Background: Central Asia is the center of origin and diversification of the Artemisia genus. The genus Artemisia is known to possess a rich phytochemical diversity. Artemisinin is the shining example of a phytochemical isolated from Artemisia annua, which is widely used in the treatment of malaria. There is great interest in the discovery of alternative sources of artemisinin in other Artemisia species. Methods: The hexane extracts of Artemisia plants were prepared with ultrasound-assisted extraction procedures. Silica gel was used as an adsorbent for the purification of Artemisia annua extract. High-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection was performed for the quantification of underivatized artemisinin from hexane extracts of plants. Results: Artemisinin was found in seven Artemisia species collected from Tajikistan. Content of artemisinin ranged between 0.07% and 0.45% based on dry mass of Artemisia species samples. Conclusions: The artemisinin contents were observed in seven Artemisia species. A. vachanica was found to be a novel plant source of artemisinin. Purification of A. annua hexane extract using silica gel as adsorbent resulted in enrichment of artemisinin.

Phytochemical investigations of ethyl acetate-soluble part of the aerial part of Hypericum scabrum L. delivered eight pure phenolic compounds 1–8. The pure compounds were identified through physico-chemical, NMR (1D, 2D) and mass spectrometric studies as: 3-8′′-bisapigenin (1), quercetin (2), quercetin-3-O-α-l-arabinofuranoside (3), quercetin-3-O-α-l-rhamnoside (4), quercetin-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (5), quercetin-3-O-β-d-galactopyranoside (6), (−)-epicatechin (7), (+)-catechin (8). Total polyphenolic compounds and total flavonoids contents were determined in the extract as 0.107 mg∙mg⁻¹ and 0.023 mg∙mg⁻¹ of the dried extract, respectively. Antioxidant activity using DPPH free radical scavenging assay delivered very strong activity for compounds 2 and 5, 6 and crude extract 10. Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP-1B) inhibition experiment of isolated compounds and crude extracts resulted in significant inhibition activity for samples 2, 7a, 8a, 11 and 12 with IC₅₀ values ranging from 1.57 to 2.91 µM. Antimicrobial activity of the pure compounds and extracts produced average results against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans strains. From our literature survey, it appears that all pure compounds except 2 were isolated and reported for the first time in H. scabrum.

The root of Geranium collinum Steph is known in Tajik traditional medicine for its hepatoprotective, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory therapeutic effects. The present study was conducted to evaluate of potential antidiabetic, antioxidant activities, total polyphenolic and flavonoid content from the different extracts (aqueous, aqueous-ethanolic) and individual compounds isolated of the root parts of G. collinum. The 50% aqueous-ethanolic extract possesses potent antidiabetic activity, with IC₅₀ values of 0.10 μg/mL and 0.09 μg/mL for the enzymes protein-tyrosine phosphatase (1B PTP-1B) and α-glucosidase, respectively. Phytochemical investigations of the 50% aqueous-ethanolic extract of G. collinum, led to the isolation of ten pure compounds identified as 3,3′,4,4′-tetra-O-methylellagic acid (1), 3,3′-di-O-methylellagic acid (2), quercetin (3), caffeic acid (4), (+)-catechin (5), (–)-epicatechin (6), (–)-epigallocatechin (7), gallic acid (8), β-sitosterol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (9), and corilagin (10). Their structures were determined based on 1D and 2D NMR and mass spectrometric analyses. Three isolated compounds exhibited strong inhibitory activity against PTP-1B, with IC₅₀ values below 0.9 μg/mL, more effective than the positive control (1.46 μg/mL). Molecular docking analysis suggests polyphenolic compounds such as corilagin, catechin and caffeic acid inhibit PTP-1B and β-sitosterol-3-O-β-d-gluco-pyranoside inhibits α-glucosidase. The experimental results suggest that the biological activity of G. collinum is related to its polyphenol contents. The results are also in agreement with computational investigations. Furthermore, the potent antidiabetic activity of the 50% aqueous-ethanolic extract from G. collinum shows promise for its future application in medicine. To the best of our knowledge, we hereby report, for the first time, the antidiabetic activity of G. collinum.

Imidazole is a five-membered heterocyclic system featuring two nitrogen heteroatoms at the 1- and 3-positions of the ring. The imidazole scaffold is particularly suited for kinase inhibition concepts. This further confirms that this scaffold is a privileged structure in the development of anticancer drugs. Considering these key factors and the recent focus of scientists on imidazole compounds, we discuss the anticancer activities of imidazole-containing hybrids and related compounds, highlighting articles published in 2023 that serve as a basis for medicinal chemistry leads. From a chemical perspective, the present review emphasizes hybrid molecules with an imidazole ring in the side chain, imidazole-centered hybrid molecules, condensed imidazole hybrids, hybrid compounds containing two or more imidazole rings, polycyclic imidazole hybrids, imidazole-containing metal complexes, and benzimidazole hybrids.

Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) rapidly breaks down the incretin hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP). Thus, the use of DPP-IV inhibitors to retard the degradation of endogenous GLP-1 is a possible mode of therapy correcting the defect in incretin-related physiology. The aim of this study is to find a new small molecule and explore the inhibition activity to the DPP-IV enzyme using a computer aided simulation. In this study, the predicted compounds were suggested as potent anti-diabetic candidates. Chosen structures were applied following computational strategies: The generation of the three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D QSAR) pharmacophore models, virtual screening, molecular docking, and de novo Evolution. The method also validated by performing re-docking and cross-docking studies of seven protein systems for which crystal structures were available for all bound ligands. The molecular docking experiments of predicted compounds within the binding pocket of DPP-IV were conducted. By using 25 training set inhibitors, ten pharmacophore models were generated, among which hypo1 was the best pharmacophore model with the best predictive power on account of the highest cost difference (352.03), the lowest root mean squared deviation (RMSD) (2.234), and the best correlation coefficient (0.925). Hypo1 pharmacophore model was used for virtual screening. A total of 161 compounds including 120 from the databases, 25 from the training set, 16 from the test set were selected for molecular docking. Analyzing the amino acid residues of the ligand-receptor interaction, it can be concluded that Arg125, Glu205, Glu206, Tyr547, Tyr662, and Tyr666 are the main amino acid residues. The last step in this study was de novo Evolution that generated 11 novel compounds. The derivative dpp4_45_Evo_1 by all scores CDOCKER_ENERGY (CDOCKER, -41.79), LigScore1 (LScore1, 5.86), LigScore2 (LScore2, 7.07), PLP1 (-112.01), PLP2 (-105.77), PMF (-162.5)—have exceeded the control compound. Thus the most active compound among 11 derivative compounds is dpp4_45_Evo_1. Additionally, for derivatives dpp4_42_Evo_1, dpp4_43_Evo2, dpp4_46_Evo_4, and dpp4_47_Evo_2, significant upward shifts were recorded. The consensus score for the derivatives of dpp4_45_Evo_1 from 1 to 6, dpp4_43_Evo2 from 4 to 6, dpp4_46_Evo_4 from 1 to 6, and dpp4_47_Evo_2 from 0 to 6 were increased. Generally, predicted candidates can act as potent occurring DPP-IV inhibitors given their ability to bind directly to the active sites of DPP-IV. Our result described that the 6 re-docked and 27 cross-docked protein-ligand complexes showed RMSD values of less than 2 Å. Further investigation will result in the development of novel and potential antidiabetic drugs.

Quantification of the four flavonoids, namely, luteolin, kaempferol, diosmetin, and chrysosplenetin, has been performed for the first time in 80% ethanolic extract ofDracocephalum heterophyllumB. through HPLC coupled to UV detector after optimization of extracting solvent and chromatographic conditions. Total flavonoids quantified were 0.324 mg/mL of the extract. HPLC analysis delivered contents of the luteolin, kaempferol, diosmetin, and chrysosplenetin as 0.08%, 0.14%, 0.28%, and 0.79% of the dried extract, respectively. LOD (%) values calculated were 0.04, 0.03, 0.03, and 0.08 and LOQ (%) values were 0.08, 0.12, 0.11, and 0.28 for luteolin, kaempferol, diosmetin, and chrysosplenetin, respectively. The recovery percentages for these flavonoids were within the acceptable range of 95% to 105%. Standard deviation and %RSD were calculated for each target analytes individually in extract for determining the reproducibility and accuracy of the method. In no case the %RSD was higher than 1 taking retention time as a factor while in the case of area under the curve maximum %RSD was noted in the case of diosmetin as 2.85. From our literature review regarding the plant species under study, it appears that these flavonoids have not been quantified before and are reported for the first time in this paper.