Natural Products Articles

Numerous hormonal compounds have been made available as over-the-counter nutritional supplements in the United States as a result of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. Although many hormonal supplements (e.g., androst-5-en-3 -ol-17-one (DHEA) and melatonin, in particular) have been well-documented with regard to source, safety, and potential benefit, some other compounds have not. An esoteric member of this category, 5-androst-1-ene-3 , 17-diol (1), has not been demonstrated to be present in the food supply and may, therefore, not be considered a nutritional supplement.

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Clivorine (1) and ligularine (2), two hepatotoxic otonecine-type pyrrolizidine alkaloids isolated from Ligularia hodgsonii, an antitussive traditional Chinese medicine, were investigated in CDCl3 and D2O by various NMR techniques to delineate why this type of alkaloid displays uncharacteristic solubility properties by dissolving in both nonpolar organic and aqueous solutions. The results demonstrated that both alkaloids exist in a non-ionized form in CDCl3, but in an ionized form in D2O, suggesting that this unique dual solubility may play a role in the intoxication resultant from consumption of water extracts of herbs, including herbal teas, containing otonecine-type pyrrolizidine alkaloids





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Herbal medicinal products exist in all Member States of the European Union (EU), although their importance varies considerably from o­ne country to another. They do not represent a homogeneous group. Generally speaking, there are either fully licensed medicinal products with efficacy proven by clinical studies or by bibliography (in accordance with Article 4.8 a (ii) of Council Directive 65/65/EEC) or products with a more or less simplified proof of efficacy according to their national use. Although these two categories exist in many Member States, there are major discrepancies between the Member States in the classification of individual herbal drug preparations and products into o­ne of these categories as well as in the requirements for obtaining a marketing authorisation.

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The screening of crude natural product extracts and combinatorial libraries for activities has been a major source of biologically active compounds for drug development efforts. However, whole extract screens can be problematic when multiple, potentially interfering activities or nonspecifically active compounds, such as tannins or leptins, are present. The ability to separate and assess individually such activities without macroscopic isolation represents an extremely useful method for drug discovery.

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Flash Dryers—A Family of Drying Systems

Concerns about the safety and efficacy of dietary and herbal products are generating manufacturing requirements and analytical standards for ingredients.

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PC SPES (PC for prostate cancer and SPES in Latin for "hope") is a dietary supplement consisting of extracts of o­ne North American plant [Serenoa repens (Bartram) Small; saw palmetto] and seven Chinese herbs [Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) Kitam., Ganoderma lucidum Karst., Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Isatis indigotica Fort., Panax pseudo-ginseng Wall., Rabdosia rubescens (Hemsl.) Hara, and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi], which has gained popularity as an alternative therapy for advanced prostate cancer (PC) due to its demonstrated clinical efficacy and improvement of quality of life for hormone-refractory PC patients. 

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Biologically active peptides, amines, steroidal bufadienolides, and samandarine alkaloids represent some of the classes of compounds that amphibians elaborate and store in granular skin glands, apparently for chemical defense against microbial skin infections and/or predators. However, the wide variety of lipophilic alkaloids, discovered in skin of dendrobatid frogs, do not appear to be synthesized by such frogs, since captive-raised dendrobatid frogs completely lacked such alkaloids, but could sequester alkaloids unchanged into skin. Ants, beetles, and millipedes were found to represent the dietary source for many of the "dendrobatid alkaloids".

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Dolan examines some options for increasing the retention of polar compounds, which is a goal when using gradient elution scouting runs to screen the retention characteristics of compounds for separation by reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

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The kahalalides are depsipeptides isolated by the Scheuer group from the sacoglossan mollusk Elysia rufescens Pease 1871 (Plakobranchidae) and its green algal diet, a Bryopsis sp. (Bryopsidaceae). Seven cyclic depsipeptides, kahalalides A-F and O, and three linear peptides, kahalalides G, H, and J, ranging from a C₃₁ tripeptide to a C₇₅ tridecapeptide, have been previously described from the mollusk. Kahalalide G, the acyclic analogue of kahalalide F, was found in the diet of the animal. Except for the unusual dehydroaminobutyric acid (Dhb) in kahalalides F and G, all constituent amino acids are of common occurrence. Each peptide also contains an aliphatic acid

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