Coumarins of three species of the genusHaplophyllum

The results are given of an investigation of three species of the genusHaplophyllum: H. villosum, H. kowalenskyi, andH. tenue, fromwhich five substances of coumarin nature have been isolated. Of them, two substances (I and II) have been identified as scopoletin and lomatin isovalerate, respectively, while suitable structures have been established for the new compounds tenuidin, villosin, and tenudiol. It has been shown that the coumarin composition of the plants changes with the growth site.     

Coumarins of three species of the genusHaplophyllum

The results are given of an investigation of three species of the genusHaplophyllum: H. villosum, H. kowalenskyi, andH. tenue, fromwhich five substances of coumarin nature have been isolated. Of them, two substances (I and II) have been identified as scopoletin and lomatin isovalerate, respectively, while suitable structures have been established for the new compounds tenuidin, villosin, and tenudiol. It has been shown that the coumarin composition of the plants changes with the growth site.Leningrad Sanitary-Hygienic Medical Institute. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 800–803, November–December, 1980.     

Biogenic substances in sediments and fossils

Most sedimentary rocks contain small concentrations of finely divided organic material. With the aid of modern analytical methods, samples of such rocks can be examined in detail, and conclusions can be drawn concerning the origin of the organic substances. Intact or modified biogenic compounds such as paraffins, isoprenoids, alcohols, ketones, carboxylic acids, steroids, triterpenes, and porphyrins have been isolated from the soluble fractions of the organic material of many sediments and from identified fossils of various geological ages. Even Precambrian rocks contain biogenic substances, so that life forms must have existed more than three billion years ago. The main component of the organic material is “kerogen”, the complicated polymeric structure of which has not yet been established.     

STUDIES ON THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUTIONS OF SONCHUS ARVENSIS L

Sonchus arvensis L. is one of perennial herbaceous plants of the composite family. It is abundant in China. It has the efficacy of for the treatment of fever, carbuncles and inflammation. Thirty-four compounds have been isolated and reported from the plant. In this paper, from the extraction of petroleum ether of sonchus arvensis L.,three chemical substances were isolated. By means of chemical and spectroscopic (IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, ¹H-¹H COSY, MS) analysis, they were identified as n-hexacosanol (Ⅰ), α-amyrin (Ⅱ) and santoman (Ⅲ). Among them Ⅱ and Ⅲ are the first time isolated from this genus.     

Turgorins,Hormones of the Endogeneous Daily Rhythms of Higher Organized Plants—Detection,Isolation, Structure,Synthesis, and Activity

Probably the most fascinating biological phenomenon is the movement which is so impressively observed in higher organized plants when, e.g., in a sort of “quick retreat”, the sensitive plant apparently vanishes on touching, or when all the pinnules of an acacia fold together pairwise at dusk, as though the whole tree were going to “sleep”. Such plants and trees do not possess muscles for the movement of their organs; instead of the contraction of a “still primitive” actomyosin system in this movement the hydrostatic internal pressure of the vacuoles—the turgor—in the parenchymal cells of the motile organs is often drastically and unilaterally reduced. After preception of an external stimulus there follows a gradual or sudden change in the semipermeability of the boundry plasma layers, and, mediated by a stimulus conduction, also of all the symplasts of a multicellular plant organism. The phytohormones which form the molecular basis of the physiology of movement discussed here have now been isolated and structurally elucidated. The chemical agonists of phytodynamics, referred to as turgorins, elicit leaf movement; moreover, they very probably also regulate—perhaps together with other phytohormones—the mechanism of change of aperture in stomatal transpiration. Hence, the turgorins facilitate not only a regulation of temperature, but even their own transport in the sap of the whole plant body.     

植物内生真菌抗菌活性物质的研究进展

植物内生真菌的代谢产物中存在一系列具有多样性结构的抗菌活性化合物.对植物内生真菌所产生的抗菌活性物质的结构、对细菌和真菌的抑制效果,以及这些内生真菌的寄主植物等几方面进行了综述.简单讨论了植物内生真菌-寄主植物之间的化学生态学关系、植物内生真菌代谢物的研究价值.希望通过这些活性物质的研究能够开发出更多新型强活性抗生素.     

赤霉素类植物激素分析方法研究进展

赤霉素(gibberellins, GAs)作为植物体内广泛存在的一类激素,可刺激植物叶和芽的生长,对植物的生长起着至关重要的调控作用。截至目前,已发现的GAs高达136种之多。所有已知的GAs均为二萜酸,具有相似的化学结构,都含有赤霉素烷骨架,即4个环,仅环上双键、羟基数目和位置不同。但由于GAs缺乏特定光学特性(紫外和荧光)和化学特性,同时在植物体内含量极低(一般为ng/g,甚至为pg/g水平),常规的分析方法和检测技术难以实现对该类物质的定性定量分析。近年来相关研究人员一直致力于各种高效、快速、灵敏的GAs分析新方法和新技术的研究。本文就GAs的检测方法和分析技术进行综述,为更好地开展赤霉素类植物激素的研究提供参考。     

Dimeric stilbenes of the wood of Maackia amurensis

Dimeric stilbenes have been isolated from the wood of Amur maackia for the first time. Two of them have been identified as the known scirpusins A and B. The structure of a new dimeric stilbene with a dioxane linkage, which has been called maackinin, has been established. The PMR and¹³C NMR spectra of the substances isolated have been studied in detail.Pacific Ocean Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 468–476, September–October, 1992.     

Dimeric stilbenes of the wood of Maackia amurensis

Dimeric stilbenes have been isolated from the wood of Amur maackia for the first time. Two of them have been identified as the known scirpusins A and B. The structure of a new dimeric stilbene with a dioxane linkage, which has been called maackinin, has been established. The PMR and¹³C NMR spectra of the substances isolated have been studied in detail. Pacific Ocean Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 468–476, September–October, 1992.     

Cytotoxic kurubasch aldehyde from Trichilia emetica

Kurubasch aldehyde, a sesquiterpenoid with an hydroxylated humulene skeleton, was isolated as free alcohol from Trichilia emetica Vahl. (Meliaceae), belonging to the order Sapindales. Related substances have been previously found in plants as esters of aromatic acids, and these plants were species belonging to the distant order Apiales. This is the first report of humulenes found in the genus Trichilia and only the second of humulenes in the order Sapindales. The aldehyde is a modest inhibitor of the growth of Plasmodium falciparum (IC50 76 microM) and slow-proliferating breast cancer cells MCF7 (78 microM), but a potent inhibitor of proliferation of S180 cancer cells (IC50 7.4 microM).     

Role of Natural Compounds and Target Enzymes in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurological condition. The rising prevalence of AD necessitates the rapid development of efficient therapy options. Despite substantial study, only a few medications are capable of delaying the disease. Several substances with pharmacological activity, derived from plants, have been shown to have positive benefits for the treatment of AD by targeting various enzymes, such as acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), β-secretase, γ-secretase, and monoamine oxidases (MAOs), which are discussed as potential targets. Medicinal plants have already contributed a number of lead molecules to medicine development, with many of them currently undergoing clinical trials. A variety of medicinal plants have been shown to diminish the degenerative symptoms associated with AD, either in their raw form or as isolated compounds. The aim of this review was to provide a brief summary of AD and its current therapies, followed by a discussion of the natural compounds examined as therapeutic agents and the processes underlying the positive effects, particularly the management of AD.     

Simultaneous determination of 24 or more acidic and alkaline phytohormones in femtomole quantities of plant tissues by high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–ion trap mass spectrometry

Phytohormones act at relatively low concentrations as major regulatory factors of plant growth and development, and cross talk of phytohormones is currently of great interest throughout the plant science community. To meet this demand, a method that is capable of simultaneously analyzing diverse plant hormones is essential. This paper introduces a high-performance liquid chromatographic separation technique coupled with sensitive and selective ion trap mass spectrometry to simultaneously determine 24 or more acidic and alkaline phytohormones, including auxin, cis- and trans-abscisic acid, 11 cytokinins, and 10 gibberellins, in a single injection of sample. A binary solid-phase extraction using Oasis MCX cartridges for cations and Oasis MAX cartridges for anions was used to prepurify more than 24 acidic and alkaline phytohormones from a single plant extract. The method showed good linearity for all 24 phytohormones with R ² values ranging from 0.9903 to 0.9997. Limits of detection for most of the phytohormones were in the femtomole range with some extending into the sub-femtomole range. This method was applied to hundreds of plant samples comprising different tissues from various plants, including herbaceous, woody climbing, and woody plants to demonstrate feasibility and to validate the methodology.     

Cytokinin and auxin interactions in plant development: metabolism, signalling, transport and gene expression

Auxin and cytokinins have been identified as key regulators of plant development. Recently, these phytohormones have been shown to interact during important developmental processes, including positioning, identity acquisition and maintenance of meristem organizing centres, regulation of balance between cell division and differentiation, and postembryonic de novo organogenesis. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms at the levels of regulating metabolism, signalling, gene expression and protein stability.     

Recent developments in the maytansinoid antitumor agents

Maytansine and its congeners have been isolated from higher plants, mosses and from an Actinomycete, Actinosynnema pretiosum. Many of these compounds are antitumor agents of extraordinary potency, yet phase II clinical trials with maytansine proved disappointing. The chemistry and biology of maytansinoids has been reviewed repeatedly in the late 1970s and early 1980s; the present review covers new developments in this field during the last two decades. These include the use of maytansinoids as "warheads" in tumor-specific antibodies, preliminary metabolism studies, investigations of their biosynthesis at the biochemical and genetic level, and ecological issues related to the occurrence of such typical microbial metabolites in higher plants.     

Total Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Heliolactone

Strigolactones are phytohormones, which affect diverse aspects of plant growth and development with potential application in modern agriculture. Recently, heliolactone has been isolated as a non‐canonical type of strigolactone from the root exudates of sunflower, and it could be involved in signaling in the rhizosphere as well as in planta. However, its biological activity is yet to be evaluated, due to its relative chemical instability and its low natural abundance. Herein, we describe the gram‐scale synthesis of heliolactone and its derivatives by using Stille cross‐coupling as the key bond‐forming reaction, and we disclose some of their biological activities (soil stability, binding ability to strigolactone receptor, corn germination, sunflower germination, Orobanche cumana germination and leaf senescence) in comparison with other canonical and non‐canonical strigolactones.     

Synthesis,Biosynthesis, and Biological Activity of Diels–Alder Adducts from Morus Genus: An Update

The plants of the Moraceae family are producers of a great variety of polyphenolic natural products. Among these, the Diels–Alder type adducts (DAAs) are endowed with a unique cyclohexene scaffold, since they are biosynthesized from [4+2] cycloaddition of different polyphenolic precursors such as chalcones and dehydroprenyl polyphenols. To date, more than 150 DAAs have been isolated and characterized from Moraceous and related plants. The main source of DAAs is the mulberry root bark, also known as “Sang-Bai-Pi” in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but they have also been isolated from root bark, stem barks, roots, stems or twigs, leaves, and callus cultures of Moraceous and other related plants. Since 1980, many biological activities of DAAs have been identified, including anti-HIV, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer ones. For these reasons, natural DAAs have been intensively investigated, and a lot of efforts have been made to study their biosynthesis and to establish practical synthetic access. In this review, we summarized all the updated knowledge on biosynthesis, chemoenzymatic synthesis, racemic and enantioselective total synthesis, and biological activity of natural DAAs from Moraceous and related plants.     

Total Synthesis of C-8-Geranylflavonoids

Geranylflavonoids are interesting natural products isolated in recent years from some traditional medicinal plants. Some of these flavanoids have been reported to exhibit hypotensive, antibacterial and antitumor effects¹. With respect to the synthesis of geranylflavonoids, only the 8-geranylflavanone skeleton as found in compounds 1², 2³ and 3⁴ has not been yet prepared.     

Phosphorylation of proteins of isolated cotton plant chloroplasts under the action of various phytohormones and various concentrations of magnesium ions

cAMP and Ca phospholipid-dependent protein kinases have been detected in isolated cottonplant chloroplasts. A change in the activity of these enzymes in the presence of phytohormones and of various concentrations of magnesium ions has been shown.Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 138–141, January–February, 1995. Original article submitted October 17, 1994.     

Umbelliferose Isolated from Cuminum cyminum L. Seeds Inhibits Antigen-Induced Degranulation in Rat Basophilic Leukemia RBL-2H3 Cells

Cuminum cyminum L. (cumin) is an annual plant of the Umbelliferae family native to Egypt. We previously showed that the aqueous extract of cumin seeds suppresses degranulation by downregulating the activation of antigen-induced intracellular signaling molecules in rat basophilic leukemia RBL-2H3 cells. However, the active substances in the extract have not yet been identified. Accordingly, herein, we aimed to ascertain the water-soluble substances present in cumin seeds that inhibit degranulation, which led to the identification of umbelliferose, a characteristic trisaccharide present in plants of the Umbelliferae family. Our study is the first to reveal the degranulation-suppressing activity of umbelliferose, and quantification studies suggest that cumin seed powder contains 1.6% umbelliferose. Raffinose, an isomer of umbelliferose, was also found to significantly suppress antigen-induced degranulation, but less so than umbelliferose. Both umbelliferose and raffinose contain sucrose subunits in their structures, with galactose moieties bound at different sites. These differences in structure suggest that the binding of galactose to the sucrose subunit at the α1-2 bond contributes to its strong degranulation-inhibiting properties.     

Fluorescence studies on nyctinasty which suggest the existence of genus-specific receptors for leaf-movement factor

Periodic leaf-movement of legumes is called nyctinasty and has been known since the age of Alexander the Great. We found that nyctinasty is controlled by a periodic change of the internal concentration of leaf-opening and leaf-closing substances in the plant body. Now, we have developed novel fluorescent probes (1) based on the structure of cis-p-coumaroylagmatine (3), which was isolated as a leaf-opening substance of Albizzia juribrissin Durazz. Binding experiments using probe 1 showed that Albizza plants have receptors for a leaf-opening substance in their motor cells. By using probes 1 we then found that genus-specific receptors are involved in nyctinasty.