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A sample of 10 mM flurbiprofen in methanol (or ethanol) was photoirradiated with sixteen 8 W low-pressure quartz mercury lamps irradiated at 306 nm in a Panchum PR-2000 photochemical reactor. In total, four major photoproducts derived from each sample were observed from the HPLC chromatogram. The photoproducts were separated and their structures elucidated by various spectroscopic methods. Alternatively, using GC-MS, 11 major photoproducts were observed. A reaction scheme of flurbiprofen in methanol is proposed: the photochemical reaction routes occur mainly via esterification and decarboxylation, followed by oxidation with singlet oxygen to produce a ketone, alcohols and other derivatives.

Background: Kuding tea, a Traditional Chinese drink, has a history of thousands of years in China. Triterpenoid saponins in Kuding tea are regarded as one of the major functional ingredients. Objective: The aim of this paper is to establish a separation progress for isolation and purification of five triterpenoid saponins (kudinoside A, C, D, F, G) from Kuding tea. Method: Nine type of resins including seven macroporous resins and two MCI-GEL resins were firstly used for purifying triterpenoid saponins by the adsorption and desorption tests. Further dynamic adsorption/desorption experiments were carried out to obtain the optimal parameters for the five targeted saponins. Then the purification of five triterpenoid saponins (kudinoside A, C, D, F, G) was completed by semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatograph (semi-pHPLC). Results: As of optimized results, the HP20SS MCI-GEL was selected as the optimal one. The data also showed that 65.24 mg of refined extract including 7.04 mg kudinoside A, 3.52 mg kudinoside C, 4.04 mg kudinoside D, 4.13 mg kudinoside F, 34.45 mg kudinoside G, could be isolated and purified from 645.90 mg of crude extract in which the content of five saponins was 81.51% and the average recovery reached 69.76%. The final contents of five saponins increased 6.91-fold compared to the crude extract. Conclusion: The established separation progress was highly efficient, making it a potential approach for the large-scale production in the laboratory and providing several markers of triterpenoid saponins for quality control of Kuding tea or its processing products.

A sample of 0.104 M nicardipine in methanol was photoirradiated with a Philips 400 W UV lamp for 3 h in a photochemical chamber. A total of four major photoproducts were found from the HPLC chromatogram. The same sample was used for taking LC-MS, while eight major photoproducts were observed and the structures elucidated by analyzing the CID patterns of their respective mass spectra. A reaction scheme of nicardipine is proposed that the photochemical reactions occur mainly via oxidation of 1,4-dihydropyridine moiety, following the stepwise photo-reduction of the m-nitro group and demethylation of the ester group at 5-position of the pyridine ring.

Recent studies have reported that gastric, colon and other carcinogenic processes could be blocked by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), through the inhibition of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX 2).1) Moreover, NSAIDs, such as celebrex, sulindac, indomethacin, and others, could induce apoptosis in tumor cells and act similarly to anticancer drugs. [1][2][3][4][5] Indomethacin is a well-known NSAID acting as a non-selective cyclooxygenase inhibitor, which is capable of inducing apoptosis in small-cell lung cancer and gastric cancer cells. [3][4][5] These facts imply that NSAIDs may be good lead compounds for inducing chemopreventive effects. In a previous study, the ester and g-lactone derivatives of indomethacin were found through a photo-irradiated process. 6) In this paper, the anti-inflammatory effects of indomethacin derivatives in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and the cytotoxic effects in HL-60 cells were explored in efforts to discover new and potent chemopreventive agents.Nitric oxide (NO) induces mutagenesis and carcinogenesis through damaging DNA bases, and also has inflammatory effects such as enhancing COX activity, etc.7,8) Macrophages play major roles in inflammation, which can be activated by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and COX 2 protein, and by the release of NO and prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an endotoxin. 9) Therefore, the NO and PGE 2 levels of LPS-stimulated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells are used as indicators of carcinogenesis and inflammation.The human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, is usually used to detect the antitumor effects of new candidate compounds in in vitro cytotoxicity assays. Cell death can generally occur by either of two distinct mechanisms, necrosis or apoptosis. 10) Necrosis is the pathological process which occurs when cells are exposed to a serious physical or chemical insult. Apoptosis is the physiological process by which unwanted or useless cells are eliminated during development and other normal biological processes.10) Anticancer drugs can induce apoptosis in tumor cells, and this may decrease the side effects in patients. Consequently, compounds that can induce apoptosis in tumor cells with good potency are considered to be antitumor candidate drugs. In this paper, the cytotoxic effects of test samples were measured using the MTT assay, and the active components inducing apoptosis in leukemia cells were determined by biochemical analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Chemicals and CellsDimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide], LPS (Escherichia coli serotype 0127-8B), and other chemicals were purchased from Sigma Chemical (St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.). Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM), RPMI 1640, fetal bovine serum (FBS), antibiotics, and L-glutamine were purchased from Gibco BRL (Grand Island, NY, U.S.A.). The murine macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7, and the promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, were obtained from American Type Cell Culture (ATCC; Rockville, MD,...