Cancer has become a serious public health concern that affects millions of individuals annually in the world. Surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been considered as the standard treatment strategies for different kinds of cancers. Among them, chemotherapeutic agents are usually used for the treatment of malignancies but toxic side effects and drug resistance limit their clinical efficacy. Natural compounds isolated from medicinal plants are excellent and reliable sources of new anticancer drugs. Maslinic acid is a naturally occurred pentacyclic triterpenoid with anticancer activities. This review mainly focuses on recent advances on anticancer effects and molecular mechanisms of maslinic acid and will hopefully provide valuable insights into clinical application of maslinic acid to the treatment of cancers.

Areca catechu L is a genus of plants whose leaves and fruits can be used as folk medicine. The chemical composition of A. catechu can be divided into alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, sterols, fatty acids, etc. It has pharmacological effects such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antidepressant, hypotensive, etc., while having toxic side effects such as oral toxicity, hepatotoxicity and addiction. This paper reviews the progress of research on chemical composition and pharmacological effects and toxic side effects of A. catechu, and provides new ideas for subsequent development of A. catechu.

To develop an effective deodorant and antibacterial agent, we prepare a Ti doped nano-ZnO through a low temperature hydrothermal route. The shape and size of these as-prepared samples can be tuned effectively by controlling the reaction conditions, such as the molar ratio of Ti/Zn. Furthermore, the sample with an appropriate portion of Ti and Zn is selected to obtain dispersion for improving sample activity and avoiding sample agglomeration. XRD, SEM, EDX and DLS are performed to characterize the structure and morphology of samples. Furthermore, the typical dispersion is used to remove odorous molecules and kill bacteria. The results show that polycarboxylic acid can be used to improve the dispersibility and stability of nanoparticles, and the well-dispersed dispersion is high effective for deodorization and antibiosis. Moreover, CCK-8 assays are performed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of dispersions with different size. The result reveals that dispersion with a smaller particle size displayed more serious toxicity. Thus, we suggest that the obtained dispersion can be used as a deodorant and antibacterial agent, but it is necessary to take precautions when handling the dispersion because the nanoparticles, special smaller nanoparticles is more likely to cause serious cytotoxicity.

The basic structure of coumarins contain a benzene ring and a pyrone ring, which drive their values on biological research and potential therapeutic properties. In recent years, the synthesis of coumarins and their derivatives have drawn much attention from organic chemists and medicinal chemists. Herein, we summarized recent advances on synthetic methodologies of coumarins from 2011 to 2021.