scholarly journals A Theme Issue to Celebrate Professor Robert Verpoorte’s 75th Birthday: “The Past, Current, and Future of Natural Products”

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (23) ◽  
pp. 7226
Author(s):  
Yuntao Dai ◽  
Luis Francisco Salomé Abarca ◽  
Young Pyo Jang ◽  
Young Hae Choi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
75Th Birthday ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Past

Dear Colleagues, [...]

Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Plant Derived Natural Products – A Systematic Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 4506-4536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris E. Allijn ◽  
René P. Brinkhuis ◽  
Gert Storm ◽  
Raymond M. Schiffelers
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Positive Control ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Reference Compound ◽  
Individual Molecular Species ◽  
The Past ◽  
Anti Inflammatory ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Natural Medicines

Traditionally, natural medicines have been administered as plant extracts, which are composed of a mixture of molecules. The individual molecular species in this mixture may or may not contribute to the overall medicinal effects and some may even oppose the beneficial activity of others. To better control therapeutic effects, studies that characterized specific molecules and describe their individual activity that have been performed over the past decades. These studies appear to underline that natural products are particularly effective as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. In this systematic review we aimed to identify potent anti-inflammatory natural products and relate their efficacy to their chemical structure and physicochemical properties. To identify these compounds, we performed a comprehensive literature search to find those studies, in which a dose-response description and a positive control reference compound was used to benchmark the observed activity. Of the analyzed papers, 7% of initially selected studies met these requirements and were subjected to further analysis. This analysis revealed that most selected natural products indeed appeared to possess anti-inflammatory activities, in particular anti-oxidative properties. In addition, 14% of the natural products outperformed the remaining natural products in all tested assays and are attractive candidates as new anti-inflammatory agents.

Formation of Carbon-Oxygen Bond Mediated by Hypervalent Iodine Reagents Under Metal-free Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha Jalil ◽  
Yaxin O Yang ◽  
Zhendong Chen ◽  
Rongxuan Jia ◽  
Tianhao Bi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Bond Formation ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Hypervalent Iodine ◽  
Metal Free ◽  
Bioactive Natural Products ◽  
The Past ◽  
Oxygen Bond ◽  
Privileged Scaffolds

: Hypervalent iodine reagents are a class of non-metallic oxidants have been widely used in the construction of several sorts of bond formations. This surging interest in hypervalent iodine reagents is essentially due to their very useful oxidizing properties, combined with their benign environmental character and commercial availability from the past few decades ago. Furthermore, these hypervalent iodine reagents have been used in the construction of many significant building blocks and privileged scaffolds of bioactive natural products. The purpose of writing this review article is to explore all the transformations in which carbon-oxygen bond formation occurred by using hypervalent iodine reagents under metal-free conditions

scholarly journals Modern Synthetic Methods for the Stereoselective Construction of 1,3-Dienes

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Raquel G. Soengas ◽  
Humberto Rodríguez-Solla
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Functional Group ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Synthetic Methods ◽  
Bond Forming ◽  
Drug Candidates ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range

The 1,3-butadiene motif is widely found in many natural products and drug candidates with relevant biological activities. Moreover, dienes are important targets for synthetic chemists, due to their ability to give access to a wide range of functional group transformations, including a broad range of C-C bond-forming processes. Therefore, the stereoselective preparation of dienes have attracted much attention over the past decades, and the search for new synthetic protocols continues unabated. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the diverse methodologies that have emerged in the last decade, with a focus on the synthetic processes that meet the requirements of efficiency and sustainability of modern organic chemistry.

Oliver Heaviside: an accidental time traveller

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2134) ◽  
pp. 20170448
Author(s):  
Paul J. Nahin
Keyword(s):  
Cherenkov Radiation ◽  
Charged Particles ◽  
Electromagnetic Theory ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Characteristic Radiation ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Faster Than Light

A little discussed aspect of Heaviside's work in electromagnetics concerned faster-than-light (FTL) charged particles, precursors to the hypothetical tachyon and his discovery that such motion should produce a characteristic radiation signature (now called Cherenkov radiation ). When Heaviside wrote, the time travel implications of FTL were not known (Einstein was still a teenager), and in this paper some speculations are offered on what Heaviside would have thought of FTL time travel, and of the associated (now classic) time travel paradoxes, including the possibility (or not) of sending information into the past. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Celebrating 125 years of Oliver Heaviside's ‘Electromagnetic Theory’’.

scholarly journals Imidazole: Having Versatile Biological Activities

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amita Verma ◽  
Sunil Joshi ◽  
Deepika Singh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Imidazole Ring ◽  
Heterocyclic Ring ◽  
Heterocyclic Chemistry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Poorly Soluble ◽  
Anti Hiv ◽  
Imidazole Compounds

Imidazoles have occupied a unique position in heterocyclic chemistry, and its derivatives have attracted considerable interests in recent years for their versatile properties in chemistry and pharmacology. Imidazole is nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring which possesses biological and pharmaceutical importance. Thus, imidazole compounds have been an interesting source for researchers for more than a century. The imidazole ring is a constituent of several important natural products, including purine, histamine, histidine, and nucleic acid. Being a polar and ionisable aromatic compound, it improves pharmacokinetic characteristics of lead molecules and thus is used as a remedy to optimize solubility and bioavailability parameters of proposed poorly soluble lead molecules. There are several methods used for the synthesis of imidazole-containing compounds, and also their various structure reactions offer enormous scope in the field of medicinal chemistry. The imidazole derivatives possess extensive spectrum of biological activities such as antibacterial, anticancer, antitubercular, antifungal, analgesic, and anti-HIV activities. This paper aims to review the biological activities of imidazole during the past years.

scholarly journals Using insect natural history collections to study global change impacts: challenges and opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Kharouba ◽  
Jayme M. M. Lewthwaite ◽  
Rob Guralnick ◽  
Jeremy T. Kerr ◽  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Genomic Information ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Global Change Research ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Over the past two decades, natural history collections (NHCs) have played an increasingly prominent role in global change research, but they have still greater potential, especially for the most diverse group of animals on Earth: insects. Here, we review the role of NHCs in advancing our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary responses of insects to recent global changes. Insect NHCs have helped document changes in insects' geographical distributions, phenology, phenotypic and genotypic traits over time periods up to a century. Recent work demonstrates the enormous potential of NHCs data for examining insect responses at multiple temporal, spatial and phylogenetic scales. Moving forward, insect NHCs offer unique opportunities to examine the morphological, chemical and genomic information in each specimen, thus advancing our understanding of the processes underlying species’ ecological and evolutionary responses to rapid, widespread global changes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the anthropocene’.

scholarly journals Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1824) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Moran ◽  
Nicholas A. Lester ◽  
Eitan Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, we investigate evolutionarily recent changes in the distributions of speech sounds in the world's languages. In particular, we explore the impact of language contact in the past two millennia on today's distributions. Based on three extensive databases of phonological inventories, we analyse the discrepancies between the distribution of speech sounds of ancient and reconstructed languages, on the one hand, and those in present-day languages, on the other. Furthermore, we analyse the degree to which the diffusion of speech sounds via language contact played a role in these discrepancies. We find evidence for substantive differences between ancient and present-day distributions, as well as for the important role of language contact in shaping these distributions over time. Moreover, our findings suggest that the distributions of speech sounds across geographic macro-areas were homogenized to an observable extent in recent millennia. Our findings suggest that what we call the Implicit Uniformitarian Hypothesis, at least with respect to the composition of phonological inventories, cannot be held uncritically. Linguists who would like to draw inferences about human language based on present-day cross-linguistic distributions must consider their theories in light of even short-term language evolution. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

State of the Canadian hospitality and tourism industry

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-390
Author(s):  
Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena ◽  
Altaf Sovani ◽  
Alanna MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tourism Marketing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Labour Shortage ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism Industry ◽  
Marketing Budgets ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to provide a backdrop to the Worldwide Hospitality Themes (WHATT) theme issue (volume 9, issue 4) on aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry of Canada. Design/methodology/approach Canadian hospitality and tourism educators and their counterparts in the industry have collaborated periodically to discuss the challenges they face and to find practical solutions. Outcomes of ten key initiatives in Canada during the past 15 years that brought leaders of the hospitality and tourism industry and academia together to create 50 academic papers are summarized. Findings This paper provides key information on Canada, its people, its economic conditions and the challenges of the five sectors of the tourism industry in Canada. By introducing the main challenges faced by each sector, this paper provides a foundation for the other articles that follow in this WHATT theme issue. Practical implications Canadian tourism is losing ground, tourism marketing budgets are significantly reducing and there is a labour shortage crisis which are identified as key challenges requiring urgent attention. In conclusion, the authors suggest practical solutions. Originality/value Readers who are interested in the Canadian hospitality and tourism industry will find this paper to be of interest.

scholarly journals Nanosystems for the Encapsulation of Natural Products: The Case of Chitosan Biopolymer as a Matrix

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Detsi ◽  
Eleni Kavetsou ◽  
Ioanna Kostopoulou ◽  
Ioanna Pitterou ◽  
Antonella Rozaria Nefeli Pontillo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Modified Chitosan ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural Extracts ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Natural Polysaccharide ◽  
Low Toxicity ◽  
Valuable Compounds ◽  
Chitosan Biopolymer

Chitosan is a cationic natural polysaccharide, which has emerged as an increasingly interesting biomaterialover the past few years. It constitutes a novel perspective in drug delivery systems and nanocarriers’ formulations due to its beneficial properties, including biocompatibility, biodegradability and low toxicity. The potentiality of chemical or enzymatic modifications of the biopolymer, as well as its complementary use with other polymers, further attract the scientific community, offering improved and combined properties in the final materials. As a result, chitosan has been extensively used as a matrix for the encapsulation of several valuable compounds. In this review article, the advantageous character of chitosan as a matrix for nanosystemsis presented, focusing on the encapsulation of natural products. A five-year literature review is attempted covering the use of chitosan and modified chitosan as matrices and coatings for the encapsulation of natural extracts, essential oils or pure naturally occurring bioactive compounds are discussed.

scholarly journals Strategies for the Discovery and Development of Anti-Diabetic Drugs from the Natural Products of Traditional Medicines

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Ming Ye ◽  
Stanley M.H.
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Traditional Medicine ◽  
Biomedical Research ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The West ◽  
Computer Aided Drug Design ◽  
Materia Medica ◽  
Traditional Medicines ◽  
The Past

This review discusses issues largely from the biological point of view about the targeted approaches for the use of natural products for the discovery of anti-diabetic drugs in collaboration with medicinal chemists and computer-aided drug design. A major thrust of this review reflects the collaborative research of four institutions: RMIT University (Australia), Garvan Institute of Medical Research (Australia), Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Science (China) and Sun-Yat Sen University (China) in the past eight years. By joining forces of biomedical research in diabetes and medicinal chemistry with a focus on traditional medicine, they are trying to bridge the West (the latest research discoveries in biomedical research) with the East (traditional medicine) to step forward in drug discovery from natural products. This article is open to POST-PUBLICATION REVIEW. Registered readers (see “For Readers”) may comment by clicking on ABSTRACT on the issue’s contents page.

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