The essential oil isolated from Turkish tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) by hydrodistillation was analyzed by GC-MS. Thirty compounds representing 99.5% of total oil were identified. The predominant components in the oil were (Z)-anethole (81.0%), (Z)-beta-ocimene (6.5%), (E)-beta-ocimene (3.1%), limonene (3.1%), and methyleugenol (1.8%). The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the essen...

Recently we reported the comparative studies on the production and accumulation of phenylpropanoids in plants and in cell cultures of anise [1, 2]. It was shown that cell cultures did not produce anethole, the main constituent in the fruit oil of anise, but instead regularly epoxy-pseudoisoeugenol(2-methylbutyrate). We first identified this unusually substituted phenylpropanoid in the root of P...

Prohaptens are chemicals, which may cause skin sensitization after being converted into electrophilic molecules by skin enzymes. Aroclor-induced rat liver S9 fractions represent the metabolic activation system most commonly used in in vitro toxicology. This system contains much higher enzyme activities compared with those reported in skin, but it may still serve as a surrogate system to study t...

Eyebright, Euphrasia rostkoviana Hayne (Scrophulariaceae), is a medicinal plant traditionally used in Europe for the treatment of various health disorders, especially as eyewash to treat eye ailments such as conjunctivitis and blepharitis that can be associated with bacterial infections. Some Euphrasia species have been previously reported to contain essential oil. However, the composition and ...

An assessment was made of the toxicity of 12 insecticides and three essential oils as well as Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) alone or in combination with the oil major constituents (E)-anethole (AN), (E) -cinnamaldehyde (CA), and eugenol (EU; 1:1 ratio) to third instars of bamboo forest-collected Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and rice paddy field-collected Anopheles sinensis Wiedema...

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is widely cultivated and used as a culinary spice. In this work, the chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of fennel seeds was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCeMS), and 28 components were identified. Trans-anethole (68.53%) and estragole (10.42%) were found to be the major components. The antibacterial activ...

Chemical irritants useful as repellents for brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) were identified. Exposure to various compounds produced a range of intensities for locomotory behavior in snakes. Essential oils comprised of 10 g liter-1 solutions of cedarwood, cinnamon, sage, juniper berry, lavender and rosemary each were potent snake irritants. Brown treesnakes exposed to a 2-s burst of aerosol...

The essential oil of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is rich in lipophilic secondary metabolites, which can easily cross cell membranes by free diffusion. Several constituents of the oil carry reactive carbonyl groups in their ring structures. Carbonyl groups can react with amino groups of amino acid residues in proteins or in nucleotides of DNA to form Schiff's bases. Fennel essential oil is rich ...

This report presents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, with a view to recommending Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADIs) for humans, and to prepare specifications for the identity and purity of food additives. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation ...

Nigella sativa (N. sativa) grows in various parts of the world, particularly in Iran. It has been traditionally used as a folk remedy to treat a number of diseases. The seeds of this plant contain moisture, proteins, carbohydrates, crude fiber, alkaloids, saponins, ash, fixed oils and essential oil. The major components of the essential oil are thymoquinone, p-cymene, trans-anethole, 2-methyl-5...