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BackgroundNatural products play a key role in drug discovery programs, both serving as drugs and as templates for the synthesis of drugs, even though the quantities and availabilities of samples for screening are often limitted.Experimental approachA current collection of physical samples of > 500 compound derived from African medicinal plants aimed at screening for drug discovery has been made by donations from several researchers from across the continent to be directly available for drug discovery programs. A virtual library of 3D structures of compounds has been generated and Lipinski’s “Rule of Five” has been used to evaluate likely oral availability of the samples.ResultsA majority of the compound samples are made of flavonoids and about two thirds (2/3) are compliant to the “Rule of Five”. The pharmacological profiles of thirty six (36) selected compounds in the collection have been discussed.Conclusions and implicationsThe p-ANAPL library is the largest physical collection of natural products derived from African medicinal plants directly available for screening purposes. The virtual library is also available and could be employed in virtual screening campaigns.

BackgroundArtocarpus communis is used traditionally in Cameroon to treat several ailments, including infectious and associated diseases. This work was therefore designed to investigate the antimicrobial activities of the methanol extract (ACB) and compounds isolated from the bark of this plant, namely peruvianursenyl acetate C (1), α-amyrenol or viminalol (2), artonin E (4) and 2-[(3,5-dihydroxy)-(Z)-4-(3-methylbut-1-enyl)phenyl]benzofuran-6-ol (5).MethodsThe liquid microdilution assay was used in the determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimal microbicidal concentration (MMC), against seven bacterial and one fungal species.ResultsThe MIC results indicated that ACB as well as compounds 4 and 5 were able to prevent the growth of all tested microbial species. All other compounds showed selective activities. The lowest MIC value of 64 μg/ml for the crude extract was recorded on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25922 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739. The corresponding value of 32 μg/ml was recorded with compounds 4 and 5 on Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01 and compound 5 on E. coli ATCC 8739, their inhibition effect on P. aeruginosa PA01 being more than that of chloramphenicol used as reference antibiotic.ConclusionThe overall results of this study provided supportive data for the use of A. communis as well as some of its constituents for the treatment of infections associated with the studied microorganisms.

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