Radiolytically depolymerized sodium alginate improves physiological activities, yield attributes and composition of essential oil of Eucalyptus citriodora Hook.

Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. is highly valued for its citronellal-rich essential oil (EO) extracted from its leaves. Hence, escalated EO production of eucalyptus is the need of hour.

Effect of irradiated sodium alginate and phosphorus on biomass and artemisinin production in Artemisia annua.

It is now being realized that irradiation products of natural bioactive agents can also be beneficially utilized to impart value addition in agriculture by converting these bioactive agents into more useful form. Polysaccharides, such as sodium alginate, have proven to be wonderful growth promoting substances in their depolymerized form for various plants. Artemisinin has been increasingly popular as an effective and safe alternative therapy against malaria; also proved effective against the highly adaptable malaria parasite, which has already become resistant to many other drugs.

Salicylic acid restrains nickel toxicity, improves antioxidant defence system and enhances the production of anticancer alkaloids in Catharanthus roseus (L.).

Salicylic acid (SA) has been reported to ameliorate various stresses in plants. In order to explore the role of SA under nickel (Ni) stress, thirty-days old plants of periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus L.) were supplied with eight treatments comprising basal application of Ni (0, 50, 100 and 150 mg kg(-1)) and foliar application of SA (0 and 10(-5)M) under net house conditions.

Depolymerized carrageenan ameliorates growth, physiological attributes, essential oil yield and active constituents of Foeniculum vulgare Mill.

Irradiated carrageenan (IC) elicits an array of plant defense responses and biological activities in plants. An experiment was carried out in the naturally illuminated conditions of net house in order to assess the effects of foliar spray of IC on agricultural performance of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), which is a high-value essential oil bearing medicinal crop used in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries.

Exogenous nitric oxide donor protects Artemisia annua from oxidative stress generated by boron and aluminium toxicity.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signal molecule modulating the response of plants to environmental stress. Here we report the effects of boron (B) and aluminium (Al) contamination in soil, carried out with or without application of exogenous SNP (NO donor), on various plant processes in Artemisia annua, including changes in artemisinin content. The addition of B or Al to soil medium significantly reduced the yield and growth of plants and lowered the values of net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, internal CO(2) concentration and total chlorophyll content.

Hybrids of privileged structures benzothiazoles and pyrrolo[2,1-c] [1,4]benzodiazepin-5-one, and diversity-oriented synthesis of benzothiazoles.

Privileged structures like Benzothiazole and Pyrrolobenzodiazepine offer wonderful opportunity to explore in anti-cancer drug discovery as a mean to counter drug-resistance problem. BT-PBD hybrids and diverse BT derivatives have been synthesized and their in vitro cytotoxic activities were screened against five cancer cell lines have been discussed. The novel compounds showed promising results as compared with the marketed drug etoposide and could well be used in future anti-cancer drug development studies.

Alleviation of salt stress in lemongrass by salicylic acid.

Soil salinity is one of the key factors adversely affecting the growth, yield, and quality of crops. A pot study was conducted to find out whether exogenous application of salicylic acid could ameliorate the adverse effect of salinity in lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus Steud. Wats.

Methyl jasmonate counteracts boron toxicity by preventing oxidative stress and regulating antioxidant enzyme activities and artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annua L.

Boron is an essential plant micronutrient, but it is phytotoxic if present in excessive amounts in soil for certain plants such as Artemisia annua L. that contains artemisinin (an important antimalarial drug) in its areal parts. Artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide bridge.

Diversity-oriented synthesis of quinolines via Friedländer annulation reaction under mild catalytic conditions.

An efficient and practical method has been manifested for the diversity-oriented synthesis of quinolines via Friedländer annulation reaction for the generation of a wide range of structurally interesting and pharmacologically significant compounds by using ceric ammonium nitrate as a catalyst (10 mol %) at ambient temperature in 45 min. A variety of functional groups are introduced at various positions of the quinoline moiety, and further the diversity of the core skeleton was expanded at R(1) and R(2) positions by the synthesis of various hybrids. Initial screening of the compounds for cytotoxicity against a series of cancer cell lines showed promising results.

Hypervalent iodine mediated intramolecular cyclization of thioformanilides: expeditious approach to 2-substituted benzothiazoles.

A new, mild, and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of 2-substituted benzothiazoles via the intramolecular cyclization of thioformanilides by using hypervalent iodine reagents in CH2Cl2 at ambient temperature. The reaction proceeds via a thiyl radical in high yields to give the novel compound oxybis benzothiazole and is also amenable to generating combinatorial libraries of heterocyclic compounds by solid-phase synthesis.