Antimicrobial properties of volatile phenylpropanes.

The examination of antimicrobial structure-activity relationships of 93 volatile phenylpropanes (VPs) and 21 related aromatic compounds revealed a dependence of antimicrobial activity from the kind and number of substituents on the aromatic ring, their substitution pattern and microbial characteristics, such as Gram coloring and strain specific factors. Eugenol isomers were predominantly inhibitory in a concentration range from 25 to 2000 mg/L against all microorganisms tested, which were three strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes, and Candida albicans. Etherified VPs were either less active or inactive depending on the type of side chain and/or substitution pattern.

Secondary metabolites of Peucedanum tauricum fruits.

From the essential oil of fruits of Peucedanum tauricum Bieb., two guaiane type sesquiterpene hydrocarbons guaia-1(10),11-diene (1) and guaia-9,11-diene (2) were identified. The structures of 1 and 2 were assigned by 1D and 2D NMR analysis.

An unique n-propyl sesquiterpene from Eryngium creticum L. (Apiaceae).

The unique 1-n-propyl-perhydronaphthaline 1,2,4a,5,6,7,8,8a-octahydro-4-methyl-1-propyl-naphthalene-7-carbaldehyde, a compound which possesses an unusual sesquiterpene carbon skeleton, was isolated and identified, together with the new natural methyl ketone eicos-8,11 -dien-18-ol-2-one, from the hexane: ether extract of the aerial parts of Eryngium creticum growing in Sinai, Egypt. The structures were established by conventional methods of analysis and confirmed by DEPT, COSY, HMQC and HMBC.

Essential oil composition of smyrnium olusatrum.

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of green and ripe fruits, herb, flowers and roots of Smyrnium olusatrum (alexanders), have been analyzed by means of GC, GC-MS, and NMR spectroscopic methods. Roots, herb and flowers are characterized by a high content of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids, most of them furanosesquiterpenoids, while green and ripe fruits are dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons with beta-phellandrene and alpha-pinene as major constituents. The furanosesquiterpenoids, comprising a high proportion of furanodiene and isofuranogermacrene, are present in all parts of the plant.