Cytotoxic prenylated xanthones from the young fruit of Garcinia mangostana

Three new prenylated xanthones, mangostenones C (1), D (2), and E (3), together with 16 known xanthones 4-19, were isolated from the young fruit (7-week maturity stage) of Garcinia mangostana. The structural elucidation of the new compounds was mainly established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR and HR-MS spectroscopic analysis. Compound 1 showed cytotoxic properties against three human cancer cell lines, epidermoid carcinoma of the mouth (KB), breast cancer (BC-1), and small cell lung cancer (NCI-H187), with IC50 values of 2.8, 3.53, and 3.72 microg/ml, respectively. Among the isolates, alpha-mangostin (12), the major metabolite, exhibited the most potent effects against the BC-1 cells with an IC50 value of 0.92 microg/ml, an activity greater than that of the standard drug ellipticine (IC50 = 1.46 microg/ml). Compound 12 also showed the highest activity against KB cells, while gartanin (10) displayed the strongest activity against the NCI-H187 cells at the respective IC50 values of 2.08 microg/ml and 1.08 microg/ml.     

Development of a simultaneous measurement system of x‐ray diffraction and raman spectra: Application to structural study of crystalline‐phase transitions of chain molecules

The development of a bench‐top‐type system for simultaneous measurement of X‐ray diffraction and Raman spectra has been made to investigate structural changes in the phase transitions of chain molecules such as polyethylene, n‐alkane, and so forth from various viewpoints. For the X‐ray diffraction measurement an imaging plate or a charge‐coupled device camera was used as a two‐dimensional detector. For the Raman spectral measurement a miniature Raman spectrometer was used with optical fibers for the irradiation of incident laser beams and collection of scattered signals. For example, in the heating process of the n‐C₃₀H₆₂ sample, the phase transition from orthorhombic‐to‐hexagonal lattices could be detected clearly by the X‐ray and Raman measurements. By comparing these two different types of data in detail, an intimate relationship between conformational disordering and rotational motion of molecular chains is detected more clearly than before. Also, similar discussion can be made for the orthorhombic‐to‐hexagonal phase transition of the geometrically constrained polyethylene sample occurring immediately below the melting point. Another example concerns the structural change in the photoinduced solid‐state polymerization of cis,cis‐diethylmuconate single crystal. From the shifts in the X‐ray reflection position and Raman frequency characteristic of the produced polymer, it was found that the molecular deformation of the polymer chains and lattice strain was induced in the early stage of the polymerization reaction. For the ferroelectric‐phase transition of vinylidene fluoride copolymer, the simultaneous measurement was made for collecting triple information of small‐angle and wide‐angle X‐ray scatterings and Raman spectra to know the relationship between the structural change in the crystal lattice and the morphological change in the lamellar stacking mode. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 495–506, 2002; DOI 10.1002/polb.10112     

Superheated water extraction and phase transfer methylation of phenoxy acid herbicides from solid matrices

Phase transfer catalytic methylation was applied to directly derivatise chlorophenoxy acid herbicides in superheated water extracts from sand and soil samples. The extractions were carried out at 120 degrees C statically for 5 min and then dynamically for 10 min at 1.0 mL min(-1) using water at pH 11.0 for a sand matrix and a flow rate of 0.5 mL min(-1) at pH 7.0 for soil samples. The methylation was carried out on-line on the extraction solution with ultrasonication at 80 degrees C, using either 0.05 mmol tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) or 0.0125 mmol cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as phase transfer catalysts with 0.20 mmol methyl iodide in 2.0 mL dichloromethane trapping solvent. The former catalyst provided a higher yield but the latter gave fewer interfering peaks. The recoveries of most chlorophenoxy acids using the TBAB catalyst ranged from 67 to 105% for sand and from 82 to 114% for soil sample, except phenoxyacetic acid, 2-(2, 4-dichlorophenoxy)propanoic acid and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid, while those by using CTAB were slightly lower. Detection limits of all the analytes extracted from sand using TBAB catalyst were in a range of 5.3-16 microg g(-1) analysed by using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID).     

9,10‐Di­methoxy‐4‐methyl‐1,2‐di­hydro‐1‐aza­anthracen‐2‐one (kalasin­amide), a new aza­anthracene alkaloid

A new aza­anthracene alkaloid, namely 9,10‐di­methoxy‐4‐methyl‐1,2‐di­hydro‐1‐aza­anthracen‐2‐one (kalasin­amide), C₁₆H₁₅NO₃, has been isolated from the stems of Polyal­thia suberosa collected in the northeastern part of Thailand. Each of the aromatic rings in the mol­ecule is planar within 0.021 (2) Å. Molecules are linked to form centrosymmetric dimers by N—H?O hydrogen bonds [N?O 2.941 (4) Å].     

Disease risk of missense mutations using structural inference from predicted function

Advancements in sequencing techniques place personalized genomic medicine upon the horizon, bringing along the responsibility of clinicians to understand the likelihood for a mutation to cause disease, and of scientists to separate etiology from nonpathologic variability. Pathogenicity is discernable from patterns of interactions between a missense mutation, the surrounding protein structure, and intermolecular interactions. Physicochemical stability calculations are not accessible without structures, as is the case for the vast majority of human proteins, so diagnostic accuracy remains in infancy. To model the effects of missense mutations on functional stability without structure, we combine novel protein sequence analysis algorithms to discern spatial distributions of sequence, evolutionary, and physicochemical conservation, through a new approach to optimize component selection. Novel components include a combinatory substitution matrix and two heuristic algorithms that detect positions which confer structural support to interaction interfaces. The method reaches 0.91 AUC in ten-fold cross-validation to predict alteration of function for 6,392 in vitro mutations. For clinical utility we trained the method on 7,022 disease associated missense mutations within the Online Mendelian inheritance in man amongst a larger randomized set. In a blinded prospective test to delineate mutations unique to 186 patients with craniosynostosis from those in the 95 highly variant Coriell controls and 1000 age matched controls, we achieved roughly 1/3 sensitivity and perfect specificity. The component algorithms retained during machine learning constitute novel protein sequence analysis techniques to describe environments supporting neutrality or pathology of mutations. This approach to pathogenetics enables new insight into the mechanistic relationship of missense mutations to disease phenotypes in our patients.     

Purge and trap with monolithic sorbent for gas chromatographic analysis of pesticides in honey

Polydivinylbenzene (P-DVB) and silica monolithic materials were synthesised in capillaries and then used to adsorb nine organonitrogen pesticides extracted from honey. After adsorption, each monolith-capillary was connected to a gas chromatograph (GC) with nitrogen-phosphorous detector (NPD). The silica monolith gave better peak shape and intensity than the P-DVB monolith. Formulation of silica monolith with tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) as a sole initiator provided better separation and higher peak intensity, compared to those with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and (3:1) TMOS/MTMS initiators. The optimum internal diameter and length of silica monolith-capillary were 0.25 mm and 5 cm, respectively. The purge and trap conditions were optimised by purging with nitrogen and heating the honey sample solution at 100 °C for 60 min. Recovery of the method was in a range of 84.95–99.71% and the detection limits of the pesticides determined by using GC-NPD and GC-mass spectrometric detector (MSD) ranged between 0.36–1.75 and 0.13–0.25 ng g⁻¹, respectively.     

Transitions between orbits of resonance attractors for spiral waves

Spiral waves rotating in a thin layer of the light-sensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction can be controlled by the application of short light pulses at instants corresponding to the passage of a wave front through a measuring point. It is shown that such a feedback results in a drift of the spiral wave core along a discrete set of stable circular orbits centered at the measuring point, in good quantitative agreement with the theory of the resonance attractor recently developed. Variations of parameters in the feedback loop initiate transitions between orbits of different size. Thus a spiral wave drift can be induced along a snail-shaped trajectory with permanently growing distance from the measuring point.     

Antibacterial effect of five Zingiberaceae essential oils

Essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation and two different solvent extractions (petroleum ether and ethanol) from five Zingiberaceae species: ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe.), galanga (Alpinia galanga Sw.), turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), kaempferia (Boesenbergia pandurata Holtt.) and bastard cardamom (Amomum xanthioides Wall.) was characterized. Volatile components of all extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major components of ginger, turmeric, galangal, bastard cardamom and kaempferia were zingiberene, turmerone, methyl chavicol, and gamma-terpinene, respectively. Their antibacterial effects towards Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Listeria monocytogenes were tested by a disc diffusion assay. Essential oil of kaempferia and bastard cardamom obtained by hydrodistillation extraction could inhibit growth of all tested bacteria. Essential oil of ginger extracted by hydrodistillation had the highest efficiency against three positive strains of bacteria (S. aureus, B. cereus and L. monocytogenes), with a minimum concentration to inhibit B. cereus and L. monocytogenes of 6.25 mg/mL.     

High performance enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of miroestrol,a potent phytoestrogen from Pueraria candollei

Pueraria candollei associated preparation is widely applied in folk Thai medicine for rejuvenating purpose in aged people, which correlated with its pharmacological activities reported by pre-clinical and clinical trials. Therefore, standardized products of this plant are needed by consumers and health care personnel. Miroestrol, a potent and stable phytoestrogen in P. candollei, exhibited potential to be biomarker for quality control of P. candollei samples in research or industrial levels. Indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) for miroestrol determination was developed and validated by using polyclonal antibody from rabbit immunization. The polyclonal antibody recognized specifically to miroestrol, which exhibited cross-reactivity to deoxymiroestrol and isomiroestrol with 6.68% and 1.05%, respectively. The linearity range of measurement was 0.73–3000 ng mL⁻¹, which coefficient of variation (CV) of both intra- and inter-plate determination was less than 5%. With spiked samples of known amount miroestrol, the percentages of recovery were 98.80–104.37% and 98.31–106.69% in P. candollei and its involved product samples, respectively. Validated ELISA was comparable with published HPLC method (R² = 0.9996) (Yusakul et al. [18]) in samples with various miroestrol contents. For application, the P. candollei involved preparations contained miroestrol 0.695 ± 0.037–12.108 ± 0.285 μg g⁻¹ dry wt. The developed ELISA was high performance for miroestrol determination, which could be applied for P. candollei quality control in research fields and industrial productions.     

Factors governing the three-dimensional hydrogen-bond network structure of poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) and a series of its model compounds (4): similarity in local conformation and packing structure between a complicated three-arm model compound and the linear model compounds

Crystal structure of a three-arm model compound of poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA), N,N',N' '-triphenyl trimesamide Phi(CONHPhi)(3), has been analyzed by the X-ray diffraction method. The torsional angles around the bonds connecting the amide group and the central benzene ring are 24-34 degrees , almost the same as those observed for many kinds of aromatic amide compounds, reflecting mainly the intramolecular energetic balance between the amide and benzene groups. On the other hand, the torsional angles around the bonds connecting the amide group and the outer benzene ring were found to distribute over a wide range of 2-51 degrees due to the additional effect of intermolecular interactions. This is the first example to show experimentally clearly the role of intra- and intermolecular interactions in the control of torsional angle around the benzene-amide linkage. The hydrogen bonds are formed between the amide groups of the neighboring molecules, resulting in the construction of three-dimensional network structure. The local packing structure of the three-arm compound was found to be essentially the same as those observed for PMIA and the linear model compounds, indicating a characteristic structural feature of the meta-linkage-type aromatic amide compounds. The energy calculation was made using the software Polymorph Predictor to extract the energetically most stable crystal structure, which was compared successfully with the X-ray analyzed structure.