Acids: Occurrence and Recent Bioactivity Studies (original) (raw)

Monocyclic Phenolic Acids; Hydroxy- and Polyhydroxybenzoic Acids: Occurrence and Recent Bioactivity Studies

Molecules, 2010

Among the wide diversity of naturally occurring phenolic acids, at least 30 hydroxy-and polyhydroxybenzoic acids have been reported in the last 10 years to have biological activities. The chemical structures, natural occurrence throughout the plant, algal, bacterial, fungal and animal kingdoms, and recently described bioactivities of these phenolic and polyphenolic acids are reviewed to illustrate their wide distribution, biological and ecological importance, and potential as new leads for the development of pharmaceutical and agricultural products to improve human health and nutrition.

Therapeutic Potential of Dietary Phenolic Acids

Advances in Pharmacological Sciences, 2015

Although modern lifestyle has eased the quality of human life, this lifestyle’s related patterns have imparted negative effects on health to acquire multiple diseases. Many synthetic drugs are invented during the last millennium but most if not all of them possess several side effects and proved to be costly. Convincing evidences have established the premise that the phytotherapeutic potential of natural compounds and need of search for novel drugs from natural sources are of high priority. Phenolic acids (PAs) are a class of secondary metabolites spread throughout the plant kingdom and generally involved in plethora of cellular processes involved in plant growth and reproduction and also produced as defense mechanism to sustain various environmental stresses. Extensive research on PAs strongly suggests that consumption of these compounds hold promise to offer protection against various ailments in humans. This paper focuses on the naturally derived PAs and summarizes the action mec...

THE EFFECT OF PHENOLIC ACIDS ON LIVING ORGANISMS

Phenolic acids belong to a numerous group of polyphenolics exhibiting strong antioxidant properties. They are considered to be health-promoting substances and have been proposed as agents in the prevention and control of many diseases, viruses, bacteria, microscopic fungi and yeast. They exhibit different effects on living organisms, slowing or completely limiting their development. In addition to the positive effects of their antioxidant properties, they may also have adverse effects on other living organisms. Literature sources present very limited information on the toxic effect of phenolic acids in relation to animals or humans, although detected LD50 values suggest their toxic influence on these organisms. The aim of this study was to clarify the current state of knowledge on toxic properties of phenolic acids, as well as indicate their adverse effect on living organisms starting from plants through microorganisms, animals and humans.

Antimicrobial activity of phenolic acids against commensal, probiotic and pathogenic bacteria

Research in Microbiology, 2010

Phenolic acids (benzoic, phenylacetic and phenylpropionic acids) are the most abundant phenolic structures found in fecal water. As an approach towards the exploration of their action in the gut, this paper reports the antimicrobial activity of thirteen phenolic acids towards Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. The growth of E. coli ATCC 25922 was inhibited by only four of the phenolic acids tested at a concentration of 1000 mg/mL, whereas pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 (CECT 5947) was susceptible to ten of them. The genetically manipulated E. coli lpxC/tolC strain was highly susceptible to phenolic acids. The growth of lactobacilli (Lactobacillus paraplantarum LCH7, Lactobacillus plantarum LCH17, Lactobacillus fermentum LPH1, L. fermentum CECT 5716, Lactobacillus brevis LCH23, and Lactobacillus coryniformis CECT 5711) and pathogens (S. aureus EP167 and C. albicans MY1055) was also inhibited by phenolic acids, but to varying extents. Only P. aeruginosa PAO1 was not susceptible to any of the phenolic compounds tested. Structureeactivity relationships of phenolic acids and some of their diet precursors [(þ)-catechin and (À)-epicatechin] were established, based on multivariate analysis of microbial activities. The antimicrobial properties of phenolic acids reported in this paper might be relevant in vivo.

The content of phenolic acids in plant aqueous extracts made from prevalent weeds

2011

When considering the idea of sustainable development, as desirable future of our civilization, we tend to focus attention on biomass in general and particular plants and crops, as renewable resources of food and energy. Currently celebrated International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011) should, in our opinion, provide an inspiration for some wider perspective, in particular for rational exploitation of secondary metabolites (SM), which are often treated as waste materials of a prime commodity manufacturing process. Additionally, proper balance between three main methods of manufacturing: isolation from natural sources, biotechnology and chemical synthesis, should be considered for each and every chemical substance, needed to support our well being. Environmental considerations, employing green chemistry reasoning, should be given priority, before short term economic gains. Although there is no universally accepted theory explaining occurrence and function of SMs in microorganisms and pl...

Synthesis of some bis- and mono-2-hydroxybenzoic acid derivates and the determination of their acidity constants

Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society

Several bis- and mono-2-hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives were synthesized by the reaction of methyl 2-hydroxybenzoate with some alcohols (diols, polyols and amino alcohols) and their acidity constants were determined in 60 % aqueous ethanol by the potentiometric titration method. It has been shown that the biochemical behaviour of these compounds is greatly dependent on their acidity. It appears that the ester derivatives are weaker acids than the amide derivatives and, therefore, can be potentially more involved in the processes of metal ions transport in plants, whereas the introduction of –OH and –CH3 groups has a very small effect on the biochemical properties.

Biologically Active Compounds of Plants: Structure-Related Antioxidant, Microbiological and Cytotoxic Activity of Selected Carboxylic Acids

Materials

Natural carboxylic acids are plant-derived compounds that are known to possess biological activity. The aim of this review was to compare the effect of structural differences of the selected carboxylic acids (benzoic acid (BA), cinnamic acid (CinA), p-coumaric acid (p-CA), caffeic acid (CFA), rosmarinic acid (RA), and chicoric acid (ChA)) on the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activity. The studied compounds were arranged in a logic sequence of increasing number of hydroxyl groups and conjugated bonds in order to investigate the correlations between the structure and bioactivity. A review of the literature revealed that RA exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and this property decreased in the following order: RA > CFA ~ ChA > p-CA > CinA > BA. In the case of antimicrobial properties, structure-activity relationships were not easy to observe as they depended on the microbial strain and the experimental conditions. The highest antimicrobial activity was fo...

Anticancer Activity of Phenolic Acids of Natural or Synthetic Origin: A Structure− Activity Study

J. Med. …, 2003

Several phenolic acidsscaffeic and gallic acid derivativesswere synthesized and screened for their potential antiproliferative and cytotoxic properties, in different human cancer cell lines: mammary gland and cervix adenocarcinomas and lymphoblastic leukemia. The selected phenols were structurally related, which allowed us to gather important information regarding the structure-activity relationships underlying the biological activity of such compounds. This is proposed to be due to a balance between the antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties of this kind of agent. Distinct effects were found for different cell lines, which points to a significant specificity of action of the drugs tested. It was verified, for the types of cancer investigated, that the trihydroxylated derivatives yielded better results than the dihydroxylated ones. Tests in noncancerous cells, human lung fibroblasts, were also undertaken, in view of determining the toxic side effects of the compounds studied.