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Metabolomics of human biological fluids or tissues is used to discover markers for diseases by comparing the metabolome of the patients against healthy individuals. Ultimately, these markers can be used in drug discovery to determine how medications normalize (at least in part) the human metabolome at specific disease stages to homeostatic. Likewise, the health effects of food can be studied. Even metabolomics of the food can be combined with metabolomics of the treated patients to correlate compounds from food with measurable health effects from clinical studies. Various chemometric analyses of these metabolomics data are used to identify markers for diseases and to obtain evidence for health effects. This review discusses recent researches (published from 2013 to 2021) on whether specific dietary intervention to humans suffering from metabolic disorders may improve their pathological status. The scope is limited to those associated with major lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases, for which food is thought may have detrimental as well as beneficial effects on human health. It includes metabolites characterization of different biological samples such as the human serum/plasma, urine, saliva, feces, or ileal fluid. Whether the study results supported the claimed health benefits and whether the research was conducted with appropriate study design, was criticized.

Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol is the active constituent in Cannabis sativa, with reported analgesic, anti-emetic, anti-oxidative, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory activities. Δ9-THC has been used to treat a number of disease states including pain, anxiety, asthma, glaucoma, and hypertension. Poor water solubility of Δ9-THC greatly reduces its clinical effectiveness. Consequently, there is a need to modify the compound to increase its polarity and pharmaceutical efficacy. The aim of this study was to test the capability of Catharanthus roseus suspension cultured cells to convert Δ9-THC into more polar derivatives. The transformed metabolites were analyzed and isolated by HPLC. Structures of some new derivatives were proposed on the basis of molecular ion peaks and fragmentation patterns obtained from LC-MS and UV spectra obtained by HPLC, respectively. Δ9-THC was rapidly absorbed by Catharanthus roseus cultured cells and upon biotransformation new glycosylated and hydroxylated derivatives were isol...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with a steady loss of attention and memory, which has been correlated with the impairment of brain cholinergic neurotransmission, particularly a deficit of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert. Therefore, one of the methods that has proven successful in the treatment of AD is the use of inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) to supplement the acetylcholine level. Herein we describe the isolation of several AchE-inhibiting alkaloids from the bulbs of Nerine bowdenii, an Amaryllidaceae species. For the first time 11-O-acetylambelline and filofiline, previously reported from Brunsvigia josephinea and Nerine filifolia, respectively, were isolated.

We have developed one approach to fingerprint and estimate the active compounds in the leaves of Vitex trifolia Linn possessing anti-tracheospasmolytic assay using two-dimensional TLC pattern comparison. Based on the two-dimensional TLC pattern and the activity of the centrifugal partition chromatography fractions, we concluded that the semi polar compounds were responsible for anti-tracheospasmolytic activity. The best non-polar/semi polar mobile phases for the two-dimensional TLC using silica gel as the stationary phase were chloroform/methanol (9/1) as the first mobile phase and ethyl acetate/chloroform/methanol (28/28/44) as the second mobile phase.

Cannabis sativa is a well-known recreational drug and, as such, a controlled substance of which possession and use are illegal in most countries of the world. Due to the legal constraints on the possession and use of C. sativa, relatively little research on the medicinal qualities of this plant has been conducted. Interest in the medicinal uses of this plant has, however, increased in the last decades. The methods of administration for medicinal purposes are mainly through oral ingestion, smoking, and nowadays also inhalation through vaporization. During this study the commercially available Volcano vaporizing device was compared with cannabis cigarette smoke. The cannabis smoke and vapor (obtained at different temperatures) were quantitatively analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition, different quantities of cannabis material were also tested with the vaporizer. The cannabinoids:by-products ratio in the vapor obtained at 200 degrees C and 230 degrees C was significantly higher than in the cigarette smoke. The worst ratio of cannabinoids:by-products was obtained from the vaporized cannabis sample at 170 degrees C.

A novel approach to identify compounds possessing adenosine A1 receptor binding activity in the leaves of O. stamineus was developed. O. stamineus extract is one of the components of a functional beverage used in Indonesia for the treatment of kidney stones. In this study, adenosine A1 receptor binding, which is related to the diuretic action in the treatment of kidney stones was tested. A combination of thin layer chromatography of different extracts prepared by extraction with diverse solvents (n-hexane, chloroform, n-butanol and water), and multivariate data analysis based on orthogonal partial least squares proved to be a promising approach to determine these active compounds. Several methoxyflavonoids, fatty acids or terpenoids were estimated to be related to this activity. The results of this study support the traditional use in Indonesia of O. stamineus as a functional drink to treat kidney stones.

The tropical hardwood sawdust of Tectona grandis L.f. from the wood processing industry was extracted and tested for anti-wood rot activity. Tectona grandis extract inhibited the brown rot fungi Gloeophyllum sepiarium, Gloeophyllum trabeum, Piptoporus betulinus and Serpula lacrymans, and the white rot fungi Bjerkandera adusta, Merulius tremellosus, and Phlebia brevispora. Centrifugal partition chromatography was used to separate these compounds using n-hexane-MeOH-H2O (50:47.5:2.5) as a solvent system. The compounds deoxylapachol, tectoquinone, 2-hydroxymethylanthraquinone, 3′-OH-deoxyisolapachol (2-[(1E)-3-hydroxy-3-methylbut-1-enyl]naphthoquinone), hemitectol (2,2-dimethyl-2H-benzo[h]chromen-6-ol), and tectol were isolated from Tectona grandis sawdust CHCl3-MeOH (1:1) extract. Deoxylapachol inhibited the brown rot fungi Gloeophyllum sepiarium CBS 353.74 and Gloeophyllum trabeum CBS 318.50 and the white rot fungi Merulius tremellosus CBS 280.73 and Phlebia brevispora CBS 509.92. Hemitectol toget...

A simple single step ion exchange chromatography method has been developed for purification of SA from plant cell culture extracts. The optimum washing and elution solvents are 25 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.0–7.5) and 0.3 M HCl in 60% acetonitrile, respectively. Using the developed method the SA recoveries were found 69–80% calculated from the whole purification process. In particular, in the second 10 mL elution, 70 µg SA in 1 g resin yielded 65% SA recovery, which provided a well‐detectable amount of SA with a relatively low level of impurities as analyzed by 400 MHz 1H‐NMR.

Cannabis sativa contains more than 400 known compounds, of which the terpene chemicals, called cannabinoids, are unique to this species. The cannabinoids, which occur as the corresponding acids in the plant material, are the major psychoactive components in this species. The compounds are decarboxylated from the inactive acidic form into the active form by means of smoking. Previous research has made use of the tobacco industry's standard method and adaptations thereof to produce a cannabis smoke condensate. In this study the method of smoke production, which includes the puff frequency, puff length, and puff volume, was tested and the concentration of the major cannabinoid, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and the amount of by-products produced under the different conditions were quantified. This study aimed at combining the existing methodology and at providing quantitative results on the influence of the preparation method on the concentration of THC in the smoke. The results indicate that the method of smoke production influences the amount of THC produced (e.g., longer puff length yielding a higher amount of THC). The THC concentration in the smoke condensate varied between 22.17 mg/g of cannabis and 54.00 mg/g, while the amount of by-products produced varied between 25.57 mg/g and 107.40 mg/g.

Using pure trans/cis‐isocohumulone, trans/cis‐isohumulone, and trans/cis‐isoadhumulone an isocratic HPLC system has been developed for quantitation of these compounds in hop extracts and beers. The mobile phase contains acetonitrile‐water‐ H3PO4 (50∶50∶0.01, v/v/v) and is used with a Phenomenex Hypersil 5 µ C18 column 250×4.6 mm, flow rate 1.5 mL/min. Baseline separation of all 6 isomers was achieved with a total run time of 25 min. The UV spectrum of these pure compounds using this system are quite different. The effect of different mobile phase compositions on separation was investigated as well as the chromatographic parameters, detection limit, and linearity.

A simple method is presented for the preparative isolation of seven major cannabinoids from Cannabis sativa plant material. Separation was performed by centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC), a technique that permits large‐scale preparative isolations. Using only two different solvent systems, it was possible to obtain pure samples of the cannabinoids; (−)‐Δ9‐(trans)‐tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9‐THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), cannabigerol (CBG), (−)‐Δ9‐(trans)‐tetrahydrocannabinolic acid‐A (THCA), cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA). A drug‐type and a fiber‐type cannabis cultivar were used for the isolation. All isolates were shown to be more than 90% pure by gas chromatography. This method makes acidic cannabinoids available on a large scale for biological testing. The method described in this report can also be used to isolate additional cannabinoids from cannabis plant material.

A method for rapid qualitative and quantitative determination of galanthamine in Amaryllidaceae plants using reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography has been developed. The use of 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in water as the extraction solvent provides an HPLC‐ready sample, which makes this method simple and efficient. The separation was achieved by a system consisting of a reversed phase C18 small pore (100 A) column and TFA:water:acetonitrile (0.01:95:5 v/v/v) as the mobile phase. Ephedrine is a suitable internal standard.

In vitro propagation of Isoplexis isabelliana (Webb & Berth.) Masf. (Scrophulariaceae), an endemic Spanish medicinal plant, using nodal segments of stems is described. Optimum shoot proliferation was achieved on Murashige and Skoog liquid medium supplemented with 0.44 μM BA. Plantlets were successfully acclimatized without previous in vitro rooting of the shoots.

The metabolite profiles of wild type tobacco plants and transgenic tobacco plants, constitutively producing salicylic acid (SA), were compared by means of liquid chromatography with online photo diode array and mass spectrometer detector (LC–PDA–MS). Statistical analysis of the peak area of 15 major peaks showed significant differences in quantities for three compounds, which are present in the extract before acid hydrolysis, containing mainly aglucones. By comparison of the retention time, UV spectra, and molecular weight with reference compounds, two of these peaks were identified as chlorogenic acid and rutin. The extracts obtained after acidic hydrolysis did not show any significant difference.

Catharanthus roseus cell cultures produce a high amount of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,3-DHBA) and salicylic acid (SA) with a concomitant induction of isochorismate synthase (ICS, EC 5.4.99.6) after addition of a fungus Pythium aphanidermatum. To investigate whether 2,3-DHBA might be formed through an intermediacy of SA, the cells were fed with this compound. A significant increase of glycosidically bound 2,3-DHBA was obtained, although no effect on ICS was observed in the cells treated with SA. On the contrary, the addition of SA in combination with fungal elicitor led to a lower level of the total 2,3-DHBA found in the cells and the medium, but no influence on the induction of ICS activity. These results suggest SA is unlikely a direct precursor of 2,3-DHBA. However, it might have a regulatory role in the 2,3-DHBA biosynthetic pathway.

The New Zealand moss Canalohypopterygium tamariscinum (Hypopterygiaceae) is characterised by rudimentary branches. These branches have cavities that are filled with oil, which is a feature in mosses which is shared only with Catharomnion ciliatum (Hypopterygiaceae). The oil of Canalohypopterygium tamariscinum mainly consists of apolar hydrocarbons. This oil may have an energy storage function, serve to repel (invertebrates, fungi, or bacteria, or may be an adaptation to life in humid or harsh environmental conditions. Alternatively, the oil might have had a distinct function in the past, which has been lost in the course of evolution

A semi-purified Taxus baccata needles extract was analysed by RP-HPLC. More than 18 taxines and cinnamates were detected by photodiode array detection and LC-MS, 10 of them being positively identified. Furthermore, 10-deacetyl baccatin III (paclitaxel's main precursor) and other taxanes were also found in the extract. Taxines were also detected in numerous extracts of plant and cell culture extracts of various origins. The identification of the taxines in the extracts was made by correlation of retention and spectral data. LC-electrospray MS verified the identification of the known taxines in T. baccata seeds, needles, and pollen.

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assays are described for measuring the catalytic activities of chorismate-pyruvate lyase and p-aminobenzoate synthase (EC 4.1.3.-), enzymes involved in the ubiquinone and folate biosynthetic pathways, respectively. These assays allow rapid and accurate detection of substrate consumption and product formation. Also depletion of chorismate and the presence of other interfering chorismate utilizing enzyme activities can be observed. The detection limit for the products p-hydroxybenzoate and p-aminobenzoate is 2.5 ng for both. The suitability of the assays is demonstrated with extracts from Escherichia coli.

Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) was used in a general separation and dereplication procedure in search for new biologically active compounds from crude plant extracts. In this procedure, the alcoholic extract was prefractionated by CPC with the solvent system heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water 6:1:6:1 (v/v/v/v) followed by bioactivity screening of the fractions. The active fractions were analyzed for the known active components for dereplication. If the activity was found in the most polar fraction, which tended to contain a large group of compounds, the fraction was separated again by CPC (solvent system ethyl acetate/methanol/water 43:22:35, v/v/v). This two-step procedure was found to be efficient for five extracts tested for both chemical and bioactivity profiles.

In order to find a Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) solvent system that can be used as a general prefractionation step for crude plant extracts, twelve two-phase systems were compared. The butanol: ethyl acetate: water 3:2:5 (v/v/v) system gave good separation for polar compounds, and the heptane: ethyl acetate: methanol: water 6:1:6:1 (v/v/v/v) system was found to be effective for the separation of nonpolar compounds and somewhat less for polar compounds.

The subcellular localization of the iridoids loganin and secologanin was studied in a secologanin accumulating Catharanthus roseus cell culture. Vacuoles were isolated from protoplasts by an osmotic shock treatment, followed by flotation centrifugation. The iridoid contents of cells, protoplasts and vacuoles were analysed by HPLC. Secologanin was found to be stored exclusively in the vacuoles. In loganin fed cells, loganin accumulated in the vacuoles while vacuolar secologanin contents increased, indicating that the conversion of loganin to secologanin occurs in the vacuoles. However, feedings of loganin to isolated protoplasts and vacuoles did not result in increased secologanin levels.

J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 56(3):118-122, 1998 The analysis of hop acids, humulones and lupulones, with negative electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS) is described for two different chromatographic systems. One system focuses on the complete resolution of the ad- and normal homologues implying that no optimal mass spectrometric parameters can be used, whereas the other system makes no compromise to the MS and yields a high sensitivity. The latter system is especially suitable for the fast screening of bitter acids. With this system, the detection limit with selected ion monitoring (SIM)-MS could be estimated to be 10 ng/ml for the humulones and 5 ng/ml for the lupulones. The presence of hop acids in beer was investigated and was found to be positive for humulones, whereas lupulones could not be detected. RESUMEN Es descrito el analisis de acidos de lupulo, humulonas y lupulonas, por espectrometria de masas de ionizacion electrorocio negativo, por dos sistemas cromatograficos diferentes. Un sistema se enfoca en la completa resolucion de los homologos normal y ad implicando que parametros espectrometricos de masa no optima pueden ser usados, mientras que el otro sistema no se compromete al MS y proporciona una alta sensibilidad. El ultimo sistema es especialmente c onveniente para el rapido monitoreo de acidos amargos. Con este sistema el limite de la determinacion con espectrometria de masas por medio de monitoreo de ion selective (SIM) puede ser estimado en 10 ng/ml para las humulonas y 5 ng/ml para las lupulonas. La presencia de acidos de lupulo en cerveza fue investigado y se encontro era positivo para humulonas, mientras que lupulonas no pudieron ser detectadas. Hop (Humulus lupulus) is used for its preservative and flavoring characteristics in beer. Hop or hop extracts are added during the boil of the wort. It is during this time that the virtually insoluble α-acids (humulones) are isomerized into the more soluble isoacids, the main bittering substances in beer. Although isomerized α-acids are the largest contributors, hops also contain β-acids (lupulones), which are claimed to add bitterness to beer. Most common hop acids are normal, co-, and ad-homologues (Fig 1). The analysis of the hop acids in hop is important for quality control. The difficulty of this analysis with LC is caused by the isomeric form of the ad- and normal homologues of the hop acid. For a proper chromatographic system, fairly high efficiencies are needed, as it is desirable to have baseline separation for all the compounds (9). The type of stationary phase in the chromatographic system appeared to be important. Certain types of reversed phase columns do not separate the ad- and normal homologues of the bitter acids (6). The analysis of the six major hop bitter acids using UV detection has been reported. For complete separation with micro LC, retention times

Two two-phase systems were selected for the separation of anthraquinones by means of centrifugal partition chromatography, using alizarin, purpurin and quinizarin as test substances. These systems were applied to the separation of anthraquinones, extracted from a Rubia tinctorum hairy root culture. Some of the anthraquinones present were identified: alizarin, alizarin 1-methyl ether, lucidin and nordamnacanthal.

This review covers the most recent literature on vanilla research. Besides the curing process, chemistry in green and cured beans, as well as studies on the biosynthetic pathways of the most important aroma compounds are discussed. Despite intensive research on the curing process, the traditional curing procedures are still widely used. The role of enzymes involved in the curing process is not fully understood. The biosynthesis of vanilla aroma compounds is still under investigation. Data obtained from plant cell cultures are not always in accordance with those from the plant. The glycosylation of the compounds in vivo is still a point of study. Alternative routes to vanillin involving microbial biotransformations are outlined.

Natural abundance 15N-NMR spectra were obtained from quinidine, quinine and epiquinidine. Correlation of the 15N chemical shifts with X-ray studies and minimal energy conformer calculations, reported previously, enabled definite conclusions about the solution conformations of these alkaloids. Also the protonation of quinidine in CDCl3 was studied. It was determined that the first protonation occurs on the quinuclidine nitrogen and not on the quinoline nitrogen as was reported by Yanuka et al.1