Records of Natural Products Articles

The occurrence of diterpenoids in the essential oils of the species of the genus Stachys (Lamiaceae, Labiatae) is reviewed.

The volatile oils of stem, umbels, fruits and roots of Astrodaucus orientalis (L.) Drude (Apiaceae) growing wild in Iran were obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC-MS. The main components of the oils from the stem were sabinene (23.1%), a -pinene (16.4%) and fenchyl-acetate (7.5%). Sabinene (25.6%), b -pinene (22.3%) and a -copaene (16.1%) were the main constituents of the volatile oils of the fruits. While a -copanene (26.1%), b- pinene (15.3%) and sabinene (13.7%) were the major components of the volatile oils of the umbels (flowers), that of the roots were mainly composed of anisole (37.9%), bornyl acetate (36.9%) and geranyl tiglate (11.4%).

This study was planned to evaluate the antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate extract/fractions of Acacia nilotica Willd. Ex. Del extracted with different solvents of increasing and decreasing order of solvent polarity. The antioxidative activities, including the 1’-1’ diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging effects, hydroxyl radical scavenging potential, chelating ability, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition in rat tissue homogenate were studied in vitro. It was found that the antioxidative effect provided by extract/fractions was strongly concentration dependent and increased on fractionating the extract into water and ethyl acetate fractions. In general, the antioxidative activity increased with increasing extract/fractions concentration to a certain extent, and then leveled off with further increase in antioxidant activity. From a comparison of the antioxidant potential and IC 50 values for different antioxidative reactions, it seemed that extract/fractions were more effective in scavenging DPPH and hydroxyl radicals than reducing, chelating heavy metals and lipid peroxidation inhibitory potential.

Phytochemical investigations of methanol extract of rhizome of Iris germanica L. resulted in the isolation of one new compound, 6,6-ditetradecyl-6,7-dihydrooxepin-2(3H)-one (1) and five known compounds, 1-(2-(6′-hydroxy-2′-methylcyclohex-1′-enyloxy)-5-methoxyphenyl)ethanone (2) 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyacetophenone (3), irisolone (4) irisolidone (5) and 2-acetoxy-3,6-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone (6) .The structures of the compounds were determined on the basis of spectroscopic techniques. The antifungal activity of different soluble portions was measured. The hexane soluble portion of the methanol extract showed significant antifungal activity where as the ethyl acetate and chloroform soluble portions showed moderate activity. The methanol extract showed no antifungal activity.

The leaf essential oils of six members of the Annonaceae from Monteverde, Costa Rica (Desmopsis bibracteata, Desmopsis microcarpa, Guatteria costaricensis, Guatteria diospyroides, Guatteria oliviformis, and Unonopsis costaricensis) have been obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS in order to compare and contrast the volatile chemical compositions of these species. The essential oils were screened for in-vitro cytotoxic activity against MDA-MB-231 and Hs 578T human breast tumor cells, and antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. The principal components of D. bibracteata were germacrene D (29.9%), (E)-caryophyllene (11.5%), and δ-cadinene (9.2%). D. microcarpa was dominated by bicyclogermacrene (45.5%) and germacrene D (28.3%). G. costaricensis was rich in α- and β-pinenes (36.3% and 48.2%, respectively). The leaf oil of G. diospyroides was composed largely of germacrene D (46.4%), (Z)-β-ocimene (17.4%), (E)-β-ocimene (12.0%), and (E)-caryophyllene (10.3%). Germacrene D dominated the leaf oil of G. oliviformis (73.3%) as well as U. costaricensis (62.9%). The leaf essential oils of D. bibracteata, G. diospyroides, G. oliviformis, and U. costaricensis, showed notable cytotoxicity on MDA-MB-231 cells ( ³ 99% kill at 100 m g/mL) but only D. bibracteata leaf oil was cytotoxic to Hs 578T. D. bibracteata, G. diospyroides, G. oliviformis, and U. costaricensis leaf oils showed marginal antibacterial activity against B. cereus(MIC = 156 m g/mL). A cluster analysis of Guatteria species, based on the abundant essential oil components, has revealed a spathulenol-rich cluster (Brazilian species) and a germacrene D cluster (Costa Rican species).

Fungi are known to produce a vast array of secondary metabolites that are gaining importance for their biotechnological applications. Screening ofAspergillus gorakhpurensis for the production of bioactive secondary metabolites results in the production of 4-(N-methyl-N-phenyl amino) butan-2-one and itaconic acid. The structure of the known compounds was established by 1H-, 13C-NMR and Mass spectral data. Biological evaluation of the two compounds against test microorganisms showed strong inhibitory activity of 4-(N-methyl-N-phenyl amino) butan-2-one towards bacteria and fungi. Only 4-( N -methyl-N- phenyl amino)-butan-2-one showed a marked significant activity (LD 50 = 330.69 m g/mL ) in Spodoptera litura larvicidal bioassay.

From the whole plant of Klainedoxa gabonenses betulinic acid (1), lupeol (2), ß-sitosterol (3), β-amyran-3-one (4) and 3,3',4'-tri-O-methylellagic acid (5) were isolated. Similarly paullinomide A (6), β-amyrin (7), 2-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydro-1,4,5-trioxaphenanthren-6-one (8), 5α-poriferastane-3ß,6α-diol (9), β-sitosterol (3), l-quebrachitol (10), and ß-sitosterol glucopyranoside (11) were isolated from roots of Paullinia pinnata. Preliminary studies showed that 2-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydro-1,4,5-trioxaphenanthren-6-one (8) showed moderate algicidal activity against the alga Chlorella fusca