Molecules, Volume 16, Issue 3

In this study the solvolysis of newly synthesized fluocinolone acetonide C-21 esters was analysed in comparison with fluocinonide during a 24-hour period of time. The solvolysis was performed in an ethanol-water (90:10 v/v) mixture using the excess o...

Objects, goals, and main methods as well as perspectives of chemical biology are discussed. This review is focused on the fundamental aspects of this emerging field of life sciences: chemical space, the small molecule library and chemical sensibiliza...

Nowadays depression and suicide are two of the most important worldwide public health problems. Although their specific molecular mechanisms are still largely unknown, glycosides can play a fundamental role in their pathogenesis. These molecules act...

The oxidative decarboxylation of levulinic acid (LA) by silver(I)/persulfate [Ag(I)/S₂O₈²⁻] has been investigated in this paper. The effects of buffer solution, initial pH value, time and temperature and dosages of Ag(I)/S₂O₈²⁻ on the decarboxylation...

A literature-based survey of plants species and their essential oils with anticonvulsant activity was carried out. As results, 30 species belonging to 13 families and 23 genera were identified for their activities in the experimental models used for...

Haematococcus pluvialis (Flotow) is a unicellular green alga, which is considered to be the best astaxanthin-producing organism. Molecular markers are suitable tools for the purpose of finding out genetic variations in organisms; however there have b...

F. communis and D. viscosa are perennial Mediterranean weeds that have been used for different therapeutic purposes in traditional pharmacopeia. Plant extracts were obtained from air dried D. viscosa young shoots (DvA) and F. communis aerial part (Fc...

A series of novel 7-(3-amino-6,7-dihydro-2-methyl-2H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]pyridin- 5(4H)-yl)fluoroquinolone derivatives were designed, synthesized and characterized by ¹H-NMR, MS and HRMS. These fluoroquinolones were evaluated for their in vitro antibacter...

8-Gingerol is one of the principal components of ginger, which is widely used in China and elsewhere as a food, spice and herb. It shows immunosuppressive activity on the immune responses to ovalbumin (OVA) in mice. In the present study, we found tha...

Three different altitudes were selected to study the variability of terpenoid composition from leaves of female plants of Pistacia lentiscus L. throughout the elevation gradient. GC-MS analyses showed that terpenoid contents change with altitude. For...

The present work shows the characterization of Phaseolus acutifolius variety latifolius, on which little research has been published, and provides detailed information on the corresponding lectin. This protein was purified from a semi-domesticated li...

In the present study we investigated the effects of panduratin A, isolated from Boesenbergia rotunda, on proliferation and apoptosis in A549 human non-small cell lung cancer cells. Cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis was determined by the r...

The traditional methods used in natural product separation primarily target the major components and the minor components may thus be lost during the separation procedure. Consequently, it’s necessary to develop efficient methods for the preparative...

Twelve novel acenaphthene derivatives have been synthesized. The structures of all compounds were confirmed by ¹H-NMR, MS and elemental analysis. Their antitumor activities were evaluated in six human solid tumor cell lines, namely non-small cell lun...

Four new bibenzyl derivatives were isolated, together with other known bibenzyls, by bioassay-guided fractionation of a CHCl₃-MeOH extract of Notholaena nivea Desv. (Pteridaceae) aerial parts. The structures were elucidated by NMR, ESIMS and other sp...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Lycium barbarum Polysaccharide (LBP) on alcohol-induced liver damage in rats. A total of 36 rats were divided into control, ethanol and ethanol + LBP groups. Rats in the ethanol group were fed 7...

Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME; PDMS/DVB fibre) and ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE; solvent A: pentane and diethyl ether (1:2 v/v), solvent B: dichloromethane) followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC, GC-MS) were...

This study concerns the metabolism of polyphosphate in Trichoderma harzianum, a biocontrol agent with innate resistance against most chemicals used in agriculture, including metals, when grown in the presence of different concentrations of cadmium. T...

The chemical composition of the essential oil from Hesperozygis marifolia was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and fourteen compounds were identified. (R)-pulegone (40.75%), isomenthone (30.34%) and menthone (4.46%) were foun...

Matrix-assisted laser-desorption time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is a valuable high-throughput tool for peptide analysis. Liquid chromatography electrospray ionization (LC-ESI) tandem-MS provides sensitive and specific quantificatio...

In this study, a series of twenty-two 5-chloro-2-hydroxy-N-[2-(arylamino)-1-alkyl-2-oxoethyl]benzamides and ten 4-chloro-2-hydroxy-N-[2-(arylamino)-1-alkyl-2-oxoethyl]benzamides is described. The compounds were analyzed using RP-HPLC to determine lip...

A bioflocculant-producing marine bacterium previously isolated from marine sediment of Algoa Bay was screened for flocculant production. Comparative analysis of 16S rDNA sequence identified the isolate to have 99% similarity to Virgibacillus sp. XQ-1...

This review covers the chemistry of allobetulin analogs, including their formation by rearrangement from betulin derivatives, their further derivatisation, their fusion with heterocyclic rings, and any further rearrangements of allobetulin compounds...

Miniproteins are currently developed as alternative, non-immunoglobin proteins for the generation of novel binding motifs. Miniproteins are rigid scaffolds that are stabilised by alpha-helices, beta-sheets and disulfide-constrained secondary structur...

Astringency is an important characteristic of red wine quality. The sensation is generally thought to be produced by the interaction of wine tannins with salivary proteins and the subsequent aggregation and precipitation of protein-tannin complexes....

This study investigated the effect of A-type cranberry proanthocyanidins (AC-PACs) on osteoclast formation and bone resorption activity. The differentiation of human pre-osteoclastic cells was assessed by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) st...

Cranberries are rich in bioactive constituents purported to enhance immune function, improve urinary tract health, reduce cardiovascular disease and more recently, inhibit cancer in preclinical models. However, identification of the cranberry constit...

This study was conducted to evaluate the calcium (Ca) absorption efficacy of king oyster mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) grown on sawdust medium supplemented with Ca-sources, including oyster shell powder, and to determine the efficacy of oyster shell p...

We report the identification of the allelochemical 3-(1-oxo-3-phenylpropyl)-1,1,5-trimethylcyclo-hexane-2,4,6-trione, known as myrigalone A, from the fruits and leaves of Myrica gale. The structure of the compound was confirmed by high-resolution tec...

Lentinus lepideus is an edible mushroom currently available in Korea. The acetone, methanol and hot water extracts were prepared and assayed for their antioxidant and antityrosinase inhibitory activities. The hot water extract showed the strongest β-...

The AgCl, AgOAc, AuCl, and AuOAc complexes of the new bis(imino)acenaphthene(BIAN)-supported N-heterocyclic carbene ligand and the precursor imidazolium salt have been investigated with respect to their antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus...

A method for the analysis of flavonoids in Astragali Radix by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with photodiode-array detection (DAD) and an electrospray ionization (ESI) - mass spectrometry (MS) was developed. After the samples...

Some new heterocyclic compounds containing isoxazole, pyrazole and oxadiazole ring systems were prepared from various chalcones. The synthesized compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis and spectral methods. These compounds were screen...

A response surface method was used to optimize the microwave-assisted extraction parameters such as extraction time (t) (min), solvent (methanol) concentration (S) (v/v) and microwave power level (MP) for extraction of antioxidants from potato peels....

Research on neuroactive drugs is a pharmaceutical sector of high interest and growth. The discovery of efficient drugs that can relieve pain is a subject of research in the pharmaceutical industry and academic field because pain is a symptom of many...

2,9-Dimethoxymethylboldine (2), 2,9-dimethoxymethyl-3-bromoboldine (3) and 2,9-dimethoxymethyl-3-diphenylphosphinylboldine (4) have been synthesized in an effort to find compounds with potential pharmacological applications. The cytotoxic activities...

Four diterpenoid tanshinones and three phenolic acids were isolated from the crude ethanol extract of the cultured hairy roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by bioassay-guided fractionation. By means of physicochemical and spectrometric analysis, they...

During our phytochemical investigation of Haplophyllum villosum (Rutaceae), a perennial herb from Iran, a new 4,8-diaryl-3,7-dioxobicyclo-(3,3,0)-octane type lignan, eudesmin A (1), together with four known compounds–eudesmin (2), haplamine (3), umbe...

A series of 2-aroyl and 2-aryl-5,6,7-trimethoxyquinoline and 4-aroyl-6,7,8-trimethoxyquinoline combretastatin analogs were synthesized and evaluated for their potential anticancer activity. The 4-aroylquinoline 11 inhibited the growth of the human ca...

Malaria is a human infectious disease that is caused by four species of Plasmodium. It is responsible for more than 1 million deaths per year. Natural products contain a great variety of chemical structures and have been screened for antiplasmodial a...

In addition to the commonly used classification as hydrolyzable tannins and condensed tannins, tannins can also be categorized into two other types: polyphenols of constant chemical structure (Type A) and polyphenols of variable composition (Type B)....

The molecular basis of polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) phagocytosis-enhancing activity (PEA) by human purified urinary Tamm-Horsfall glyco- protein (THP) has not been elucidated. In this study, we found human THP bound to lactoferrin (LF) and cath...

The increasing numbers of cases of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio species poses a major problem to the food and aquaculture industries, as most antibiotics are no longer effective in controlling pathogenic bacteria aff...

The anticipated worldwide increase in biodiesel production will result in an accumulation of glycerol for which there are insufficient conventional uses. The surplus of this by-product has increased rapidly during the last decade, prompting a search...

The inhibitory activity on pancreatic α-amylase by cyanidin-3-rutinoside was examined in vitro. The IC₅₀ value of cyanidin-3-rutinoside against pancreatic α-amylase was 24.4 ± 0.1 μM. The kinetic analysis revealed that pancreatic α-amylase was inhibi...

Luteolin, a 3’,4’,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone, is a plant flavonoid and pharmacologically active agent that has been isolated from several plant species. In the present study, the effects of luteolin obtained from the medicinal plant Elsholtzia rugulosa...

Studies utilizing selective pharmacological antagonists or targeted gene deletion have demonstrated thattype 5 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5) are critical mediators and potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of numerous disorders...

Lectins comprise a heterogeneous class of proteins that recognize the carbohydrate moieties of glycoconjugates with high specificity. Numerous studies have shown that lectins are capable of recognizing specific carbohydrate moieties displayed by mali...

Polymaleimide (PMAI) was synthesized by reacting polymaleic anhydride (PMA) with urea via a solvent-free reaction at 180 °C. The conversion of PMA could reach 95%. This method is simple, practical and environmentally-friendly. The structure of the re...

The concepts of both protein glycosylation and cellular signaling have been influenced by O-linked-β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification (O-GlcNAcylation) on the hydroxyl group of serine or threonine residues. Unlike conventional protein glyc...