In this work, the first phytochemical analysis ever performed on the fruits of Styrax officinalis L. (Styracaceae) collected from a population vegetating in the Mounts Lucretili National Park (Italy) was reported. Fifteen compounds were identified: tri-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (1), 1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-3-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol (2), 1-α-linolenoyl-2-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (3), 1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (4), egonol (5), demethylegonol (6), homoegonol (7), 1,5-anhydro-D-mannitol (8), glucose (9), sucrose (10), 6''''-O-benzoyl-sucrose (11), raffinose (12), lactic acid (13), succinic acid (14) and glutamic acid (15). These compounds belong to seven different classes of natural metabolites and most of them have chemotaxonomic relevance. Moreover, S. officinalis might be an useful source of enantiopure 1,5-anhydro-D-mannitol which has several medicinal potentialities and is a versatile building block in organic synthesis, in particular for what concern the “Green” approaches, of valuable and potentially biologically active molecules. The presence of compounds (1-15) provides also a phytochemical rationale for the ancient ethnopharmacological uses of the species and affords evidences on its nutraceutical potentialities even for their consumption as food in human nutrition as it actually happens for animals. تفاصيل المقالة

In this work, a phytochemical analysis on the total aerial parts of Galeopsis ladanum subsp. angustifolia (Ehrh. ex Hoffm.) Gaudin collected in Abruzzo region (Central Italy) has been reported. Nine compounds were identified belonging to five different classes of natural compounds. Additional chemotaxonomic markers were recognized than our previous study, as well. Their presence is perfectly in accordance with the current botanical classification of the species and shows the possibility of a pronounced metabolic variability. The observed phytochemical composition may also suggest the possible use of this species in the ethnopharmacological field just like most Galeopsis species since they are endowed with several medicinal properties. Furthermore, no potential toxic component was identified in the studied accession. تفاصيل المقالة

The results of the phytochemical analysis of a Hypericum richeri Vill. accession collected from a population living in Appennines, Central Italy, are reported in this paper. The secondary metabolites pattern resulted mainly composed of flavonoids as both aglycones and in glycosidic form, such as quercetin (2), quercetin-3-O-methyl ether (3), 5,7,3′,5′-tetrahydroxyflavanone (8), isorhamnetin glucoside (7), isoquercitrin (9), hyperoside (10), quercitrin (11) and myricetin-3-O-rutinoside (12). It was also observed the presence of the naphtodianthrones hypericin (5) and pseudohypericin (6) together with organic acids (benzoic acid (4)), a glycolipid (2S)-1,2-di-O-[(9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoyl]-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl glycerol (1) and the saccharides glucose (13), galactose (14) and sucrose (15). Among these constituents, compounds (1) and (3) have been identified in H. richeri Vill. for the first time during this study. The other difference in composition observed in the present study in respect to population from different regions is the absence of hyperforin and caffeoylquinic derivatives. The observed chemovariability, already reported in H. perforatum L., might be derived fromthe environmental characteristic of the collection site. The chemotaxonomic aspects, together with the pharmacologic relevance in traditional medicine of the isolated compounds were also discussed. تفاصيل المقالة

In the last decades, the number of patients undergoing pain relief for chronic or degenerative diseases has observed a significant increase, also due to an increase in the average age of the population. Morphine, the widely used opioid in pain therapy, is known to produce over time tolerance with the appearance of hyperalgesia and allodynia, conditions which may affect patient compliance. These phenomena have been re-conducted to one of its metabolite, the 3-O-glucuronide (accounting in humans for 80% of the dose administered), which was found to be an effective neuro-excitatory and a potent activator of microglia, so resulting to be responsible of the development of both hyperalgesia and allodynia. Therefore, the inhibition of glucuronidation represents an interesting pharmacological target to achieve greater therapeutic efficacy by morphine and the synthesis of new active compounds useful in the pain control therapy is still in the limelight. In this context, we observed that codeine and some codeine derivatives (in particular the acetyl and pivaloyl esters) are able to inhibit the formation of morphine-3-O-glucuronide so, in continuation of the previous work, we projected new codeine derivatives as potential useful compounds in the modulation of morphine glucuronidation. In this paper, we report the optimization of the synthetic procedure to obtain codeine esters with hindered polycyclic carboxylic acids by using a suitable alcohol (allyl alcohol) with the same configuration of 6-OH function of the codeine skeleton. Together with the allyl ester derivatives of these acids also the 1-adamantaneacetic acid ester derivative of codeine (4), a new codeine derivative, was finally synthesized following the reported synthetic approach. تفاصيل المقالة