Insecticidal effects of the dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol and methanol extracts of Humulus lupulus (hops) L. cones and its principal components, xanthohumol was investigated on five stored pests, Sitophilus granarius (L.), Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say.), Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Lasioderma serricorne (F.). The mortality of adults of the insects treated with 2, 5, 5, 10 and 20 mg ml̠⁻¹ concentrations of the extracts and xanthuhumol was counted after 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h. In order to determine the toxic effects of the substances tested against all tested insects, durations for 50% mortality of the adults, and LD₅₀ values were also determined in the first 48 h by probit analysis. Our results also showed that xanthohumol was more toxic against the pests in comparison with the extracts applications. LD₅₀ values for xanthohumol were found to be low dose as compared with the extracts. Xanthohumol was more toxic against S. granarius (L.) with 6.8 µg of LD₅₀ value. Among the extracts, methanol extract was less effective than other extracts against all tested insects. The ethyl acetate extract of H. lupulus cones was the most effective extract against the tested pests. The quantitative amounts of xanthohumol in the extracts were determined using a high-performance liquid chromatography. The quantitative data indicated that amount of xanthohumol in the extracts increased with increase of polarity of the solvents used from methanol to dichloromethane. The methanol extract contained the high amount of xanthohumol with 5.74 g/100 g extract (0.46 g/100 g plant sample).

: Five metabolites were isolated by chromatographic methods from the fruit stems of P. vera and their chemical structures were characterized as masticadienonic acid (1), tirucallol (2), masticadienolic acid (3), pistachionic acid (4) and inulobiose (5) via FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 1D-NMR and 2D-NMR. Pistachionic acid (4), a new shikimic acid derivative, was isolated from the ethanol extract for the first time. The hexane, chloroform, ethanol extracts and pure metabolites exhibited antidiabetic properties by inhibiting α- glycosidase and α-amylase enzymes at different rates. Their inhibitory effects against the α- glycosidase enzyme were also higher than that of the acarbose (IC50=10.30 mg/mL). Masticadienolic acid (3) (IC50=0.03 mg/mL), masticadienonic acid (1) (IC50=0.13 mg/mL) and hexane extract (IC50=0.09 mg/mL) with the lowest IC50 values were found to be most active substances. Nevertheless, the inhibitory effect of acarbose against the α-amylase enzyme was determined to be higher than the inhibition effects of the extracts and pure metabolites. According to the IC50 values, the best inhibitors against the α-amylase were ethanol extract (IC50=5.17 mg/mL), pistachionic acid (4) (IC50=7.35 mg/mL), tirucallol (2) (IC50=7.58 mg/mL) and masticadienolic acid (3) (IC50=8.22 mg/mL), respectively among the applications. In addition, anticholinesterase properties of the extracts and pure metabolites were investigated by testing the inhibitory properties against acetylcholine esterase (AChE) and butrylcholine esterase (BChE) enzymes activities. The results showed that the anticholinesterase properties of all extracts and pure metabolites were weaker than those of the commercial cholinesterase inhibitors, neostigmine and galantamine, and all applications reduced the activity of these enzymes at very high concentrations.

Helichrysum plicatumspecies are used in Turkish folk medicine as lithagogue, diuretic, and nephritic. Research on the methanol (MeOH) extract of flowers ofH. plicatumDC. subsp.plicatumresulted in the isolation of eight known compounds (1–8). The chemical structures of the compounds were determined as β-sitosterol (1), apigenin (2), nonacosanoic acid (3), astragalin (4), β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), helichrysin A (6), helichrysin B (7), and isosalipurposide (8) by spectroscopic and chromatographic/spectrometric methods, including 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Nonacosanoic acid (3) was isolated for the first time fromH. plicatumDC. subsp.plicatum. The MeOH extract and isolated compounds were evaluated for their in vitro human carbonic anhydrase I (hCAI) and II (hCAII), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and α-glycosidase inhibitory activities. The IC₅₀values ofH. plicatumDC. subsp.plicatumMeOH extract for hCAI, hCAII, AChE, BChE, and α-glycosidase were found to be 77.87, 52.90, 115.50, 117.46, and 81.53 mg/mL, respectively. The compounds showed IC₅₀values of 1.43–4.47, 1.40–4.32, 1.69–2.90, 1.09–3.89, and 1.61–3.80 μM against hCAI, hCAII, AChE, BChE, and α-glycosidase, respectively. In summary,H. plicatumDC. subsp.plicatumsecondary metabolites demonstrated strong inhibitory effects especially against hCAI and hCAII, whereas the MeOH extract showed a weak inhibitory effect on all enzymes.