Functional, Chemical, and Phytotoxic Characteristics of L'Herit: An Overview.

L'Herit. (Solanaceae family) is a species of forest shrub, self-incompatible and specialized in pollination, widespread in the subtropical area of the planet, and now widely distributed also in the Mediterranean area. The constituents of its leaves have antimicrobial, anticancer, insecticidal, antifeedant, molluscicidal, and herbicidal properties.

Chemical, Functional, and Technological Features of Grains, Brans, and Semolina from Purple and Red Durum Wheat Landraces.

A main reason of the increasing interest in cereal landraces is their potential to offer more diversified and functional staple food. For instance, landraces are an underexploited resource of pigmented varieties, appreciated for the high accumulation of phytochemicals with known health benefits. This study characterized the chemical, functional, and technological features of the bran, semolina, and grains of two durum wheat ( L.

Silymarin from by Naviglio's extractor: a new and very efficient approach.

The aim of this work is to compare new and traditional extraction methods to obtain silymarin from , a biennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, present throughout the Mediterranean basin and used to treat several diseases. Silymarin primarily contains flavonolignans and flavonoids and is used in some pharmaceutical preparations to improve of liver function and as a protective against some hepatotoxins. In six extracts obtained by new and traditional extraction methods, the total contents of silymarin and its main flavonolignans, total phenols and condensed tannins were evaluated in addition to their respective antioxidant capacities.

Effects of Dried Blood Spot Storage on Lipidomic Analysis.

During the lipidomic analysis of red blood cell membranes, the distribution and percentage ratios of the fatty acids are measured. Since fatty acids are the key constituents of cell membranes, by evaluating their quantities it possible to understand the general health of the cells and to obtain health indicators of the whole organism. However, because the analysis is precise, it is necessary to ensure that the blood does not undergo significant variations between the point of collection and analysis.

Phosphate-Linked Silibinin Dimers (PLSd): New Promising Modified Metabolites.

By exploiting the regioselective protection of the hydroxyl groups of silibinin along with the well-known phosphoramidite chemistry, we have developed an efficient strategy for the synthesis of new silibinin-modified species, which we have named Phosphate-Linked Silibinin Dimers (PLSd), in which the monomer units are linked by phosphodiester bonds. The antioxidant abilities of the new PLSd were estimated on HepG2 cells using DPPH free radical scavenging and xanthine/xanthine oxidase assays. The new phosphate-metabolites showed a higher anti-oxidant activity than the silibinin, as well as very low toxicity.

Bioactive Compounds of Aristotelia chilensis Stuntz and their Pharmacological Effects.

Aristotelia chilensis ([Molina], Stuntz) a member of the family Eleocarpaceae, is a plant native to Chile that is distributed in tropical and temperate Asia, Australia, the Pacific Area, and South America. The juice of its berries has important medicinal properties, as an astringent, tonic, and antidiarrhoeal. Its many qualities make the maqui berry the undisputed sovereign of the family of so-called "superfruits", as well as a valuable tool to combat cellular inflammation of bones and joints.

Gymnema sylvestre R. Br., an Indian medicinal herb: traditional uses, chemical composition, and biological activity.

Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. is one of the most important medicinal plants that grows in tropical forests in India and South East Asia.

History of gymnemic acid, a molecule that does not exist.

In the literature there are hundreds of articles, the first dating back to 1866 and the last to 2014, on gymnemic acid, isolated from Gymnnema sylvestre, from its isolation to the determination of its biological activities. Gymnemic acid has a CAS number but its structure is not specified. Studies during the second half of the 1970s clearly demonstrated that what was being referred to as gymnemic acid is actually a very complex mixture of dozens of substances, belonging to different classes of natural compounds.

A rapid and simple chromatographic separation of diastereomers of silibinin and their oxidation to produce 2,3-dehydrosilybin enantiomers in an optically pure form.

Silybin A and B were separated from commercial silibinin using the preparative HPLC method. The described method is rapid and effective in obtaining gram-scale amounts of two diastereoisomers with minimal effort. In our approach, silibinin was dissolved in THF (solubility greater than 100 mg/mL), an alternative solvent to H₂O or MeOH in which silibinin has a very low solubility (ca 0.

Isolation and phytotoxicity of apocarotenoids from Chenopodium album.

Two new compounds (1, 2) and 16 apocarotenoids (3-18) were isolated from the weed Chenopodium album. The structures of new apocarotenoids were determined to be (3R,6R,7E,9E,11E)-3-hydroxy-13-apo-alpha-caroten-13-one (1) and (6S,7E,9E,11E)-3-oxo-13-apo-alpha-caroten-13-one (2) by spectroscopic, NMR, and MS analysis. Five of the known compounds (5, 6, 13, 15, and 17) were previously reported only as synthetic compounds.

Cinnamic acid amides from Chenopodium album: effects on seeds germination and plant growth.

Seven cinnamic acid amides have been isolated from Chenopodium album. The structures have been attributed by means of their spectral data. One of them, N-trans-4-O-methylferuloyl 4'-O-methyldopamine, is described for the first time.