Chemistry and Pharmacological Activity of Sesquiterpenoids from the Chrysanthemum Genus

Plants from the Chrysanthemum genus are rich sources of chemical diversity and, in recent years, have been the focus of research on natural products chemistry. Sesquiterpenoids are one of the major classes of chemical constituents reported from this genus. To date, more than 135 sesquiterpenoids have been isolated and identified from the whole genus. These include 26 germacrane-type, 26 eudesmane-type, 64 guaianolide-type, 4 bisabolane-type, and 15 other-type sesquiterpenoids. Pharmacological studies have proven the biological potential of sesquiterpenoids isolated from Chrysanthemum species, reporting anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antitumor, insecticidal, and antiviral activities for these interesting molecules. In this paper, we provide information on the chemistry and bioactivity of sesquiterpenoids obtained from the Chrysanthemum genus which could be used as the scientific basis for their future development and utilization.     

A Non-Invasive Hair Test to Determine Vitamin D3 Levels

Vitamin D deficiency is being recognized as a global issue and has been implicated in many health issues. Hence, there is an increased interest in developing sensitive, reproducible, and non-invasive assays to measure Vitamin D levels. This study aimed to apply a sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric assay to hair samples to develop and validate a clinical assay to provide a quarterly average level of vitamin D in one test. Hair samples were collected from 70 male university students/young adults and pulverized/sonicated in methanol/water for 2 h to extract Vitamin D metabolites. A sensitive liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay was employed to quantitate vitamin D and metabolites. Of the eight Vitamin D and metabolites screened, only the primary, clinically significant form of vitamin D (25OHD₃) was detected and quantified in hair samples in the range of 17–1541 pg/mg. One-third of the hair samples (21 out of 70) had Vitamin D levels below the LLOD of the assay (10 pg/mg). The mean and standard deviation values for hair (25OHD₃) were 276.7 ± 329.9, respectively. This pilot study reveals the potential of the vitamin D hair test in clinical assays as a complementary test to a vitamin D blood test, which would provide a quarterly average.     

Effect of Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate on the Association Behavior of Promethazine Hydrochloride in Aqueous/Electrolyte Solutions at Different Temperatures

The interaction between the amphiphilic phenothiazine drug promethazine hydrochloride (PMT) and an anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate has been investigated using the conductometric technique in the absence and presence of an inorganic salt (50 mmol·kg^?1 NaCl) at five different compositions and temperatures. PMT is employed for the cure of allergic symptoms. Different physicochemical parameters such as critical micellar concentration (cmc), thermodynamic, and micellar composition are evaluated and discussed in detail using regular solution theory (RST). The addition of salt decreased the surface charge of micelles, lowering the cmc values of the amphiphile. The interaction parameter (β) is negative at all temperatures and compositions indicating attractive interactions. Due to the presence of NaCl in mixed systems the attractive interaction (β) was further increased (β values more negative). The negative values of Gibbs energy (\( \Delta G^{0}_{\text{m}} \)) of mixing revealed the stability of the solution. Owing to the presence of NaCl, the \( \Delta G^{0}_{\text{m}} \) values are found to be more negative suggesting that the driving force for interaction was significantly increased and micellization more thermodynamically favorable.     

Generalized assignment problem: Truthful mechanism design without money

We propose truthful approximation mechanisms for strategic variants of the generalized assignment problem (GAP) in a payment-free environment. In GAP, a set of items has to be optimally assigned to a set of bins without exceeding the capacity of any singular bin. In our strategic variant, bins are held by strategic agents and each agent may hide its willingness to receive some items in order to obtain items of higher values. The model has applications in auctions with budgeted bidders.     

Application of chemometric methods in modeling of competitive multidye biosorption from ternary system

Simultaneous biosorption properties of three cationic dyes (Methylene blue, Crystal violet and Safranin) on Sargassum glaucescens were studied. In the most of previous papers in the field of dye biosorption, one dye or dyes with nearly separate spectra were used and dye concentration was determined by Beer’s law at different λ _max. Significant of this study is application of dyes with highly overlapped spectra (as many real situations) that their concentrations can be determined by chemometric methods. Plackett–Burman design was applied to identify the most significant factors, Box–Behnken design was used to determine optimal conditions, and principal component-wavelet neural network was used for the simultaneous determination of dye concentrations in ternary solutions. The optimum biosorption conditions were determined as dye concentration 10^?4 mol L^?1, biosorbent dosage 0.1 g L^?1 and biosorbent particle size 0.188 µm. At this condition, maximum biosorption capacity was 0.80 mmol g^?1. The biosorption process was slightly slower in the ternary system comparing with single system which was related to competition phenomena between dyes. It was found that the overall biosorption data were described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Fourteen isotherm models were applied to experimental data, and it was concluded that Hill model had the best correlation.     

Path-kipas Ramsey numbers

For two given graphs F and H, the Ramsey number R(F,H) is the smallest positive integer p such that for every graph G on p vertices the following holds: either G contains F as a subgraph or the complement of G contains H as a subgraph. In this paper, we study the Ramsey numbers , where P_n is a path on n vertices and is the graph obtained from the join of K₁ and P_m. We determine the exact values of for the following values of n and m: 1?n?5 and m?3; n?6 and (m is odd, 3?m?2n-1) or (m is even, 4?m?n+1); 6?n≤7 and m=2n-2 or m?2n; n?8 and m=2n-2 or m=2n or (q·n-2q+1?m?q·n-q+2 with 3?q?n-5) or m?(n-3)²; odd n?9 and (q·n-3q+1?m?q·n-2q with 3?q?(n-3)/2) or (q·n-q-n+4?m?q·n-2q with (n-1)/2?q?n-4). Moreover, we give lower bounds and upper bounds for for the other values of m and n.     

beta-NMR of isolated lithium in nearly ferromagnetic palladium

The temperature dependence of the frequency shift and spin-lattice relaxation rate of isolated, nonmagnetic (8)Li impurities implanted in a nearly ferromagnetic host (Pd) are measured by means of beta-detected nuclear magnetic resonance (beta-NMR). The shift is negative, very large, and increases monotonically with decreasing T in proportion to the bulk susceptibility of Pd for T > T* approximately 100 K. Below T*, an additional shift occurs which we attribute to the response of Pd to the defect. The relaxation rate is much slower than expected for the large shift and is linear with T below T*, showing no sign of additional relaxation mechanisms associated with the defect.     

Synthesis of novel steroidal oxazolo quinoxaline as antibacterial agents

Steroidal[oxazolo(4,5-b)quinoxaline-2-yl-hydrazone] derivative (7a–9a) (7b–9b) were prepared by the multi-step reactions of steroid. It is prepared via the reaction of steroidal semicarbazones with 2,3-dichloroquinoxaline at 80 °C in ethanol. The structures of the compounds were evident by IR, ¹H NMR and mass spectrometry and their purities were confirmed by elemental analyses. The antibacterial activity of these compounds was evaluated by the disk diffusion assay against two Gram-positive and two Gram-negative bacteria and then the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of compounds was determined. The results showed that compounds (7a, 7b, 8a, 8b) are better antibacterial agent as compared with the standard drug amoxicillin.     

Nigella sativa extract as a potent antioxidant for petrochemical-induced oxidative stress

Various beneficial properties has been attributed to Nigella sativa, including its antioxidant potential. Previously, it was reported that supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) could be used to obtain N. sativa extract rich in antioxidants. In the present study, N. sativa extracts prepared using the previously optimized SFE as well as the traditional Soxhlet extraction approaches were analyzed for various known antioxidants. N. sativa extracts were found to prevent protein carbonyl formation as well as depletion of intracellular glutathione (GSH) in fibroblasts exposed to toluene. Furthermore, partially purified SFE and Soxhlet fractions could prevent loss of hepatic GSH in toluene-induced oxidative stressed Wistar rats as well as in L929 fibroblasts. The results showed that SFE-produced N. sativa extract is richer in antioxidants than the Soxhlet approach. It was also shown using preparative silica gel and reverse phase chromatography that different fractions of SFE-extracted or Soxhlet-extracted N. sativa had different levels of protective effects with regards to GSH depletion in vivo as well as in cell culture. Although fractions rich in thymoquinone were found to be most potent in terms of antioxidant capacity, the data indicates that the protective effects of N. sativa may not only be due to thymoquinone, but perhaps other antioxidants.     

Investigation of structure, vibrational and NMR spectra of oxycodone and naltrexone: a combined experimental and theoretical study

In this work, two important opioid antagonists, naltrexone and oxycodone, were prepared from thebaine and were characterized by IR, (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. Moreover, computational NMR and IR parameters were obtained using density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-311++G** level of theory. Complete NMR and vibrational assignment were carried out using the observed and calculated spectra. The IR frequencies and NMR chemical shifts, determined experimentally, were compared with those obtained theoretically from DFT calculations, showed good agreements. The RMS errors observed between experimental and calculated data for the IR absorptions are 85 and 105 cm(-1), for the (1)H NMR peaks are 0.87 and 0.17 ppm and for those of (13)C NMR are 5.6 and 5.3 ppm, respectively for naltrexone and oxycodone.