Molecules, Volume 18, Issue 8

Discovering new fluorochromes is significantly advanced by high-throughput screening (HTS) methods. In the present study a combination of small molecule microarray (SMM) prescreening and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was developed in ord...

Dried citrus peels (Chimpi) is one of the most common natural medicines with qi (energy flow) rectifying and shi (dampness) drying actions, which originates from Citrus unshiu, and/or C. reticulata according to the definition of the pharmacopoeiae of...

This study identifies and semi-quantifies aroma volatiles in brewed green tea samples. The objectives of this study were to identify using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) paired with a headspace solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) th...

Naturally occurring anthraquinones, damnacanthal (1) and nordamnacanthal (2) were synthesized with modified reaction steps and investigated for their cytotoxicity against the MCF-7 and K-562 cancer cell lines, respectively. Intermediate analogues 2-...

Antimicrobial peptides are highly dynamic entities that acquire structure upon binding to a membrane interface. To better understand the structure and the mechanism for the molecular recognition of dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles by the anticocc...

We report an efficient silica-H₂SO₄ mediated synthesis of a variety of chalcones that afforded the targeted compounds in very good yield compared to base catalyzed solvent free conditions as well as acid or base catalyzed refluxing conditions.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by extracellular senile plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) are considered to play a critical role in the onset and progression...

Pinus koraiensis polysaccharides (PKP) were extracted by hot water from P. koraiensis pine cones. Five polysaccharide fractions named PKP-A, PKP-B, PKP-C, PKP-D and PKP-E were successfully separated at final ethanol concentrations of 30%, 50%, 60%,...

Ganoderma luncidum (Leyss. ex Fr.) Karst. (GLK) has been used traditionally for the prevention and treatment of cancers or tumors for a long time in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The triterpenes as main effective components of GLK have been found to...

Helical-chiral double hydrogen bond donor catalysts promote the nitroalkene Diels-Alder reaction in an enantio- and periselective manner. This represents the first asymmetric catalytic nitroalkene Diels-Alder reaction via LUMO-lowering catalysis. To...

Click chemistry is an efficient and chemoselective synthetic method for coupling molecular fragments under mild reaction conditions. Since the advent in 2001 of methods to improve stereochemical conservation, the click chemistry approach has been bro...

The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of different parts of Eremanthus erythropappus, including leaves, branches and inflorescences, was investigated by Gas Chromatography and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometr...

A broad variety of oxygen-substituted diaryl ketones has been synthesized by solar energy-induced Friedel Crafts acylations of 1,4-benzo- and 1,4-naphthoquinones with benzaldehydes. The in vitro antiproliferative properties of the photoproducts were...

Several azide-derivatized and fluorescently-labeled peptides were immobilized on azadibenzocyclooctyne (ADIBO)-activated slide surfaces via a strain-promoted alkyne-azide cycloaddition (SPAAC) reaction revealing excellent immobilization kinetics, go...

Recent progress in the design, synthesis and characterization of chalcogen-nitrogen π-heterocycles, mostly 1,2,5-chalcogenadiazoles (chalcogen: S, Se and Te) and their fused derivatives, possessing positive electron affinity is discussed together wit...

Using impedance spectroscopy the electrical response of sensors with various porous Y-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) microstructures was measured for gas concentrations containing 0–100 ppm NO with 10.5%O₂ at temperatures ranging from 600–700 °C. The impedan...

The aim of the present work was to carry out a bioguided isolation of antiviral chemical constituents from an ethanol extract of leaves from Arrabidaea pulchra (Cham.) Sandwith (EEAPL) that had shown in vitro activity in a previous screening using DN...

A method combining hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was developed for the characterization and determination of natural Cordyceps. Separation was achieved on a Waters Xbridge Amide...

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don is a herbal plant traditionally used by local populations in India, South Africa, China and Malaysia to treat diabetes. The present study reports the in vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of the major alkalo...

Two new compounds, the 6-oxo oleanane-type triterpenoid uncarilic acid, and its 5,6-secotriterpenoid derivative, secouncarilic acid, were isolated from the hooks and stems of Uucaria sessilifructus together with seven known ursane-type triterpenoids....

Trehalose, a well-known stress-protector of biomolecules, has been investigated for its effect on the mobility, hydration and hydrogen bond interaction of lactose using diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy and NMR of hydroxy protons. In ternary mixture...

Phytochemical investigations of the leaves of Garcinia paucinervis resulted in the isolation of three new xanthones 1–3 and five known analogues 4–8. Structural elucidations of 1–3 were performed by spectral methods such as 1D and 2D (HMQC, HMBC, and...

Inflammation is increasingly being understood to be a key component to the pathophysiology of cerebrovascular lesions. Ferumoxytol, an iron oxide nanoparticle coated by a carbohydrate shell, has been used in MRI studies as an inflammatory marker beca...

Starting from theophylline (1,3-dimethylxanthine) new thiazolidin-4-one derivatives 7a_1–7, 7b_1–7 have been synthesized as potential antidiabetic drugs. The structure of the new derivatives was confirmed using spectral methods (FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR...

This work was objectively targeted to synthesize extremely pure triacylglycerols (TAG) enriched in conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) for medical and dietetic purposes. Extremely pure CLA-enriched TAG was successfully synthesized by using the multi-ste...

Resveratrol (RV), a dietary antioxidant polyphenolic compound found in grapes and red wine, exerts a wide variety of pharmacological activities. However, lower content in plants compared with polydatin (PD, the glucoside of RV) limits its application...

Microbubble particles have been extensively utilized as temporal templates for various biomedical applications. This study proposes a facile strategy to obtain microbubble-containing alginate particles (i.e., microbubbles inside alginate gel particl...

Broadband nonlinear optical (NLO) organic nanostructures exhibiting both ultrafast photoresponse and a large cross-section of two-photon absorption throughout a wide NIR spectrum may make them suitable for use as nonlinear biophotonic materials. We r...

The objective of this study was to assess in vitro the antimicrobial activity of ethanolic extract of Polish propolis (EEPP) against methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clinical is...

One new phenolic compound, sapnol A (1), and two new aromatic sophorosides, named saposides A (2) and B (3) were isolated from sugar maple sap. In addition, seven known phenolic compounds 4–10 were isolated. These structures were determined on the ba...

Recent syntheses of azetidines, pyrrolidines, piperidines and azepines through cycloaddition or sigmatropic rearrangements of vinylaziridines are described. Applications to natural product synthesis and mechanistic investigations are also summarized.

Influenza virus causes high morbidity among the infected population annually and occasionally the spread of pandemics. Melaleuca alternifolia Concentrate (MAC) is an essential oil derived from a native Australian tea tree. Our aim was to investigate...

In silico approaches have become indispensable for drug discovery as well as drug repositioning and adverse effect prediction. We have developed the eF-seek program to predict protein–ligand interactions based on the surface structure of proteins usi...

This study evaluated the effects of growth medium, temperature, and incubation time on biofilm formation by Enterobacter cloacae strains. The ability to adhere to a surface was demonstrated using a microtiter plate adherence assay whereas the role of...

The alkyne-azide cycloaddition, popularly known as the “click” reaction, has been extensively exploited in molecule/macromolecule build-up, and has offered tremendous potential in the design of nanomaterials for applications in a diverse range of dis...

Casearia sylvestris (Salicaceae), popularly known as “guaçatonga”, is a plant widely used in folk medicine to treat various diseases, including cancer. The present work deals with the chemical composition as well as the cytotoxic evaluation of its es...

In this report, a Passerini three-component reaction utilizing boron-containing carboxylic acids or aldehydes is discussed. The reaction was carried out in water and facilitated by the use of microwave irradiation. This methodology allowed for the ef...

The Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC, known as the click reaction) is an established tool used for the construction of complex molecular architectures. Given its efficiency it has been widely applied for bioconjugation, polymer and d...

Sun-dried beef is a frequently consumed and valued product in Brazil, however, there have been no scientific studies on its texture. To assess the tenderness of sun-dried beef, an instrumental analysis (Warner-Bratzler Shear Force; WBSF), a sensory a...

The aim of this work was to gain insight into the effect of ethylene oxide (EO) chains on the properties of a series of nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) surfactants. We performed a theoretical study of NPE surfactants by means of density functional theor...

The post-translational conversion of the ubiquitously expressed cellular form of the prion protein, PrP^C, into its misfolded and pathogenic isoform, known as prion or PrP^Sc, plays a key role in prion diseases. These maladies are denoted transmissible...

In this study, a series of twenty-two ring-substituted 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1‑carboxanilides were prepared and characterized. Primary in vitro screening of the synthesized compounds was performed against Staphylococcus aureus, three methicillin-resi...

The antiviral activity of certain acyclic nucleosides drew our attention to the fact that the replacement of the furanose ring by an alkyl group bearing hydroxyl(s) could be a useful structural modification to modulate the biological properties of th...

The considerable therapeutical problems of persistent infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacterial strains constitute a continuing need to find effective antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the activities of basil (Oc...

Over the last decade, different types of dendrimers have shown anti-inflammatory properties in their own right. In particular, we have shown that poly(phosphorhydrazone) (PPH) dendrimers are able to foster an efficient anti-inflammatory response in h...

The main monomer of tomato cuticle, 10,16-dihydroxyhexadecanoic acid (10,16-DHPA) and its methyl ester derivative (methyl-10,16-dihydroxyhexadecanote; methyl-10,16-DHHD), were used to study their oligomerization reactions catalyzed by five lipases: C...

This review describes recent advances in strategies for tuning the water-exchange rates of contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Water-exchange rates play a critical role in determining the efficiency of contrast agents; consequently,...

Isoalantolactone, a medicinal plant-derived natural compound, is known to induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. However, its effect on apoptosis in prostate cancer cells has not been addressed. Thus, we examined the effects of isoalantolacto...

Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria parasites are now resistant, or showing signs of resistance, to most drugs used in therapy. Novel chemical entities that exhibit new mechanisms of antiplasmodial action are needed. New antimalarials that blo...

This study evaluated the anti-obesity effects of Artemisia capillaris extracts in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. After six weeks feeding with HFD, Wistar male rats (12-weeks-old) were divided into three groups: HFD-control group and HFD mixe...