On the role of flavonoids in the integrated mechanisms of response of Ligustrum vulgare and Phillyrea latifolia to high solar radiation.

The role of flavonoids in mechanisms of acclimation to high solar radiation was analysed in Ligustrum vulgare and Phillyrea latifolia, two Mediterranean shrubs that have the same flavonoid composition but differ strikingly in their leaf morpho-anatomical traits. In plants exposed to 12 or 100% solar radiation, measurements were made for surface morphology and leaf anatomy; optical properties, photosynthetic pigments, and photosystem II efficiency; antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation and phenylalanine ammonia lyase; synthesis of hydroxycinnamates and flavonoids; and the tissue-specific distribution of flavonoid aglycones and ortho-dihydroxylated B-ring flavonoid glycosides. A denser indumentum of glandular trichomes, coupled with both a thicker cuticle and a larger amount of cuticular flavonoids, allowed P.

Carotenoid composition and its chemotaxonomic significance in leaves of ten species of the genus Ceratozamia (Cycads).

The qualitative composition and localization of carotenoids in leaflets of ten species of the genus Ceratozamia (Cycads) was investigated, and the distributions of 16 of these carotenoids, which were isolated and differently located in the chloroplast, are discussed. Eight classic carotenoids are located in the thylakoidal membranes of the chloroplasts of all ten of the species examined. In contrast, eight red keto-carotenoids are unusually located in several plastoglobules present in the stroma of nine species Ceratozamia mexicana Brongn.

Recycling asymmetric hydrogenation catalysts by their immobilisation onto ion-exchange resins.

New systems based on cationic chiral phosphine-rhodium complexes anchored to a commercial cation-exchange gel-type resin showed high efficiency and easy recycling in the asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral olefins.