<i>Artemisia vulgaris</i>L. Chemotypes

Artemisia vulgaris L. was collected from various regions in the USA and Montreal Canada. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry was used to identify the analytes present in the volatiles extracted by headspace solid-phase microextraction of the crushed leaves and flowers. Four distinct chemotypes are were found: One featuring the coexistence of ar-curcumene and α-zingiberene;two marked by the presence or absence of thujone and santolinatriene;and a fourth characterized by the presence of crysanthenyl acetate (40%). DNA was used to confirm the identity of Artemisia vulgaris L.

Comparing Ginsenoside Production in Leaves and Roots of Wild American Ginseng (<i>Panax quinquefolius</i>)

American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius L., is an herbaceous perennial species that is destructively harvested for its bioactive compounds called ginsenosides. The demand for this herb fosters illegal poaching and over-harvesting that reduces genetic variability and population viability. Five wild populations in western North Carolina were studied to better understand the production of ginsenosides in leaf and root tissues. Total ginsenoside concentration was significantly higher in leaves than roots, though total yield was higher in roots due to greater root biomass. However, some ginsensosides (Rb2, Rd and Re) had higher or more consistent yields in leaves than roots, so might be developed into a sustainable source of these medicinally-active compounds. Additionally, we identified regional root chemotypes that differed in the production of the ginsenosides Rg1 and Re and could be developed into regional cultivars depending on the desired panel of ginsenosides.

Diversity in chemical compositions of essential oil of myrtle leaves from various natural habitats in south and southwest Iran

Myrtle, Myrtus communis L. （Myrtaceae）, an evergreen shrub also known as wild myrtle, has a history of use as a culinary and medicinal plant. To determine the diversity within the species, plant leaves of myrtle were collected in 12 natural habitats in Iran for investigation of chemical constituents in the essential oil. Extraction of the essential oils produced yields ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 mL per 100 g dry tissue. An analysis of the oils by GC and GC/MS revealed 40 compounds, constituting 90.1-99.9 % of the essential oils. Chemical constituents varied with the site of sample origin, although the principal essential oil compo- nents from all populations, were pinene （17.5-37.1%）, 1,8-cineole （9.9-29.8 %）, linalool （7.0-23.1%）, and a-ter- pineol （5.3-8.3 %）. Limonene （tr, 22.7 %） was a major constituent in three populations. Characterized chemotypes included Chemotype pinene/1,8-cineole/linalool, Chemotype II： a-pinene/linalool, Chemotype III： a-pinene/1,8- cineole, and Chemotype IV： pinene/1,8-cineole/limonene.The main source of variabifity in chemical composition and oil yield appeared to be differences in environmental conditions and chemotypes as plant populations collected from close geographical areas could be classified in a cluster.

Phytochemical composition of the essential oil of different populations of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl

Objective:To examine the chemical variability in inflorescences of wild populations of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl(S.lavandulifolia)collected throughout two provinces(lsfahan and Chaharmahal va Bakhtiary),Southwest Iran.Methods:The essential oils of S.lavandulifolia Vahl from seven locations were obtained by hydro-distillation and analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.Results:The results revealed that distinct differences in the content of compounds depending on region of sample collection.The main constituents of the essential oils wereα-thujone(0.3%-32.3%),α-pinene(trace to 37.3%),myrcene(0.5%-15.9%),β-phellandrene(1.1%-37.9%),germacrene D(0.4%-11.3%),△-cadinene(trace to 11.6%)and 1,4-methano-1 H-indene(trace to 10.1%).Conclusions:The results of the present study indicated that essential oil components of S.lavandulifolia Vahl can be varied with genetic(ecotype),environmental conditions and geographic origin,In general,the essential oils of various populations of S.lavandulifolia Vahl were rich in monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids.

Chemo-Divergence in Essential Oil Composition among Thirty One Core Collections of <i>Ocimum sanctum</i>L. Grown under Sub-Tropical Region of Jammu, India

Evaluation of thirty one core collections of Ocimum sanctum L. synonyms O. tenuiflorum L. collected from different ecological regions representing contrasting environment of India was carried out. All the collections were grown under sub-tropical region of Jammu, India. Study revealed wide range of variability in quantitive and qualitative attributes of oil. Essential oil content ranged between 0.16% ± 0.01% - 0.55% ± 0.08% showing the presence of fifteen constituents. Methyl eugenol (1.54% - 93.16%) and Eugenol (0.06% - 70.41%), were the major constituent. The other major constituent of the oil was β-Caryophyllene (4.60% - 33.77%) which was detected in almost all the collections. Borneol, Copane, α Caryophyllene were other constituents detected in almost all the accessions. α selinene was detected in traces in only three accessions (OS-01, OS-03, OS-50) and β-selinene was detected in four accessions (OS-01, OS-03, OS-50, OS-72. Accession OS-70 collected from Patna, showed distinct chemical profile having β-Elemene (32.81%), β-Cary- ophyllene (16.37%), Germacrene-D (18.05%), β-Ocimene (17.69%) and Copane (5.738%). Being distinct in oil profiling, Patna collection was designated as distinct chemotype. Collections OS-50 from Gwalior from Central India and OS-59 from Rajkot Western India have been identified as methyl eugenol (93.16%) and eugenol (70.41%) rich geno- types. The data collected provided useful information with respect to composition of essential oil among core collection evaluated representing various agro-climatic zones.

Lamiaceae Peppermint Oil with Surfactant Showing Equal Antifungal Activity against <i>Candida albicans</i>to Rosemary Chemotype CINEOL

Oral candidiasis causes pain in oral cavity or tongue. Antifungal drugs are commonly used for the treatment of candidiasis, however, there could be several problems such as side effects, drug resistance, or contraindication to concomitant use with drugs already taken. The development of substituting antimicrobial agents, which could be used internally or as gargling agents, is expected. Some essential oils have been known for the activities against microbes. We focused on the three chemotype essential oils from rosemary and five essential oils from Lamiaceae plants including rosemary, and examined their antifungal activity against Candida albicans by broth microdilution method. The activity with or without addition of Tween 80 or Tween 20 was statistically analyzed. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the essential oils were significantly decreased when either of the two surfactants was added. Among the tested oils, only CAMPHOR, a rosemary chemotype, showed a significantly lower MIC with addition of Tween 20 than Tween 80. It is inferred that the antifungal activity of essential oils is influenced by the type of surfactants. Some of the essential oils showed the same values of MIC and the minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) when surfactant was added. Peppermint showed the same MICs and MFCs in most cases, and its low MFC indicated potent fungicidal activity against C. albicans, as observed in CINEOL. We will discuss peppermint oil as one of the potential candidates for antifungal agents against C. albicans.

Antifungal activity of chemotype essential oils from rosemary against <i>Candida albicans</i>

Oral candidiasis is caused by Candida albicans. The symptoms including pain in the oral cavity affect our eating function. While some antifungal agents are commonly used for the treatment of candidiasis, occasional consumption of the effective dose cannot be tolerated due to side effects. There is also a possibility of induction of antifungal resistance, thus the development of replacement agents has been awaited. We aim to explore antimicrobial activities of essential oils. We evaluated the antifungal activities against C. albicans of essential oils from seven aromatic plants from three manufacturers, and of three chemotype essential oils from rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). As a result, we found that the antifungal activity was increased several times by the addition of Tween 80. All the tested essential oils showed stable antifungal activity, however, the variation was observed among the manufacturers of rosemary and eucalyptus. Rosemary has three chemotypes;CINEOL, CAMPHOR and VERBENON. They derived from a same plant species, but contain different chemical components. The CINEOL, dose-dependently decreased the number of C. albicans in the time-kill assay. Hence we concluded that the components of rosemary essential oil would have an effect on its antifungal activity. A chemotype is the first to consider in measuring antifungal activities of rosemary oil.

Drug Design of "Undruggable" Targets

Drug innovation is not only reflected in the discovery of new chemotypes of active compounds against existing targets but also more dependent on the innovation of drug targets. Currently, a number of attractive and validated targets could not be targeted pharmacologically. Some have been described as "un druggable''.In this review, we summarized the curre nt situatio n of "undruggable" targets, and the desig n strategies for "un druggable" targets, hoping to provide references for the development of innovative drugs.

High-Throughput Chemotyping of Cannabis and Hemp Extracts Using an Ultraviolet Microplate Reader and Multivariate Classifiers

As the use of Cannabis products as natural medicines burgeons,it is also appearing as a food ingredient.It is important to screen Cannabis samples as ingredients by profiling their chemical compositions,which is referred to as chemotyping.Two sets of botanical extracts were studied.The first set is referred to as Cannabis contained plant materials from 15 samples of the sativa,indica,and hybrids of the two species.The second set contained 20 extracts from the variety of Cannabis sativa with low tetrahydrocannabinol(THC)concentrations,i.e.,below 0.3%,and,henceforth,will be referred to as hemp.An ultraviolet(UV)microplate reader provides a cost-effective and high-throughput method for identifying chemotypes of plant extracts by their spectra.The microplate reader affords rapid measurements of small volumes,e.g.,50μL,which demonstrates a potential to significantly reduce the analysis time and cost for Cannabis and hemp chemotyping or chemi-cal profiling.Replicate samples were measured on different days to demonstrate the robustness of the method.Projected difference resolution(PDR)maps were used to visualize the separations among the classes.Five multivariate classifiers,fuzzy rule-building expert system(FuRES),super partial least squares-discriminant analysis(sPLS-DA),support vector machine(SVM),and two tree-based support vector machines(SVMtreeG and SVMtreeH)were evaluated.The classifiers were validated with ten bootstrapped Latin partitions(BLPs).For the Cannabis extracts,the SVMtreeG yielded the best performance and the classification accuracy was 99.1±0.4%for spectra collected in the nonlinear absorbance range.For the hemp extracts,the SVM classifier performed the best with a 97.4±0.6%classification accuracy.These results demonstrate that the UV microplate reader coupled with multivariate classifiers can be used as a high-throughput and cost-effective approach for chemotyping Cannabis.