The taiwaniaquinoids: a review.

A comprehensive overview of the taiwaniaquinoid family of natural products is presented. A summary of the isolation, biosynthesis, and biological activity of these compounds is followed by a discussion of various synthetic strategies to the skeletal framework and a detailed discussion of 12 published syntheses of members of this family. This review covers the literature from the discovery of the first taiwaniaquinoid in 1995 until June 2009.

Determination of capsinoids by HPLC-DAD in capsicum species.

Capsicum fruits contain a newly discovered phytochemical called capsinoids. Because little is known about the quantities of these compounds in both sweet and pungent pepper fruits, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed to identify and quantify the capsinoids (naturally present E-capsiate and dihydrocapsiate) utilizing fruit obtained from a variety of Capsicum spp. in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Capsicum germplasm collection. Capsinoids were extracted with acetonitrile, filtered, and analyzed using an HPLC system equipped with a C(18) monolithic column, gradient pump, and diode array detector. The elution solvents were acetonitrile and water (60:40) with an isocratic flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Forty-nine samples representing distinct morphotypes of four cultivated species ( C. annuum var. annuum, C. annuum var. glabriusculum, C. baccatum , C. chinense , and C. frutescens ) contained detectable levels (11-369 microg/g) of E-capsiate quantified at a wavelength of 280 nm. Nine of the E-capsiate-containing samples also had dihydrocapsiate (18-86 micro/g). Gas chromatography with a mass spectrometry detector (GC-MS) confirmed the presence of these compounds in the Capsicum spp.

Poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate/dimethacrylate hydrogels for controlled release of hydrophobic drugs.

Hydrogels have been successfully used to entrap hydrophilic drugs and release them in a controlled fashion; however, the entrapment and release of hydrophobic drugs has not been well studied. We report on the release characteristics of a model hydrophobic drug, the steroid hormone estradiol, entrapped in low (MW 360/MW 550) and high (MW 526/MW 1000) molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEG-MA)/dimethacrylate (PEG-DMA) hydrogels. The cross-linking ratio, temperature, and pH ranged from 10:1 to 10:3, from 33 to 41 degrees C, and from 2 to 12, respectively. The gelation of the PEG-MA/PEG-DMA hydrogel was initiated with UV irradiation. The absence of poly(glutamic acid) in the hydrogel formulation resulted in a loss of pH sensitivity in the acidic range, which was displayed by the hydrogels' similarities in swelling ratios in the pH buffers of pH 2, 4, and 7. Use of high molecular weight polymers resulted in a higher hydrogel swelling (300%) in comparison to the low molecular weight polymers. Drug size was found to be a significant factor. In comparison to 100% estradiol (MW 272) release, the fractional release of insulin (MW 5733) was 12 and 24% in low and high molecular weight gels at pH 2, respectively, and 17% in low molecular weight gels at pH 7. On the release kinetics of the estradiol drug, the hydrogels displayed a non-Fickian diffusion mechanism, which indicated that the media penetration rate is in the same range as the drug diffusion. The synthesis, entrapment, and release of estradiol by the PEG-MA/PEG-DMA hydrogels proved to be successful, but the use of ethanol in the buffers to promote the hydrophobic release of the estradiol in the in vitro environment caused complications, attributed to the process of transesterification.