Role of Schiff Base in Drug Discovery Research

Compounds having imine or azomethine (–C=N–) functional group are known as Schiff bases. They were first reported in 1864 by German Chemist, Hugo Schiff and hence they are named so. For the synthesis of Schiffbase, a number of methods have been described in literature. These are now synthesized by a simple one pot condensation of an various amines/hydrazides with carbonyl compounds, water is eliminated during condensation process.Schiff bases are synthesis from simple reaction between acetone and primary amine. Water is byproduct in this reaction.Other name for Schiff bases are imine or azomethine.

Schiff bases form an backbone for large number of organic compounds and have a enormous applications in many fields. Structurally these arenitrogen derivatives of carbonyl compounds in which the (C=O) group has beenreplaced by an (C=N) group. Schiff bases have also received a great attention because of their potential biological activities such as antiinflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant and so forth.

Antimicrobial and Phytochemical Properties of Alstonia Boonei Extracts

Medicinal plant is defined as any plant with one or more of its organs containing substance that can be used for therapeutic purpose or which can be used as precursors for the synthesis of antimicrobial drugs. Plants are presently the sources of medicines for many people of different agein many country of the world, where diseases are treated primarily with traditional medicines obtained from plants. The modern pharmaceutical industry itself still relies largely on the diversity of secondary metabolites in plants and secondary metabolites of which at least 12,000 have been isolated; a number estimated to be less than 10% of the total. In plants, the synthesized aromatic substances (metabolites) are used as defensive weapons against predation by microorganisms, insects and herbivores.

Alstonia boonei, a large evergreen tree belonging to the family Apocynaceae is one of the widely used medicinal plants in Africa and beyond. The important plants of genus Alstonia includes Alstonia scholaris, Alstonia boonei, Alstonia congensis and Alstonia macrophylla which have proved to be useful in various diseases.

Semi-closed Microfluidics Systems in the Modification of Surface Adhesion

Humankind has used adhesives since time immemorial. Birch bark, for example, was used as a natural adhesive in prehistorical time. Nowadays, synthetic adhesives are present nearly everywhere we look; they areused in clothing, furniture, vehicles, electronics, medicine etc. Most applications and thus development of adhesives are related to permanent chemical bonding. In the last decade switchable adhesives which can quickly alternate between strong bonding and delamination has aroused interest in both academia and industry.

This has been inspired by the hierarchical and fibrillar structures observed in insects’ and gecko’s feet which allow a fast animal displacement on vertical and inverted substrates. Long and slender fibres with mushroom-like tips can remarkably increase feet’s adhesive strength to surfaces due to splitting of the contact patch into multiple smaller contact spots; thisrequires greater energy for the crack propagation than in the case of a largersingle contact. Different artificial structures have mimicked this principle and rely on external stimuli such as magnetic and electric fields, mechanical impulses and environmental changes such as temperature, pH and solvent, to trigger adhesion or delamination from surfaces. In most cases the stimuli act directly on the surface modifying its chemical properties or geometry.

Anti-diabetes and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Phenolic Glycosides from Liparis odorata

Liparisodorata (Willd.)Lindl., belonging to the Orchid family, is an herbaceous plant widely distributed in southern China, and usually used to inhibit inflammation and reduce lipid in Jiangxi province folk medicine in China. Throughour continuous interest in the chemical andbiologically active constituents of this plant, five new phenolic glycosides were isolated and their structures elucidated through extensive spectroscopic analyses, as well as literature comparisons. In addition, one known compound was isolated and identified as 4-allyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenol glucoside

To the best of our knowledge, obesity therapy using phenolic glycoside derivatives has not been studied yet, and we here reportthe anti-diabetes effects against protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) and α-glucosidase enzymes forall the isolated compounds. PTP1B plays a critical role as a key negative regulator of theinsulin and leptin signaling pathways, thereby regulating glucose homeostasis and body weight, respectively, while α-glucosidase inhibition is critical for the early treatment of diabetes mellitus. Therefore, effective inhibition of both enzymesis a potential therapy for both type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity.

Post-Harvest Management of Phytoremediation Technology

Toxic discharges from industries lead to several detrimental effects on human health and environment. India is one of thedeveloping countries having huge natural resources with emerging industrialavenues for satisfying the growing demands of ever-increasing population. Along with 48.83% arable land, India has significant sources of coal (fourthlargest reserves in the world), bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, and limestone. According to the 2008 Ministry of Mines estimates: 'India has stepped up its production to reach the second rank among the chromite producers of the world. Besides, India ranks 3rd in production of coal and lignite, 2nd in barites, 4th in iron ore, 5th in bauxite and crude steel, 7th in manganese ore and 8th in aluminum. India accounts for 12% of the world's known and economically available thorium. 

It is the world's largest producer and exporter of mica, accounting for almost 60 percent of the net mica production in the world as per the data obtained from Annual Report (2007-2008), Ministry of Mines, Government of India, National Informatics Centre. Effect of mining activities on environment is provided in the box given below as obtained from Sustainable development Networking Programme (SNDP-New Delhi) Huge quantities of pollutants from industrial and mining activitiesdegrade our environment to a great extent. Emission of heavy metals though anthropogenic activities like mining, fossil fuel combustion, application of phosphate fertilizers, military activities and natural processes such as volcanic eruptions, continental dust etc. lead to accumulation of these chemicals in environment.