Compounds

19 pages, 1176 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Quality Assessment of Medicinal Plants via Chemometric Exploration of Quantitative NMR Data: A Review

by Abdelkrim Rebiai, Bachir Ben Seghir, Hadia Hemmami, Soumeia Zeghoud, Ilham Ben Amor, Imane Kouadri, Mohammed Messaoudi, Ardalan Pasdaran, Gianluca Caruso, Somesh Sharma, Maria Atanassova and Pawel Pohl

Compounds 2022, 2(2), 163-181; https://doi.org/10.3390/compounds2020012 - 13 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3168

Abstract

Since ancient times, herbal medicines (HM) have played a vital role in worldwide healthcare systems. It is therefore critical that a thorough evaluation of the quality and control of its complicated chemical makeup be conducted, in order to ensure its efficacy and safety. The notion of HM chemical prints, which aim to acquire a full characterization of compound chemical matrices, has become one of the most persuasive techniques for HM quality evaluation during the last few decades. The link between NMR and chemometrics is discussed in this article. The chemometric latent variable technique has been shown to be extremely valuable in inductive studies of biological systems as well as in solving industrial challenges. The results of unsupervised data exploration utilizing main component analysis as well as the multivariate curve resolution, were various. On the other hand, many contemporary NMR applications in metabolomics and quality control are based on supervised regression or classification analyses. Full article

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19 pages, 3285 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

DNA and BSA Interaction Studies and Antileukemic Evaluation of Polyaromatic Thiosemicarbazones and Their Copper Complexes

by Giorgio Pelosi, Silvana Pinelli and Franco Bisceglie

Compounds 2022, 2(2), 144-162; https://doi.org/10.3390/compounds2020011 - 23 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2179

Abstract

Some ten million cancer deaths occurred in 2020, highlighting the fact that the search for new anticancer drugs remains extremely topical. In the search for new coordination compounds with relevant biological properties, the choice of a metal ion is important for the design of the complex. In this regard, copper plays a peculiar role, thanks to its distinct properties. Thiosemicarbazones are, analogously, a unique class of ligands because they are easily modifiable, and therefore, extremely versatile in terms of modulating molecular properties. In this work, we synthesized and characterized, by means of X-ray diffraction, four new naphthaldehyde and anthraldehyde thiosemicarbazone derivatives and their copper complexes to be used in interaction studies with biological systems. The objective was to evaluate the antileukemic activity of these compounds. Reactions of these ligands with Cu(II) salts produced unexpected oxidation products and the isolation of Cu(I) metal complexes. One ligand and its related Cu(I) complex, which is stable in physiological conditions, were subjected to in vitro biological tests (UV-Vis and CD titration). An important interaction with DNA and an affinity toward BSA were observed in FT-IR experiments. Preliminary in vitro biological tests against a histiocytic lymphoma cell line revealed an interestingly low IC₅₀ value, i.e., 5.46 µM, for the Cu(I) complex. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Compounds)

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13 pages, 2148 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Humic Acids Aggregates as Microheterogeneous Reaction Media: Alkaline Hydrolysis Reactions

by Antonio Cid-Samamed, Luis García-Río, Juan C. Mejuto and Alejandro Saavedra

Compounds 2022, 2(2), 131-143; https://doi.org/10.3390/compounds2020010 - 28 Apr 2022

Viewed by 2247

Abstract

The influence of humic aggregates in a water solution upon the chemical stability under basic conditions of different substrates was reviewed. The kinetic behavior of each substrate was modeled in terms of a micellar pseudophase model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Reactivity in Microheterogeneous Media)

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10 pages, 2134 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Volatile Organic Compounds in Dactylorhiza Species

by Marisabel Mecca, Rocco Racioppi, Vito Antonio Romano, Licia Viggiani, Richard Lorenz and Maurizio D’Auria

Compounds 2022, 2(2), 121-130; https://doi.org/10.3390/compounds2020009 - 12 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2097

Abstract

HS-SPME-GC–MS analysis of the scent of Dactylorhiza viridis revealed the presence of verbenone (28.86%), caryophyllene (25.67%), β-terpineol (9.48%), and δ-cadinene (6.94%). In the scent of Dactylorhiza romana β-ocimene (18.69%), pentadecane (18.40%), α-farnesene (14.65%), and isopropyl 14-methylpentadecanoate (14.32%) were found. Dactylorhiza incarnata contained tetradecane (11.07%), pentadecane (28.40%), hexadecane (19.53%), heptadecane (17.33%), and α-cubenene (11.48%). Analysis of Dactylorhiza saccifera showed the presence of caryophyllene (17.38%), pentadecane (6.43%), hexadecane (6.13%), and heptadecane (5.08%). Finally, the aroma components found in Dactylorhiza sambucina were caryophyllene (12.90%), β-sesquiphellandrene (32.16%), 4,5-di-epi-aristolochene (10.18%). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Compounds)

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10 pages, 1414 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Photoswitchable Chalcone-Carbohydrate Conjugate Obtained by CuAAC Click Reaction

by Micael Paulino, Maria Manuela A. Pereira and Nuno Basílio

Compounds 2022, 2(2), 111-120; https://doi.org/10.3390/compounds2020008 - 29 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2592

Abstract

Flavylium/Chalcone-based molecular switches comprise features such as pH-gated photochromism and fluorescence properties that make them attractive for many applications, ranging from stimuli-responsive materials to photopharmacology. However, in contrast to other common photoswitches, the application of flavylium compounds in these areas remains largely unexplored. Among other possible reasons, this may be due to the lack of general strategies to attach these molecules to substrates such as polymers, nanoparticles, biomolecules, or surfaces. In this work, we have shown that a copper (I) catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) can be employed to obtain a chalcone conjugate. We used an isosorbide carbohydrate to demonstrate this strategy and investigated the photochemical properties of the chalcone-isosorbide conjugate. The obtained results show that the photochemical properties of this new compound are similar to other equivalent flavylium/chalcone photoswitches, confirming the feasibility of the conjugation strategy. Full article

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Compounds, Volume 2, Issue 2 (June 2022) – 5 articles

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