This paper provides an overview of aplicability 12 principles and future trends of Green Chemistry. Green or Sustainable Chemistry is a term that refers to the creation of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and production of harmful substances. They are used exclusively chemicals and chemical processes that do not have negative consequences for the environment. It is based on twelve principles that can be used to initially create or recreate molecules, materials, reactions and processes that are safer for human health and the environment. The processes of the Green Chemistry that have been developed to date include almost all areas of chemistry, including organic, inorganic, biochemistry, polymer, toxicology, environmental, physical, technological, etc. Through the several prevailing trends of the green program such as catalysis, biocatalysis and the use of alternative: renewable feedstock (biomass), reaction media (water, ionic liquids and supercritical fluids), reaction conditions (microwave irradiation) and new synthetic pathways (photocatalytic reaction), the dual goals – environmental protection and economic benefit can be achieved. This article shows examples of the prevailing trends in ways that Green Chemistry reduces the impact of chemical processes and technologies on the environment.

The chemical composition of essential oils isolated from immortelle (Helicrysum italicum subsp. italicum) collected in Herzegovina during five different periods, was investigated by GC/MS analysis. The main compounds were a-pinene (15.7 %) and γ-curcumene (12.8 %), followed by 4,6,9-trimethyldec-8-en-3,5-dione (8.7 %), neryl acetate (6.9 %), limonene (6.4 %) and β-selinene (5.3 %). In total, 69 components were identified whose share changed over the vegetative cycle. Antioxidant activity of methanolic extracts of immortelle were determined according to DPPH (IC50 = 23–34 μg/mL) and FRAP (29 μg/mL is equivalent to 1.1‒2.2 mM Fe2+) methods. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory potential, investigated by modified Ellman’s assay and determined as IC50 values, were 340–440 μg/mL for methanol extracts and 135 μg/mL for essential oil. Metanolic extracts showed strong antioxidant activity and potential to inhibit AChE. Essential oil possesses complex chemical composition, inhibition activity of AChE and weak antioxidant capacity.

The targeted compounds in this research, resveratrol analogs 1–14, were synthesized as mixtures of isomers by the Wittig reaction using heterocyclic triphenylphosphonium salts and various benzaldehydes. The planned compounds were those possessing the trans-configuration as the biologically active trans-resveratrol. The pure isomers were obtained by repeated column chromatography in various isolated yields depending on the heteroaromatic ring. It was found that butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) was more sensitive to the heteroaromatic resveratrol analogs than acetylcholinesterase (AChE), except for 6, the methylated thiophene derivative with chlorine, which showed equal inhibition toward both enzymes. Compounds 5 and 8 achieved the highest BChE inhibition with IC₅₀ values of 22.9 and 24.8 μM, respectively. The same as with AChE and BChE, methylated thiophene subunits of resveratrol analogs showed better enzyme inhibition than unmethylated ones. Two antioxidant spectrophotometric methods, DPPH and CUPRAC, were applied to determine the antioxidant potential of new heteroaromatic resveratrol analogs. The molecular docking of these compounds was conducted to visualize the ligand-active site complexes’ structure and identify the non-covalent interactions responsible for the complex’s stability, which influence the inhibitory potential. As ADME properties are crucial in developing drug product formulations, they have also been addressed in this work. The potential genotoxicity is evaluated by in silico studies for all compounds synthesized.

Changes in the composition of juniper and immortelle essential oils were studied by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) during storage for one year. Samples were subjected to different storage conditions in order to reveal the impact of light, temperature and available oxygen. Each essential oil showed characteristic changes. The most reactive ingredients of juniper essential oil in the dark were β-myrcene and limonene, while verbenone was photochemically most reactive compound. The overall change was not significant, indicating that the juniper oil is stable. Immortelle essential oil showed the highest sensibility when exposed to light. Amount of italicene, isoitalicene and α-curcumene increased as a consequence of photochemical transformations of other constituents. According to these results, it may be recommended that immortelle oil should be stored in the absence of light at room temperature.