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Abscisic acid is a plant hormone that participates in essential plant physiological processes, especially during adaptation to many environmental stresses, such as water deficit. The relationship between ABA accumulation and the expression of putative carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase (CCD) genes was investigated in the pot-cultivated leaves and roots of the 'Rangpur' lime and 'Sunki Maravilha' mandarin plants. Transpiration, stomatal resistance and leaf growth were evaluated when these genotypes were subjected to continuous water deficit. Under water deficit conditions, the 'Rangpur' lime extracts used greater amounts of water when compared to the 'Sunki Maravilha' plants, which reached the greatest stomatal resistance 5 days before 'Rangpur' lime. When subjected to water deficit, the roots and leaves of 'Sunki Maravilha' showed a progressive increase in ABA accumulation; however, in 'Rangpur' lime, alternations between high and low ABA concentrations were observed. These results suggest a retroactive feeding regulation by ABA. In 'Rangpur' lime the NCED2, NCED3 and CCD4a genes were expressed at the highest levels in the roots, and NCED5 was highly expressed in the leaves; in 'Sunki Maravilha', the NCED2 and NCED5 genes were most highly expressed in the roots, and NCED2 was most highly expressed in the leaves. However, for both genotypes, the transcription of these genes only correlated with ABA accumulation during the most severe water deficit conditions. The 'Rangpur' lime behaved as a vigorous rootstock; the leaf growth remained unaltered even when water was scarce. However, 'Sunki Maravilha' adaptation was based on the equilibrium of the response between the root and the aerial tissues due to water restriction. The use of the Sunki mandarin in combination with a scion with similar characteristics as its own, which responds to water deficit stress by accumulating ABA in the leaves, may display good drought tolerance under field conditions.

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Eight alkaloids (1–8) were isolated from Ruta graveolens, and their herbicide activities were evaluated through in vitro, semivivo, and in vivo assays. The most relevant results were observed for Compounds 5 and 6–8 at 150 μM, which decreased dry biomass by 20% and 23%, respectively. These are significant results since they presented similar values with the positive control, commercial herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU). Based on the performed assays, Compound 5 (graveoline) is classified as an electron-transport inhibitor during the light phase of photosynthesis, as well as a plant-growth regulator. On the other hand, Compounds 6–8 inhibited electron and energy transfers, and are also plant-growth inhibitors. These phytotoxic behaviors based on acridone and quinolone alkaloids may serve as a valuable tool in the further development of a new class of herbicides since natural products represent an interesting alternative to replace commercial herbicides, potentially due their low toxicity.

a Porphyrin synthesis by classical methods frequently involves the use of high temperatures, toxic and dangerous reagents yielding the product in very low amounts and with poor scalability. Herein, we have studied the synthesis of mesosubstituted porphyrins under continuous flow conditions, thus demonstrating scale-up for the porphyrin synthesis in a safe, cost-competitive, highly pure, reproducible and robust manner.

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Recebido em 10/5/12; aceito em 18/9/12; publicado na web em 26/10/12 PHYTOCHEMICAL AND CHEMOSYSTEMATICS STUDIES OF Conchocarpus marginatus AND C. inopinatus (Rutaceae). Phytochemical studies of the leaves and stem have led to the identification of the known acridone alkaloids arborinine, methylarborinine, 1-hydroxy-3-methoxy-N-methyl acridone, xanthoxoline, 1,2,3,5-tetramethoxy-N-methylacridone, toddaliopsin C and the new seco acridone alkaloid inopinatin. The known quinoline alkaloids 2-phenyl-1-methyl-quinolin-4(1H)-one, 2-phenyl-1-methyl-7-methoxy-quinolin-4(1H)-one, dictamnine, and the coumarins scopoletin and marmesin were also isolated. The isolated compounds and the distribution of secondary metabolites, which are systematically important, obtained from literature, clearly confirmed that some species formerly described in the genera Angostura and Galipea in fact shall belong to the genus Conchocarpus.

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