Diospyros lotus, also known as date‐plum, belongs to the Ebenaceae family and is mostly recognized as a rootstock for D. kaki. Similar classes of naphthoquinones in D. lotus are investigated against cancer and inflammation and have antimicrobial, sedative, and analgesic properties. Six chemical constituents (1‐6) were isolated from Diospyros lotus and tested for anti‐inflammatory effects at the dose of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg, i.p., using carrageenan (1%, 0.05 ml)‐induced paw edema. The maximum protection against carrageenan‐induced edema was observed for compounds 1 and 2. Both studied compounds demonstrated significant anti‐inflammatory effect after the 3^rd hour of posttreatment. The maximum anti‐inflammatory effect of compound 1 was 85.96%, while that of compound 2 was 81.44%, followed by compounds 5 and 6, which exhibited 80.11% and 82.45% effect, respectively. Similarly, histamine‐induced inflammation was significantly antagonized by 1, 2, 5, and 6 with 87.99%, 82.18 ± 1.8, 80.40 ± 1.59, and 77.44% effects, respectively, at 5 mg/kg after the 2^nd hour of posttreatment. The rest of the tested compounds did not show any significant effect as compared to the negative control. Interestingly, no toxicity was observed at higher doses. Moreover, the extracted compounds showed remarkable antibacterial activity against the Gram‐positive bacteria and no effect against the Gram‐negative bacteria. Docking studies on target cyclooxygenases showed that all the compounds established interactions with the key amino acid residues present in the additional pocket of COX‐2. Hence, these compounds may act as selective COX‐2 inhibitors. In conclusion, the findings of the current study suggest that the roots of Diospyros lotus may contain some anti‐inflammatory and antibacterial agents with minimal toxicological effects and accordingly this plant product is recommended for further investigations.

This study presents the synthesis and application of water-ball (sodium polyacrylate) stabilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles (wb@Fe⁰) for the eco-friendly degradation of Methyl Orange (MO). The nanoparticles were prepared using a chemical reduction method using NaBH₄. Characterization techniques including Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) were employed to analyze the morphology, elemental composition, valent state and crystallinity of the nanoparticles. The catalytic performance was evaluated under standard conditions, with a maximum degradation efficiency of 94 % achieved for a 0.05 mM MO solution using 10 mg of the catalyst, 0.1 mM NaBH₄, at neutral pH and room temperature within 10 min. Optimal degradation occurred at 40 °C and pH 6. The catalyst demonstrated excellent recyclability, maintaining activity over ten reuse cycles. Kinetic studies revealed that the degradation followed first-order kinetics with an R² value of 0.8907 and a rate constant of 0.3708. Though with a lower R² value (0.6884), the second-order kinetics model indicated the highest rate constant of 2.6522. Regression and ANOVA analysis confirmed the accuracy of the reaction protocol. This study highlights the potential of water-ball stabilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles for effective dye pollutant removal and degradation, offering a promising approach for environmental remediation.

Diabetes is one of the main health issues worldwide because of its lifetime duration. To overcome this health problem, the current study was conducted. This investigation aims to explore the α-glucosidase and β-secretase potential of extract/fractions and pure isolated compounds of Syzygium cumini bark. The chloroform extract of Syzygium cumini bark was subjected to chromatographic analysis to yield compound 1. The structure of isolated phytochemical (1) was conducted using advanced spectroscopic analysis. Among test extracts, the chloroform fraction exhibited a significant effect against α-glucosidase with a % activity of 86.20% and an IC₅₀ of 77.09 µM, while the isolated compound exhibited a promising effect with a % activity of 91.54 and an IC₅₀ value of 17.54 μM. The extract/fractions and isolated compound 1 also showed promising effects against the β-secretase enzyme, having % effects of 83.21 and 91.54% with IC₅₀ values of 318.76 and 17.54 μM, respectively. The extract/fractions and compound 1 were found to possess promising inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and β-secretase. This research project opens a new avenue for research into detailed chemical and biological studies on Syzygium cumini to isolate bioactive enzyme inhibitors. Furthermore, the isolated compound 1 friedelin was docked into the active site of β-secretase and α-glucosidase. The molecular docking was assessed using molecular docking via the MOE-Dock tool. The docking results showed good docking scores of −6.84 and −6.46 when docked against β-secretase and α-glucosidase, respectively, and strong interactions.