treatment of 5,8-dihydroxy-1-tetralone (9) with either 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (ddq) in refluxing benzene or silver (i) oxide in refluxing 1,4-dioxane afforded juglone (5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) (1) in good yield. with manganese dioxide in dioxane the tetralone gave a mixture of juglone and naphthazarin (5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) (3), the proportion of naphthazarin...

Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (IP) is a major environmental pollutant which is carcinogenic on mouse skin and in rat lung. Unlike benzo(a)pyrene, IP is a nonalternant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon which is devoid of a bay region. IP was mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium TA100 in the presence of a 9000 X g supernatant from the livers of Aroclor-pretreated rats. Using a similar activation system, th...

In search of selective and effective anti-cancer agents, eight metabolites of anti-cancer steroid, drostanolone enanthate (1), were synthesized via microbial biotransformation. Enzymes such as reductase, oxidase, dehydrogenase, and hydrolase from Cephalosporium aphidicola, and Fusarium lini were likely involved in the biotransformation of 1 into new metabolites at pH 7.0 and 26°C, yielding five...

Plasmodium species are the infectious agents that responsible for malaria, a disease claims lives of approximately 400,000 people annually. The fact drug resistance against malaria is on rise suggests new antimalarial compounds need to be discovered. It well known medicinal plants present best opportunity identification novel antimalaria chemicals. Both Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) and Pep...

A new ursane-type nortriterpenoid, (11S,12S)-4-methyl-11,12-epoxy-2-hydroxy-3-oxoursa-1,4-dine-28-oic acid γ-lactone (1), named ulmoidol A, together with ten known compounds: ulmoidol (2), corosolic acid (3), 2α,3α-dihydroxy-24-nor-4(23),12-oleanadien-28-oic acid (4), oleanolic acid (5), ursolic acid (6), cycloart-3β, 25-diol (7), foliasalacioside B1 (8), (6R,7E,9R)-9-hydrox...

Chemical investigations of a microfungus Xylaria sp. isolated from the Australian rainforest tree Glochidion ferdinandi have afforded two new natural products, 2-hydroxy-6-methyl-8-methoxy-9-oxo-9H-xanthene-1-carboxylic acid (1) and 2-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyl-8-methoxy-9-oxo-9H-xanthene-1-carboxylic acid (2). Compound 1 has previously been synthesised but only partially characterised. Methylatio...

9-Nitro-20(S)-camptothecin is a novel anticancer drug. In this study, metabolites of 9-nitro-20(S)-camptothecin in rats were identified. Rats were dosed with the drug, and the metabolites in the bile were isolated and collected by high-performance liquid chromatography using a gradient elution. By LC/MSn(n =1-3), the biliary metabolites in addition to the unchanged drug were identified as 9-ami...

Five new phenolic compounds, 4-(beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl-propanone (8), 3-[5-[(threo) 2,3-dihydro-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-7-methoxybenzofuranyl]-propanoic acid (12), 2-[4-(3-hydroxy-1-propenyl)-2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy]-3-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)propyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (13), 4-[(erythro) 2,3-dihydro-3(hydroxymethyl)-5-(3-hydropropyl)...