Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oil of Nepeta graciliflora Benth. (Lamiaceae).

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from aerial parts of Nepeta graciliflora was analysed, for the first time, by GC-FID and GC-MS. A total of 27 compounds were identified, constituting over 91.44% of oil composition. The oil was strongly characterised by sesquiterpenes (86.72%), with ß-sesquiphellandrene (28.75%), caryophyllene oxide (12.15%), α-bisabolol (8.97%), α-bergamotene (8.51%), ß-bisabolene (6.33%) and ß-Caryophyllene (5.34%) as the main constituents. The in vitro activity of the essential oil was determined against four micro-organisms in comparison with chloramphenicol by the agar well diffusion and broth dilution method. The oil exhibited good activity against all tested organisms.

An investigation of drug binding ability of a surface active ionic liquid: micellization, electrochemical, and spectroscopic studies.

Keeping in view the use of surfactants in drug delivery, the interactions of surface active ionic liquids, such as 1-tetradecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (C(14)mimBr), with drugs, viz., dopamine hydrochloride (DH) and acetylcholine chloride (AC), have been studied, and the results are further compared with that of the structurally similar conventional cationic surfactant tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB). The micellization and interfacial behavior of C(14)mimBr and TTAB, in the presence of DH and AC, has been investigated from conductivity and surface tension measurements. Various micellar and adsorption characteristics for these drug-surfactant systems (DH/AC + C(14)mimBr/TTAB) have been investigated, indicating favorable interactions between them. The more detailed information regarding the nature of interactions between C(14)mimBr/TTAB and DH/AC is obtained from cyclic voltammetry (CV) and (1)H NMR measurements. CV measurements have been employed to evaluate the binding constant (K) and the Gibbs free energy change (ΔG) for these drug-surfactant complexes. These measurements indicate the existence of cation-π as well as π-π interactions between drugs and surfactants. A detailed analysis of chemical shifts of protons of drug molecules (DH and AC) in the presence of C(14)mimBr and TTAB has been done by (1)H NMR. The results obtained from (1)H NMR are in agreement with those of CV measurements. (1)H NMR studies along with the conductivity and surface tension measurements help in predicting the possible location of adsorption of these drug molecules in C(14)mimBr and TTAB micelles.

Analysis of interfacial and micellar behavior of sodium dioctyl sulphosuccinate salt (AOT) with zwitterionic surfactants in aqueous media.

The interfacial and bulk properties of mixtures of the anionic surfactant (dioctyl sulphosuccinate sodium salt, AOT) with zwitterionic surfactants 3-(N,N-dimethyldodecylammonio) propane sulfonate (DPS), 3-(N,N-dimethyltetradecylammonio) propane sulfonate (TPS), 3-(N,N-dimethylhexadecylammonio) propane sulfonate (HPS) have been studied employing surface tension, fluorescence, and viscometric techniques in aqueous media at 25 °C. It is observed that these mixtures exhibit synergism and these synergistic interactions increase with the enhancement of the hydrocarbon chain of the zwitterionic surfactant. The various physicochemical properties such as critical micelle concentration (cmc), surface excess concentration (Г(max)), minimum area per molecule (A(min)), aggregation number (N(agg)), interaction parameters (ß(σ), ß(m)), and thermodynamic parameters such as standard Gibbs free energy of adsorption (ΔG(ads)(o)), excess free energy of micellization (ΔG(ex)), and standard Gibbs free energy of micellization (ΔG(m)(o)) have been evaluated. The negative values of ΔG(m)(o) and ΔG(ads)(o) show that the micelle formation and adsorption of surfactant at the air/solution interface is energetically favorable, while a negative value of ΔG(ex) ensures stability of the mixed micelles formed. The Regular Solution Approximation, Motomura and Rosen's approaches have been used to explain and compare the results. The packing parameter (p) ensures the formation of vesicles or bilayers for AOT+DPS/TPS mixtures, which can potentially be used as delivery agents for industrial applications.