Novel sesquiterpenoids isolated from Chimonanthus praecox and their antibacterial activities.

In the present study, four new sesquiterpenoids, chimonols A-D (compounds 1-4), together with four known compounds (5-8) were isolated from the EtOAc extract of Chimonanthus praecox Link. The structures of these new compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic techniques (UV, IR, MS, and 1D and 2D NMR), and their absolute configurations were established by comparing experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. Compounds 1-8 were evaluated for antimicrobial activities and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by the broth microdilution method in 96-well culture plates. Compounds 1, 2, and 7 exhibited weak antibacterial effects for S. aureus (ATCC 6538), E. coli (ATCC 11775), and P. aeruginosa (ATCC 10145) with MIC values being 158-249 µg·mL-1. Compounds 3-7 showed activities against C. glabrata (ATCC 2001) and S. aureus (ATCC 43300) with MIC values being 128-197 µg·mL-1. Compounds 1-4 showed activity against S. aureus (ATCC 25923) with MIC values being 162-254 µg·mL-1. The present study provided a basis for future evaluation of these compounds as antibacterial agents.

[Optimization of extraction procedure of psammosilene tunicoides by uniform design with pharmacodynamic index].

OBJECTIVE: For anti-inflammation, relieving pain and decreasing acute toxicity, the best condition for extracting procedure of Psammosilene tunicoides was chosen. And the relationships between several solvent extracts and pharmacodynamic index were studied. METHOD: Uniform design with multi-targets was used in the optimization process, and the evaluate index were the results of anti-inflammation, relieving pain and LD50 were employed as the evaluating indexes. At the same time, the contents of the extracts, water extract, acetic ester extract and ether extract were determined. RESULT: The best condition is that the medicinal material is optimized with 8 times of water (pH 6-7) and 2 h of each time. The best condition is satisfactory by test verification. And the pharmacodynamic actions of anti-inflammation, relieving pain and LD, were not obviously related to the dry extracts, water extract, acetic ester extract and ether extract. CONCLUSION: Uniform design method with pharmacodynamic index has the merit of being relaated to the function and symptom directly. The extracted twice technology condition optimized is stable, feasible and suitable for industry production. And it is not suitable to take the solvent extracts as quality control index related to the function and symptom.

[Studies on factors influencing on ephedrine contents in Maxing Shigan decoction].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors influencing on the ephedrine contents in different compositions of Maxingshigan decoction. METHOD: Adopt mixed uniform design to dismantle recipes, employ the stepping regression analysis to deal with experimental statistics, use the partial correlational analysis to analyze the correlation coefficients and the results were validated. RESULT: The regressive equation was of significance, that is Y = 4.36719347 + 7.752707437X1 + 1.2557197041X3 (r = 0.85564, P = 0.0189). The main influencing factors on ephedrine content in Maxingshigan decoction were gypsum and amygdalin. The influent factor of amygdalin on ephedrine content had great significance, and gypsum had significance. CONCLUSION: The collective effects of amygdalin and gypsum affect the content of ephedrine in Maxing Shigan decoction which the content-effect relationship was in direct correlation.

[Determination of contents of amygdalin in traditional and granular decoctions of Maxingshigan decoction by HPLC].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the contents of amygdalin in traditional and granular decoctions of Maxingshigan decoction. METHODS: The determination was carried out by HPLC with an ODS column and a mobile phase of water-methanol (23:77) at 215 nm. RESULTS: The content of amygdalin in traditional decoction of Maxingshigan Decoction was 17.74 mg/g and 24.80 mg/g in granular one. CONCLUSION: The content of glycyrrhizic acid in traditional decoction of Maxingshigan decoction is obviously higher than that in granular one.

[Effects of processing on contents of saccharides in huangqi].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of processing on the contents of saccharides in Huangqi. METHOD: The contents of reducing saccharides, water-soluble saccharides and poly saccharides in Huangqi and its processed products were determined with phenol-H2SO4 method. RESULT: The contents of poly saccharides in the alcohol-broiled product were the highest of all the products. The others were all higher than those in the crude drug. CONCLUSION: Different processing methods result in different effects on the above saccharides, which administers to the interpretation of the theory of Huangqi processing.