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The current study was designed to uncover the chemistry and bioactivity potentials of Bupleurum lancifolium growing wild in Jordan. In this context, the fresh aerial parts obtained from the plant material were subjected to hydrodistillation followed by GC/MS analysis. The main components of the HDEO were γ-patchoulene (23.79%), β-dihydro agarofuran (23.50%), α-guaiene (14.11%), and valencene (13.28%). Moreover, the crude thanolic extract was partitioned to afford two main major fractions, the aqueous methanol (BLM) and butanol (BLB). Phytochemical investigation of both fractions, using conventional chromatographic techniques followed by careful inspection of the spectral data for the isolated compounds (NMR, IR, and UV-Vis), resulted in the characterization of five known compounds, including α-spinasteryl ( M1 ), ethyl arachidate ( M2 ), ethyl myristate ( M3 ), quercetin-3- O -β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1-4")-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl ( B1 ), and isorhamnetin-3- O -β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1-4")-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl ( B2 ). The TPC, TFC, and antioxidant activity testing of both fractions and HDEO revealed an interesting ABTS scavenging potential of the BLB fraction compared to the employed positive controls, which is in total agreement with its high TP and TF contents. Cytotoxic evaluation tests revealed that BLM had interesting cytotoxic effects on the normal breast cell line MDA-MB-231 (ATCC-HTB-26) and the normal dermal fibroblast (ATCC ® PCS-201-012) and normal African green monkey kidney Vero (ATCC-CCL-81) cell lines. Despite both the BLB and BLM fractions showing interesting AChE inhibition activities (IC 50 = 217.9 ± 5.3 µg/mL and 139.1 ± 5.6 µg/mL, respectively), the HDEO revealed an interestingly high AChE inhibition power (43.8 ± 2.7 µg/mL) that far exceeds the one observed for galanthamine (91.4 ± 5.2 µg/mL). The HDEO, BLM, and BLB exhbitied no interesting antimicrobial activity against Bacillus cereus , Bacillus subtilis , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , or Pseudomonas aeruginosa .

This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of crude extracts obtained from three Asclepiadaceae species, namely, Calotropis procera L., Peruglaria tomentosa L., and Pentatropis spiralis (Forsk.) Decne. Both butanol and aq. methanol extracts of the three species showed the highest amount of phenol and flavonoid contents, which exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity in the scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt radical cation (ABTS), ferrous chelating effect (FIC), and hydroxyl radical (HDR) assays. Phytochemical screening of the extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, sponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, and glycosides. LC-MS analysis was carried out to identify the major compounds from each crude extract. A total of 12 phenolic compounds in the extracts of the 3 species were identified and quantified, including 9 flavonoids, 2 hydroxybenzoic acids, and 3 hydroxycinnamic acids. The current study also revealed a good correlation between total phenolic contents and the observed antioxidant activity of the crude extracts.

Phytochemical investigation of the chemical constituents of the aerial parts of Scabiosa prolifera L. led to the isolation of one new flavonol glycoside, kaempferol-3-O-(4″,6″-di-E-p-coumaroyl)-β-D-galactopyranoside (1), along with ten other known compounds including luteolin-7-O-(2″-O-ethyl-β-glucopyranoside), β-sitosterol, β-sitosterylglucoside, ursolic acid, corosolic acid, ursolic acid 3-O-β-D-arabinopyranoside, apigenin, methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside, luteolin-7-O-β-glucopyranoside and isoorientin. The structures of all isolated compounds were established using chemical methods and spectroscopic methods including IR, UV, NMR (1D and 2D) and HRESIMS. All compounds were isolated for the first time from the plant. The antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of compounds 1 and 2 were also investigated.

Chemical investigation of Gynandriris sisyrinchium (L.) Parl growing in Jordan resulted in the isolation and characterization of a total of twelve compounds two of which are reported here for the first time in nature. These new compounds included the isoflavones; 3'-methyl tenuifone (2) and gynandrinone (5). In addition, ten known compounds including; β-sitosterol (1), 7,3'-dimethoxy-5,6,4'-trihydroxyisoflavone (3), iristectorigenin (4), hispidulin (6), galangustin (7), 6-hydroxybiochanin A (8), ursolic acid (9), ladanetin (10), 4'-O-methylgenistein (11) and β-sitosterol glucoside (12) are also reported here for the first time from G. sisyrinchium. The isolated compounds were characterized by different spectroscopic methods including NMR (1D and 2D), UV, IR and MS (HRESIMS and EIMS). The antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of isoflavones 2, 3 and 5 were investigated. Compound 3 showed the highest antioxidant activity (IC50=17.3μg/mL), as compared to compounds 5 and 2 (IC50=26.7 and 51.7μg/mL, respectively). The cytotoxic activity against the human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells revealed that compound 2 was the most active (40μM). The results indicate that the cytotoxicity of compound 2 is mediated by apoptosis., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Investigation of the butanol fraction of Salvia palaestina Benth. from Jordanian origin resulted in the isolation and characterization of nine compounds, three of which are reported here for the first time in Nature. These compounds included the two phenolics: salpalaestinin (1), methyl 3-O-methylrosmarinate (3) and the flavonoid luteolin 7-O-(2″-p-hydroxybenzoyl)-β-glucuronide) (8). In addition, 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl caffeate (2), diosmetin (4), apigenin-7-O-(6″-butyryl-β-glucopyranoside) (5), luteolin-3'-O-methyl-7-O-(6″-butyryl-β-glucopyranoside) (6) and clinopodic acid B (7) were also obtained from the butanol fraction of the plant. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by different spectroscopic methods including NMR (1D and 2D), UV, IR and MS (HRESIMS and EIMS). The DPPH radical scavenging activity for compounds 1, 3, 5, 6 &8 was evaluated. Compound 3 had the highest antioxidant activity (91.9±1.30% inhibition) with an IC₅₀ value of 1.0±0.23(μg/mL)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The chemical composition of essential oil extracted from the aerial parts of Ballota saxatilis Sieber ex C.Presl from Jordan has been elucidated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Additionally, aqueous methanol (BsA), Butanol (BsB) and water (BsW) extracts were screened for their total phenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and antioxidant activities using the 2,2 Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) methods. The most potent extracts were screened for their phenolic acids and flavonoid content using liquid the chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technique. The results indicated that the essential oil predominantly contained cis-pinane (14.76%), β-caryophyllene (8.91%) and allo-aromadendrene epoxide (6.39%). Among the different extracts investigated, the BsB fraction had the most TPC and TFC (455.79 ± 1.03 µg gallic acid/g dry extract; 272.62 ± 8.28 µg quercetin/g dry extract, respectively) and had the best radical and radical cation scavenging activities, as determined using the DPPH and ABTS methods. Quantitative and qualitative LC-MS analyses of BsA and BsB using LC-MS revealed each of the kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (30.29%), chrysoeriol-7-glucoside (7.93%) and luteolin 7-o-glucoside (7.76%) as the main constituents of the BsA fraction. The BsB fraction was rich in 7,4′-dimethoxy-3-hydroxyflavone (34.68%), kaempferol-3,7,4′-trimethyl ether (29.17%) and corymbosin (9.66%) and lower concentration levels of kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (1.63%) and chrysoeriol-7-glucoside (0.51%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essential oils from flowers and leaves of P. incisa and P. crispa were extracted using two methods, hydro-distillation (HD) and solid phase micro-extraction (SPME). The essential oils were analyzed using GS-MS whilst their contents were quantitatively determined using GC-FID. The analysis revealed the following: For P. incisa, SPME oils from flowers and leaves were dominated by oxygenated monoterpenes (cis-verbenol, 2E-octene and E-caryophyllene from flowers and thymoquinone, methyl-γ-ionone and butylated hydroxyanisole from leaves). Comparatively HD oils were dominated by phenolic compounds (butylated hydroxyanisole, 7-epi-α-Eudesmol and methyl-γ-ionone from flowers and leaves). For P. crispa, SPME oils from flowers were dominated by oxygenated monoterpenes (crysanthenone, cis-thujopsenic acid and Z-jasmone) and those from leaves were dominated by oxygenated sesquiterpenes (7-epi-α-eudesmol, 11-acetoxyeudesman-4-α-ol and cembrene). Comparatively, the oxygenated monoterpenes crysanthenone, p-cymene-8-ol and 2,6-dimethyl phenol were determined in the HD oils from flowers, while crysanthenone, p-cymene-8-ol and vanillin were identified in those from leaves. The essential oils extracted from flowers and leaves P. incisa and P. crispa showed good antioxidant as well as anticancer activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antioxidant activity of the essential oils obtained fromOnonis NatrixL.andOnonis SiculaGuss were investigated by the DPPH and ATBS methods. The oils exhibited good to moderate antioxidant activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Essential oils of the two plants were analyzed by GC and GC- MS. Seventy-seven components (95.60 %) were characterized in the essential oil ofO. Sicula. The oil was rich in oxygenated sesquiterpenes (66.29 %), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (20.10 %) including selin-11-en-4-α-ol (12.76 %) and α-selinene (6.27 %) as the major constituents. From the 85 identified compounds (97.11 %) in the oil ofO. Natrix(2E,6E)-farnesol (18.83 %), dodecanal (12.58 %) and 2-phenyl ethyl tiglate (5.20 %) were the main constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]