Flavonoids are secondary metabolites produced mainly in almost all terrestrial plants and fruits,where they provide UV protection and color. They have a fused ring system consisting of an aromaticring and a benzopyran ring with a phenyl substituent. Their biological activities have an impact onhuman health so that they serve as target molecules to develop new drugs. From methanolic extractof ae...

The mutagenicity of ten flavonoids was assayed by the Ames test, in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, TA100 and TA102, with the aim of establishing hydroxylation pattern-mutagenicity relationship profiles. The compounds assessed were: quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, fisetin, chrysin, galangin, flavone, 3-hydroxyflavone, 5-hydroxyflavone and 7-hydroxyflavone. In the Ames assay, quer...

A new aporphine alkaloid, 7-epi-duguetine (1) together with one known alkaloid, dicentrinone (2), and four known flavonoids, quercetin 3,7-dimethyl ether 3′-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(12)-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), galangin 5-methyl ether (4), 5,7-dimethoxy-3-hydroxyflavone (5), and 3,5,7-trimethoxyflavone (6), were isolated from the leaves of Dasymaschalon acuminatum, a new plant species which has ...

A novel approach to the synthesis of 6-amino-7-hydroxyflavone (1) is described. Reaction in acetone of 2',4'-dihydroxy-5'-nitroacetophenone and benzoyl chloride in the presence of potassium carbonate affords 3-benzoyl-7-hydroxy-6-nitroflavone, which is cleaved in 5% ethanolic potassium hydroxide to give 1-(2,4-dihydroxy-5-nitrophenyl)-3- phenyl-1,3-propanedione. The 1,3-diketone thus formed is ...

Different studies have demonstrated that the bioactivity of hydroxyflavones is due to their antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity. Recently, most interest has been devoted to structure-activity relationships; however, the main problems encountered in these studies are the low solubility of some hydroxyflavones in aqueous solution and the pro-oxidant character of the hydroxyl group at...

Phytoestrogens are of interest because of their reported beneficial effects on many human maladies including cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Furthermore, there is a search for compounds with estrogenic activity that can replace estrogen in hormone replacement therapy during menopause, without the undesirable effects of estrogen, such as the elevation of breast ca...

TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) was identified as a powerful activator of apoptosis in tumor cells and one of the most promising candidates for cancer therapy with no toxicity against normal tissues. However, many tumor cells are resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. The aim of this work was to analyze the improvement of the anticancer effect of rhsTRAIL (recombi...

Fisetin (3,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxyflavone) and quercetin (3,5,7,3',4'-pentahydroxyflavone) are the bioactive plant flavonoids that are potentially useful therapeutic drugs for the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases, including atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension, and cancer. 3-Hydroxyflavone (3HF) and 7-hydroxyflavone (7HF) are the synthetic chromophores of fisetin...