This communication explores the feasibility of biodiesel production from a weed plant Argemone mexicana seed oil and an effi cient catalyst crystalline manganese carbonate. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the fi rst study making use of pure, crystalline, ash colored manganese carbonate as a heterogeneous catalyst for the production of methyl esters as fuel from Argemone mexicana seed oil. The optimum process conditions for the conversion of Argemone mexicana oil to its methyl ester by transesterifi cation required 1% manganese carbonate as catalyst with alcohol to oil ratio 5:1 at 60 o C to yield biodiesel of 99.99% purity. The methyl esters obtained were examined by Gas chromatography analysis.

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Curcumin, a constituent of Curcuma longa, has shown numerous biological and pharmacological activities, including antidiabetic effects. Here, a novel series of curcumin analogues were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro inhibition of aldose reductase (AR), the first and rate-limiting enzyme of the polyol pathway, which plays a key role in the onset and progression of diabetic complications. Biological activity studies showed that all the curcuminoids exhibited moderate to good AR inhibitory (ARI) activities compared with that of the quercetin standard. Importantly, compounds 8d, 8h, 9c, 9e, and 10g demonstrated promising ARI activities, with the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 5.73, 5.95, 5.11, 5.78, and 5.10 µM, respectively. Four other compounds exhibited IC50 values in the range of 6.04–6.18 µM. Methyl and methoxy derivatives showed a remarkable ARI potential compared with that of other substitutions on the aromatic ring. Molecular docking experiments demonstrated that the most active curcuminoid (10g) was able to favorably bind in the active site of the AR enzyme. The potent ARI activities exhibited by the curcuminoids were attributed to their substitution patterns on the aromatic moiety, which may provide novel leads in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of diabetic complications.

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