Metabolomic profiling and anti-infective potential of Zinnia elegans and Gazania rigens (Family Asteraceae)

Abstract

The present study evaluates the chemical composition of Zinnia elegans and Gazania rigens based on their metabolomic profiles using liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC‐HR-MS), alongside with the anti-infective activities of their ethanol extracts, as well as, different fractions. A significant difference was observed between the LC-MS profiles of the two plants such as, coumarins, sesquiterpene lactones and phenylethanoids which were characteristic for Z. elegans, while amides and phenolic acid derivatives were characteristic for G. rigens. These results highlight the chemical potential of Z. elegans and G. rigens. Furthermore, the ethyl acetate fraction of Z. elegans showed a significant antimalarial activity with IC₅₀ values of 21.03 and 13.72?µg/mL against Plasmodium falciparum D₆ and P. falciparum W₂, respectively.     

Simplex optimisation of conditions for the determination of antimony in environmental samples by using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Analysis of the total antimony in plant material was unsuccessful using the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) conditions recommended by the instrument manufacturer. For this reason, an optimisation procedure utilising the Plackett-Burman method, simplex optimisation and visualisation of the generated response surface via principal components analysis, was carried out. The Plackett-Burman method was used to eliminate four of the initial variables chosen. Four variables (atomisation temperature, atomisation time, ash temperature and modifier concentration) were subsequently optimised using the composite modified simplex method and the results were visualised as a contour diagram, after reduction to two principal components. The optimised conditions were used for the analysis of both an acid digested pine needle standard reference material (NIST 1575) and a pond weed sample, collected from a contaminated site at Yellowknife Bay, Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. The total concentration of antimony present in the pine needles was statistically indistinguishable from the non-certified value, as was the value for the pond weed sample, compared with a value determined by neutron activation analysis (NAA). The results for the analysis of the pond weed sample by ETAAS agreed with those obtained from a subsequent analysis by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.     

Restricted rotation about partial C,N double bonds

The restricted rotation about the partial C,N double bond in 2-chloro-6-NR₂-pyran-4-ones is discussed in the light of NMR spectroscopic data and theoretical calculations.Ab initio calculations at the HF/6-31G^* level were carried out using a continuum model to take solvent effects into account. The delocalization of-electron density [described by natural bond orbital analysis (NBO)] was applied to determine the degree of conjugation in the ground state (GS) and in the transition state (TS) for the restricted rotation of the compounds studied. The reason for the different barriers to rotation of the NR₂ substituents (pyrrolidino > dimethylamino > morpholidino > piperidino) at the 2-chloro-pyran-4-one ring appears to be the different steric hindrance of the NR₂ substituents in the GS for the restricted rotation.