Isolation and purification ofent-pimara-8(14),15-diene from engineeredAspergillus nidulansby accelerated solvent extraction combined with HPLC

This paper describes a purification method for tricyclic diterpene hydrocarbonent-pimara-8(14),15-diene produced inAspergillus nidulansand reports an antioxidant activity for this compound.

Headspace, Solid-phase Micro-extraction, Gas Chromatographic-Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Terpenoids in the Latex of Euphorbia Species

The volatile and semi-volatile terpenoids in the latex of Euphorbia amygdaloides, E. exigua, E. helioscopia, and E. peplus were analyzed by headspace, solidphase micro-extraction (HS-SPME), coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The volatiles were extracted using a 100 μm polydimethylsiloxane SPME fiber under optimized extraction conditions. The compounds detected encompassed a range of chemical classes, but only terpenoids were evaluated. Only sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were detected in the tested samples of E. exigua, E. helioscopia, and E. peplus, with β-caryophyllene being the major one, but were never recorded in latex samples of E. amygdaloides, in which only the diterpene hydrocarbon kaur-16-ene was detected. α-Humulene was consistently found in samples of E. helioscopia, and E. peplus, but never in those of the other two species. These preliminary results show that the developed procedure is suitable for the analysis of small samples of Euphorbia latex and that, for each individual species, there is very little qualitative difference between samples, regardless of either place or date of collection.

Age-Class Differences in Lipids from the Paracloacal Glands of the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

The paracloacal gland secretions of immature and adult American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) from Louisiana were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate age-class differences in lipid composition. The secretions of both immature and adult alligators contain saturated C14 and C16 free fatty acids and decyl, undecyl, dodecyl, tetradecyl, and hexadecyl acetates. Com­pounds observed only in immature alligators include dodecanoic acid, C12 and C14 alcohols, C10-C14 butanoates, an array of C8-C18 3-methylbutanoates, C12- C15 hexanoates, C12 and C14 octanoates, a C12 decanoate, C10-C14 dodecanoates, C10- C16 tetradecanoates, C12 and C14 hexadecanoates, a C12 octadecanoate, and a diterpene hydrocarbon identified as (E ,E )- 7,11,15-trimethyl-3-methylenehexadeca-1,6,10,14-tetraene (β-springene). Compounds observed only in adults include several C7-C16 free fatty acids and certain C10- C18 acetates. The age-class differences we observe in the paracloacal gland lipids of alligators from Louisiana are similar to those previously reported for alligators from Texas.