Various components of garlic and aged garlic extract, including allicin, S-allylcysteine (SAC) and volatile metabolites of allicin were determined in breath, plasma and simulated gastric fluids by HPLC, gas chromatography (GC) or HPLC- and GC-mass spectrometry (MS). Data indicate that allicin decomposes in stomach acid to release allyl sulfides, disulfides and other volatiles that are postulated to be metabolized by glutathione and/or S-adenosylmethionine to form allyl methyl sulfide. SAC can be absorbed by the body and can be determined in plasma by HPLC or HPLC-MS using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)-MS.

Diseases caused by Mycobacterium avium (M. avium) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) have reached pandemic proportions with some strains being resistant to existing chemotherapies. Complex therapies requiring four to six drugs are sometimes required to prevent the emergence of resistant strains. There is a need for the discovery of new drugs or compounds that are potential drug templates that can be used to treat diseases caused by these bacteria. The research reported in this paper describes the isolation of 6-, 8-, and 10-gingerol from fresh ginger rhizome and the identification of 10-gingerol as the most active inhibitor of M. avium and M. tuberculosis in vitro. The gingerols were isolated by fractionation of a crude methylene chloride extract of fresh ginger rhizome by normal phase HPLC. Identification was based on mass spectral data. The identification of 10-gingerol was confirmed by synthesis. Keywords: Zingiber officinale; ginger; 6-gingerol; 8-gingerol; 10-gingerol; AIDS; Mycobacterium avium; Mycobacterium tuberculosis

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Tingle compounds are a class of alkenamides with organoleptic properties that include a numbing or a pins and needles effect that is generally perceived on the lips and in the mouth when consumed. They occur in nature in a number of botanical species. Spilanthol and Pellitorine are important examples of tingle compounds. A number of homologs and analogs were synthesized to study the effect of chain length, double bond location, and amide moiety on the tingle effect. This also provided the opportunity to study the behavior of these compounds in the collision cell of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The doubly allylic 2E,6Z-alkenamides, which made up the largest class studied, fragmented in a characteristic way to produce a distonic radical cation and a cyclopropene cation. Mechanisms for the formation of these ions are proposed. The mechanisms are supported by energy-resolved mass spectrometric data, the analysis of deuterated analogs and homologs that are not doubly allylic, and exact mass measurements. Exceptions to the proposed mechanisms are also presented. These data represent the first attempt to apply mechanistic principles to the product ions observed in the MS/MS spectra of these compounds. The authors believe the results of this study will facilitate the identification of these and similar compounds and contribute to the fundamental understanding of the behavior of alkenamides in the collision cell of a triple quadrupole mass