Background and Purpose: Dorema species are well-known antifungal medicinal plants. Dorema kopetdaghense (Apiaceae family) is a rarely investigated plant endemic to Iran. The present study aimed to assess the antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of root extracts of different plants.Materials and Methods: The methanolic crude extract (MeOH) and its sub-fractions, including petroleum ether (PE), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and nbutanol (n-BuOH) were prepared.Results: Results from the antifungal and antibacterial activities of fractions indicated remarkable antifungal effects against Candida albicans with minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values of 10 µg/mL; however, no cytotoxicity was observed in the case of selected cancer cells. Moreover, methanolic soluble fractions showed good antiradical effects evaluated via DPPH and β-carotene bleaching tests possessing half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 20.11 and 41.32 µg/mL, respectively, though it was less effective than positive controls ascorbic acid (8.47 and 31.71 µg/mL, respectively) and butylated hydroxytoluene (IC50: 10.29 and 33.55 µg/mL, respectively).Conclusion: It can be concluded that strong antifungal and antioxidant activities without notable cytotoxicity, suggest the potential safety of the plant to be used as a natural antifungal remedy as well as a preservative in the food industry.

Dragon's head (Lallemantia iberica F. & C. M.) an annual or perennial herb, or dwarf shrub that originates in the Caucasian region and was cultivated for ornament and may be domesticated in East and East Central Europe. Dragon head was cultivated for its seeds from which oil is extracted. The seed contains up to 30% of a drying oil. One of effective compounds in this plant is mucilage. Mucilage has different applications in the broad field of pharmacy and medicine now. Mucilage was extracted from dragon's head seed and was identified by using thin-layer chromatography. Method involves the following steps: first by extraction, purification, dialysis, lyophilization, deionization, hydrolyze and TLC analysis for choosing the best separation system, these separation systems were: 1- Silica gel G 60 HF plate using nbutanol: acid acetic: water (50:25:25 v/v) as mobile system. 2- Silica gel G 60 HF plate using chloroform: methanol (60:40 v/v) as solvent system. 3- Kieselguhr G plate using n- butanol: acetone: phosphoric acid (40:50:10 v/v) as mobile system. Finally, the best results achieved by using n-butanol: acetone: phosphoric acid (40:50:10 v/v) as mobile system on the Kieselguhr G plate as stationary phase. Lallemantia iberica mucilage was separated into seven spots. Mucilage of Lallemantia iberica seeds was composed of galacturonic acid, galactose, mannose, arabinose, xylose, glucose and rhamnose monosaccharide. This result is useful for more and better characterization of dragon's head mucilage for application in food industry.

The main objective of this research is to study the effects of n-butanol and ethanol addition to the biodiesel-diesel fuel mixture on the performance and emission characteristics of a CI engine. The experimental tests were performed on a diesel engine. The RSM (Response Surface Methodology) method was used to develop mathematical models based on experimental data. According to the results, the addition of butanol and ethanol to the fuel mixture generally reduces the brake power and torque up to 16%. However, with a further increase in biodiesel percentage with the addition of ethanol and butanol to the fuel mixture, the power and torque were improved slightly. Also, the addition of alcohols to the fuel mixture increases the BSFC by 5 to 9%. On the other hand, the addition of ethanol and n-butanol along with increasing the percentage of biodiesel in the fuel mixture could improve the BSFC, especially at higher RPMs. Comparing fuel mixtures containing ethanol and nbutanol, it was observed that the BSFC values in the case of using normal butanol are less than ethanol. According to the results, with the addition of ethanol and n-butanol, the carbon monoxide emission increases by 7 to 12%. However, it was improved in higher RPMs. The results also showed that ethanol-containing mixtures emitted more CO than that n-butanol-containing mixtures. According to the results by the addition of ethanol and n-butanol to the diesel-biodiesel fuel blends, the emission of nitrogen oxides is reduced by an average of 11% compared to the diesel-biodiesel mixture. However, the addition of ethanol to the fuel blends produces more NOx than that of n-butanol, especially at high engine speeds.