Malaria, a parasitic infection caused by Plasmodium falciparum, is a serious global public health problem. The enzyme enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase present in a limiting step in the biosynthesis of fatty acids type II was used to search for novel molecules with potential inhibitor by virtual screening techniques. A flavonoid library obtained in ChEMBL database (n = 4,008) was filtered through physico-chemical similarity using the Euclidean distance as a criterion. The selected molecules were subjected to molecular docking using the scoring function GridScore in the DOCK 6.5 software. The top 30 ranked molecules by molecular docking were submitted to the AuPosSOM 2.1 software with the aim of clustering molecules by means of intermolecular interactions in order to understand the patterns of these interactions with enoyl-ACP reductase from Plasmodium falciparum (PfENR). We observed the importance of flavonoid moiety to hydrophobic interactions with the active site of enzyme, this confirmed the choice to study this metabolite class as PfENR inhibitors. Moreover, it was possible to recognize which intermolecular interactions contribute to the molecular recognition process.

In this study, antimicrobial activity of extracts and lupenone from A. inundata (Fabaceae, Mimosoideae), were tested. In addition, the multi-element composition of the leaves, bark and stems (heartwood) of A. inundata was evaluated using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). Lupenone was isolated in the petroleum ether extract of leaves, for the first time. Biological assays were conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic) of extracts, their fractions and lupenone. The results showed antimicrobial and antileishmanial activity of these compounds, which may be useful for obtaining a chemical composition and biological activity database on Albizia species. For multi-element composition, we found the mean concentrations (minimum-maximum) of Al, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, V and Zn in the samples ranged between 0.06 and 265.41 µg g-1. Concentration ranges of Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn are large, which makes these samples as additional sources of these macronutrients.

This work describes the tissue culture of Plectranthus ornatus Codd. (Lamiaceae) on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 mg L-1) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) (1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 mg L-1) as growth regulators to obtain the overproduction of rosmarinic acid. The content of rosmarinic acid and its biosynthetic precursors were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The antioxidant activities (AA) of the extracts were also evaluated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The best growing condition was observed with the addition of 1.0 mg L-1 of both NAA and BAP in the culture medium yielded an increase of 94 times of rosmarinic acid comparing with the wild plant. All extracts diplayed antioxidant activity, as evidenced by the DPPH free radical scavenging assay. However, those with 2.0 mg L-1 NAA and, 1.0 mg L-1 NAA and BAP in culture medium showed the lowest EC50 (26.0 and 29.8 µg mL-1, respectively). At concentration higher than 10 µg mL-1 of rosmarinic acid it was not observed the correlation with AA, suggesting some other anti-oxidant mechanism acting.

Podophyllotoxin is the most studied lignan because of its use as an antimitotic agent and because it is a precursor of pharmacologically active derivatives. This review describes the anticancer activities of podophyllotoxin and the different processes that have been developed for its extraction and purification from Podophyllum spp. In addition, the synthesis routes of this compound and the development of three semi-synthetic procedures to obtain etoposide, teniposide, and Etopophos are detailed.

Polygalaceae is represented in Brazil by ten genera and 191 species, of which the Polygala is the most representative, characterized by the occurrence of methyl salicylate. Seventeen species of Polygalaceae have been analyzed by HPLC-DAD and the technique proved to be selective, precise, accurate, and with low limits of quantification and detection. The analysis of plant material confirmed the presence of methyl salicylate, with concentration values ranging from 14.1 a 126.9 µg/g.

This review demonstrates the importance of plants as sources of molecules used in anticancer therapies. The approach is performed by relating the active molecules to their origins, details, mechanisms of action, structure-activity relationship and chemical characteristics of chemotherapeutical medicines. It was also described the development of anticancer agents from plants by the pharmaceutical industry and the difficulties to release these compounds as a trademark. These include the well known paclitaxel, docetaxel, vincristine, vinblastine, vinorelbine, vindesine, etoposide, teniposide, and other molecules that are undergoing clinical trials.