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The degradation of a chiral nonylphenol isomer, 4-(1-ethyl-1,4-dimethylpentyl)phenol (NP(112)), in two agricultural soils from Monheim and Dortmund, Germany has been studied. The degradation of NP(112) and the formation of a nitro-nonylphenol metabolite were determined by means of GC-MS analysis. The degradation followed bi-exponential order kinetics, with half-life of less than 5 days in both soils. The nitro-metabolite was found at different concentration levels in the two soils. The nitro-metabolite of NP(112) was more persistent than its parent compound. After 150 days about 13% of the initially applied NP(112) remained in the Monheim soil as its nitro-metabolite. Results of the E-screen assay revealed that the nitro-NP(112) has oestrogenic potency of 85% of that of NP(112). Furthermore, the results of chiral GC-MS analysis revealed that no chiral degradation of NP(112) occurred in this study.

Enantiomers of 4-(1,1,2-trimethylhexyl)phenol, a chiral isomer of the endocrine disrupting chemical nonylphenol, have been resolved and isolated by preparative chiral HPLC. The absolute configurations of the enantiomers were then determined by an X-ray crystallographic study of the (-)-camphanoyl derivative of the first eluted enantiomer NP(35)E1. The first enantiomer (NP(35)E1) and the second enantiomer (NP(35)E2) eluted were found to have the S and R absolute configurations, respectively. The estrogenic potencies of the S and R enantiomers were tested by the E-screen assay. A slight difference was observed in the relative proliferative effect between the S enantiomer and R enantiomer in the E-screen assay., ((c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

It has recently become clear that an isomer specific view of technical 4-nonylphenol (NP) is absolutely necessary for the evaluation of the biological behavior of NP, raising additional questions concerning enantiomer specific effects. For the first time, in this study enantioselective HPLC was applied to enantiomeric separation of chiral NP isomers. A semipreparative separation of two NP isomers could be achieved. A GC-MS method has been developed for the simultaneous detection of three chiral NP isomers in water samples. Investigation of influent and effluent samples from a wastewater treatment plant in Germany indicated that enantioselective degradation could occur in the environment. In one examined influent, an enantiomer ratio of 1.7 for two different isomers was determined.

Abstract: The content of hypericins (hypericin and pseudohypericin), hyperforin, and flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside, quercitrin, and quercetin) and genetic profiles of eight accessions of Hypericum perforatum L., collected from different locations in India, have been determined. The secondary metabolite content was determined using a highly selective LC/MS/MS method. Pearson and Spearman''s correlation coefficient were used to investigate the relationships between the secondary metabolites and a significant positive correlation was found between hypericin and pseudohypericin contents. Genetic profiling was undertaken using the random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and single sequence repeat (SSR) methods. Among the 49 random primers used for the initial screening, only nine yielded polymorphic RAPD profiles. The SSR analysis shows that seven out of the 11 primers were polymorphic. There exists only a partial correlation between the chemical content and genetic profiling data among the accessions under study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The phenolic constituents and antioxidant activity of ethanol and water extract of the flowers of Hypericum venustum, collected in Turkey, were investigated. The extracts possess strong reducing power, free radicals and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, as well as metal chelating ability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]