Elisabetta Torregiani

Taxanes from the needles of Taxus wallichiana

Abstract Besides known compounds, the needles of T. wallichiana gave five new taxanes, whose constitution, stereochemistry and conformation were established

Comparative study of aroma profile and phenolic content of Montepulciano monovarietal red wines from the Marches and Abruzzo Regions of Italy using HS-SPME-GC-MS and HPLC-MS

Montepulciano is one of the most famous and important red-berried grapes of Italy. This article presents and discusses a comparative study of aroma profile and phenolic content of the Montepulciano wine from the Marches and the Abruzzo regions. The volatile composition of wines was determined by using headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The PDMS fibre was chosen. The dominating esters in Montepulciano wines were ethyl hexanoate, ethyl decanoate, and ethyl octanoate, whereas phenyl ethanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol were dominating alcohols. Phenolic compounds, namely gallic acid, p-coumaric acid, trans-ferulic acid, caffeic acid, trans-resveratrol, (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin, were examined using HPLC-MS with direct injection of wine samples. The total phenolic content of the analysed wines was in the range of 30.4-61.9mgl-1. The presence of high amounts of esters seems to characterise the volatiles of Montepulciano wines from the Marches, whereas a high level of alcohols was found in Montepulciano wines from Abruzzo. Moreover, multivariate chemometric techniques, such as cluster analysis and principal component analysis, supported this thesis. Headspace solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to analyse 20 commercial wine samples (Montepulciano monovarietal red wines) from the Marches (10 samples) and Abruzzo (10 samples).

Cerium(III) Chloride Catalyzed Michael Reaction of 1,3-Dicarbonyl Compounds and Enones in the Presence of Sodium Iodide Under Solvent-Free Conditions

Cerium(III) chloride heptahydrate in the presence of sodium iodide catalyses the Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to α,β-unsaturated ketones and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes with extraordinary efficiency. The very mild conditions allow high chemoselectivity as shown by the absence of the typical side reactions, which can be observed in the conventional base-catalyzed processes. More interestingly, when at least one of the starting materials is liquid at room temperature, the reaction can also be performed without solvents. The CeCl3· 7 H2O/NaI catalyst system can be easily separated from the reaction mixture and it can be reused without an appreciable loss of activity. Advantages of the present procedure, which utilizes cheap and “friendly” reagents, over the previously reported ones, are discussed.

Cyclopeptide alkaloids from Ziziphus mucronata

Abstract In addition to the known alkaloid mucronine-D, two new cyclopeptide alkaloids were isolated from the roots of Ziziphus mucronata . The structures were elucidated by 1- and 2-DNMR techniques.

Taxol analogues from the roots of Taxus x media

Abstract The roots of Taxus x media Rehd. cv Hicksii gave two taxol analogues bearing a modified phenylisoserine side chain.

Determination of Soyasaponins I and βg in Raw and Cooked Legumes by Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) Coupled to Liquid Chromatography (LC)–Mass Spectrometry (MS) and Assessment of Their Bioaccessibility by an in Vitro Digestion Model

Legumes contain a rich variety of phytochemicals as soyasaponins, triterpenoidal glycosides that possess multiple health-promoting properties, such as lowering of cholesterol. In this work, the quantification of soyasaponins I and βg in 60 raw and cooked legumes by using a solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled to a liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) method was carried out. Results showed that lentils are a good source of soyasaponins, with a content of soyasaponin I that ranged from 636 to 735 mg kg(-1) and of soyasaponin βg from 672 to 1807 mg kg(-1). The cooking process produced a small loss of soyasaponins in water, that is, 4.8-8.7%, and partially converted soyasaponin βg into soyasaponin I. In addition, the bioaccessibility of soyasaponins I in lentils was studied; the values ranged from 8.9 ± 0.3 to 10.6 ± 1.1% in the duodenal compartment. On the basis of these results, soyasaponins could be effective in lowering exogenous cholesterol.

New oxetane-type taxanes from Taxus wallichiana Zucc.

The needles of Taxus wallichiana Zucc. gave the novel oxetane-type taxane diterpenoids 2 and 5, whose structures have been established on the basis of spectroscopic data and chemical reactions. The acidcatalysed rearrangement of 10-deacetylbaccatin III has been investigated.

Effective clean-up and ultra high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for isoflavone determination in legumes

Legumes are an excellent source of macronutrients and phytochemicals as isoflavones. The aim of this work was to develop a new analytical method for determining five isoflavone compounds, three of which are aglycons, namely daidzein, genistein, biochanin A, and two of which, daidzin and genistin, are glycosilated, in lentils and other pulses, using an effective clean-up system and UHPLC-MS/MS (triple quadrupole) method. The recoveries obtained by spiking the lentil samples with a standard mixture of isoflavones at three levels of fortification (5, 25 and 100 μg kg(-1)) were in the range of 54.4-111.1%, 68.6-91.1%, and 84.4-114%, respectively. The method was applied to analyse 48 lentil samples from central Italy and pulses for determining the isoflavone content, which was found to range from 1.1 to 95.6 μg kg(-1).

Rapid Quantification of Soyasaponins I and βg in Italian Lentils by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS)

In this work, an innovative and fast analytical method for the quantification of soyasaponins I and βg in lentils has been developed. Samples were extracted using 70xa0% aqueous ethanol at room temperature and then injected into a high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry system. The correlation coefficients of calibration curves of the analyzed compounds were ≥0.9997. The recoveries obtained by spiking the lentil samples with a standard mixture of soyasaponins I and βg at 50 and 100xa0mgxa0l−1 were in the range of 96–101 and 98–103xa0%, respectively. The validated method was applied to the analysis of 30 lentil samples from central Italy. Soyasaponins I and βg were present in these lentils in concentrations that ranged from 54 to 226xa0mgxa0kg−1 and from 436 to 1,272xa0mgxa0kg−1, respectively. Our data indicated that lentils cultivated in fields at intermediate altitudes (1,142–1,387xa0m) showed the highest levels of soyasaponins, a finding confirmed by principal component analysis.

Constituents of Nothapodytes foetida

Five new alkaloids, along with camptothecin 1 and 9-methoxycamptothecin 2, were isolated from a trunk bark extract of Nothapodytes foetida(Wight) Sleumer (Icacinaceae). The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic means as mappicine and the 9-methoxymappicine glycosides (3–6) and the di-p-coumaroylspermidine ester of a camptothecin-like compound 7, which we have named foetidin I.