Cinnamic acid, chemically known as 3-phenyl-2-propenoic acid is has a broad spectrum of pharmacological actions including antioxidant activity. The esterification and selective reduction of the acid led to ethyl cinnamate and cinnamyl alcohol, respectively. Cinnamic acid demonstrated a poor antioxidant activity (IC50) of 1.2 µg mL -1 while ethyl cinnamate and cinnamyl alcohol elicited activities of 0.64 µg mL -1 (moderate) and 0.84 µg mL -1 , respectively. The obtained results indicate that esterification enhances the antioxidant activity of cinnamic acid.
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Before now, two compounds namely, 3-ethoxy-3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadiene (ethyl linalool) and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid diethyl ester (diethyl phthalate) have been isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of Pycnanthus angolensis by column chromatography. In this study, the preparative thin-layer chromatography (p-TLC) of two previously obtained residues was carried out. The chemical and biological properties of the compounds obtained there from were evaluated. This exercise led to two isolates (NG-1b and NG-3b) whose identities have been revealed to be ethyl cinnamate (cinnamic acid, ethyl ester) and 9-oximino-2,7-diethoxy fluorene (2,7-diethoxy-9H-fluoren-9-one oxime) respectively using the MS and IR spectral techniques. The compounds were surprisingly strongly bacteriostatic against Escherichia coli but recorded no activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans.
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