Echinacea is valuable for its pharmaceutical, medicinal and agricultural properties. Flowers and leaves of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench and Echinacea pallida (Nutt.) Nutt. were extracted with methanol, filtered, and solvents were removed by rotary evaporator to get four separate extracts. The flowers and leaves of both plants were boiled in water then extracted with ethyl acetate to achieve another four extracts. Quantifications of chemical constituents of extracts were determined by TOF-LC/MS. The main compound of methanol extracts of E. purpurea and E. pallida leaves and flowers was cichoric acid. Caffeic acid was the chief compound of water extracts of both plant leaves and flowers. The antioxidant activities including DPPH free radical scavenging, ABTS cation radical scavenging and reducing power were assayed and structure-activity relationships were postulated. Water extracts of both Echinaceae species of flowers and leaves revealed excellent antioxidant activities. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSEchinacea, which is a medicinal and aromatic plant, has been used for traditional medicine in many countries. The water extract of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench and Echinacea pallida (Nutt.) Nutt. exhibited excellent antioxidant activities; therefore, these Echinacea species can be used as natural agents in food and pharmaceutical industries.

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The composition of fatty acids and insecticidal effects was performed for the Turkish mosses Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum cupressiforme, Polytrichastrum formosum, Homalothecium lutescens and the Turkish liverwort Conocephalum conicum. All structures were determined by means of gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The determination of fatty acids was done using a simple and mild method that utilized different solvent extractions ranging from nonpolar to polar solvents (hexane, dichloromethane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol, respectively), and the samples were powdered with and without liquid nitrogen. The correlations between the saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents depending on the solvent polarity and their crushing process by liquid nitrogen were observed. The insecticidal activity of the bryophytes was analyzed by using the methanol, hexane and esterified methanol extracts. The hexane extracts of Polytrichastrum formosum showed the highest insecticidal activity (70.33%) against Sitophilus granarius. Contact toxicity activities of lauric, myristic and palmitic acids besides single dose studies of the solvent extracts were carried out. The highest mortality rate (53.34%) was obtained from the myristic acid among the tested pure fatty acids. The activities of palmitic and lauric acids were 17.75% and 4.32%, respectively.

Mint has been used extensively in traditional medicines, spices, and herbal teas throughout the world. Isolation of flavonoids from Mentha spicata and quantification of these compounds in selected clones of Turkish mints landraces were achieved. M. spicata was dried in shade and then boiled in water. After filtration, the aqueous extract was partitioned with ethyl acetate. The solvent was removed under reduced pressure to yield the extract, subjected to silica gel column chromatography to isolate 5-demethyl sinensetin (1), hesperidin (2), didymin (3), and linarin (4), the structures of which were elucidated by 1D NMR, 2D NMR, and LC-TOF/MS. The isolated compounds were employed as standard flavonoids to determine the quantitative variations in cultivated Turkish mint landraces belonging to Mentha × piperita L., M. spicata L., and M. × villosonervata Opiz by HPLC. The quantities of hesperidin (2), didymin (3), and linarin (4) in M. spicata were found as 11.83, 3.85, and 42.21 mg/g dried plant weight (DW), respectively, while that of 5-demethyl sinensetin (1) in M. villosonervata was 2.9 mg/g DW. Consisting of pharmaceutically valuable compounds, M. spicata and cultivated Turkish mint landraces could be a source of 5-demethyl sinensetin (1), hesperidin (2), didymin (3), and linarin (4).

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