No abstract

The in vitro activity of root-tuber-peel extract of Flemingia vestita, an indigenous plant consumed by the natives in Northeast India, was tested against helminth parasites. Live parasites (nematode: Ascaris suum from pigs, A. lumbricoides from humans, Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum from domestic fowl; cestode: Raillietina echinobothrida from domestic fowl; trematode: Paramphistomum sp. from cattle) were collected in 0.9 % physiological buffered saline (PBS) and maintained at 37 +/- 1 degrees C. In vitro treatment of the parasites with the crude extract (50 mg/ml) in PBS revealed complete immobilization of the trematode and cestode in about 43 and 20 min, respectively. However, the cuticle-covered nematodes did not show any change in physical activity and remained viable even after a long period of exposure to the extract. Exposure of R. echinobothrida to genistein (0.5 mg/ml), an active principle isolated from the root-tuber peel, caused spontaneous loss of movement (paralysis) in 4.5 h, which was slower than the time required for praziquantel, the reference flukicide and cestodicide. The treated parasites showed structural alteration in their tegumental architecture. This study suggests the vermifugal activity of this plant extract against trematodes and cestodes.

Endo- and exo-cycloisomerizations of 4-pentyn-1-ol have been studied computationally with density functional theory, in conjunction with double-zeta and triple-zeta basis sets, both in the absence and in the presence of tungsten carbonyl catalyst. In the absence of the catalyst, both endo- and exo-cycloisomerizations have been calculated to have a very high activation barrier of approximately 50-55 kcal/mol and cannot take place. With tungsten pentacarbonyl catalyst, endo-cycloisomerization becomes a complex multiple-step reaction and proceeds with a rate-determining barrier of 26 kcal/mol at the C(alpha) --> C(beta) hydride migration step to form a vinylidene intermediate. The primary role of the tungsten catalyst is to stabilize the vinylidene intermediate, thus lowering the rate-determining barrier. The second important role of the tungsten catalyst in endo-cycloisomerization is to assist the OH hydride migration to C(alpha) by making it a multistep process with small activation barriers. The exo-cycloisomerization with the catalyst still has a high rate-determining barrier of 47 kcal/mol. These findings clearly explain the experimentally observed endo-selectivity in the cycloisomerization of 4-pentyn-1-ol derivatives and support the experimentally proposed mechanism.