Bioassay guided fractionation of the methanol extract of Magnolia grandiflora L. (Magnoliaceae) leaves led to the isolation and characterisation of four aporphine alkaloids, magnoflorine, lanuginosine, liriodenine and anonaine. The cytotoxicities of the pure compounds magnoflorine and lanuginosine were determined in a cell viability assay with the tumour cell lines Hela (cervix tumour cell line), HEPG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma cell line) and U251 (brain tumour cell line). Magnoflorine was more cytotoxic (IC(50) 0.4 microg mL(-1)) than lanuginosine (IC(50) 2.5 microg mL(-1)) against HEPG2 in comparison with the standard doxorubacin (IC(50) 0.27 microg mL(-1)). In addition, magnoflorine and lanuginosine exhibited cytotoxicity against U251, with IC(50) of 7 and 4 microg mL(-1), respectively. The two compounds were found to be inactive against the Hela cancer cell. On the other hand, the methanol extract showed high antiviral activity against the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), 76.7% inhibition at 1.1 microg mL(-1), whereas the extract exhibited a moderate antiviral activity against poliovirus type-1 (47% inhibition at the same concentration). This chemical and biological investigation has not been studied previously.

Erythrina abyssinica Lam. is an important medicinal plant growing in Sudan; its seeds were investigated for the first time for their alkaloidal constituents and biological activity. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the crude alkaloidal fraction (CAF) against the cell lines HeLa, Hep-G2, HEP-2, HCT116, MCF-7 and HFB4 showed promising activity, with IC₅₀ values of 13.8, 10.1, 8.16, 13.9, 11.4 and 12.2 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. Doxorubicin (positive control) showed in vitro cytotoxic activity with IC₅₀ values 3.64, 4.57, 4.89, 3.74, 2.97 and 3.96 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. Bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation of the CAF led to the isolation of five Erythrina alkaloids, identified as erythraline, erysodine, erysotrine, 8-oxoerythraline and 11-methoxyerysodine. These were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against Hep-G2 which resulted in IC₅₀ values 17.60, 11.80, 15.80, 3.89 and 11.40 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxic activity against HEP-2 was evaluated, which resulted in IC₅₀ values 15.90, 19.90, 21.60, 18.50 and 11.50 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. The CAF caused a reduction in the viability of mock-infected MT-4 cells with a CC₅₀ of 53 µM and a 50% protection of MT-4 cells against HIV-1 induced cytopathogeneticy with a EC₅₀ of >53 µM, compared with EFV as a positive control, which had a CC₅₀ of 45 µM and an EC₅₀ of 0.003 µM. We concluded that the isolated alkaloids were responsible for the anti-carcinogenic [corrected] actions of the plant extract previously reported in the literature.

Three phenolic compounds cosmosiin, caffeic acid, and p-coumaric acid were isolated for the first time from the leaves of Cupressus sempervirens L., together with cupressuflavone, amentoflavone, rutin, quercitrin, quercetin, myricitrin. The isolated compounds were identified using (1)H- and (13)C-NMR spectra. The hepatoprotective activity of the MeOH extract was carried out in liver homogenate of normal and CCl(4)-treated rats; a significant decrease in glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, cholesterol level, and triglycerides, while a significant increase in the total protein level, was observed after the oral administration of MeOH extract. The free radical scavenging activity against stable 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*) was measured for MeOH extract and some of the isolated phenolic compounds in comparison with alpha-tocopherol and butylated hydroxy toluene as standard antioxidants using ESR technique, showed high antioxidant activity for quercetin, rutin, caffeic acid, and p-coumaric acid.

The essential oil obtained by hydro-distillation of Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa leaves were analyzed by GC/MS yield (0.9% v/w). Twenty seven components were identified representing 97.76% of the total oil composition. The major components were α-phellenderene (20.97%), α-pinene (17.76%) and δ-carene (16.37%) and other abundant components asγ-cadinene (8.01%), trans-2-hydroxycinnmic acid (6.85%) and β-myrcene (4.32%). The essential oil exhibited significant antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria as Streptococcus faecalis with inhibition zone (30 mm) and Gram-negative bacteria as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (28 mm). Moreover, moderate activity was observed against Bacillus subtilis (23mm), Staphylococcus aureus (23mm), Sarcina lutea (20mm), Arthrobacter citreus (20 mm) and Escherichia coli (25mm) in comparison with antibiotics. The antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger (30 mm) and Candida albicans (30 mm) was higher than the antifungal antibiotics. Moreover, the oil inhibited the germination of Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum spores at different concentrations.

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