Effect of Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown Essential Oil on the Human Umbilical Artery.

Lippia alba is popularly known as lemon balm, with its essential oil (EO) cited for displaying antimicrobial, sedative, and vasorelaxant effects. Yet, its action on isolated human vessels has not been described in the literature. Thus, we evaluated the vasorelaxant effect of essential oil of L. alba (EOLa) on human umbilical arteries (HUA) isolated in organ baths. HUA rings were isolated, subjected to contractions induced by potassium chloride (KCl), serotonin (5-HT), or histamine (HIST) to record the isometric tension, and then treated with EOLa (30-1000 µg/mL). The EOLa showed a more prominent inhibitory effect on the pharmacomechanical coupling contraction via HIST with an EC50 value of 277.1 ± 8.5 µg/mL and maximum relaxant effect at 600 µg/mL. The addition of tetraethylammonium (TEA) or 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) in HUA preparations did not inhibit EOLa total relaxant effect at 1000 µg/mL. In the presence of gliblenclamide (GLI), the oil relaxed the HUA rings by 90.8% at maximum concentration. The EOLa was also investigated for its effects on voltage-operated calcium channels (VOCCs), where the HUA preincubation with this oil at 1000 µg/mL inhibited BaCl2 (0.1-30 mM)-induced contractions. This study demonstrates for the first time that EOla has a vasorelaxant effect on HUA and its particular blockade of VOCCs.

Synthesis, crystal structure and luminescence properties of the Ln(III)-picrate complexes with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium as countercations.

New anionic complexes of lanthanide picrates containing 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMIm) as countercation have been prepared. The Ln(III) complexes were characterized by complexometric titration, elemental analyses, infrared spectroscopy and molar conductivity. The molecular structures of the (EMIm)2[Ln(Pic)4(H2O)2]Pic complexes, Ln(III)=Sm, Eu, Gd and Tb, and Pic=picrate, were determined by X-ray crystallography. In these structures the picrate anion appears in three forms: as uncoordinated counteranion, as monodentated and bidentate ligand. The coordination polyhedron around the Ln(III) atom can be described as tricapped trigonal prismatic molecular geometry. The theoretical molecular structures of the complexes were also calculated using the Sparkle/PM3 model for Ln(III) complexes, allowing analysis of intramolecular energy transfer processes of the Eu(III) compound. The spectroscopic properties of the 4f(6) intraconfigurational transitions of the Eu(III) complex were then studied experimentally and theoretically. The low value of emission quantum efficiency of (5)D0 emitting level (η) of Eu(III) ion (ca. 10%) is due to the vibrational modes of the water molecule that act as luminescence quenching. In addition, the luminescence decay curves, the experimental intensity parameters (Ωλ), lifetimes (τ), radiative (Arad) and non-radiative (Anrad) decay rates, theoretical quantum yield (q) were also determined and discussed.

Synthesis and characterization of the europium(III) pentakis(picrate) complexes with imidazolium countercations: structural and photoluminescence study.

Six new lanthanide complexes of stoichiometric formula (C)(2)[Ln(Pic)(5)]--where (C) is a imidazolium cation coming from the ionic liquids 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium picrate (BMIm-Pic), 1-butyl-3-ethylimidazolium picrate (BEIm-Pic), and 1,3-dibutylimidazolium picrate (BBIm-Pic), and Ln is Eu(III) or Gd(III) ions--have been prepared and characterized. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first cases of Ln(III) pentakis(picrate) complexes. The crystal structures of (BEIm)(2)[Eu(Pic)(5)] and (BBIm)(2)[Eu(Pic)(5)] compounds were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The [Eu(Pic)(5)](2-) polyhedra have nine oxygen atoms coordinated to the Eu(III) ion, four oxygen atoms from bidentate picrate, and one oxygen atom from monodentate picrate. The structures of the Eu complexes were also calculated using the sparkle model for lanthanide complexes, allowing an analysis of intramolecular energy transfer processes in the coordination compounds. The photoluminescence properties of the Eu(III) complexes were then studied experimentally and theoretically, leading to a rationalization of their emission quantum yields.