Cultured cells of Picea excelsa capable of forming stilbenes and flavanoids have been established. Unlike needles of intact plants containing piceatannol (3,3',4',5-tetrahydroxystilbene) and stilbene glycosides the cultured cells converted phenylalanine and p-coumaric acid primarily into resveratrol monomethyl ether (3,4'-dihydroxy-5-methoxystilbene) and naringenin. Partially purified enzyme pr...

Chalcone isomerase (CHI) is the key enzyme that catalyzes chalcone into (2S)-flavanol or (2S)-5-desoxidation flavanol. The full length cDNA (1050 bp) of AhCHI (Arachis hypogaea CHI gene) was cloned by large scale EST sequencing using a peanut immature seed cDNA library. Sequence analysis results indicated that it was a type I CHI gene (with the accession number JN660794). The ORF of AhCHI was 7...

Changes in the mRNA activity of chalcone synthase, the first enzyme of phenylpropanoid metabolism specific to flavonoid/isoflavonoid biosynthesis, have been investigated in relation to expression of the phytoalexin defense response in race-cultivar specific interactions between hypocotyls of Phaseolus vulgaris and the partially biotrophic fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, causal agent of an...

The condensation reaction of aceto-phenone (1-phenyl-ethan-1-one) with 2-nitro-benzaldehyde in the molten state yielded the expected chalcone, (E)-3-(2-nitro-phen-yl)-1-phenyl-prop-2-en-1-one, and, unexpectedly, the title compound, C30H22N2O6, which results from the syn head-to-head [2 + 2] cyclo-addition of the chalcone. The mol-ecular structure of the dimer shows that the four benzene rings o...

Chalcone and chromene motifs are synthetic or naturally occurring scaffolds with significant cytotoxic profile. Two types of novel regioisomeric chromene-chalcone hybrids, namely 1-(6-chloro or 6-methoxy-2H-chromen-3-yl)-3-phenylprop-2-en-1-one (Type A) and 3-(6-chloro or 6-methoxy-2H-chromen-3-yl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one (Type B), both with different substituents on the phenyl ring attached to...

Novel fluorescent chalcone-based ligands at human histamine H(3) receptors (hH(3)R) have been designed, synthesized, and characterized. Compounds described are non-imidazole analogs of ciproxifan with a tetralone motif. Tetralones as chemical precursors and related fluorescent chalcones exhibit affinities at hH(3)R in the same concentration range like the reference antagonist ciproxifan (hH(3)R...

Tetra-carboxy-methyl-naringenin-chalcone (TCM-NC) is a new cosmetic active derived from naringenin, a flavanone naturally occurring in the peel of citrus fruit and tomato skin. The naringenin isomer naringenin-chalcone has been reported to have potent anti-allergic properties. For this reason the effect of TCM-NC was studied in an in vitro assay mimicking the inflammation pathway of rosacea ski...

We analyzed sequence variation for chalcone synthase (Chs) and alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) loci in 28 species in the genera Arabidopsis and Arabis and related taxa from tribe Arabideae. Chs was single-copy in nearly all taxa examined, while Adh duplications were found in several species. Phylogenies constructed from both loci confirmed that the closest relatives of Arabidopsis thaliana include ...

The contribution of cis-regulation to adaptive evolutionary change is believed to be essential, yet little is known about the evolutionary rules that govern regulatory sequences. Here, we characterize the short-term evolutionary dynamics of a cis-regulatory region within and among two closely related species, A. lyrata and A. halleri, and compare our findings to A. thaliana. We focused on the c...

It was found that TBD, a cheap and commercially available guanidine, easily catalysed the synthesis of biologically important 3,5-diarylpyrazolines from chalcones and acylhydrazines via a selective secondary amine alkylation.