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Eight new caffeyl hydrazide derivatives ( 4a-4h ) were synthesised via a convenient esterification of caffeic acid with some substituted aryl acid hydrazides. The synthesised caffeyl derivatives were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW264.7 macrophages. The fluorobenzoylhydrazide derivatives 4f , 4 g and 4h were found to be the most powerful anti-inflammatory compounds with IC 50 values ranging from 11.90 to 24.17 μM, which were more potent than the reference compound L-NMMA (IC 50 32.8 μM). Additionally, synthesised compounds have been rationalised by using molecular docking studies which were performed in order to understand insights on the action mechanism of newly synthesised inhibitors against inflammatory mediator (iNOS). Obtained data indicate that compounds 4f, 4h , 4a and 4 g were observed to effectively bind to iNOS receptor with dock score values of -11.62, -10.81, -10.78 and -10.51 kcal/mol, respectively.

A new benzophenanthridine alkaloid 6-butanoyldihydrochelerythrine (1) and five known alkaloids 6-acetonyldihydronitidine (2) , 6-acetonyldihydrochelerythrine (3) , isocorydine (4) , (O)-methyltembamide (5) , N-(4-methoxyphenethyl)benzamide (6) were isolated from the stem barks of Zanthoxylum rhetsa . These structures were elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR spectroscopy and by mass spectrometry. This is the first time that compounds 2-6 were identified from Zanthoxylum rhetsa and the first time that compounds 4 and 6 were identified from the genus Zanthoxylum . Bioactivity results of isolated compounds showed that 1 , 2 , 5 and 6 exhibited inhibitory activity against MCF7 and A549 cell lines, while 3 showed the inhibitory activity against A549 cell line; all isolated compounds 1 - 6 inhibited at least two strain microorganisms; compound 4 showed angiotensin II converting enzyme inhibitory activity in vitro with IC 50 value of 65.58 µM and in silico with a docking score of -11.52 kcal/mol.

Two new terpenoids ( 1 - 2 ) and seven known compounds ( 3 - 9 ) were isolated from methanol extract of Callicarpa macrophylla leaves. Their structures were determined to be ent -7 α ,16 β ,17,18-tetrahydroxykaur-15-one ( 1 ), 3 β -acetoxy-urs-12-ene-11-one-12-ol ( 2 ), ent -1 β -acetoxy-7 α ,14 β -dihydroxykaur-16-en-15-one ( 3 ), 3 β -acetoxy-11 α ,13 β -dihydroxyolean-12-one ( 4 ), β -amyrin ( 5 ), spinasterol ( 6 ), ursolic acid ( 7 ), β -sitosterol ( 8 ), and daucosterol ( 9 ) by analyses of their MS, NMR spectroscopic data and by comparison with those reported in the literature. Compounds 1 - 4 , and 7 displayed potential cytotoxic activity towards HepG-2, LU-1, and MCF-7 human cancer cell lines with IC 50 values ranging from 0.46 ± 0.21 to 18.14 ± 0.33 μM. Compound 6 showed IC 50 values of 14.17 ± 0.21 and 5.72 ± 0.42 μM against Hep-G2 and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively.