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Flower based nanoparticles has gained a special attention as a new sustainable eco-friendly avenue. Rosa floribunda charisma belongs to modern roses with bright yellow, red flowers with marvellous rose scent. Different methods were used for the extraction of its floral scent such as hexane, microwave, and solid-phase micro-extraction. The latter was the most efficient method for the extraction of phenyl ethyl alcohol, the unique scent of roses. In the current study, magnesium nanoparticles (RcNps) have been synthesized using Rosa floribunda charisma petals that have privileges beyond chemical and physical routs. RcNps formation was confirmed using UV–Visible (UV–Vis) Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), High Resolution-Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). HR-TEM images detected the polyhedral shape of RcNps with a diverse size ranged within 35.25–55.14 nm. The resulting RcNps exhibited a high radical scavenging activity illustrated by inhibition of superoxide, nitric oxide, hydroxyl radical and xanthine oxidase by by IC50 values 26.2, 52.9, 31.9 and 15.9 µg/ml respectively as compared to ascorbic acid. Furthermore, RcNps at concentration of 100 µg/ml significantly reduced xanthine oxidase activity (15.9 ± 0.61 µg/ml) compared with ascorbic acid (12.80 ± 0.32 µg/ml) with p 50 values of 58.7 ± 1.66 µg/ml, 82.5 ± 2.93 µg/ml, 191.4 ± 5.68 µg/ml and 158.6 ± 5.20 µg/ml as compared to EGCG respectively. RcNps also, exhibited a promising antibacterial activity against three skin pathogens delineate a significant threat to a public health, as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with MIC of 15.63, 7.81, 31.25 µg/ml as compared to ciprofloxacin (7.81, 3.9 and 15.63 µg/ml). Moreover, RcNps suppressed the formation of biofilms with minimum biofilm inhibitory concentrations 1.95, 1.95, 7.81 µg/ml against the fore mentioned strains, respectively. Overall, our findings indicate that Rosa floribunda nanoparticles could be used as a leading natural source in skin care cosmetic industry.

Plants belonging to Euphorbia L. genus are considered very interesting from a medicinal point of view due to their diverse metabolites and bioactivities. The essential oil (EO) of Euphorbia mauritanica L. is not studied up to date. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the chemical profile of this EO and evaluate its antioxidant, cytotoxic, and allelopathic potentialities. The EO was extracted from the whole plant via hydrodistillation and then, analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The correlation of E. mauritanica with the other Euphorbia plants was established using chemometric analysis. The antioxidant activity was determined based on scavenging of the free radical, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS). The anti-proliferation of the EO on the Hep G2 and MCF-7 cells was evaluated. Finally the allelopathic activity of the EO was assessed against the two noxious weeds, Dactyloctenium aegyptium and Urospermum picroides. Forty-one compounds were identified using GC/MS analysis, with an abundance of terpenoids (91.54 %) that were categorized into mono- (30.75 %), sesqui- (15.23 %), and diterpenes (45.56 %). Interestingly, the results revealed the preponderance of diterpenoid constituents although they are rarely found in the EOs of the plant kingdom. The major compounds were (3E)-cembrene A (18.66 %), verticiol (17.05 %), limonene (7.91 %), eucalyptol (7.26 %), α-pinene (5.61 %), neo-cembrene A (3.52 %), kaur-16-ene (3.24 %), and cembrene (3.09 %). The EO showed moderate antioxidant activity where it attained IC50 values of 83.34 and 64.21 μg mL-1 for DPPH and ABTS compared to 23.01 and 19.23 μg mL-1 for ascorbic acid as standard, respectively. The EO exhibited very weak cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 and Hep G2 cells. The EO showed significant allelopathic activities against the weeds D. aegyptium and U. picroides in a concentration-dependent manner. EO was found more effective against U. picroides than D. aegyptium with IC50 values of 0.79, 0.45, and 0.67 mg mL-1 and 1.17, 0.55, and 1.08 mg mL-1 for germination, root, and shoot growth, respectively. Due to the high content of diterpenes in E. mauritanica, further study is recommended for more characterization of pure forms of the identified diterpenes as well as evaluating their bioactivity either solely or synergistically.

Rosa damascena Mill. is well recognized for its value as an ornamental aromatic plant with several folk medicinal uses. As a valuable oil-bearing plant, its aroma profile was extensively studied, albeit differences between unexpanded rose flowers (URF) and expanded rose flowers (EFR) at different levels of blooming is not reported. Rose scent from both stages was determined using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) for the first time for Egyptian rose. A total of 75 volatiles were detected, with alcohols, esters, and oxides as valuable volatile classes at ca. 64 %, 10 % and 2 % respectively in ERF compared to 46 %, 2 %, and 0.4 % in URF. Egyptian rose aroma is considered of high quality being enriched in citronellol, geraniol, and phenylethyl alcohol (rose oil). Total flavonoids, phenolics, and anthocyanins were found more enriched in ERF than URF. Further, comprehensive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/photodiode array detector/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry UHPLC/PDA/ESI-MS revealed 66 secondary metabolites, of which sphingolipid conjugates and tannins are first time to be reported in rose including several novel phenolics viz., gallic acid-di-O-hexoside, galloyl hexose malic acid I, digalloyl-hexosyl-ellagic acid and levoglucosangallate I. Further, in-vitro anti collagenase assay revealed a strong effect for ERF compared to URF and in correlation to its metabolite fingerprint. The strong fragrant scent of Egyptian rose along with its anti-collagenase effect poses it for incorporation in cosmetics and skincare products.

Jasmine is one of the most valuable commercial oil bearing plants from family Oleaceae used for the production of jasmine scent mostly in the form of concrete and absolute. Being an export commodity, development of reliable analytical methods for its jasmine species and derived products authentication and or adulterants detection should now follow. A comparative volatiles profiling of Jasminum grandiflorum L., J. multiflorum (Burm. f.) Andrews and J. sambac (L.) Aiton flowers in addition to J. grandiflorum products viz., concrete and absolute at different time periods was performed using solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to GC/MS. A total of 77 volatiles were identified belonging to esters, alcohols, sesquiterpenes, ketones, aldehydes, phenols, hydrocarbons and nitrogenous compounds. The phenylpropanoid/benzenoid and terpenoid classes were the major volatile classes in jasmine. Benzyl acetate was the chief scent volatile whereas major terpenoids included linalool, nerolidol, α-farnesene and cis-jasmone. Results revealed aroma variation among different flowers and products obtained from J. grandiflorum at different months. This study provides the first comprehensive and comparative aroma profile for Egyptian Jasminum species along with its products that could be used for its future quality control in industry.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Ficus is an important commercial crop not only for its nutritive value but also, for its medicinal value. Several Ficus species have been traditionally used in the Egypt, Indian and Chinese as carminative, astringent, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, and hypolipidemic agents. Aim of the study To standardize and compare the possible hepatoprotective potential of the ethanolic extract of leaves of five tested Ficus species namely: Ficus mysorensis Roth ex Roem. & Schult, Ficus pyriformis Hook. & Arn., Ficus auriculata Lour., Ficus trigonata L., and Ficus spragueana Mildbr. & Burret in the intrahepatic cholestasis rat model induced by 17α-Ethinylestradiol (EE) and to explore the mechanism of action with respect to their phytochemical constituents. Materials and methods Determination of the total phenolic and flavonoid contents, chromatographic examination and acute oral toxicity test were performed on the tested Ficus extracts. Animals were divided into 8 groups. Group 1, served as control for 2 weeks. Group 2, untreated cholestatic rats. Groups 3–8, pretreated with Ficus extracts (100 mg/Kg/day, p.o) or ursodeoxycholic acid (as reference drug) for 2 weeks and injected by EE in the last 5 days. Serum liver function test, 5′-nucleotidase (5′-N), total bile acids (TBA), total cholesterol (T.C) and phospholipids were assayed. Also, hepatic Na+/K+-ATPase, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1), and markers of oxidative stress were investigated. Furthermore, molecular docking study was performed to explore the ability of the major constituents of Ficus to interact with Farnesoid X receptor (FXR). Results Four phenolic compounds (gallic, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acids and rutin) were identified. Chlorogenic acid and rutin represented the major constituents of Ficus extracts. Simultaneous administration of Ficus extracts with EE effectively: i- preserved liver function, TBA, T.C and phospholipids, ii- suppressed the pro-inflammatory cytokines (NF-κB and TNF-α), iii- enhanced hepatic regeneration (HGF) and antioxidant defense system. Furthermore, molecular docking reveals that rutin and chlorogenic acid effectively act as FXR agonists. Conclusion Among the tested extracts, Ficus spragueana Mildbr. & Burret enriched with phenolics exhibited a pronounced hepatoprotective activity and may provide a new therapeutic approach for estrogen-induced cholestasis.