Fractionation and composition of the carbohydrates ofFicus carica

The fractional compositions of the carbohydrates of the four most promising varieties ofFicus carica L. — Smena, Kadota, Chumlakuri mtsvane, and Turetskii korichnevyi — have been investigated. The qualitative and quantitative monosaccharide compositions of the carbohydrates isolated have been determined. The bulk of the dry matter of the fruit consists of ethanol-soluble oligosaccharides — up to 74.53%. The composition of the residue obtained after the fractionation of the carbohydrates has been studied. It contains ligin bound to mineral elements.     

Quantitative determination of the furocoumarins in the leaves of Ficus carica

Summary A new modification of the chromato-spectrophotometric method of determining the amounts of psoralen and bergapten in the leaves ofFicus carica has been developed.Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances, Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 349–351, May–June, 1975.     

Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of Ficus carica Linn. leaves

Ficus carica Linn. (Moraceae) is commonly known as edible fig. The leaves, roots, fruits and latex of the plant are medicinally used in different diseases. The leaves are claimed to be effective in various inflammatory conditions like painful or swollen piles, insect sting and bites. However, there has been no report on anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of F. carica leaves. Therefore the aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of F. carica leaves. Our study validated the traditional claim with pharmacological data. Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of the drug could be due to the presence of steroids and flavanoids, respectively, which are reported to be present in the drug. Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory activity of the drug could be due to its free radical scavenging activity. Further work is also required to isolate and characterise the active constituents responsible for the anti-inflammatory activities.     

Iridoid-glycoside isolation and purification from Premna fulva leaves

Premna fulva Craib, rich in iridoid glycosides, is widely used to treat periarthritis, osteoproliferation, pain, and other diseases. However, no studies have reported effective purification methods for obtaining iridoid glycosides as active materials. This paper describes an efficient strategy for separating iridoid glycosides from Premna fulva leaves using high-speed counter-current chromatography and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. A two-phase solvent system, ethyl acetate/n-butanol/water (7.5:2.5:10, v/v), was selected for high-speed counter-current chromatography separation. The proposed method effectively separated and purified four iridoid glycosides and four lignans, including three new iridoid glycosides ( 4–6 ) and five known compounds ( 1–3, 7, 8 ), from Premna fulva leaves, indicating that high-speed counter-current chromatography combined with prep-HPLC can efficiently isolate catalpol derivatives from the genus Premna. Additionally, the in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of all isolated compounds were analyzed using lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, and the results indicated that six compounds ( 1 and 3–7 ) exhibited potential anti-inflammatory activities.     

Preparative isolation of terpene trilactones from Ginkgo biloba leaves

This study investigated and compared some techniques for the preparative isolation of terpene trilactones, including ginkgolides (GA and GB, etc.) and bilobalide (BB), from Ginkgo biloba leaves. The crude Ginkgo biloba L. extracts (GBE) were prepared using an extractor with solvent refluxing operated under an optimal extraction condition. The extraction yield was 20-23% and the purity of terpene trilactones was about 1.0-1.4 wt%. Before the isolation operations, the extracts were dissolved in de-ionized water. The isolation procedures included the method of liquid-liquid extraction and the method of column chromatography. For the method of liquid-liquid extraction using ethyl acetate as the organic solvent operated under the optimal extraction conditions, the purity, concentration ratio, and yield of terpene trilactones were 13.5-18.0%, 15-16, and >99%. For the method of column chromatography, XAD-7HP, XAD-4, and C-18 adsorbents with different polarities were used as the packing materials. Only for the XAD-7HP column, a part of more polar impurities was efficiently separated with the majority of terpene trilactones by a proper step-gradient elution, which resulted in an efficient isolation: the purity, concentration ratio, and yield of terpene trilactones were approximately 20, approximately 15, and approximately 80%. In comparison, the XAD-7HP column achieved the highest purity, but at the expense of the yield of terpene trilactones; on the contrary, the liquid-liquid extraction method, achieving the highest yield but with a slightly lower purity, was proved to be superior to the method of column chromatography in the current isolation stage.     

Chromato-spectrophotometric determination of psoberan and psoralen in blood plasma

A procedure has been developed for the quantitative determination of the natural photosensitizers psoberan and psoralen in blood plasma. The furocoumarins are extracted from the plasma with chloroform and are separated from accompanying substances by the TLC method. The quantitative determination is made spectrophotometrically. The sensitivity threshold of the method is 1 µg/ml.Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances, Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 628–629, September–October, 1985.     

Chromato-spectrophotometric determination of psoberan and psoralen in blood plasma

A procedure has been developed for the quantitative determination of the natural photosensitizers psoberan and psoralen in blood plasma. The furocoumarins are extracted from the plasma with chloroform and are separated from accompanying substances by the TLC method. The quantitative determination is made spectrophotometrically. The sensitivity threshold of the method is 1 µg/ml.     

Comparison between sample disruption methods and solid-liquid extraction (SLE) to extract phenolic compounds from Ficus carica leaves

Sea sand disruption method (SSDM) and matrix solid phase disruption (MSPD) were compared to solid-liquid extraction (SLE) for extraction of phenolic compounds from the Ficus carica leaves. Statistical treatment, ANOVA-single factor, was used to compare the extraction yields obtained by these methods, and for the majority of the extracted compounds, significantly higher yields were obtained by the solid disruption methods. Both solid disruption methods are faster and ecologically friendly, but the sea sand method was more reproducible (RSD < 5% for most compounds), and was also the least expensive method. Recoveries above 85% were obtained for chlorogenic acid, rutin, and psoralen using the sea sand extraction method.     

High-performance thin layer chromatographic quantification of bioactive psoralen and daidzein in leaves of Ficus carica L

This study was undertaken to quantify psoralen and daidzein by high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). The methanolic extract of 10 mg mL(-1) concentration solution was prepared for HPTLC quantification of psoralen and daidzein. HPTLC aluminium-backed plates coated with 0.2 mm layers of silica gel 60 F(254) were used as the stationary phase. The working standard solution of psoralen and daidzein was applied along with the test sample solution by means of Camag Linomat IV sample applicator. R (f) values of psoralen and daidzein were found to be 0.60 and 0.88, whilst as their percentage values in methanolic extract were found to be 3.02% and 5.64% (w/w), respectively. A simple quantitative estimation method of psoralen and daidzein by HPTLC is reported that can be used for the quality control of marketed preparations containing Ficus carica. However, further study is warranted to isolate and quantify active constituents present in the leaves of F. carica by sophisticated techniques.     

LC/MS guided isolation of alkaloids from lotus leaves by pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography

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 separation and purification of relatively minor bioactive components. In this paper, a LC/MS method was applied to guide the separation of crude extract of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) leaves whereby a minor component was identified in the LC/MS analysis. Afterwards, an optimized pH-zone-refining CCC method was performed to isolate this product, identified as N-demethylarmepavine. The separation procedure was carried out with a biphasic solvent system composed of hexane-ethyl acetate-methyl alcohol-water (1:6:1:6, v/v) with triethylamine (10 mM) added to the upper organic phase as a retainer and hydrochloric acid (5 mM) to the aqueous mobile phase eluent. Two structurally similar compounds--nuciferine and roemerine--were also obtained from the crude lotus leaves extract. In total 500 mg of crude extract furnished 7.4 mg of N-demethylarmepavine, 45.3 mg of nuciferine and 26.6 mg of roemerine with purities of 90%, 92% and 96%, respectively. Their structures were further identified by HPLC/ESI-MSn, FTICR/MS and the comparison with reference compounds.     

Two nematicidal furocoumarins from Ficus carica L. leaves and their physiological effects on pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus)

The ethanol extract of the Ficus carica L. leaves was tested to show strong nematicidal activity against pine wood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, causing 90.93% corrected mortality within 72 h at 1.0 mg/mL. From the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of the F. carica L. leaves extract, the main nematicidal constituents were obtained by bioassay-guided isolation and identified as linear furocoumarins bergapten (1) and psoralen (2) by mass and NMR spectral data analysis. Bergapten and psoralen had significant nematicidal activity against PWN with the LC₅₀ values of 97.08 aKSnd 115.03 μg/mL within 72 h, respectively. The two furocoumarins could inhibit the activities of amylase, cellulase and acetylcholinesterase (AchE) from PWN. The morphologies of PWNs changed much after they were treated by bergapten and psoralen. The physiological effects of bergapten and psoralen on PWN might provide helpful clues to elucidate their nematicidal mechanisms.     

Polyprenols from Ficus carica Leaves and their Biological Activity

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Lipids of the fruit of Ficus carica

By chromatographic methods, about 30 groups of various lipid compounds belonging to the classes of neutral lipids, glycolipids, and phospholipids have been identified from the fruit of the fig tree. The main groups are triacylglycerols, free and esterified sterols, mono- and digalactosyldiglycerides, ceramide oligosides, cerebrosides, esterified sterol glycosides, and phosphatidylglycerols. In the fatty acid composition, linoleic, linolenic, oleic, and palmitic acids predominated (>90%).A. V. Bogatskii Physicochemical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Odessa. Lomonosov Technological Institute of the Food Industry, Odessa. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 4, pp. 423–427, July–August, 1986.     

Lipids of the fruit of Ficus carica

By chromatographic methods, about 30 groups of various lipid compounds belonging to the classes of neutral lipids, glycolipids, and phospholipids have been identified from the fruit of the fig tree. The main groups are triacylglycerols, free and esterified sterols, mono- and digalactosyldiglycerides, ceramide oligosides, cerebrosides, esterified sterol glycosides, and phosphatidylglycerols. In the fatty acid composition, linoleic, linolenic, oleic, and palmitic acids predominated (>90%).