ABSTRACT

Two coumarins have been isolated from the seeds of two apples’ cultivars named Red Delicious and Granny Smith. The influence of their phenolic hydroxyl groups on the biological activities has been investigated. This investigation involved the chemical transformation of these functional groups into less hydrophilic moieties and the detection of the impact of this transformation on the biological activities. The investigated biological activities included the antioxidant, antiproliferative, antibacterial, and antifungal effects. The antioxidant potential was tested by figuring the capacity of these derivatives to trap hydroxyl and DPPH radicals. The antiproliferative potential was tested by MTT photometric assay against eight cancer lines named HeLa, SK-OV-3, AR42J, MCF-7, AB12, KYSE-30, LC540, and AMN3. The antibacterial potential was visualized via a well-defined disc diffusion assay versus six common pathogenic bacterial strains, which are: Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumonia, Haemophilusinfluenzae, Shigelladysenteriae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. By applying the same general assay, the antifungal potential was highlighted against three pathogenic fungi named Candida albicans, Aspergillusflavus, and Aspergillusniger. From the outcomes of the tested biological activities, we concluded that the phenolic hydroxyl groups exert a beneficial effect on the antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of the natural derivatives, and a detrimentalrole on their antimicrobial activity.

Keywords:Coumarins, Antioxidant, Antiproliferative, Antibacterial, Antifungal, Hydroxyl group, Chemical modification.