Anti-angiogenic activity of Morinda citrifolia extracts and its chemical constituents

Morinda citrifolia L. has been used for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases, including cancer. This study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-angiogenic effect of M. citrifolia fruits and leaves. Anti-angiogenic activity was evaluated in?vivo using the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay. Bioactivity-guided fractionation and isolation were performed to identify the active constituent, and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis was then used to quantify the amount of this active constituent in the active extracts and fraction. The methanol extracts of fruits and leaves of M. citrifolia and the subsequent chloroform fraction of the fruit methanolic extract were found to have potential anti-angiogenic activity and were more potent compared to suramin. Scopoletin was identified as one of the chemical constituents that may be partly responsible for the anti-angiogenic activity of M. citrifolia fruits. The present findings further support the use of M. citrifolia in cancer or other pathological conditions related to angiogenesis.     

Antioxidative properties of defatted dabai pulp and peel prepared by solid phase extraction

Solid phase extraction (SPE) using Sep-Pak^? cartridges is one of the techniques used for fractionation of antioxidant compounds in waste of dabai oil extraction (defatted dabai parts). The aim of this study was to determine the phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity in crude extracts and several SPE fractions from methanolic extract of defatted dabai pulp and peel. Based on SPE, Sep-Pak^? cyanopropyl and C₁₈ cartridges were used to fractionate the antioxidant-rich crude extracts into water and methanolic fractions. Analyzed using LC-MS, flavonoids, anthocyanins, saponin derivatives and other unknown antioxidative compounds were detected in the defatted dabai crude extracts and their SPE fractions. Anthocyanins were the major phenolic compounds identified in the defatted dabai peel and detected in most of the SPE fractions. Methanolic fractions of defatted dabai parts embraced higher total phenolics and antioxidant capacity than water fractions. This finding also revealed the crude extracts of defatted dabai peel have the most significant antioxidant properties compared to the methanolic and water fractions studied. The crude extract of defatted dabai parts remain as the most potent antioxidant as it contains mixture of flavonoids, anthocyanins and other potential antioxidants.     

Phytochemical analysis, cytotoxic activity and constituents-activity relationships of the leaves of Cinnamomum iners (Reinw. ex Blume-Lauraceae)

The leaves of Cinnamomum iners (Reinw. ex Blume-Lauraceae) have been refluxed successively with chloroform and alcohol to get chloroform extract and alcoholic extract. Both the extracts have been assayed for cytotoxicity against human colorectal tumour cells. The chloroform extract exhibited significant cytotoxicity with IC(50) 31?μg mL(-1) (p??200?μg mL(-1). The chloroform extract has been further proceeded for chemical analysis by GC-TOFMS and 178 components were identified including acids, amines, amides, aldehydes, alcohols, esters, benzene derivatives, bicyclic compounds, terpenes, hydrocarbons, naphthalene derivatives, furan derivatives, azulenes, etc. Nine components representing 51.73% of the total chloroform extract were detected as major components. Caryophyllene (14.41%) and Eicosanoic acid ethyl ester (12.17%) are the most prominent components of the chloroform extract. β-Caryophyllene (14.41%) as most abundant compound supports potent cytotoxicity as shown by chloroform extract.     

CuO‐CeO2 Nanocomposite: A Highly Efficient Recyclable Catalyst for the Green Synthesis of 1,8‐Dioxooctahydroxanthenes in Water

CuO‐CeO₂ nanocomposite is reported as a highly efficient and recyclable catalyst for the green synthesis of 1,8‐dioxooctahydroxanthenes in water. This catalyst can be recovered by simple filtration and recycled up to 8 consecutive runs without any losing of its efficiency.     

Catalytic Chain-Transfer in Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate. I. Chain-Length Dependence of Chain-Transfer Coefficient

Free-radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate has been conducted in the presence of a new catalytic chain-transfer agent at different temperatures. The new catalyst exhibits a strong chain transfer characteristic, and the chain-transfer coefficient varies from 2.8 × 10⁴ to 6.6 × 10⁴ and depends on chain length and temperature. The chain-transfer coefficients decrease with increasing chain length but reach a limiting value for chains more than 8 units in length. The activation energy for the chain transfer coefficient is -10.1 kJ/mol for this catalyst.     

Sodium Bromide Catalysed Regioselective Cleavage of Oxitanes with Chlorotrimethylsilane

Sodium bromide efficiently catalyses the regioselective cleavage of oxiranes with chlorotrimethylsilane to the corresponding O-silylated chlorohydrins in excellent yields.     

Titrimetric microdetermination of salicylic, acetylsalicylic, and p-hydroxybenzoic acids by amplification reactions

A novel titrimetric method with amplification has been developed for the determination of 0.05–2.0 mg of salicylic, acetylsalicylic, or p-hydroxybenzoic acid. It depends on bromination of these compounds by bromine to tribromophenylhypobromite, which liberates iodine when treated with iodide. The liberated iodine is extracted with chloroform, reduced to iodide, oxidation of the resulting iodide with bromine, and iodometric titration of the iodate produced gives the sixfold amplification method. The coefficient of variation does not exceed 1% for above 0.5 mg of the studied compounds, but increases to 2.8% at the 0.05-mg level.     

Microwave Irradiation for Accelerating Synthesis of New Chiral Nanostructured Poly(amide-imide)s Having a Thiazole Pendant Group

Microwave irradiation was used to accelerate the polycondensation of a new thiazole-containing diamine with several chiral diacids. Polymerization reactions were carried out in molten tetrabutylammonium bromide as a green molten salt medium and triphenyl phosphite as the homogenizer. A series of new compounds were characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and elemental analysis techniques. The polymeric samples showed high thermal stability with decomposition temperature being above 360°C; they were in a nanoscale size and were assembled uniformly and randomly in a sponge-like morphology.     

Simple and Efficient Procedure for the Friedel–Crafts Acylation of Aromatic Compounds with Carboxylic Acids in the Presence of P2O5/AL2O3 Under Heterogeneous Conditions

An efficient and chemoselective method for the Friedel–Crafts acylation of aromatic compounds using P₂O₅/Al₂O₃ and carboxylic acids. Both aromatic and aliphatic carboxylic acids reacted easily to afford the corresponding aromatic ketones in good yields.     

Synthesis of β-Lactams from Acids and Imines Using Thiocarbonyldiimidazole

Thiocarbonyldiimidazole has been found to be an efficient acid activator for the synthesis of β-lactams by ketene-imine cycloaddition at room temperature. The experimental procedure is simple and results in excellent yields of the products. All products were characterized by spectral data and elemental analyses.