scholarly journals Bioactive Diterpenes from the Brazilian Native Plant (Moquiniastrum pulchrum) and Their Application in Weed Control

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 4632
Author(s):  
Fátima Vela ◽  
Simoni Anese ◽  
Rosa Varela ◽  
Ascensión Torres ◽  
José Molinillo ◽  
...  

Even today, weeds continue to be a considerable problem for agriculture. The application of synthetic herbicides produces serious environmental consequences, and crops suffer loss of their activity due to the appearance of new resistant weed biotypes. Our aim is to develop new effective natural herbicides that improve the problem of resistance and do not harm the environment. This work is focused on a bioassay-guided isolation and the characterization of natural products present in Moquiniastrum pulchrum leaves with phytotoxic activity and its preliminary application in weeds. Moquiniastrum pulchrum was selected for two reasons: it is an abundant species in the Cerrado region (the second most important ecosystem in Brazil, after the Amazon)—the explanation behind its being a dominant species is a major focus of interest—and it has traditional employment in folk medicine. Six major compounds were isolated in this plant: one flavone and five diterpenes, two of which are described for the first time in the literature. Four of the six compounds exhibited phytotoxic activity in the bioassays performed. The results confirmed the phytotoxic potential of this plant, which had not been investigated until now.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3786
Author(s):  
Elsa Fuentes ◽  
Rafael Carballeira ◽  
Beatriz Prieto

Local granite has been used throughout history in Galicia (NW Spain), forming the basis of much of the region’s architecture. Like any other rock, granite provides an ecological niche for a multitude of organisms that form biofilms that can affect the physical integrity of the stone. In this study, for the first time, characterization of the microbial consortium forming biofilms that developed on historical rural granite buildings is carried out using a combination of culture-dependent and next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques. Results pointed to differences in biofilm composition on the studied rural granite buildings and that of previously analyzed urban granite buildings, especially in terms of abundance of cyanobacteria and lichenized fungi. Exposure was corroborated as an important factor, controlling both the diversity and abundance of microorganisms on walls, with environmental factors associated with a northern orientation favoring a higher diversity of fungi and green algae, and environmental factors associated with the west orientation determining the abundance of lichenized fungi. The orientation also affected the distribution of green algae, with one of the two most abundant species, Trentepohlia cf. umbrina, colonizing north-facing walls, while the other, Desmococcus olivaceus, predominated on west-facing walls.


Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) was isolated for the first time in Sweden in 1958 (from ticks and from 1 tick-borne encephalitis [TBE] patient).1 In 2003, Haglund and colleagues reported the isolation and antigenic and genetic characterization of 14 TBEV strains from Swedish patients (samples collected 1991–1994).2 The first serum sample, from which TBEV was isolated, was obtained 2–10 days after onset of disease and found to be negative for anti-TBEV immunoglobulin M (IgM) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), whereas TBEV-specific IgM (and TBEV-specific immunoglobulin G/cerebrospinal fluid [IgG/CSF] activity) was demonstrated in later serum samples taken during the second phase of the disease.


Author(s):  
Akanksha Gupta ◽  
Abhishek K Tripathi ◽  
Pushpraj S Gupta

Background: Bauhinia variegata Linn. is a native plant of Asia and China. B. variegata is found in tropical regions of the world. It belongs to family Leguminosae. It is used for diarrhea, hemorrhoids, constipation, piles, edema, leprosy, wounds, tumors, etc.  Objective: The objective of the present study was to perform extraction of B. variegata flower and isolation of active constituents from the extract. Materials and Methods: The ethanolic extraction of B. variegata flower was performed using the Soxhlet apparatus. The isolation of active constituents from the extract was performed using chromatographic techniques. In column chromatographic studies, n-hexane- [dichloromethane (DCM)] (2:8) was used as an eluting system and further purified through thin layer chromatography (TLC). Compound A and B were isolated through chromatographic techniques, then the molecular formula and characterization of these compounds were carried out with mass and infrared (IR) spectral analysis. Results and Discussion: The percentage yield of B. variegata ethanolic extract (BVE) was found to be 20.8% w/w. The different fractions were F1 having 12.5 grams with n-hexane, F2 (17.1 grams) with CH2Cl2, F3 (21.2 grams) with EtOAc, and F4 (13.4 grams) with EtOH. Compound A and B were isolated from the solvent fractions of n-hexane-DCM (2:8) and EtOAc-DCM (1:9), respectively. The compound A was characterized as 3-hydroxy-6-methoxy-2-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-one. The compound B was characterized as 3-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-one. Conclusion: Thus, B. variegata flowers possess active components that need to identify their biological activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balogun Olaoye Solomon ◽  
Ajayi Olukayode Solomon ◽  
Owolabi Temitayo Abidemi ◽  
Oladimeji Abdulkarbir Oladele ◽  
Liu Zhiqiang

: Cissus aralioides is a medicinal plant used in sub-Saharan Africa for treatment of infectious diseases; however the chemical constituents of the plant have not been investigated. Thus, in this study, attempt was made at identifying predominant phytochemical constituents of the plant through chromatographic purification and silylation of the plant extract, and subsequent characterization using spectroscopic and GC-MS techniques. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MICs) for the antibacterial activities of the plant extract, chromatographic fractions and isolated compounds were also examined. Chromatographic purification of the ethyl acetate fraction from the whole plant afforded three compounds: β-sitosterol (1), stigmasterol (2) and friedelin (3). The phytosterols (1 and 2) were obtained together as a mixture. The GC-MS analysis of silylated extract indicated alcohols, fatty acids and sugars as predominant classes, with composition of 24.62, 36.90 and 26.52% respectively. Results of MICs indicated that friedelin and other chromatographic fractions had values (0.0626-1.0 mg/mL) comparable with the standard antibiotics used. Characterization of natural products from C. aralioides is being reported for the first time in this study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Ying Wei ◽  
Yongqiao Liu ◽  
Yifan Hele ◽  
Weiwei Sun ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
...  

Background: Gentianella acuta (Michx.) Hulten is an important type of medicinal plant found in several Chinese provinces. It has been widely used in folk medicine to treat various illnesses. However, there is not enough detailed information about the chemical constituents of this plant or methods for their content determination. Objective: The focus of this work is the isolation and characterization of the major chemical constituents of Gentianella acuta, and developing an analytical method for their determination. Methods: The components of Gentianella acuta were isolated using (1) ethanol extraction and adsorption on macroporous resin. (2) and ethyl acetate extraction and high speed countercurrent chromatography. A HPLC-DAD method was developed using a C18 column and water-acetonitrile as the mobile phase. Based on compound polarities, both isocratic and gradient elution methods were developed. Results: A total of 29 compounds were isolated from this plant, of which 17 compounds were isolated from this genus for the first time. The main components in this plant were found to be xanthones. The HPLC-DAD method was developed and validated for their determination, and found to show good sensitivity and reliability. Conclusion: The results of this work add to the limited body of work available on this important medicinal plant. The findings will be useful for further investigation and development of Gentianella acuta for its valuable medicinal properties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1405-1416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel C.V. da Silva ◽  
Goran N. Kaluđerović ◽  
Pollyana F. de Oliveira ◽  
Denise O. Guimarães ◽  
Carla H. Quaresma ◽  
...  

Background: P. mucronata (Pm) comes from South America, Brazil and is characterized as “Maracujá de Restinga”. It is used in folk medicine for its soothing properties and in treating insomnia. Objective: The present study for the first time analyzed the antioxidant and cytotoxicity of the hydroalcoholic leaves extract and fractions from Pm. Method: The cytotoxicity test will be evaluated by different assays (MTT and CV) against human prostate cancer (PC3) and mouse malignant melanoma (B16F10) cell lines, and the antioxidant test by DPPH method. Results: β-Amyrin, oleanolic acid, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol were isolated of the most active, hexane fraction. These substances were tested against the tumor cell lines: β-sitosterol and stigmasterol showed the most relevant activity to PC3 in CV assay and, oleanolic acid to B16F10 by the MTT assay. In addition, it was possible to indicate that the mode of cell death for stigmasterol, presumably is apoptosis. In terms of antioxidant activity, the hydroalcoholic leaves extract presented higher activity (EC50 133.3 µg/mL) compared to the flower (EC50 152.3 µg/mL) and fruit (EC50 207.9 µg/mL) extracts. By the HPLC-MS, it was possible to identify the presence of flavones in the leaf extract (isoschaftoside, schaftoside, isovitexin, vitexin, isoorientin, orientin). Conclusions: P. mucronata hexane fraction showed promising cytotoxic effect against cancer cell lines, and stigmasterol contributes to this activity, inducing apoptosis of these cells. Furthermore, as other Passiflora species, Pm extract showed antioxidant activity and flavones are its major phenolic compounds.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shubhangi J. Mane-Gavade ◽  
Sandip R. Sabale ◽  
Xiao-Ying Yu ◽  
Gurunath H. Nikam ◽  
Bhaskar V. Tamhankar

Introduction: Herein we report the green synthesis and characterization of silverreduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (Ag-rGO) using Acacia nilotica gum for the first time. Experimental: We demonstrate the Hg2+ ions sensing ability of the Ag-rGO nanocomposites form aqueous medium. The developed colorimetric sensor method is simple, fast and selective for the detection of Hg2+ ions in aqueous media in presence of other associated ions. A significant color change was noticed with naked eye upon Hg2+ addition. The color change was not observed for cations including Sr2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Fe2+, Ba2+ and Mn2+indicating that only Hg2+ shows a strong interaction with Ag-rGO nanocomposites. Under the most suitable condition, the calibration plot (A0-A) against concentration of Hg2+ was linear in the range of 0.1-1.0 ppm with a correlation coefficient (R2) value 0.9998. Results & Conclusion The concentration of Hg2+ was quantitatively determined with the Limit of Detection (LOD) of 0.85 ppm. Also, this method shows excellent selectivity towards Hg2+ over nine other cations tested. Moreover, the method offers a new cost effective, rapid and simple approach for the detection of Hg2+ in water samples.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 2911
Author(s):  
Margarida Gonçalves ◽  
Inês Silveirinha Vilarinho ◽  
Marinélia Capela ◽  
Ana Caetano ◽  
Rui Miguel Novais ◽  
...  

Ordinary Portland Cement is the most widely used binder in the construction sector; however, a very high carbon footprint is associated with its production process. Consequently, more sustainable alternative construction materials are being investigated, namely, one-part alkali activated materials (AAMs). In this work, waste-based one-part AAMs binders were developed using only a blast furnace slag, as the solid precursor, and sodium metasilicate, as the solid activator. For the first time, mortars in which the commercial sand was replaced by two exhausted sands from biomass boilers (CA and CT) were developed. Firstly, the characterization of the slag and sands (aggregates) was performed. After, the AAMs fresh and hardened state properties were evaluated, being the characterization complemented by FTIR and microstructural analysis. The binder and the mortars prepared with commercial sand presented high compressive strength values after 28 days of curing-56 MPa and 79 MPa, respectively. The mortars developed with exhausted sands exhibit outstanding compressive strength values, 86 and 70 MPa for CT and CA, respectively, and the other material’s properties were not affected. Consequently, this work proved that high compressive strength waste-based one-part AAMs mortars can be produced and that it is feasible to use another waste as aggregate in the mortar’s formulations: the exhausted sands from biomass boilers.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 495
Author(s):  
Shixing Zhou ◽  
Toshmatov Zokir ◽  
Yu Mei ◽  
Lijing Lei ◽  
Kai Shi ◽  
...  

The chemical profile and allelopathic effect of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by a dominant shrub Serphidium kaschgaricum (Krasch.) Poljak. growing in northwestern China was investigated for the first time. Serphidium kaschgaricu was found to release volatile compounds into the surroundings to affect other plants’ growth, with its VOCs suppressing root elongation of Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Poa annua L. by 65.47% and 60.37% at 10 g/1.5 L treatment, respectively. Meanwhile, volatile oils produced by stems, leaves, flowers and flowering shoots exhibited phytotoxic activity against A. retroflexus and P. annua. At 0.5 mg/mL, stem, leaf and flower oils significantly reduced seedling growth of the receiver plants, and 1.5 mg/mL oils nearly completely prohibited seed germination of both species. GC/MS analysis revealed that among the total 37 identified compounds in the oils, 19 of them were common, with eucalyptol (43.00%, 36.66%, 19.52%, and 38.68% in stem, leaf, flower and flowering shoot oils, respectively) and camphor (21.55%, 24.91%, 21.64%, and 23.35%, respectively) consistently being the dominant constituents in all oils. Eucalyptol, camphor and their mixture exhibited much weaker phytotoxicity compared with the volatile oils, implying that less abundant compounds in the volatile oil might contribute significantly to the oils’ activity. Our results suggested that S. kaschgaricum was capable of synthesizing and releasing allelopathic volatile compounds into the surroundings to affect neighboring plants’ growth, which might improve its competitiveness thus facilitate the establishment of dominance.


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