الفهرس 
Chapter 1: Background and introductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The current thesis is divided into two studies. First we investigated the plants A. lappa and A. zeurmbet with the objective to isolate, purify and elucidate the structures of the compounds as a part of our ongoing project for bioactivity directed fractionation of medicinal plants.
Second to investigate the phytochemical, cytotoxic properties exhibited by the bioactive compounds extracted from colonies of the Egyptian soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum.
The present research work aims at:-
1. Isolation and purification of the bioactive compound(s).
2. Elucidation of the structure
3. Screening the biological activity of the soft coral and A. zerumbet crude extracts using different bioassays.
4. Studying the biological activities of the bioactive compounds
The present study is consisting of the following chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction and literature review
1st part: includes review of literature about natural products which contribute significantly to primary health care worldwide with focus on A. lappa and A. zerumbet
2nd part: includes review of literature about marine as natural sources and description of the soft corals S. trocheliophorum and their natural existence.
Chapter 2: Experimental work
1st Part: Describes the apparatus and methods used for the isolation, purification and identification of compounds from A. lappa and A. zerumbet.
2nd Part: includes extraction of marine products used in the present study (S. trocheliophorum), and describes the methods used to test the cytotoxic activities by using Brine shrimp lethality bioassay.
Chapter 3: Results and discussion
1st Part: Our investigation on A. lappa and A. zerumbet. leads to isolation of Trilinolein (Fig. 1) and 5, 6 dihydrokawain (Fig. 2) respectively, that show cytotoxic activity
2nd Part: Study of the soft coral (S. trocheliophorum) colonies. Cytotoxicity was evaluated using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The hexane extracts were more cytotoxic than the ethyl acetate extracts. Two fractions from the hexane extract (Fig. 3), and one from the ethyl acetate extract showed significant cytotoxic activity against brine shrimp nauplii. The results indicate that the studied soft coral contain bioactive compounds that could potentially prove useful in the development of anti-cancer drug leads.
The thesis based on one publication;
The 1st paper focuses on the in vitro cytotoxic effects of soft coral (S. trocheliophorum) assayed by brine shrimp lethality method. The n-hexane extract of the marine natural product induced significant dose-dependent toxicity compared with ethyl acetate. Accordingly, bio-assay guided fractionation was conducted to identify the bioactive compounds. Our results emphasize the value of marine products as a natural source of medicinally interesting cytotoxic compounds.