amino-5-ethylimino-2,3-dimethyl-1-phenyl-3-pyrazoline) and...

Neem oil is obtained from the seeds of the tree Azadirachta indica. Its chemical composition is very complex, being rich in terpenoids and limonoids, as well as volatile sulphur modified compounds. This work focused on the evaluation of a component o...

Various cultivars of Perilla frutescens (L.) (var. crispa and var. frutescens) Britt. were harvested in China and Japan. They were easily differentiated on the basis of their foliage color, that varied from red to green. Water extracts of dried plant...

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between selenium levels, thyroid function and other coronary risk factors in 140 Saudi subjects without overt coronary heart disease stratified by age. Demographic data and serum fastin...

The reported structures of reaction products of enaminones with malononitrile in ethanolic piperidine are revised. A novel route to 2,3-dihydropyridazine-4-carboxylic acids 4a-c via reactions of 2-cyano-5-(dimethylamino)-5-arylpenta-2,4-dienamides 8a...

A simple route to 3-oxoalkanonitrile 5, aprecursor of the title compounds is described. Reaction of enaminones 2 with hydroxylamine hydrochloride in ethanol yielded aldoximes 3 that were converted readily into 5 in basic medium. This method has been...

The structure previously assigned to the phenolic noraporphine alkaloid, (-)-norannuradhapurine has been confirmed by a total synthesis of the racemic alkaloid in which the key step involved the formation of the C ring by a radical-initiated cyclizat...

We previously isolated a novel natural product, designated kohamaic acid A (KA-A, compound 1), as an inhibitor of the first cleavage of fertilized sea urchin eggs, and found that this compound could selectively inhibit the activities of mammalian DNA...

cisplatin have similar effects on the erythrocyte membrane, thus eliminating those changes as a potential source of cardiotoxicity. On the contrary, ³¹P-NMR and polarography showed that the effects of these cytostatics on the intracellular milieu dif...

The taxonomical relationship between Salvia pratensis and S. bertolonii has been unclear for a long time. Salvia bertolonii has alternatively been considered a synonym, a subspecies, a problematic subspecies and a form of Salvia pratensis. However, b...

This study found that in Tris-HCl buffer, the resonance light scattering (RLS) intensity of the Eu³⁺-nicotinic acid system can be greatly enhanced by nucleic acids and the enhanced intensity is proportional to the concentration of nucleic acid in the...

A series of etacrynic acid derivatives was synthesized and screened for their in vitro activity against Plasmodium falciparum, as well as their activity against recombinantly expressed falcipain-2 and -3. The two most active compounds of the series d...

From the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of a methanol/water extract of the herb Eupatorium perfoliatum L. (Asteraceae) six caffeic acid derivatives have been isolated and identified by 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopic data. Besides the common quinic acid...

In this study, the antioxidant activities of 15 flavonoids against lard oil oxidation were determined by using the Rancimat test. Quercetin, dihydromyricetin, luteolin and kaempferol showed the strongest antioxidant activity, with protection factor v...