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The present study was designed to investigate the effect of Ipomoea aquatica extracted using water and methanol at various concentrations on the total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, and α‐glucosidase inhibitory activities. Three I. aquatica cultivars were used in this study including the upland type with narrow leaves (K‐11), low‐land aquatic types with broader shaped leaves (K‐25), and bamboo‐shaped leaves (K‐88). The results revealed that 70% methanol extract of K‐11 showed higher total phenolic content and α‐glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities than the other two cultivars. The phytochemical constituents in the active extract K‐11 were analyzed by means of liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and electrospray tandem mass spectroscopy. Eighteen compounds were detected of which 13 were tentatively identified as quercetin‐3‐O‐sophoroside, quercetin‐3‐O‐glucoside, quercetin‐3,7‐di‐O‐glucoside, nomilinic acid glucoside, 4,5‐di‐O‐caffeoylquinic acid, 3,5‐di‐O‐caffeoylquinic acid, luteolin‐7‐glucoside and 3,4,5‐tricaffeolquinic acid, fatty acid together with quercetin, and tricaffeoylquinic acid derivatives. Practical Applications Antioxidants protect the human body against infections and degenerative diseases by inhibiting and scavenging free radicals. The present study showed that all methanol extracts of I. aquatica are rich in polyphenols in which 70% methanol extract showed highest in vitro antioxidant and α‐glucosidase inhibitory activities. Knowledge about the antioxidant and α‐glucosidase inhibitory activities of I. aquatica will promote its usage as a functional food, and it can be utilized as an antioxidant sources in food industry.

Ipomoea aquatica Forsk is a green leafy vegetable that is a rich source of minerals, proteins, vitamins, amino acids, and secondary metabolites. Different types of I. aquatica cultivars are grown for consumption but little is known about the metabolites variation. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) spectroscopy combined with multivariate data analysis was applied for metabolic profiling of three I. aquatica cultivars including "broad leaf (K-25)", "bamboo leaf (K-88)", and "special pointed leaf (K-11)". The orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) indicated a clear separation among cultivars. The relative levels of various compounds, such as amino acids, organic acids, sugars, and phenolic compounds were specific to each cultivar. The K-11 cultivar was different from the other cultivars due to a high phenolic content. The content of sugars and some amino acids was higher in K-88 and K-25 possessed a higher content of organic acids. The in vitro study revealed that the I. aquatica cultivars exhibited potent antioxidant and α-glucosidase activities. The results of this study indicate that the K-11 cultivar was the most active due to the abundance of epicatechin, 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic, protocatechuic acid, and rutin.

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Acrylamide was grafted onto cellulose backbone of old newspaper by CAN initiator in aqueous medium. Grafting parameter such as percentage grafting (GP%) and Grafting yield(GY%) was evaluated at different reaction conditions such as temperature, time, monomer and initiator concentration. Hence it was after 150 minutes (at Temperature of 50 0C, 2.5 g of CAN, 4 g of AAM) had highest GP% of 97% and GY% of 160% for CE-g-PAAM respectively. The products were characterized by FTIR and TGA analyses. Removal of heavy metals from wastewater was evaluated using the grafted copolymer. The results revealed promising potential of the grafted cellulose as adsorbent for remediation of waste water.

Ficus sycomorus L is a large, semi-deciduous spreading savannah tree that belongs to the family (Moraceae) is used by many tribes in the treatments of skin infections. The aim of this study was to carry out phytochemical analysis and antifungal evaluation of F. sycomorus L. stem and leaf Methanol extract on some dermatophytic fungi. The stem and leaf crude extracts were obtained after drying using maceration and percolation with methanol as the solvent. The extract was subjected to qualitative phytochemical screening as well as GC-MS analysis for the presence of bioactive constituents. The antifungal inhibitory effect of the crude stem and leaf extracts was assessed by agar well diffusion methods. The phytochemical screening revealed that the leaves and stem-bark contained secondary metabolites such as tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, reducing sugar and steroid. The GC-MS assay showed that the most prevailing compound in the methanolic stem-bark extract was 2, 9, Diazabicyclo (4, 4, 0) decane-3,10 dione, while in the methanolic leaves extract was acetic acid. The anti-dermatophytic assay of the extracts against Microsporum canis and Tricophyton tonsurans showed that the extracts inhibited the fungi with zones of inhibitions ranging from 6.33±0.47 to 24.33±0.47mm with the leaf extract exhibiting higher inhibition zones than the stem extract (p˂0.01). The study shows that both the stem and leaf methanol extract of Ficus sycomorus L possesses antifungal activity and should be considered as a potential antifungal agent in search of newer agents to address dermatophytic fungal infections Key words: Ficus sycomorus L, Phytochemical/GC-MS Analysis, Antifungal activity

Antioxidants play an important role in inhibiting and scavenging free radicals, thus providing protection to human against infections and degenerative diseases. Current researchers are now directed towards natural antioxidants of plants origin due to safe therapeutics. Ipomoea aquatica Forsk is a green leafy vegetable that rich with vitamins, amino acids and also health benefits. The present study was designed to investigate the antioxidant activity of two types of Ipomoea aquatica cultivars namely narrow leaf (NL) and broad leaf (BL) cultivars. The effect of solvent type on the activity was also investigated, the solvent systems used was distilled water, pure methanol, ethanol, and their aqueous solution at 30%, 50% and 70% concentrations. The extracts were tested for their total phenolic content, ferric reducing ability in plasma (FRAP) and 1,1-diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl (DPPH). Ethanol and methanol extracts of Ipomoea aquatica have higher antioxidant activity than water extracts. Results showed that the optimal conditions for DPPH was obtained from Ipomoea aquatica BL extracted with methanol 70% having IC 50 value of (0.099 mg/ml ±0.3) followed by Ipomoea aquatica NL extracted with 70% ethanol (0.127 mg/ml±0.2). The total phenolic content of I. aquatica NL and I. aquatica BL 70% methanolic extracts were found to be highest compare to other extracts, with values of 1.890 mg GAE/ mg DW and 1.987 mg GAE/mg DW extract, respectively.