Isolation and Identification of Phytocompounds from and Their Biological Potentials.

Sebsebe (Celestraceae) is a naturally growing shrub in Oman. It is not a reputed medicinal plant in Oman, but it is regionally endemic and causes shivering attacks on goats that graze on it. The chemical investigation of the hexane and chloroform extracts of the fruits and stems of afforded dihydro-β-agarofuran-type sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloid (), lupanyl myristoate () and lignanolactone ().

Pomegranate seed oil: Effect on 3-nitropropionic acid-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells and elucidation of unsaturated fatty acids composition.

Background: Seed oils are used as cosmetics or topical treatment for wounds, allergy, dandruff, and other purposes. Natural antioxidants from plants were recently reported to delay the onset or progress of various neurodegenerative conditions. Over one thousand cultivars of Punica granatum (Punicaceae) are known and some are traditionally used to treat various ailments.

ent-Kaurene diterpenoids from Blepharispermum hirtum.

The twigs and leaves of Blepharispermum hirtum Oliver (Asteraceae) were investigated for their larvicidal and antimicrobial activity. Fractionation of the extracts of the twigs, directed by brine shrimp test and antibacterial activities, led to the isolation of compounds 1-4; two of which are new ent-kaurene diterpenoids, blepharispins A and B (1 and 2, resp.).

Identification of the chemotypes of Ocimum forskolei and Ocimum basilicum by NMR spectroscopy.

The chemotypes of Ocimum forskolei Benth and Ocimum basilicum L. growing wild in Oman have been established by (13)C-NMR analyses of the vegetative and floral oils of the plants. The chemotypes, estragole for O.

Production of phenylacetic acid derivatives and 4-epiradicinol in culture by Curvularia lunata.

Phenylacetic acid derivatives, methyl 2-acetyl-3,5-dihydroxyphenylacetate (1) and methyl 2-acetyl-5-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetate (3); curvulin or ethyl 2-acetyl-3,5-dihydroxyphenylacetate (4), a known metabolite of Curvularia siddiqui, and 4-epiradicinol (5) have been isolated from the culture mycelia of Curvularia lunata grown on YMG, a medium consisting of yeast, malt extract and glucose. Compounds 1, 3 and 4 lack antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, but 4-epiradicinol (5) inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella choleraesuis and Bacillus subtilis. The structures of compounds 1, 3-5 were determined by analyses of IR, MS, 1D and 2D NMR data, assisted by chemical shift comparison to related and model compounds.

Chemical composition, antibacterial and antifungal activities of the essential oil of Haplophyllum tuberculatum from Oman.

The chemical composition of the essential oil of Haplophyllum tuberculatum (Forsskal) A. Juss (Rutaceae) was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectral (GC-MS) and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Thirty compounds, constituting about 99.

New sesquiterpenes from Pluchea arabica.

Two new sesquiterpenes, godotol A (1) and godotol B (2), were isolated from Pluchea arabica. Their structures were determined by analysis of NMR data. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were established by Mosher ester methodology.

Muscanone: a 3-O-(1", 8", 14"-trimethylhexadecanyl)naringenin from Commiphora wightii.

A new antifungal flavanone, muscanone (1), was isolated along with known naringenin (2) from Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari (Burseraceae) by directing the fractionation of an EtOH extract of the air-dried trunk of C. wightii with microbial sensitivity assay.

Monoacylglycerol from Punica granatum seed oil.

The seeds of Punica granatum, known as hap roman in the Arabian Peninsula, are commonly eaten as a dessert. As part of an ongoing project to find nonnutritional natural products which have health benefits, or that can be exploited to protect crops, the chloroform-soluble extract of the fermented seeds of P. granatum was found to be rich in 1-O-trans,cis,trans-9,11,13-octadecatrienoyl glycerol (1).