Method of preparing biologically active derivatives from Calotropis gigantea flowers

A method of preparing biologically active derivatives from Calotropis gigantea flowers includes obtaining fresh Calotropis gigantea flowers, drying the flesh flowers, soaking the dried flowers in a natural oil, e.g., almond oil, and burning the oil-soaked flowers to provide flower ash, the flower ash including the biologically active derivatives. The flower ash can be toxin free.

BACKGROUND

The disclosure of the present patent application relates to a method of preparing biologically active derivatives from toxic flowers, and particularly to a method of obtaining biologically active derivatives fromCalotropis giganteaflowers.

2. Description of the Related Art

Calotropis giganteais a poisonous crown flower plant, generally found in Asian countries and in some areas of the Gulf regions. Active metabolites have been extracted from different solvents including parts of the buds, flowers, and/or leaves ofCalotropis gigantea. Some of the bioactive compounds associated with this plant include alkaloids, tannins, phenols, steroids, flavonoids, and saponins. The leaf extract ofCalotropis giganteahas been used to treat several bacterial and viral diseases including fever, cold, indigestion, and asthma. The active metabolites have been useful as antifungal drugs.

Thus, a method of obtaining biologically active derivatives fromCalotropis giganteaflowers solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY

A method of preparing biologically active derivatives fromCalotropis giganteaflowers includes obtaining freshCalotropis giganteaflowers, drying the flesh flowers, soaking the dried flowers in a natural oil, e.g., almond oil, and burning the oil-soaked flowers to provide flower ash, the flower ash including the biologically active derivatives. The flower ash can be toxin free.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A method of preparing biologically active derivatives fromCalotropis giganteaflowers includes obtaining freshCalotropis giganteaflowers, drying the flesh flowers, soaking the dried flowers in a natural oil, e.g., almond oil, and burning the oil-soaked flowers to provide flower ash, the flower ash including the biologically active derivatives. The fresh flowers are dried without the use of solvents. Preferably, the oil-soaked flowers are burned at a temperature of at least about 600° C., e.g., about 687° C. The flower ash can be toxin free.

The biologically active derivatives can include one or more organic compounds, such as:

1,3,5-triazine-2-allylamino-4-tert-butylamino-6-(4-morphoyl); and

The biologically active derivatives can include metal nanoparticles, such as nanoparticles of Cu, TiO2and Fe2O3. The nanoparticles can have a size ranging from about 27 nm to about 32 nm.

The present method can provide biologically active compounds from toxic plant flowers, such as poisonous plant flowers ofCalotropis gigantean, using a simple thermal method. Gas chromatography mass spectroscopy study was used for qualitative and quantitative measurements of the active compounds. Biologically active organic and inorganic compounds were found to be present in the ash materials ofCalotropis giganteaflowers.

The biologically active compounds can be used for pharmaceuticals, preservatives in food industries to prevent the growth of unwanted microorganisms, and perfumes. For example, 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butanoic acid has been effectively used in enzyme immobilization applications. The trimethylsilyl ester group in carboxylic acid has been used in many hydroboration oxidation reactions to prevent active compounds from converting to organaoborane compounds. Hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, pentadecanoic acid 14-methyl-, methyl ester, benzenepropanoic acid 3,5-bis (1,1-dimethyl)-4-hydroxyl-methyl esters have been used in many biological applications, including antimicrobial, wound healing and antiviral applications. 1,3,5-triazine 2-allylamino-4-tert-butylamnio-6-(4-morphoyl) monomers that contain chlorine atoms react with NH2or OH groups and are capable of producing double bond copolymerization. This compound was used in dental medicines as the dentin-bonding agent. The methylphosphonoamidate 1-(2-methoxyphenyl)-N-phenyl, amino compound act as a nucleic acid molecule such as RNA, DNA, oligonucleotides, mixed polymers, peptide nucleic acid and as peptides like poly-amino acid, polypeptides, proteins and nucleotides, which are used for pharmaceutical and biological compositions for the preparation of bioactive materials.

Characterization analysis for ash powder ofCalotropis giganteawas performed using such X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (SEM). Biologically active organic and inorganic compounds, as well as metallic compounds, such as Cu, TiO2, and Fe2O3, were found. The metal compounds have potential biological activities, such as, antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, anticancer and anti-wounding properties.

The present teachings are illustrated by the following examples.

Synthesis of Ash Powder ofCalotropis gigantea

Ten grams of fresh flowers ofCalotropis giganteawere collected from King Saud University campus, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The fresh flowers were washed five times with running tap water and washed three times with double distilled water to completely remove environmentally hazardous materials. The cleaned flowers were allowed to completely dry at room temperature under laboratory conditions. The dried flowers were soaked with almond oil (50 ml) for half an hour and then the excess oil was removed by using a shaking incubator at 45° C. for 2 hours. The flowers were then burned using a furnace at 687° C. for one hour. Finally, the burned flower ash particles were collected and stored for further analysis.

Analysis of Ash Powder ofCalotropis gigantea

TheCalotropis giganteaflower ash powder was analyzed to determine the active chemical constituents by using chromatography-mass spectrometry with the methanol extract followed by WHO standard procedures. Eight major abundant active phytochemical organic compounds were identified with different retention times, which have been used for biological activities in many pharmaceutical industries.

The GCMS method was used for the analysis of the ash obtained by thermally burnedCalotropis giganteaflowers at 687° C.FIG. 1shows the GCMS spectrum of the thermally treated flowers in methanol having abundant peaks at various retention times (RT). Among the various components present in the chromatogram, RT=3.933, 22.894, and 23.142 are the most abundant components. Also, the corresponding RT peaks were analyzed and identified with NIST08.L and W8N08.L libraries. RT=3.933 shows three components and all three components show m/z=91, which is the molecular ion peak of the highly stable tropylium ion form of the benzyl group. Also, m/z=73 is one of the major fragments in all components of the trimethylsilyl group. All the analogues compared with NIST08.L and W8N08.L libraries are based on the RT.

FIG. 2Ashows the molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of Compound (a) present at RT=3.933.FIG. 2Bshows the molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of Compound (b) present at RT=3.933.FIG. 2Cshows the molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of Compound (c) present at RT=3.933.

The other most abundant peak, at RT=22.894, shows two aliphatic long chain methyl esters and their molecular ion peak at m/z=74 and another major peak at m/z=43 represents methyl acetate and carbon dioxide, respectively. Mass spectrum for compound (d) present at RT=22.894 is shown inFIG. 3A. Mass spectrum for compound (e) present at RT=22.894 is shown inFIG. 3B.

The next most abundant component at RT=23.142 shows that there are three aromatic compounds present and they show m/z=277 as the molecular ion peak which is due to the loss of methyl ion during ionization. The formation of the remaining major fragments is due to the loss of the methyl group and tert-butyl groups present in the molecules.FIGS. 4A-4Cshow molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of components present at RT=23.142.FIG. 4Ashows molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of Compound (f).FIG. 4Bshows molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of Compound (g).FIG. 4Cshows molecular mass spectrum fragmentations of Compound (h).

The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum of well dried thermally burnedCalotropis giganteaflower ash powder is shown inFIG. 5. The absorption bands at 3427 cm−1, 3090 cm−1and 2928 cm−1correspond to the stretching frequencies of O—H and ═C—H, which shows the presence of aromatic and alcoholic functional groups in the molecules. Also the variations of two intense bands that correspond to the standard 1,3,5-triazine at 1422 cm−1and 1052 cm−1is evident for the presence of 1,3,5-substitutions in the triazine ring. A weak absorption at 874 cm−1corresponds to the O—Si stretching frequency. The absorption band at range of 500 cm−1to 550 cm−1is evident for bending vibrational absorption of alkyl halide groups.

The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern was obtained using a PANalytical X-ray diffractometer with a scan speed of 20-80 with 20. The XRD image is shown inFIG. 6. From the XRD pattern, it was found that the inorganic metal compounds rutile Syn(TiO2), K-alpha 1 and 2 (Cu) and hematite Syn (Fe2O3) are in thermally synthesized ash flower powder ofCalotropis gigantea.

Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) was used for quantitative and qualitative analyses of active components from mixture of samples.FIG. 7shows the EDX spectrum ofCalotropis giganteaash flower powder. The EDX report confirmed the percentage of inorganic compounds. The report proved the presence of Cu, TiO2and Fe2O3in ash powder ofCalotropis gigantea. The EDX report and the XRD results both proved the presence of metal ions from thermally synthesized samples.

SEM was used to determine the active compounds and the size of the mixture complex of samples.FIG. 8shows the SEM image, which shows the size of particles is less than 100 nm and also showed crystalline structure of Cu, TiO2and Fe2O3of thermally prepared samples ofCalotropis giganteaflower ash powder. Accordingly, in addition to organic compound groups, inorganic metal compounds were isolated in the toxic plant flower ofCalotropis gigantean.

FIG. 9shows the TEM image ofCalotropis giganteaflower ash powder. The image revealed that particle sizes ranged from a minimum size of 27 nm to a maximum size of 32 nm. The TEM image provides additional supportive evidence for the presence of inorganic metal compounds that are nano sized.

It is to be understood that the method of preparing biologically active derivatives fromCalotropis giganteaflowers is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise shown in the drawings or described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.