Cedrol activity

The sesquiteipene cedrol (46) can be hydroxylated regio- and stereo-selectively with Beauveria sulfu-rescens (equation 13). This transformation serves to illustrate the general principle that substrates with an electron rich substituent, to serve as an anchor at, or close to, the active site of the hydroxylating enzyme system, generally are transformed with improved selectivity over those with no such anchor. For example, in the above system the unsaturated substrate cedrene (47) gives low yields of a mixture of products. ... 

Picaud et al. purified recombinant AMDS and determined its pH optimum to 6.5 [24]. Several sesquiterpene synthases show maximum activity in this range examples are tobacco 5-epz-aristolochene synthase [25,26], germa-crene A synthase from chickory [26] and nerolidol synthase from maize [27]. Terpenoid synthases are, however, not restricted to a pH optimum in this range. Intriguing examples are the two (-l-)-(5-cadinene synthase variants from cotton, which exhibit maximum activity at pH 8.7 and 7-7.5, respectively [28] and 8-epi-cedrol synthase from A. annua [29] with the pH optimum around... 

Documented effects A 5 % solution of cedrol (isolated from the essential oil) in castor oil is used as a treatment for festering and slowly healing wounds and chilblain ulcers, and is apphed as a salve on bandages or dressings. For osteomyelitis, this solution is poured into bone cavities (Gammerman 1960 Khalmatov et al. 1984). Essential oil from the leaves is used to treat trichomoniasis (Khodzhimatov 1989). Some terpenoids isolated from the fruits showed moderate antimalarial activity (Okasaka et al. 2006). 

Humans exposed to cedrol fumes showed significant decreases in heart rate, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, and respiratory rate. Tests indicted that cedrol inhalation also caused a reduction in sympathetic and an increase in parasympathetic nervous system activity, results supporting the alleged relaxant effect of cedar oU. In addition, a decrease in nonrapid eye movement sleep latency was found in humans exposed to cedar essence. ... 

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