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BackgroundArtemisia saharae Pomel is a new taxon of Artemisia herba-alba Asso (Asteraceae) which is endemic to Tunisia and Algeria. This shrub, commonly known as white wormwood or desert wormwood, is largely used in folk medicine and as a culinary herb. The bulks aromatic plants come from wild populations whose essential oils compositions as well as their biological properties are severely affected by several factors such as geographic conditions. Therefore, the aim of the present work is to provide more information about the influence of altitude variation on the essential oil composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Artemisia saharae growing wild in the same geographical area.ResultsEssential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation of leaves and flowers of the plant collected from seven different altitudes of the Baten Zamour region (southwest of Tunisia). The highest essential oil yields (2.70-2.80%) were obtained for populations of high altitudes.Seventy-five compounds, representing 92.78 to 96.95% of the total essential oils, were separated and identified. Essential oils were characterized by very high percentage of oxygenated monoterpenes (52.1–72.6%) which constituted the predominant class. From the analyzed populations, the major compounds (>7%) were α-thujone, β-thujone, chrysanthenone, camphor, chrysanthenyl acetate, and sabinyl acetate. Sabinyl acetate which was detected in some populations at relatively high percentages (7.7–10.8%) seems to be characteristic to Southern Tunisian A. saharae. The studied essential oil showed a chemical diversity depending on the population altitude as revealed by linear discriminant and cluster analyses.ConclusionsThree population groups associated with altitudinal levels were distinguished. It is worthy to note that the most discriminating compounds of chemical groups were the minor ones. Despite the high variation of essential oil compositions, the high altitude population did not affect severely the antibacterial activity against the most tested strains. Altitude seems to be an important factor influencing the yield and the chemical profile of Artemisia saharae essential oils. Knowledge of the chemical composition of essential oils in relation to environmental factors is a very important quality criterion for their marketing and contributes to their valorization as functional ingredient in food technology.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-014-0076-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Pituranthos chloranthus, commonly known in Arabic as 'Aljen,' is a small aromatic plant which grows spontaneously in North Africa and it is widespread in central and southern Tunisia. This paper is the first report of its kind on the isolation and characterization of certain coumarin derivatives from the extract of the roots and aerial parts of this plant. Background: Pituranthos chloranthus (Apiaceae) commonly known as 'Aljen' is an endemic Tunisian aromatic plant, largely used in folk medicine. This plant contains bioactive compounds, particularly coumarin derivatives. The objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize some bioactive phytochemical constituents from the extract of the aerial parts and roots of Pituranthos chloranthus. Methods: Different extracts were subjected to column chromatography and eluted with solvent mixtures of increasing polarity (petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and methanol) to isolate five pure Products. The structure of the isolated compound was established using spectroscopic methods (UV, 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, DEPT, HMBC, HSQC, COSY), and HRMS. Results: Isoimperatorin, osthol and oxypeucedanin were isolated from the n-hexane and ethyl acetate extract of the aerial part of the plant. Bergapten and nodakenetin were isolated from the methanolic extract of the roots. Conclusion: Pituranthos chloranthus contains bergapten, isoimperatorin, nodakenetin, osthol and oxypeucedanin which may be responsible for various pharmacological activities of the plant.

 We present a new method for the synthesis of bis-triazolones 3, which result from the processing of novel bis-amidrazones 2 with ethyl chloroformate. The bis-amidrazones 2 are prepared by the reaction of the N1-tosylhydrazonates 1 with two equivalents of aliphatic diamine. The structures of the new products were determined through IR, 1H and 13C NMR studies as well as elemental analysis. The molecular structure of the compound 3c was also determined via an X-ray analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated against a panel of 09 bacterial strains using broth microdilution methods. Results showed that compounds exhibited moderate to strong antibacterial activity against the tested species.