Microwave extraction and rapid isolation of arjunic acid from Terminalia arjuna (Roxb. ex DC.) stem bark and quantification of arjunic acid and arjunolic acid using HPLC-PDA technique

Arjunic acid and arjunolic acid are main bioactive components of Terminalia arjuna stem bark and reported for various biological activities. In this study, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of arjunic and arjunolic acid from stem bark of T. arjuna was investigated with developed and validated HPLC-PDA method, which resulted in the isolation of a novel anticancer molecule i.e. arjunic acid. Effects of several experimental parameters, such as type and volume of extraction solvents, microwave power, microwave extraction time, on the extraction efficiencies of arjunic, and arjunolic acid from stem bark of T. arjuna were evaluated. The optimal extraction conditions identified were 5.0 g quantity of stem bark powder, 20 mL of ethyl acetate, preleaching time 10 min, microwave power 600 W, temperature 65°C, and microwave irradiation time 5 min. The results showed that MAE is a more rapid extraction method with higher yield and lower solvent consumptions than reported methods. The HPLC-PDA analysis method was developed and validated to have good linearity, precision, sensitivity, and accuracy. MAE-HPLC-PDA is a faster, convenient, and appropriate method for isolation and determination of arjunic acid and arjunolic acid in the stem bark of T. arjuna.     

Angucyclines: Biosynthesis, mode-of-action, new natural products, and synthesis

Covering: 1997 to 2010. The angucycline group is the largest group of type II PKS-engineered natural products, rich in biological activities and chemical scaffolds. This stimulated synthetic creativity and biosynthetic inquisitiveness. The synthetic studies used five different strategies, involving Diels-Alder reactions, nucleophilic additions, electrophilic additions, transition-metal mediated cross-couplings and intramolecular cyclizations to generate the angucycline frames. Biosynthetic studies were particularly intriguing when unusual framework rearrangements by post-PKS tailoring oxidoreductases occurred, or when unusual glycosylation reactions were involved in decorating the benz[a]anthracene-derived cores. This review follows our previous reviews, which were published in 1992 and 1997, and covers new angucycline group antibiotics published between 1997 and 2010. However, in contrast to the previous reviews, the main focus of this article is on new synthetic approaches and biosynthetic investigations, most of which were published between 1997 and 2010, but go beyond, e.g. for some biosyntheses all the way back to the 1980s, to provide the necessary context of information.     

Structured products equilibria in conic two price markets

A novel equilibrium theory is developed for two price markets permitting investors to trade personally designed structured products. Classical market clearing is enhanced for structured products where the market allows these products to be freely bought at ask prices or sold for bid prices. Competitive pressures lead the market to lower the ask prices and raise the bid prices with the market offering individual investors the widest possible set of acceptable risks provided the aggregate counter cash flow held by the market is consistent with a more conservative prespecified set of acceptable risks. We learn that in equilibrium heterogeneous investors inherit a common hedging objective of maximizing the bid prices of the final structured product sold to market or equivalently minimizing the ask price of what is bought.     

A sharpening of the remainder term in the higher-dimensional central limit theorem for multilinear rank statistics

A new approach to the asymptotic normality of the multivariate linear rank statistics is provided along with the Berry-Esséen and the Prohorov distance estimates for the remainder term in the convergence to normality.     

Molecular relaxation behaviour of mixtures of some polar non-associative liquids

Molecular relaxation studies have been made on rigid polar solutes dibenzofuran and s-trioxane and their mixtures with benzophenone, ortho- and meta-dichlorobenzenes in the microwave region over a range of temperatures in dilute benzene solutions. The relaxation times and the thermodynamic parameters for the activated state have been determined using the measured dielectric data. The results obtained have been discussed in terms of the molecular motion of the system and are consistent with those of other rigid molecules studied previously. The results are also compared with the computed values obtained by employing a relation proposed by us earlier.     

A “One Pot,” Environmentally Friendly,Multicomponent Synthesis of 2‐Amino‐5‐cyano‐4‐[(2‐aryl)‐1H‐indol‐3‐yl]‐6‐hydroxypyrimidines and Their Antimicrobial Activity

A series of multifunctional 2‐amino‐5‐cyano‐4‐[(2‐aryl)‐1H‐indol‐3‐yl]‐6‐hydroxypyrimidines ( 4a , 4b , 4c , 4d , 4e , 4f ) was synthesized by multicomponent reaction of 3‐formylindole ( 1 ), cyanoethylacetate ( 2 ), and guanidine hydrochloride ( 3 ) with NaOH by using green chemical techniques, viz. microwave irradiation and grindstone technology. The same reactants when refluxed in ethanol also gave titled compounds ( 4a , 4b , 4c , 4d , 4e , 4f ). Compared with conventional procedure, the reaction can be carried out under milder conditions, requiring a shorter reaction time and giving higher yields following the green chemistry methodology. All the synthesized compounds have been characterized on the basis of elemental analyses and spectral data (IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and mass). All synthesized compounds were also evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against nine pathogenic bacteria, antifungal activity against Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus flavus, and Fusarium oxysporum and antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at different concentrations. Most of the compounds showed mild to moderate activity.     

Characterization of the TDP-D-ravidosamine biosynthetic pathway: one-pot enzymatic synthesis of TDP-D-ravidosamine from thymidine-5-phosphate and glucose-1-phosphate

Ravidomycin V and related compounds, e.g., FE35A-B, exhibit potent anticancer activities against various cancer cell lines in the presence of visible light. The amino sugar moieties (D-ravidosamine and its analogues, respectively) in these molecules contribute to the higher potencies of ravidomycin and analogues when compared to closely related compounds with neutral or branched sugars. Within the ravidomycin V biosynthetic gene cluster, five putative genes encoding NDP-D-ravidosamine biosynthetic enzymes were identified. Through the activities of the isolated enzymes in vitro, it is demonstrated that ravD, ravE, ravIM, ravAMT and ravNMT encode TDP-D-glucose synthase, TDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose-4,6-dehydratase, TDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-glucose-3,4-ketoisomerase, TDP-3-keto-6-deoxy-D-galactose-3-aminotransferase, and TDP-3-amino-3,6-dideoxy-D-galactose-N,N-dimethyl-transferase, respectively. A protocol for a one-pot enzymatic synthesis of TDP-D-ravidosamine has been developed. The results presented here now set the stage to produce TDP-D-ravidosamine routinely for glycosylation studies.