Drying Effects on Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Lippia thymoides Essential Oil, a Natural Source of Thymol.

Leaves of Lippia thymoides (Verbenaceae) were dried in an oven at 40, 50 and 60 °C and the kinetic of drying and the influence of the drying process on the chemical composition, yield, and DPPH radical scavenging activity of the obtained essential oils were evaluated. The composition of the essential oils was determined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection analyses. The influence of drying on the chemical composition of the essential oils of L. thymoides was evaluated by multivariate analysis, and their antioxidant activity was investigated via the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The Midilli model was the most appropriate to describe the behavior of drying kinetic data of L. thymoides leaves. Thymol was the major compound for all analyzed conditions; the maximum content was obtained from fresh leaves (62.78 ± 0.63%). The essential oils showed DPPH radical scavenging activity with an average of 73.10 ± 12.08%, and the fresh leaves showed higher inhibition (89.97 ± 0.31%). This is the first study to evaluate the influence of drying on the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of L. thymoides essential oils rich in thymol.

Bioactive Natural Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oils from Spice Plants: New Findings and Potential Applications.

Spice plants have a great influence on world history. For centuries, different civilizations have used them to condiment the foods of kings and nobles and applied them as embalming preservatives, perfumes, cosmetics, and medicines in different regions of the world. In general, these plants have formed the basis of traditional medicine and some of their derived substances have been utilized to treat different human diseases. Essential oils (EOs) obtained from these plants have been also used as therapeutic agents and have shown supportive uses in remedial practices. The discovery and development of bioactive compounds from these natural products, based on their traditional uses, play an important role in developing the scientific evidence of their potential pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food applications. In the present review, using recent studies, we exhibit a general overview of the main aspects related to the importance of spice plants widely used in traditional medicine: Cinnamomumzeylanicum (true cinnamon), Menthapiperita (peppermint), Ocimumbasilicum (basil), Origanumvulgare (oregano), Piper nigrum (black pepper), Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary), and Thymus vulgaris (thyme); and we discuss new findings of the bioactive compounds obtained from their EOs, their potential applications, as well as their molecular mechanisms of action, focusing on their antioxidant activity. We also exhibit the main in vitro methods applied to determine the antioxidant activities of these natural products.

In silico identification of natural products with anticancer activity using a chemo-structural database of Brazilian biodiversity.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the number of patients has only increased each year, despite the considerable efforts and investments in scientific research. Since natural products (NPs) may serve as suitable sources for drug development, the cytotoxicity against cancer cells of 2221 compounds from the Nuclei of Bioassays, Ecophysiology, and Biosynthesis of Natural Products Database (NuBBEDB) was predicted using CDRUG algorithm. Molecular modeling, chemoinformatics, and chemometric tools were then used to analyze the structural and physicochemical properties of these compounds. We compared the positive NPs with FDA-approved anticancer drugs and predicted the molecular targets involved in the anticancer activity. In the present study, 46 families comprising potential anticancer compounds and at least 19 molecular targets involved in oncogenesis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large-scale study conducted to evaluate the potentiality of NPs sourced from Brazilian biodiversity as anticancer agents, using in silico approaches. Our results provided interesting insights about the mechanism of action of these compounds, and also suggested that their structural diversity may aid structure-based optimization strategies for developing novel drugs for cancer therapy.