Laboratoire PhytoChemia
628 boulevard du Saguenay Ouest G7J 1H4 Chicoutimi, QC, Canada

PhytoScience, One Article At a Time Our Scientific Director at PhytoChemia, Alexis St-Gelais, is never afraid to explore several fields of chemistry and go out of frame. This gives us the opportunity to present in the series One Article At a Time, a recent paper from his PhD on a subject that is unusual at Phyto.... This week he will share with you a few notes and remarks on his work to identify and synthesize sulfur compounds with promising bioactive properties: dichromones. Stay tuned!! #dichomone #phytochemia #synthesis

PhytoScience, One Article At a Time What was the process that led to the synthesis of the dirchromone? Even for this molecule, which at first glance appears quite simple, implementing a strategy requires many factors to be observed. A bit like building a house: certain preliminary steps must be followed, or the project could be compromised. And if you also wish to have a versatile house, certain technological choices must be made.... In the case of dirchromones, the initial idea was to have a simple, cheap and versatile synthesis process. First, a retrosynthesis analysis allowed us to identify four main stages of synthesis: a) Synthesis of a 2-substituted chromone which would be modifiable thereafter; b) Synthesis of the sulfur side chain; c) Coupling of the parts obtained in a) and b). d) Addition of the substituents (R1-R2-R3) on the aromatic ring. Afterwards, for each of these steps, several synthesis routes were analyzed based on literature and commercial reagent availability. This would be the equivalent of verifying the technological means for the construction of your versatile house. Finally, construction started. The latter was marked out by different means of control to ensure the quality of intermediates and the final molecule. Several routes of synthesis had failed, but eventually an alternative 7-step strategy that required two initial cheap substrates, an unprecedented soft enolization BakerVenkataraman rearrangement was designed and succeeded . From this strategy, it was then possible, with a few modifications, to synthesize the other dirchromones, but also novel analogs And here we had at our disposal several dirchromones, making it possible to conduct various tests on them to understand their biological activity #Phytochemia #Synthesis #dirchromone

PhytoScience, One Article At a Time Upstream of this article is Alexis's MSc work. He was working on eastern leatherwood (Dirca palustris), an endemic shrub to eastern North America used by First Nations to treat cancer. The objective was to isolate one or more compounds responsible for this activity, particularly against A-549 lung cancer cells. He isolated twenty new chemical entities never reported in the literature including a new class of secondary sulfur metabolites ...called dirchromones with interesting biological (cytotoxic, antibacterial) activities. However, despite their potential, these molecules could only be extracted in very small amount, thus to get 1 g would require about 1 ton of wood. Also, to do more than observe them, but to be able to understand and explain where their biological activity comes from, he synthesized dirchromones. And this is where the article begins, We'll tell you more this week, so stay tuned.

Before the pandemic, we used to offer tours of our labs to young people interested in chemistry. As part of a presentation on the profession of chemist, we recently allowed one of our employees’ son to come in our lab after hours for a few photos. We realize how much we miss these moments and look forward to the time when we can inspire young people once more to explore science.... #phytochemia #science #chemistry

Pesticides and you at IFEAT . On yesterday's Regulatory/Scientific Session, the topic of pesticides raised many questions. It was mentioned that regulations in this field are sometimes unclear and vary from country to country. The lack of precise instructions, the imposed limits sometimes hard to reach by laboratories, the presence of local regulations, all together underscore the need for a standardization in the field. Why not by the industry itself at first? Also, while t...he use of biopesticides expands, the industry tends to move towards more sustainable approaches such as maintaining biodiversity and accepting the natural variability which results on the NCX (Natural Complex Product), which also includes essential oils. And you, what are your experiences with pesticides in essential oils #pesticide #essentialoils #phytochemia

The first day of the IFEAT (International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades) virtual conference is over. The panel discussion on trends and challenges in the field of natural products was particularly informative. It was a great opportunity to stay abreast of current market issues, whether from the viewpoint of small producers or large industries. Very consensually, it emerged that consumer expectations revolve around the need for transparency, traceability, and... ethics. In this time of pandemic, this has become even more important. The industry is taking increasingly more steps to respond to this upward trend and is looking for simple ways to provide this information to its consumers. And you, what do you think of this orientation?

Oh, those unknowns in GC reports ! We told you about them a year ago, in December 2019 Do you remember? If not, take a look here... ----- Ohhh les inconnus dans les rapports GC! On vous répondait dessus il y a 1 an environ, en décembre 2019. Vous vous en souvenez? Non, allez jeter un coup d’œil ici #repost #GC #essentialoils

(Traduction française en dessous) PhytoChemia has been driven by science from the very beginning. Our services integrity and mutual respect are the up most values of our company.... Based in Canada, we are committed to always provide our clients around the world with the best of our expertise. And your trust is our greatest reward. The same values apply to our sister company AlChemia Solutions. ******************************* Chez PhytoChemia, la science nous anime depuis nos tous débuts. L'intégrité de nos services et le respect des autres font partie intégrante de nos valeurs fondamentales. Depuis le Canada, nous nous efforçons de toujours fournir à notre clientèle ici et à travers le monde le meilleur de nous-mêmes. Et votre confiance est la meilleure des récompenses. Ces mêmes valeurs animent également notre entreprise sœur Alchemia Solutions https://www.facebook.com/alchemiasolutions/posts/789324018292843 #GroupeChemia #phytochemia #alchemiasolutions #genochemia

Scientific Literature What is it That was four years ago, in november 2016 . We have been discussing it in two blog posts that covered the backstage of the scientific literature such as predator journals, peer-review, primary, secondary and tertiary literature, etc. ... The link is here http://phytochemia.com//scientific-literature-what-is-it-/ #anotherweekofmemories #4kfollowers

Ready for another week of memories . This week, we revisit old blog posts where we answered your most frequently asked questions. Let's start with the one we answered in January 2019: Are you able to identify % of my essential oil?... The answer is quite surprising, so take a look at this: https://phytochemia.com/en/2019/01/26/100-identification/

This happened in March 2016 . Do you know what topic has been dethroning all the others in recent years on our Facebook page? The adulterations. ... Today you can (re)discover 1-acetonaphthone and 2-acetonaphthone, the twin orange-smelling adulterants. Take a look at our blog paper here https://phytochemia.com///03/23/synthetic-oranger-and-you/