DFT study of the radical scavenging activity of isoxanthohumol, humulones (α-acids), and iso-α-acids from beer

Humulones and iso-humulones are potent natural antioxidants found in beer. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) method was applied for elucidating the structure-antioxidant activity relationship and molecular mechanism of antioxidant activity of eight bioactive humulones previously identified in different beer samples: isoxanthohumol, (R)- and (S)-adhumulone, cis- and trans-iso-adhumulone, cis- and trans-iso-n-humulone, and desdimethyl-octahydro-iso-cohumulone. The calculated bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) suggest that desdimethyl-octahydro-iso-cohumulone was the most potent compound with BDEs 5.1 and 23.9 kJ/mol lower compared to the values for resveratrol in gas phase and water, respectively. The enolic –OH is the most reactive site for hydrogen atom transfer (HAT). The presence of β-keto group with respect to enolic –OH diminishes the HAT potency via the formation of a strong intramolecular hydrogen bond. Another common antioxidant mechanism, single electron transfer followed by proton transfer (SET-PT), is only feasible for isoxanthohumol. The results of this study indicate a strong correlation between the increased antioxidant activity of beer products and the higher content of reduced iso-α-acids

The chemical characterization of Nigerian propolis samples and their activity against Trypanosoma brucei.

Profiling of extracts from twelve propolis samples collected from eight regions in Nigeria was carried out using high performance liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with evaporative light scattering (ELSD), ultraviolet detection (UV) and mass spectrometry (MS), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Principal component analysis (PCA) of the processed LC-MS data demonstrated the varying chemical composition of the samples. Most of the samples were active against Trypanosoma b.brucei with the highest activity being in the samples from Southern Nigeria. The more active samples were fractionated in order to isolate the component(s) responsible for their activity using medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC). Three xanthones, 1,3,7-trihydroxy-2,8-di-(3-methylbut-2-enyl)xanthone, 1,3,7-trihydroxy-4,8-di-(3-methylbut-2-enyl)xanthone a previously undescribed xanthone and three triterpenes: ambonic acid, mangiferonic acid and a mixture of α-amyrin with mangiferonic acid (1:3) were isolated and characterised by NMR and LC-MS. These compounds all displayed strong inhibitory activity against T.b.brucei but none of them had higher activity than the crude extracts. Partial least squares (PLS) modelling of the anti-trypanosomal activity of the sample extracts using the LC-MS data indicated that high activity in the extracts, as judged from LCMS 2data, could be correlated to denticulatain isomers in the extracts

Chemical Defence in a Millipede: Evaluation and Characterization of Antimicrobial Activity of the Defensive Secretion from Pachyiulus hungaricus (Karsch, 1881) (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae)

The chemical defence of the millipede Pachyiulus hungaricus is reported in the present paper, in which a chemical characterization is given and antimicrobial activity is determined. In total, independently of sex, 44 compounds were identified. All compounds belong to two groups: quinones and pentyl and hexyl esters of long-chain fatty acids. The relative abundances of quinones and non-quinones were 94.7% vs. 5.3% (males) and 87.3% vs. 12.7% (females), respectively. The two dominant quinones in both sexes were 2-methyl-1,4,-benzoquinone and 2-methoxy-3-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of the defensive secretion was evaluated in vitro against seven bacterial strains and eight fungal species. With the aid of a dilution technique, the antimicrobial potential of the secretion and high sensitivity of all tested strains were confirmed. The lowest minimum concentrations of these compounds (0.20-0.25 mg/mL) were sufficient for inhibition of Aeromonas hydrophila, Listeria monocytogenes and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The growth of eight tested fungal species was inhibited by slightly lower concentrations of the secretion, with Fusarium equisetias the most sensitive fungus and Aspergillus flavus as the most resistant. Values of MIC and MFC in the employed microdilution assay ranged from 0.10 to above 0.35 mg/m L. The given extract contains antimicrobial components potentially useful as therapeutic agents in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries