Abdullatif Azab

Eastern Plants Company · Research

Tribulus terrestris is an annual plant with thorny fruits that protect them from herbivores. All species of the Tribulus genus were investigated by modern research for medicinal and other properties, but Tribulus terrestris was studied way more than each one of the others. Numerous research articles about these properties were published, including...

Balanites aegyptiaca is an edible fruit bearing tree of arid and semi-arid regions. It has been used by humans since ancient times as a source of food and for other ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal purposes. Many review articles were published about this tree, and we will present the most important of them, to explain why this review article is th...

The Resedaceae is a medium size plant family according to its global number of species, and in the reviewed region it is represented by four genera that include fifteen plant species. This review article will summarize and discuss the published research results of their biological-medicinal properties and chemical compositions. Our findings indicat...

The Anthemis genus is part of the largest plant family of Asteraceae. The number of species of this genus in Israel and Palestine is debated. Interestingly, some of these species were reasonably studied and published while others were not published for any medicinal or biological activities. The chemical compositions of a few species were published...

The Lathyrus genus is part of the large plant family of Fabaceae. The genus is represented by twenty-one species in the reviewed region, Israel and Palestine. Contrary to extensive uses in ancient times and in ethnobotany, the overall modern research of these plants is notably very limited. In this minireview, the major archeobotanical, ethnobotani...

The Juncaceae family is represented in the reviewed region by ten species, where they distributed in all landscapes. Some of these species were and still being used by traditional societies, and part of these uses is well documented. Modern research of these plants is strangely very limited, and some species were not published for any medicinal act...

The Anacardiaceae family is represented in the reviewed region by eight species, where one of them is of Brazilian origins. But despite this small number, these trees are among the most colorful, spice sources and with outstanding medicinal activities. The diversity of the known natural products that were isolated from these plants, is very large....

The trees of the Rhamnaceae family are part of sights of Eastern Mediterranean region and have been used by inhabitants of today's Israel and Palestine since ancient times. In this review article we will introduce the taxonomical affiliations of this family and its genera, as well as the ethnomedicinal and nutritional uses of the nine species that...

The first five review articles in this series presented anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial and antiviral, and antioxidant activities of the most important wild edible plants of eastern Mediterranean region, which we named as the “Deca-plants” (D-P). In this article other activities will be presented. Although the activities...

In the first three parts of this series of review articles, we presented the anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic activities of the most important (eaten) wild edible plants of eastern Mediterranean region, which we named as the “Deca-plants” (D-P). In this review article, we will present the antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activ...

This is the fifth review in a series of articles that present the major medicinal activities and the phytochemistry of the most important wild edible plants of eastern Mediterranean region, which we named as the "Deca-plants" (D-P). The previous articles discussed the anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic and antimicrobial and/or antiviral ac...

In the first two parts of this series of review articles, we presented the anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities of the most important wild edible plants of eastern Mediterranean region, which we named as the "Deca-plants" (D-P). In this review article, we will present the antidiabetic activities of these very important plants. Comparing with...

In the first part of this series of review articles, we presented the anticancer activities of the most important wild edible plants of eastern Mediterranean region, which we named as the “Deca-plants” (D-P). In this review article, we will present the anti-inflammatory activities of these very important plants. After a brief introduction, anti-inf...

Medicinal plants are the major source of natural products that are used for drug discovery and development. Cancer is second cause of disease-related deaths, after cardiovascular diseases. Numerous studies were conducted and published where plant materials such as extracts, essential oils, pure natural compounds or their combinations and formulatio...

The plant genus Morus (Mulberry) has been used by humans for many centuries. All parts of the trees are used, but the fruits have the highest nutritional values. Most of the species of this genus were studied for various medicinal and biological activities, as well as many other properties, including chemical composition. Two species, Morus alba an...

Carob has been used by humans since antiquity. Its major use is food, but traditional medicines of many nations used it for treatments of various health disorders. The fruits (pods or kibbles) were the main source for nutrition and medicinal uses, but decoctions and extracts were prepared from other parts of the tree, especially leaves. Modern scie...

Carob is one of the major food trees for peoples of the Mediterranean basin, but it has also been traditionally used for medicinal purposes. Carob contains many nutrients and active natural products, and D-Pinitol is clearly one of the most important of these. D-Pinitol has been reported in dozens of scientific publications and its very diverse med...

Xanthorrhoeaceae plants family is one of the smallest in the region of Israel and Palestine, where it is represented by seven species. Some of these species where notable in terms of medicinal activities and unique natural products, that have interesting structures and subunits. Interestingly, no review articles were published about the medicinal,...

Cistaceae plant family is one of the most under-investigated families in our region. Few plants of this family were reasonably studied, but most of them were either totally "ignored" or very limitedly published. Those that were studied reveal the richness in special natural products that have unique structures with special sub-units. Even tradition...

Amaranthaceae family is one of the largest and most diverse in the plant kingdom. While some of the plants of this family have important nutritional value, others are considered toxic and/or hazardous weeds and many efforts have been made in controlling them. But both categories were used by humans for traditional medicinal purposes, and some of th...

Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is one of the important nutritional and medicinal trees of the Middle East and Mediterranean basin, and in recent decades, it has been grown and cultivated in many other regions in the world. Realization and awareness to its unique nutritional and medicinal properties and biological activities are rising rapidly. A great e...

Solanaceae is one of the most studied among all plant families. Plants of this family are very rich with medicinally active natural products, some of them, with nutritional importance. Some of these compounds are psychoactive and mind altering. Alkaloids, physalins and withanolides are the major notable active natural products present in these plan...

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities are among the most important properties of plant materials used by humans. For many medicinal plants and other natural products sources, there is clear relationship between these properties. Despite the fact that some approved, commercial drugs were developed from natural products that possess these prop...

Three different extracts (aqueous, ethanolic and ethyl acetate) of Carthamus tenuis and Cephalaria jopprnsis were prepared and tested for total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant capacity and antifungal activity. Results for C. tenuis are meaningfully different of known findings. As for C. joppensis, the medicinal and biological properties of this...

Objective: To investigate the effects of a dry aqueous extract of Notobasis syriaca (N. syriaca) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in rats. Methods: Rats were fed the dried extract [500 mg/(kg�d)] for three consecutive days and then were intraperitoneally injected with LPS (1 mg/kg). Two hours after LPS injection, rats were sacrifice...

In this study, three extracts of the aerial parts of Notobasis syriaca and Scolymus maculatus were prepared. Each extract was tested for antifungal activity against Rhizopus stolonifer (black mold), and its total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity were measured. As for these measurements, we report here a facile method that we develope...

Prosopis farcta is a widespread weed in the Near East and its an invasive plant of southwestern parts of the USA. Despite being sufficiently studied in the past, some of its activities were not published. In this research, we studied the antifungal and anti-termite activities of four extracts of the plant aerial parts: aqueous, ethanolic, ethyl ace...

Plants belonging to the genus Arum are being used for nutritional and medicinal purposes for many centuries, despite their toxicity. Few subspecies of this genus were widely investigated by modern research, mainly for potential therapeutic goals and drug discovery. Other subspecies were never studied by current research despite the fact that some o...

This article presents highlights of the published literature regarding the anti-inflammatory activities of natural products. Many review articles were published in this regard, however, most of them have presented this important issue from a regional, limited perspective. This paper summarizes the vast range of review and research articles that hav...

The genus micromeria is one of the most widespread plant families in the "old world". Its subspecies, especially Micromeria fruticosa, havebeen used by humans for thousands of years. The plant(s), its extracts and its chemical ingredients are reviewed in this article for theirreported medicinal/biological activities. In addition, the traditional me...

The genus Alcea consists more than 40 subspecies. Most of them were partly studied but some of them were not. In this review we will introduce the traditional medicinal knowledge and uses of this genus, summarize and discuss the modern research reports of the medicinal/biological activities of the various subspecies. Special attention will be paid...

Direct addition of organolithium to 1-alkynylphosphonates (1) afforded vinylphosphonates and enamine phosphonates (2) in good to excellent yields. The reaction was carried out in dry THF at low temperature and proved to be completely stereoselective (syn addition). Alkyl, aryl, and haloalkyl groups were attached to the alkynyl entity, so the result...

Isomerization of diethyl 1-alkynylphosphonates, 1, with Pd[(PPh)3]4 in refluxing 1,4-dioxane provides 1,3-dienylphosphonates, 2, in satisfactory to excellent isolated yield (45-83%). The reaction is tolerant of chlorides and cyclic substituents. Cycloaddition reaction of 2 with DEAD provided the corresponding diethyl 3-(diethoxyphosphoryl)-6-alkyl-...

The reaction of 6-chloro-1-hexynylphosphonate with primary and secondary amines afforded exclusively 2-aminocyclohexenylphosphonates in 62–85% isolated yields. In contrast, reaction of various amines with isobutyl 7-chlorohept-2-ynoate in acetonitrile at 70°C gave (E)-sec-butyl 2-(1-alkylpiperidin-2-ylidene)acetates in 65–78% isolated yields. Calcu...

Hydrazines react with 4-, 5- and 6-chloro-1-alkynylphosphonates to provide the corresponding azaheterocyclic phosphonates in good yields and purity. The suggested mechanism consists of initial addition to the carbon–carbon triple bond to generate a zwitterionic species in which the amine is situated trans to the lone pair of the anion.