(Press-News.org) In science's equivalent of ascending Mt. Everest, researchers are reporting success in one of the most difficult challenges in synthetic chemistry — a field in which scientists reproduce natural and other substances from jars of chemicals in a lab. The feat, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, involved synthesis of a rare substance with promising in vitro anti-cancer effects found naturally in tiny amounts in a Chinese medicinal herb.
Samuel J. Danishefsky and Feng Peng explain that maoecrystal V occurs naturally in a plant growing in China's Yunnan province. Practitioners of Chinese traditional medicine have used the herb, called Isodon eriocalyx Hara, for hundreds of years. Scientists isolated maoecrystal V in 1994 and found that it has anti-cancer effects that warrant further examination. Large amounts would be needed to do so. However, the herb contains only small amounts of the material. In one experiment, it took more than 26 pounds of dried leaves to produce 0.00017637 oz. of maoecrystal V. In 2010, the first group of scientists succeeded in making maoecrystal V in a lab. Now, a second group has found a new route to the potential anti-cancer compound.
Danishefsky and Peng describe their approach as providing the basis for a synthesis that may help scientists develop a practical route to the substance for drug development and other research. It yielded a mixture of the two enantiomeric forms of maoecrystal V. They are pursuing several improvements, including a way to control the reactions to yield only a single enantiomer of the substance.
###
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institutes of Health, and Eli Lilly and Co.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Follow us: Twitter | Facebook
A second ascent of chemistry's Mt. Everest
2012-12-12
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Will climate change cause water conflict?
2012-12-12
International researchers from 14 institutions met in Nicosia (Cyprus) on the 10th and 11th of December to present and debate the results of studies on water, conflict and security conducted in the past three years in a variety of locations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel under the CLICO research project. The CLICO project explored the social dimensions of climate change and in particular, conflicts related to water, and the threats this may pose for national and human security. The project was led by the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) ...
Relocating elephants fails to decrease human–wildlife conflict
2012-12-12
Human–elephant conflict in Sri Lanka kills more than 70 humans and 200 Asian elephants every year. One of the most common tools in combating these conflicts is moving the elephants into ranges away from humans, often into national parks. This is done in hopes of avoiding problems that include elephants raiding crops, breaking into homes and injuring or killing people.
But according to a new study to be published Dec. 7 in PLOS ONE by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the Centre for Conservation and Research in Sri Lanka and the Department of Wildlife Conservation ...
Cane toads can be stopped
2012-12-12
It may be possible to stop the spread of can toads into new areas of Australia according to new research published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
One of the lead authors of the study, James Cook University's Dr Ben Phillips, said that their work, which involved an international team of scientists, showed that artificial waterbodies installed by graziers acted as critical stepping-stones for the toad invasion.
"By removing these waterbodies in key locations it is possible to halt the spread of toads," he said.
Cane toads are currently spreading into the vast ...
Emerging virus in raccoons may provide cancer clues
2012-12-12
Rare brain tumors emerging among raccoons in Northern California and Oregon may be linked to a previously unidentified virus discovered by a team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of California, Davis. Their findings, published today in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, could lead to a better understanding of how viruses can cause cancer in animals and humans.
Necropsies conducted since March 2010 by scientists at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and UC Davis-led California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory found brain tumors ...
Researchers find algal ancestor is key to how deadly pathogens proliferate
2012-12-12
Long ago, when life on our planet was in its infancy, a group of small single-celled algae floating in the vast prehistoric ocean swam freely by beating whip-like tails, called flagella. It's a relatively unremarkable tale, except that now, over 800 million years later, these organisms have evolved into parasites that threaten human health, and their algal past in the ocean may be the key to stopping them.
The organisms are called Apicomplexa, but are better known as the parasites that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis—serious diseases that infect millions of people every ...
New method quantifies uncertainty in estimates of child mortality rates
2012-12-12
Measures of uncertainty should be taken into account when estimating progress towards Millennium Development Goal 4 (to reduce the mortality rate of children under 5 years by two thirds from the 1990 level by 2015) in order to give more accurate assessments of countries' progress, according to a study published in this week's PLOS Medicine.
Leontine Alkema and Jin Rou New from the National University of Singapore used a statistical method called bootstrapping to calculate uncertainty intervals for the estimates of mortality rates in children aged under 5 years and the ...
Prevalence of visual impairment in US increases
2012-12-12
CHICAGO – The prevalence of nonrefractive visual impairment (not due to need for glasses) in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years, which may be partly related to a higher prevalence of diabetes, an associated risk factor, according to a study in the December 12 issue of JAMA.
"It is estimated that more than 14 million individuals in the United States aged 12 years and older are visually impaired ( END ...
Taxes on sugary drinks and high fat foods could improve health
2012-12-12
Taxes on soft drinks and foods high in saturated fats and subsidies for fruit and vegetables could lead to beneficial dietary changes and potentially improve health, according to a study by experts from New Zealand published in this week's PLOS Medicine.
Helen Eyles and colleagues from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago (Wellington) reached these conclusions by reviewing all relevant modelling studies that investigated the association between food pricing strategies, food consumption and chronic diseases (often referred to as non-communicable diseases, ...
Combination therapy may help decrease sleep apnea symptoms at higher altitudes
2012-12-12
CHICAGO – For individuals with obstructive sleep apnea traveling to higher altitudes (which may exacerbate symptoms), use of a combination therapy resulted in improvement in symptoms including reduced insomnia and better control of sleep apnea, according to a preliminary study published in the December 12 issue of JAMA.
As travel to the mountains for professional and recreational activities is increasingly popular, involving millions of persons worldwide, the estimated number of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among mountain tourists is also high, and may ...
Long-term public health support needed to tackle infectious disease outbreaks
2012-12-12
Outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as swine flu (H1N1) threaten global health and should be considered by funding agencies and humanitarian organizations as development issues rather than emergency situations, requiring long-term support and investment, according to US experts writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.
The authors from several US institutions, led by Tiffany Bogich from Princeton University, reached these conclusions by reviewing nearly 400 serious international public health events. They found that the disruption to, or lack of, public health infrastructure ...