Benzyl chloride and tin powder were used to prepare dibenzyltin dichloride according to a literatureprocedure. In this study, IR spectroscopy, HOMO-LUMO energy gap, NBO analysis, polarizability,some geometrical parameters, natural charge and electrical potential of atoms, global hardness,electronic chemical potential, global electrophilicity index, and molar volume of dibenzyltindichloride were...

Traditional natural products discovery using a combination of live/dead screening followed by iterative bioassay-guided fractionation affords no information about compound structure or mode of action until late in the discovery process. This leads to high rates of rediscovery and low probabilities of finding compounds with unique biological and/or chemical properties. By integrating image-based...

BACKGROUND Tumor cells present high levels of oxidative stress. Cancer therapeutics exploiting such biochemical changes by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production or decreasing intracellular ROS scavengers could provide a powerful treatment strategy. METHODS To test the effect of our compound, obtusaquinone (OBT), we used several cell viability assays on seven different glioblasto...

This review summarizes the effects of resveratrol in neurodegenerative diseases and speculates on the direction the field will take in the immediate future. In particular, we emphasize studies on the effects of resveratrol on new pathways related to neurodegenerative diseases such as inflammatory processes, mitochondrial biogenesis and its control through gamma coactivator 1-α (PGC1α), and the ...

The aim of our study was to investigate the intrinsic diversity of genus based on chemical composition of natural extracts of Cacalia, Dracocephalum, Jatropha, Saussurea and Senecio. Four rarefaction approaches (richness, Shannon’s entropy, Simpson’s diversity, and max-entropy) were implemented as an algorithm and run 10,000 times. Our results showed similar patterns of richness in natural comp...

The major obstacle limiting the efficacy of current Smoothened (Smo) inhibitors is the primary and acquired resistance mainly caused by Smo mutations and Gli amplification. In this context, developing Hh inhibitors targeting Gli, the final effector of this signaling pathway, may combat the resistance. In this study we found that solasonine, a natural glycoalkaloid compound, significantly inhibi...

Numerical assessments of global air quality and potential changes in atmospheric chemical constituents require estimates of the surface fluxes of a variety of trace gas species. We have developed a global model to estimate emissions of volatile organic compounds from natural sources (NVOC). Methane is not considered here and has been reviewed in detail elsewhere. The model has a highly resolved...

Actinobacteria are one of the most important and efficient groups of natural metabolite producers. The genus Streptomyces have been recognized as prolific producers of useful natural compounds as they produced more than half of the naturally-occurring antibiotics isolated to-date and continue as the primary source of new bioactive compounds. Lately, Streptomyces groups isolated from different e...

BACKGROUND CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) regulatory T (T(reg)) cells inhibit autoimmunity and protect against tissue injury. The development of these T(reg) cells is controlled by the regulator protein Foxp3, which can be enhanced by the in vitro activation of Foxp3 in the presence of transforming growth factor-beta. However, little is known about alternative methods, such as the use of natural product...

References 1. Koch MA, Wittenberg LO, Basu S, Jeyaraj DA, Gourzoulidou E, Reinecke K, Odermatt A, Waldmann H: PNAS 2004, 101:16721-16726. 2. Koch MA, Schuffenhauer A, Scheck M, Wetzel S, Casaulta M, Odermatt A, Ertl P, Waldmann H: Charting biologically relevant chemical space: A structural classification of natural products (SCONP). PNAS 2005, 102:17272-17277. 3. Schuffenhauer A, Ertl P, Roggo ...