Acta Chemica Malaysia

Journal: Acta Chemica Malaysia (ACMY)
Author: Mohd Razik Midin, Muhammad Irfan Fikri and Siti Sarah Zailani

ISSN: 2576-6732
e-ISSN: 2576-6724

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acmy-2020-0012

Christia vespertilionis (butterfly wing plant) is an ornamental plant originated from South East Asia with reported usage in traditional medicine practice and potential as an anticancer and antitumor. This research aims to estimate the genome size of C. vespertilionis via flow cytometry (FCM) method. The research was conducted with the optimisation of nuclear suspension preparation followed by the genome size estimation. Two chopping techniques [manual chopping (MC) and BDTM Medimachine (MM)] and two lysis buffers (Otto and LBO1) were tested. Otto buffer with manual chopping was found to be the most suitable method, generated fine DNA peak with minimum debris background, and coefficient of variation (CV) value less than 3%. Five replicates of the FCM analysis were made for the genome size determination. The estimated genome size of C. vespertilionis was found to be 3.22 pg by using Glycine max cv. Polanka (2C=2.5pg) as an external reference standard. Further comparison with other Christia species was not possible due to the lack of data on genome size. The genome size data of C. vespertilionis can be useful for future morphology and genetics studies of Christia species.

Journal: Acta Chemica Malaysia (ACMY)
Author: Redempta S. Kalinda and Naomi B. Rioba

ISSN: 2576-6732
e-ISSN: 2576-6724

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acmy-2020-0011

Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, J.E. Smith) is a pest with devasting effects on maize. A laboratory biassay was conducted to analyse the phytochemicals and determine the efficacy of M. spicata and R. officinalis extracts on FAW. Treatments were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 3 replications. The factors included solvent [Methanol (Me), dichloromethane (DCM), distilled water (Di)] and the plant species (M. spicata and R. officinalis). Coragen SC 200 (Co) and Distilled water (Di) were the positive and negative controls, respectively. FAW rearing, plant extract preparation and phytochemical screening were done using standard procedure. Data collection and analysis was done using standard procedures. The extract yield was highest for R. officinalis regardless of the solvent used. Me-R. officinalis and Di-M. spicata extracts yielded the highest. Saponins, glycosides, alkaloid, flavonoids and tannins. Flavonoid contents were 7.9036 mg/mL and 6.0073 ± 0.6117 mg/mL in methanolic extract of M. spicata and R. officinalis, respectively. M. spicatha and R. officinalis extracts caused 100% mortality to 3rd instar larvae. Based on the findings, both M. spicata and R. officinalis have several secondary metabolites that confer insecticidal activity of the plants against FAW, hence should be evaluated under field conditions.

Journal: Acta Chemica Malaysia (ACMY)
Author: Ovuru Cyril, Leizou,, Kaywood Elijah and Muhammad Aqeel Ashraf

ISSN: 2576-6732
e-ISSN: 2576-6724

This is an open access journal distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acmy-2020-00010

The aim of this study was to evaluate the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons load in soils of Ogale community, Rivers State, Nigeria and as well delineate the lateral and vertical extensions of the soils and groundwater. Geo-electric characterization of the soils and groundwater, using Electrical Resistivity methods (vertical electrical sounding, VES by Abem Terrameter and Gas chromatograph – Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) for finger-print was employed. The interpreted VES results revealed four geo-electric subsurface layers. The first layer which has a resistivity value of 60Ωm and a thickness of 2.0M was interpreted as top soil. Underlying the first layer is the second layer which had a resistivity value of 122Ωm with a thickness of 3m, interpreted as lateritic sand. The third layer had a resistivity value of 750Ωm and a thickness of 9.0m, and is interpreted as coarse sand. The fourth layer which had a resistivity value of 1255Ωm and a thickness of 49m is interpreted as very coarse sand. Borehole one was used as control and it is 1.85km away from the Resistivity sampling points. The results revealed that the presence of C10-C40 hydrocarbon which indicates un-weathered to fresh hydrocarbon in parts of the study area and heavy metals were below detection limits. The vulnerability of the aquifer to hydrocarbon contamination was due to high permeability, unconsolidated coarse grained and poorly sorted sands, of the vadose zone as well as shallowness of the aquifer. It is recommended that boreholes in the study area should be of deeper depths, and well constructed to avoid contaminated water from the polluted zone entering the borehole through the annulus.