Objective: The aim of our study was to compare between flavonoids and phenolic acids contents of leaves and fruits of Melia azedarach since no phytochemical investigation had done previously in Iraq. Methods:The leaves and fruits of Melia azedarach were extracted by soxhlet using 80% ethanol then the dried extract was suspended in water and fractionated using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The n-butanol fraction was hydrolyzed by acid and partitioned with ethyl acetate. The different fractions containing flavonoids and phenolic acids were analyzed by HPLC and HPTLC. Results:The HPLC results revealed the presence catechin-7-O-glycoside in fruit only, while kaempferol-7-O-glycoside is found in the leaves only. Catechin and its glycosides are more abundant in the fruits than in the leaves. The HPTLC results revealed that kaempferol and quercetin are present in all fractions of leaves and fruits as aglycones and as glycosides. Free chlorogenic was found in both leaves and fruits. Conclusion:No major differences were found between the flavonoids and phenolic acids contents of the leaves and fruits of Melia azedarach.

Eruca sativa (jarjeer) is an annual herb (family Brassicaceae), which contains a wide range of chemicals and minerals with nutraceutical and organoleptic characteristics. Jarjeer was generally used as a food and traditionally mainly consumed due to its aphrodisiac properties. This crop known to contain various phytochemicals such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, terpens, carotenoids, tannins, glycosides, saponins, sterols, alkaloids, and other secondary metabolites. In leaves, kaempferol and its derivatives, glucosativin, are the main flavonoids and glucosinolate, respectively, while erucic acid and glucoerucin are the main fatty acid and glucosinolate, respectively. Medicinally, the plant has antibacterial, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, antiplatelet, and antioxidant activity and stimulates hair growth and other effects. Trails on topical pharmaceutical preparations involve the use of E. sativa which had been done. These preparations include creams and waxs which are intended to be used for potentiating hair growth and skin fungal and bacterial infection.

No abstract

Iresineherbstii (blood leaves) is a member of the Amaranthaceae family, native to tropical and subtropical areas. It is erect herbaceous, has red and white variety. Different phytochemical constituents were detected as alkaloids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and others. This herb was used as a pH indicator, insecticide, and dye fabrics. Traditionally it was used for divination purposes and other purposes. Iresinin IV is the major colorant. Different studies were done to evaluate the CNS, immunomodulatory, antibacterial, antiviral, cytotoxic and other effects. Fresh leaves extract was hepatotoxic. This review aimed to demonstrate the morphological features of this herb and to show the clinical studies related to its traditional use.

Cressa cretica (Shuwwayl) is a halophytic that belongs to Convolvulaceae, naturally grown in the Middle East including Iraq. Traditionally the plant is used as a paste for sore treatment, also it is used for fever, jaundice, and other illness. Regarding nonclinical use it is used as goat, sheep, and camel feed also as an oil source. Flavonoids including quercetin, kamepferol, apigenin, and their glycosides, phenolic acid as chlorogenic acid, and phytosterols mainly ?–sitosterol were the most important phytochemicals that were detected in this halophyte. Crude ethanolic, methanolic extracts and ethyl acetate fraction of the areal parts were used in clinical studies and demonstrated various effects as hepatoprotective, cytotoxic, and genotoxic effect. In molecular docking studies, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid showed antiviral effect vs SARS-CoV-2 (sever acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2). The purpose of this review was to clarify and discuss all aspects regarding Cressa cretica.

This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Cocrystallization is an emerging approach for improving physico-chemical characteristics of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for instance dissolution rate, solubility, stability in addition to mechanical properties without affecting their therapeutic activity. It is of great importance when other approaches like salt or polymorph formation do not encounter the estimated targets. In this review article, an outline of pharmaceutical cocrystals will be presented, with highlighting on factors affecting cocrystallization which include ∆pKa, donors and acceptors hydrogen bonds, molecular recognition point, synthon forming functional groups flexibility, dicarboxylic acid coformers carbon chain length and solvent effect, as well as and the methods for cocrystal preparation. Additionally, cocrystal characterization, dissolution pattern as well as the commercially available products were discussed.

Recently emerging pandemic SARS CoV-2 conquered our world since December 2019. Continuous efforts have been done to find out effective immunization and precise treatment stetratigies A way from therapeutic options that were tried in SARS CoV-2, an increased attention is directed to predict natural products and mainly phytochemicals as collaborative measures for this crisis. In this review, most of the mentioned compounds specially flavonoids (biacalin, hesperidin, quercetin, luteolin,, and phenolic (resveratrol, curcumin, and theaflavin) exert their effect through interfering with the action of one or more of this proteins (spike protein, papain like protease, 3 chymotrypsin like cysteine protease, and RNA dependent RNA  polymerase) that are involved in viral life cycle beside the anti-inflammatory effect of these compounds. The triterpenoids (celastrol, escin and glycyrrhizin) and the alkaloids (lycorine and cepharanthine) mediated their effect mainly through anti-inflammatory activity.  Glycyrrhetinic acid (glycyrrhizin metabolite) dawn regulates ACE  2, and reduces protease expression, thus reduce viral entry.  This review may be representing an initial step in long path for designing the successful and effective treatment or vaccine for this pandemic.