Active Flavonoids from Colubrina greggii var. greggii S. Watson against Clinical Isolates of Candida spp.

Candida albicans is the most commonly implicated agent in invasive human fungal infections. The disease could be presented as minimal symptomatic candidemia or can be fulminant sepsis. Candidemia is associated with a high rate of mortality and high healthcare and hospitalization costs. The surveillance programs have reported the distribution of other Candida species reflecting the trends and antifungal susceptibilities. Previous studies have demonstrated that C. glabrata more frequently presents fluconazole-resistant strains. Extracts from Mexican plants have been reported with activity against pulmonary mycosis, among them Colubrina greggii. In the present study, extracts from the aerial parts (leaves, flowers, and fruits) of this plant were evaluated against clinical isolates of several species of Candida (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei, and C. tropicalis) by the broth microdilution assay. Through bioassay-guided fractionation, three antifungal glycosylated flavonoids were isolated and characterized. The isolated compounds showed antifungal activity only against C. glabrata resistant to fluconazole, and were non-toxic toward brine shrimp lethality bioassay and in vitro Vero cell line assay. The ethyl acetate and butanol extracts, as well as the fractions containing the mixture of flavonoids, were more active against Candida spp.

Effect of the nO → π*C═O Interaction on the Conformational Preference of 1,3-Diketones: A Case Study of Riolozatrione Derivatives.

The cyclopropane ring-opening reaction of riolozatrione, a natural product obtained from Jatropha dioica, afforded a 2,2-disubstituted 1,3-cyclohexandione displaying an alkyl methyl ether group at position 5. The conformational analysis of this product showed a high preference for the trans-diaxial conformation in both solution and solid state. Such conformation was possible from the noncovalent intramolecular nX → π*C═O interactions (X = an element having an unshared electron pair), allowing the determination of the interaction energies. Since the nX → π*C═O interactions can be regarded as additive, the energy values ranged from 4.52 to 6.51 kcal mol-1 for each carbonyl group with a strong dependency on the interatomic distances. The rigorous analysis of the electron density in the topological theory of atoms in molecules framework clearly shows that the origin of O-C═O interactions are through the nO → π*C═O electron transfer mechanism. Such interactions are slightly weaker than a canonical hydrogen bond but seemingly stronger than a van der Waals interaction. This interaction must be considered as a stereoelectronic effect due the electronic transfer between the interacting groups, which are limited by their relative stereochemistry and can be represented by a bond-no bond interaction, causing the pyramidalization of the carbonyl, which is the charge acceptor group.