Three known triterpenoids, namely ursolic acid (1), and the 27-E- and 27-Z-p-coumaric esters of ursolic acid (compounds 2, 3), were isolated together with a new triterpene 2,3-seco-taraxer-14-en-2,3-lactone [pycanocarpine (4)] from an ethanolic extract of Pleiocarpa pycnantha leaves. The structure of 4 was unambiguously assigned using NMR, HREIMS and X-ray crystallography. The cytotoxic activit...

The reactivity of higher plant derived 3-oxy-triterpenoids to sunlight was investigated using a series of pure reference standards both under simulated and real solar exposure. The majority of the exposed compounds showed reactivity to light, particularly to simulated sunlight and among others generated seco-derivatives. While photochemical processes have been suggested for the formation of suc...

Three new norlimonoids, toonaciliatins A (1), F (6), and G (7), four new limonoids, toonaciliatins B-E (2-5), and five known compounds, 5alpha,6beta,8alpha-trihydroxy-28-norisotoonafolin (8), toonaciliatins H (9) and I (10), febrifugin (11), and khayasin T (12), were isolated from the leaves and stems of Toona ciliata. Compounds 1-3 have an unusual 1-en-3-one system with a 1,11-oxygen bridge, l...

A series of racemic indole C5-O-substituted seco-cyclopropylindole (seco-CI) compounds 1-5 were prepared by coupling in the presence of EDCI of 1-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl)-3-(chloromethyl)indoline (seg-A) with 5-hydroxy-, 5-O-methylsulfonyl, 5-O-aminosulfonyl, 5-O-(N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)- and 5-O-benzyl-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid as seg-B. Compounds 1-5 were tested for cytotoxic activity aga...

Many species of the family Ericaceae, such as the plants belonging to the genera Pieris, Rhododendron, Lyonia, Kalmia, and Leucothoe, are usually rich in grayanane-type diterpenoids with a 5/7/6/5 ring system, which is responsible for the toxicity of these species [1, 2]. Recently, a series of novel highly acylated diterpenoids with specific 3,4-secograyanane skeleton have been reported from Rh...

The following paper presents the results of the outcome evaluation of StartBiz; an online tool for start-ups in Switzerland. StartBiz is provided by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and allows start-ups to enroll with trade registers, VAT, social insurances and accident insurances without any addi‐ tional fees directly via the internet. The outcome evaluation was required to le...

Physalis angulata L., Solanaceae, is an annual herb commonly used in popular medicine in many tropical and subtropical countries. P. angulata extracts contain a variety of substances, but little is known about their pharmacological activities. In this work we investigated the in vitro antileishmanial activity of seco-steroids (physalins) purified from P. angulata. Addition of physalins B, F, an...

Six duocarmycins have been discovered during our search for new antitumor antibiotics and they showed extremely potent cytotoxic activity with IC50 values of 10(-12) M-10(-9) M on HeLa S3 cell. Three different producing strains isolated from soils were taxonomically assigned as Streptomyces. Duocarmycin A was unstable in culture broth, so improved culture conditions were designed to produce a h...

Chromatographic purification of the n-hexane and dichloromethane extracts of Nuxia oppositifolia aerial parts, growing in Saudi Arabia, resulted in the isolation and characterization of three new labdane-type diterpene acids, 2β-acetoxy-labda-7-en-15-oic acid (1), 2β-acetoxy-7-oxolabda-8-en-15-oic acid (2), 2β-acetoxy-6-oxolabda-7-en-15-oic acid (3), and one new seco-triterpene, 3,4-seco olean-...