Henri Bocquillon-Limousin (1856-1917).

A pharmacist facinated by materia medica Henri Bocquillon-Limousin (1856-1917) get married with the daughter of Stanislas Limousin in 1885. After being graduated from pharmacy high school of Paris, he joined the laboratory of Jungfleisch. Afterwards, he briefly worked in the municipal laboratory of Paris and then he turned to a pharmacy activity. He took up the pharmacy of his father in law in 1887. His research was mainly directed to materia medica and valorization of colonial medicinal plants. Thanks to a well expanded network of associates, he managed to obtain an important collection of medicinal plants which is actually preserved in "Francois Tillequin museum - Collections of materia medica" in the faculty of pharmacy of Paris. H. Bocquillon-Limousin is also well known for his numerous editions of Formulaire des medicaments nouveaux and his books in the field of material medica.

Antibacterial Labdane Diterpenoids from Vitex vestita.

A large-scale in vitro screening of tropical plants using an antibacterial assay permitted the selection of several species with significant antibacterial activities. Bioassay-guided purification of the dichloromethane extract of the leaves of the Malaysian species Vitex vestita, led to the isolation of six new labdane-type diterpenoids, namely, 12-epivitexolide A (2), vitexolides B and C (3 and 4), vitexolide E (8), and vitexolins A and B (5 and 6), along with six known compounds, vitexolides A (1) and D (7), acuminolide (9), 3ß-hydroxyanticopalic acid (10), 8α-hydroxyanticopalic acid (11), and 6α-hydroxyanticopalic acid (12). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR analyses and HRMS experiments. Both variable-temperature NMR spectroscopic studies and chemical modifications were performed to investigate the dynamic epimerization of the γ-hydroxybutenolide moiety of compounds 1-4. Compounds were assayed against a panel of 46 Gram-positive strains. Vitexolide A (1) exhibited the most potent antibacterial activity with minimal inhibitory concentration values ranging from 6 to 96 µM, whereas compounds 2 and 6-9 showed moderate antibacterial activity. The presence of a ß-hydroxyalkyl-γ-hydroxybutenolide subunit contributed significantly to antibacterial activity. Compounds 1-4 and 6-9 showed cytotoxic activities against the HCT-116 cancer cell line (1 < IC50s < 10 µM) and human fetal lung fibroblast MRC5 cell line (1 < IC50s < 10 µM for compounds 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9).

Tigliane diterpenes from Croton mauritianus as inhibitors of chikungunya virus replication.

A bioassay-guided purification of an EtOAc extract of the leaves of Croton mauritianus using a chikungunya virus-cell-based assay led to the isolation of 12-O-decanoylphorbol-13-acetate (1) and the new 12-O-decanoyl-7-hydroperoxy-phorbol-5-ene-13-acetate (2), along with loliolide, vomifoliol, dehydrovomifoliol, annuionone D and bluemol C. The planar structure and the relative configuration of compound 2 were elucidated based on spectroscopic analysis, including 1D- and 2D-NMR experiments, mass spectrometry, and comparison with literature data. Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited chikungunya virus-induced cell death in cell culture with EC50s of 2.4±0.3 and 4.0±0.8 µM, respectively.