Hypericum genus

The Gutliferae of tropical Central and South America and the West Indies are a source of ornamentals or edible fruits (mammee apple, mangosteen). The genus Hypericum, placed in a separate family (Hyperiaceae) by some authors, is maintained in the Gutti-ferae here. 

Synthesis of Xanthones Isolated from Genus Hypericum. 153... 

Abstract There has been an increasing interest in the genus Hypericum, because it is a source of a variety of compounds with different biological activities. Xanthones are... 

They can be further subdivided into six groups depending on the degree of oxygenation pattern of the basic skeleton. Genus Hypericum contains all... 

The genus Hypericum, (Clusiaceae Lindley, syn. Guttiferae A.L. de Jussieu) includes a large number of species worldwide distributed [1]. Several of the botanical species belonging to the genus are used in folk medicine and among them H. perforatum L. (St. John s Wort) is especially known as a traditional remedy for the treatment of melancholia, abdominal and urogenital pain and ulcerated bums [2,3]. Over the last two decades, it has been demonstrated that St. John s Wort is effective as an antidepressant [4-6], an antiviral [7,3] and an antimicrobial [8]. 

Naphtodianthrones isolated from the genus Hypericum include hypericin (C3oHi6Og, 10,11 -dimethyl-1,3,4,6,8,13-hexahydroxynaphtodianthrone), pseudohypericin, Fig. (3), and isohypericin [2,3,9,10,22]. Those metabolites are powerful photosensitizers and they are believed to be responsible for hypericism, a photodermatosis which affects cattle grazing on Hypericum plants. 

Xanthones are quite widespread in the Clusiaceae and several types have been isolated within the genus Hypericum [71]. 

The great deal of investigations and scientific reports on the chemistry and biological properties of plants belonging to the genus Hypericum have disclosed characteristic and sometimes unique features. 

Due to their complex composition the pharmacokinetic assessment of herbal medications generally imposes serious technical and regulatory problems. As the active principle(s) of plant extracts are often not known it is difficult to decide which constituent(s) should actually be studied [218]. In the absence of a well defined therapeutically relevant chemical entity, characteristic constituents of herbal preparations are frequently employed for the purpose of standardization. Correspondingly, pharmacokinetic evaluations of Hypericum extracts have almost exclusively been based on the analysis of the naphthodianthrones hypericin 1 and pseudohypericin 2 which represent typical products of members of the genus Hypericum and are considered to be involved in some of their clinical effects. 

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