الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
Abstract
Family Araliaceae is a large family with 43 genera and 1400 species, which are widely used in traditional medicine and phytotherapy. Polyscias comprises 116 species that are widely used as ornamental plants in addition to its various medicinal purposes mainly as anti-inflammatory, antitoxin, antibacterial and diuretic.
The main objective of this study is the phytochemical study of the methanol leaves extract of Polyscias guilfoylei and the biological investigation of the extract, fractions and some of the isolated compounds.
This thesis is in 181 pages and includes 58 figures and 23 tables, as well as an arabic summary and 128 references in the area of the research.
This study was divided into three main chapters:
Chapter (1): A preliminary phytochemical screening of Polyscias guilfoylei and Polyscias balfouriana leaves followed by an in-depth phytochemical study of Polyscias guilfoylei methanol soluble fraction of the leaves extract. Further chromatographic separation to characterize and isolate the relevant compounds.
Chapter (2): A biological study of Polyscias guilfoylei leaves methanol soluble fraction extract, fractions and compounds including in-vitro studies of their antimicrobial, cytotoxic, histamine release inhibition and anti-aging activities.
Chapter (3): A comprehensive study on the essential oils of Polyscias guilfoylei and Polyscias balfouriana leaves to explore their chemical constituents and biological activities.
Chapter (1): Chemical Composition of the Leaf Methanol Extract of Polyscias guilfoylei (Araliaceae)
a) Phytochemical Screening of the leaves of Polyscias guilfoylei and Polyscias balfouriana (Araliaceae)
Prelimenary phytochemical screening on both plants revealed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, sterols and / or triterpenes, carbohydrates and / or glycosides which is typical to this genus. Also results revealed that both species don’t contain anthraquinones nor alkaloids. Polyscias guilfoylei was selected to be the topic plant to investigate its phytochemical constituents and biological activity.
b) Phytochemical study of Polyscias guilfoylei leaves
P. guilfoylei methanol extract was prepared and fractionated with n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and butanol, respectively. n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate fractions were subjected to further chromatographic fractionation. These fractions were manipulated through column chromatography for several times leading to the isolation of the individual chemical constituents which were further purified.
The phytochemical investigation of the tested fractions resulted in the isolation and structural elucidation of nine compounds among them one new compound (4). Compounds were identified by 1HNMR, APT and 2D-NMR including H-H COSY, HSQC and HMBC spectroscopic data after comparison with previously reported data.
The isolated compounds include;
Compound (1): Ent-labda-8(17), 13-diene-15, 18-diol
Compound (2): Stigmasterol
Compound (3): Spinasterol
Compound (4): N-(1, 3-dihydroxyoctadecan-2-yl) palmitamide
Compound (5): Panaxydiol
which were isolated from n-hexane fraction
Compound (6): Stigmasta-5, 22-dien-3-O-β- D-glucopyranoside
Compound (7): (8Z)-2-(2 hydroxypentacosanoylamino) octadeca-8-ene-1, 3, 4-triol
which were isolated from dichloromethane fraction
Compound (8): 4-hydroxybenzoic acid
Compound (9): Tamaraxetin 3, 7-di-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside
which were isolated from Ethyl acetate fraction
from the isolated compounds, compound (4) was isolated in this study for the first time in nature and considered a new natural product.
Moreover, tentative identification of other 13 compounds from P. guilfoylei using LC-MS analysis was performed including:
• Hispidol B
• Panaxydiol
• Stigmasterol
• Lupenone
• Panaxacol
• 11-oxo-α-amyrin decanoate
• Apigenin
• Isorhamnetin
• Quercetin
• 3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-6’-methylester oleanolic acid-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl
• Oleanolic acid
• α-hederin
• 3-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl (13) β -D-glucuronopyranosyl-6’-methyl ester] oleanolic acid -28-O-methyl ester
Chapter (2): Biological Investigation of the leaf Methanol Extract, Fractions and Two Compounds of Polyscias guilfoylei (Araliaceae)
Polyscias guilfoylei extract (PGE), fractions and two compounds (4 and 9) were subjected in the present study to the following in-vitro biological studies:
1. Antimicrobial activity:
The antimicrobial activity of PGE, fractions and two compounds (4 & 9) was assessed using agar well diffusion method. PGE, hexane, DCM and EtOAc fractions showed no inhibition of standard fungal growth in the diffusion method. Also, both compounds didn’t show activity towards bacteria or fungi. All tested Gram positive, Gram negative bacteria and fungi were susceptible to antimicrobial activity of PGE and three fractions.
Escherichia coli was the most susceptible Gram negative bacteria to PGE and butanol fraction with MIC values of 9.76 and 11.17 µg/ml, respectively. However PGE and butanol fraction inhibited Staphylococcus aureus, with MIC values of 19.53 and 20.33 µg/mL respectively. Aspergillus flavus was very weakly affected by PGE and butanol fraction with MIC values of 1125 and 650 µg/mL respectively.
Among the three fractions, ethyl acetate fraction showed better antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli with MIC values 19.53, 39.06 and 78.13 µg/mL, respectively.
2. Cytotoxic activity:
Cytotoxic activity of PGE, fractions (hexane, DCM, EtOAc and butanol) together with isolated compounds 4 and 9 on the proliferation of MCF-7 and HCT cell lines was assessed using MTT proliferation assay. Results revealed low to no cytotoxicity for all plant materials tested against both MCF-7 and HCT cell lines.
3. Histamine release inhibitory activity:
Inhibitory activity on histamine release by PGE, fractions (hexane, DCM, EtOAc and butanol) also the isolated compounds 4 and 9 was evaluated. Both compounds showed good inhibition of histamine release with IC50 values of 38.65 and 36.96µg/mL, respectively. The extract showed minimum inhibitory activity with IC50 value of 586.47 µg/mL and the hexane fraction didn’t show any inhibition for histamine release. DCM, EtOAc and butanol fractions showed week inhibition with IC50 values of 162.04, 116.25 and 166.76 µg/mL, respectively.
4. Anti-aging activity
PGE inhibitory effect on collagenase activity was determined. The extract showed IC50 value of 147.66 μg/mL.
Chapter (3): Chemical composition and Biological activity of the Leaves of Polyscias guilfoylei and Polyscias balfouriana Essential oil
This chapter is divided into two parts:
A. GC-MS analysis of essential oils:
Volatile constituents of P. guilfoylei and P. balfouriana leaves were evaluated for the chemical constituents and biological activities. Both oil samples was colourless or pale yellow and were lighter than water.
Forty two compounds were identified representing 79.17 % and 87.77% of the whole volatile constituents of P. balfouriana and P. guilfoylei, respectively. β-chamigrene and γ-muurolene were the most abundant compounds in both oil samples.
B. Essential oils biological activities evaluation:
1. Antimicrobial activity evaluation:
The antimicrobial effect of each of Polyscias guilfoylei and Polyscias balfouriana was evaluated against two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria in addition to two fungi using agar well diffusion method. P. guilfoylei oil showed moderate activity against staphylococcus aureus (MIC 313 µg/mL) and Bacillus subtilis (MIC 78.13 µg/mL) while P. balfouriana was active against E.coli (MIC 156.3 µg/mL) and Candida albicans (78.13 µg/mL).
2. Cytotoxicity evaluation:
The cytotoxic activity for both oil samples was assessed using MTT assay on Caco-2 cell lines. Regarding the cytotoxic activity; P. guilfoylei volatile constituents showed cytotoxicity (IC50 70.62 µg/mL) while P. balfouriana showed moderate activity (IC50 232.17 µg/mL).