The plant Conyza canadensis, which belongs to Asteraceae (Compositae) family and known as Canadian horseweed. It was used as traditional medicine in China, Pakistan, India, and Africa for the treatment of various diseases causing by bacteria, fungi, or viruses. The plant has antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer pharmacological activity. This study provides the first phytochemical investigation of the plant in Iraq and is concerned with extraction, fractionation, isolation, and purification of some of the important phytochemicals detected in the plant-like phenolic acids, flavonoids, and alkaloids. Also, the literature survey has revealed that the plant has a substantial antimicrobial activity, so it was deemed desirable to make a study for the antimicrobial activity of the plant. The whole plant was collected from Baghdad city / College of Pharmacy/ University of Baghdad farm during July (2020). The aerial parts and roots were washed thoroughly, dried in shade, chopped, pulverized into a coarse powder, and then weighed. The shade-dried crushed plant materials were first defatted by maceration in hexane for 24 h. Then extracted by two extraction methods (hot method using soxhlet apparatus and cold method by maceration in solvent), using 85% aqueous ethanol as solvent extraction, and fractionated by petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The phytochemical screening of the ethanolic extract from both extraction methods revealed alkaloids, saponin glycosides, coumarins, flavonoids, steroids, phenolic compounds, proteins, anthraquinones, terpenoids, and cardiac glycosides. However, depending on the percentage yields, the hot method yield was better than the cold method, so the extraction method by soxhlet was preferred upon maceration as it gives a higher percentage yield. The petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate fractions were analyzed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for their steroids, alkaloids, and polyphenolic (phenolic acids and flavonoids) contents, respectively. The different chromatographic results revealed the presence of stigmasterol and β- sitosterol in petroleum ether fraction, harmine alkaloid in chloroform fraction, quercetin, quercitrin, apigenin, p-coumaric acid, and caffeic acid in ethyl acetate fraction of the Iraqi C. canadensis plant. Three polyphenolics compounds (p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, apigenin) were isolated from ethyl acetate fraction by preparative thin-layer chromatography plates (PLC), and Harmine alkaloid was isolated from chloroform fraction by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a fraction collector. The isolated compounds were subjected to various chromatographic and spectral analytical techniques for their identification, such as TLC, FTIR, HPLC, and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). Petroleum ether fraction was analyzed for the detection of coumarins by TLC. One compound was isolated, purified by PLC, symbolized as MS compound, and identified by FTIR and 1H -NMR since there is no standard available for this compound. The isolated MS compound could be pyranocoumarin glycoside. To investigate the essential oil composition of Iraqi C. canadensis, hydrodistillation of fresh aerial part of the plant was done using Clevenger-type apparatus for 3hr. The essential oils components and the hexane fraction obtained by maceration of the plant material in hexane solvent were identified using GC/MS analysis. The results of GC/MS analysis of the essential oil were abundant by hydrocarbon compounds, particularly by sesquiterpene hydrocarbon. This study also involves a preliminary determination of the antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate fraction of the plant against two Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis), two Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp.) and one fungi species (Candida albicans) by measuring the inhibition zone diameter around the hole in mm, compared with streptomycin and fluconazole standard drugs for antibacterial and antifungal activity, respectively. The antimicrobial results showed significant antibacterial activity against S.aureus (gram-positive bacteria) and important antifungal activity against Candida albicans. In contrast, no antibacterial activity was demonstrated against the tested gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity exerted against S. epidermidis (gram-positive bacteria) was affected by dilution dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).
Iraq is located near the northern tip of the Arabian plate, which is advancing northwards relative to the Eurasian plate, and is predictably, a tectonically active country. Seismic activity in Iraq increased significantly during the last decade. So structural and geotechnical engineers have been giving increasing attention to the design of buildings for earthquake resistance. Dynamic properties play a vital role in the design of structures subjected to seismic load. The main objective of this study is to prepare a data base for the dynamic properties of different soils in seismic active zones in Iraq using the results of cross hole and down hole tests. From the data base collected it has been observed that the average ve
... Show MoreIn the present research we the study the deposition of radioactive elements naturally and particularly radioactive radon gas in parts of the body of organisms which are of direct relevance to human life in the city of Baghdad as the samples which were collected from the bones and skin of some kinds of birds and chicken based on the principle that radioactive elements are concentrated always on the bones. We use of this as the exercise detector impact nuclear (CR-39), using the technology Cylindrical diffusion , the results indicated that the largest concentration of radon found in the bone bird Seagull tapered as it was (625 ± 37) Bq.cm-3, and less concentration of radon gas in the chicken bones of Al-kafeel as it was (105 ± 10) Bq.c
... Show MoreThe main objectives of present study are to evaluate the trace elements pollution in the sediment of the Tigris River and drainage canals in Wasit Governorate, Iraq. Assessment of trace elements pollutants were conducted for 18 sediment samples collected in March 2017. Trace elements were analyzed in sediment Tigris River samples in Wasit Governorate. This metal pollution was evaluated using geo-accumulation (I-geo) index, Contamination Factor (CF) and Pollution Load Index (PLI). According to these statistical indices, the sediments collected from Tigris River in the study area are highly polluted with Titanium (71.9 ppm), Nickel (226.6 ppm) Chromium (425.2 ppm), Cadmium (2ppm) and Molybdenum (15.8 ppm) while the sediments&nb
... Show MoreRosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is one of the most economically important species of the family Lamiaceae. Rosemary extract was examined by applying 2.2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assays. The result proved that rosemary extract had a higher antioxidant activity by absorption at a wavelength of 517a nm by using three different concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 3) mg/ml which performed the absorbance at (2. 314, 0. 211 and 0.296) nm in comparison with control (21.8, 92.2 and 90) nm respectively. Results obtained using chemical detection of the phytochemicals indicated the presence of flavonoids, phenols, saponins, Steroids and cardiac in rosemary water extract. Water extracts of R. officinalis leaves were inves
... Show MoreIn study of effective bioactive compounds, we have synthesized the Co((ІІ), Mn(ІІ), Fe(ІІ), Cu(ІІ), Ni(ІІ), and Zn(ІІ) complexes of the Schiff base derived from trimethoprim and2'-amino-4-chlorobenzophenone and characterized by spectroscopic (NMR, IR, Mass, UV–vis,), analytical, TGA studies and magnetic data .The solution electronic spectral study suggests the stoichiometry of the synthesized complexes and Elemental analysis detected the square planer and octahedral geometry of the compounds. The prepared metal complexes presented promoted efficiency versus the screened bacterial (Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus aureus) antibacterial efficacy against (Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., E. coli, Vibrio spp., Pseud
... Show MoreThis study estimated seven heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cd, Cr) in water (dissolved and particulate phase), sediments and some aquatic organisms including two species from aquatic plants (Ceratophyllum demersum&Phragmites australis); one species of clam (Psedontopeses euphratics) and two species from fish (Oreochromis aureus& Leuciscus vorax)in four sites within Mashroo AL- Musayyib channel project/ branch of Euphrates river, Babylon , medial of Iraq . This aims to show the concentration of these elements, their fate and the mechanisms of their transmission through the food chain in this lotic aquatic system ; also in addition to examining some physicochemical properties of ri
... Show MoreBlastocystis is a ubiquitous human and animal protozoa that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Metronidazole is considered the standard drug for the treatment of Blastocystis infection; however, there is growing evidence of treatment failure, hazardous side effects, and appearance of strains resistant to metronidazole. In the last era, many studies have been implicated in the quest for new treatments for Blastocystis infection, especially natural products. Attention has been focused on the effect of Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seed on eradicating parasitic infections. The current work was built up to explore the in vitro efficacy of two natural compounds, Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seeds against
... Show MoreLevofloxacin belongs to the fluoroquinolone family; it is a potent broad-spectrum bactericidal agent. The pharmacophore required for significant antibacterial activity is the C-3 carboxylic acid group and the 4-pyridine ring with the C-4 carbonyl group, into which binding to the DNA bases occur. In this work, we tried to show that by masking the carboxyl group through amide formation using certain amines to form levofloxacin carboxamides, an interesting activity is kept. Levofloxacin carboxamides on the C-3 group were prepared, followed by the formation of their copper complexes. The target compounds were characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the target compounds was evaluated and showed satisfactory resu
... Show MoreAntimicrobial and antiyeast activity of ethanolic and aqueous extract of grape fruit seed (Citrus paradise ; Rutaceaa) was examined against 10 bacterial and 2 yeast strains. The level of the antimicrobial effects was established using an in vitro agar assay and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). In general ethanolic extract were more effective on gram positive bacteria than gram negative bacteria and strongest antimicrobial effect against Streptococcus pyogenes and Salmonella entritidis. Other tested bacteria and yeasts were sensitive to extract ranging from 4 to 16 mg/ml and more.