Phytochemical studies

Gunaydin K, Save S. Phytochemical studies on Ruta chalepensis (Lam.) Lamarck. Nat Prod Res 2005 19 203-10. 

Researchers from Eli Lilly pharmaceuticals, (a company founded in 1876 by Colonel Eli Lilly veteran of the US Civil War), undertook further intensive phytochemical studies and characterized 60 alkaloids, of which a group of 20 binary indole alkaloids—including vincristine and vinblastine. Vinblastine sulphate (Velbe ) inhibits the polymerization of tubulin and is used to treat generalized Hodgkin s disease and chorionepithelioma, whereas vincristine sulphate (Oncovin ) is used to treat leukemia in children. 

Quinolizine alkaloids, including sophocarpine, matrine and sophoridine have been determined by GC-MS techniques in kuhuang, a traditional Chinese medicine (GC = gas chromatography) <2005MI967>. Similarly, GC-MS has allowed a phytochemical study of the quinolizidine alkaloids of Genista tenera <2005MI264>. 

Abstract Recent chemical studies on the marine soft corals and terrestrial plants have lesnlted in the isolation of several novel componnds. The soft corals, Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae and Cladiella species yielded several novel terpenoids, exhibiting antimicrobial activities. New steroids were isolated from terrestrial fungi, Mucor plumbeus and Coprims micaceus. Phytochemical studies on the Buxus hyrcana, collected from Iran, have yielded steroidal bases. This revdew describes the new natiual products exhibiting different bioactivities from the aforementioned sources. 

During this phytochemical studies we have also isolated four known compounds, benzoylbuxidienine (15), buxapapillinine (16), buxaquamarine (17) and irehine (18) for the first time from B. hyrcana. The UV, IR, H NMR and mass spectra of compound 15-18 were identical with those of benzoylbuxidienine, buxapapillinine, buxaquamarine and irehine, respectively, as reported in the literature [29-32], This helped us to characterize compounds 15, 16, 17 and 18 as benzoylbuxidienine, buxapapillinine, buxaquamarine and irehine, respectively. Previously, benzoylbuxidienine (15), buxapapillinine (16), and buxaquamarine (17) and irehine (18) were isolated from B. sempervirens and B. papillosa [29-33],... 

Nassar, M. I. Spectral study of famesi-ferol B from Ferula assafoetida L. Pharmazie 1994 49(7) 542-543. Mahran, G. H., T. S. M. A. El Alfy, and S. M. A. Ansari. A phytochemical study of volatile oil of Afghanian asa-foetida. Bull Fac Pharm Cairo Univ 1973 12(2) 101-117. 

Phytochemical studies on tobacco NT334 alkaloids. 11. A new alkaloid in Nicoti ana tabacum roots. Phytochemistry... 

Al-Yahya, M. A. Phytochemical studies of the plants used in traditional medicine of Saudi Arabia. Fitoterapia 1986 57(3) 179-182. 

Kite, G.C. et al., The use of hyphenated techniques in comparative phytochemical studies of legumes, Biochem. Syst. Ecol, 31, 813, 2003. 

Sartori, F.T. et al.. Phytochemical study of Lychnophera markgravii (Asteraceae), Biochem. Syst. EcoL, 30, 609, 2002. 

Aboutabl, E.A., Sokkar, N.M., and Awaad, A.S., Phytochemical study of Otostegia fruticosa (Eorsk.) and biological activity, Bull Fac. Pharm. (Cairo Univ.), 38, 115, 2000. 

Inada, A. et al., Phytochemical studies of seeds of medicinal plants. II. A new dihydroflavonol glycoside and a new 3-methyl-1-butanol glycoside from seeds of Platycodon grandiflorum A. De Candolle, Chem. Pharm. Bull, 40, 3081, 1992. 

Phytochemical studies of these species led to the isolation and structural characterization, by NMR and MS analysis, of many secondary metabolites, mainly flavonoids, and expecially flavonol glycosides, clerodane diterpenes, and triterpenes having the lupane, ursane, and oleanane skeletons. Particularly flavonoids and their glycosides have a chemotaxonomic interest in the genus and in general in the Chrysobalanaceae family. 

The phytochemical study consisted of fractionating plant extracts leading to the isolation of various novel and known derivatives. The choice of appropriate separation methods was crucial for this type of research the extracts may be very complex, thus separation of one single component... 

PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF PLANTS BELONGING TO LICANIA GENUS... 

Licania heteromorpha var. heteromorpha Bentham is a tree up to 30 m high native to the Amazonian forest. Phytochemical study of its aerial parts yielded both triterpenes and flavonoids triterpenes were obtained from the chloroform extract by silica gel column followed by RP-HPLC and were characterised as betulinic acid (11), alphitolic acid (48), 3(3-0-trans-p-coumaroyl alphitolic acid (49), 3(3-0-cw-p-coumaroyl alphitolic acid (50), 3 -0-trans-p-coumaroyl maslinic acid (51), 3fi-O-cis-p-coumaroyl maslinic acid (52), 3(3-0-tnms,-/ -coumaroyl-2a-hydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (53), 3 3-0-m-p-coumaroyl-2a-hydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (54) [see Fig. (2) and (6)] [15], Compounds 11 and 48-54 were identified comparing their H and 13C NMR data with those previously described. Triterpenoids 48-54 were found for the first time in Licania, while betulinic acid had been isolated previously from L. carii [9]. On the other hand, flavonoids were isolated from the chloroform-methanol and methanol residues by Sephadex LH-20 and HPLC they were identified as myricetin 3-0- 3-D-galactopyranoside (17), myricetin 3-0-a-L-rhamnopyranoside (32), myricetin 4 -methylether-3-0- 3-D-glucopyranoside (55), myricetin 4 -methylether-3-0-a-L-rhamnopyranoside (45), myricetin 3,4 -di-0-a-L-rhamnopyranoside (56), myricetin 7-methylether 3,4 -di-0-a-L-rhamnopyranoside (57), and myricetin 4 -methylether-3-0- 3-D-galactopyranoside (58) [see Fig. (2), (4), and (6)]. The last three myricetin derivatives were new natural compounds [16]. Known compounds were identified by comparison of their H and l3C NMR spectra with those reported in the literature [15]. 

A phytochemical study of Crotalaria species has revealed the presence of 1-methylenepyrrolizidine (68) in four new species, namely C. grandistipulata Harms, C. lachnophora A. Rich, C. natalitia Meissner, and C. stolzii (Baker fil.) Milne-Redh. ex Polhill.38 The necine (69) is probably present in C. cylindrocarpa DC and C. podocarpa DC.38... 

Hyperaccumulating plants have been the subject of several phytochemical studies because unlike most other plants, milligram rather than microgram quantities of organometallic complexes can be separated from the plant tissue. For the sake of brevity however, this topic is not addressed in this chapter (see Baker and Brooks, 1989 for further information). 

The results obtained from the phytochemical study of P. natans and R. maritima suggest that the high concentrations of the bioactive diterpenes found in these plants could interfere with other aquatic organisms, thus playing a role in the equilibrium of the aquatic systems. 

Phytochemical studies of cinnamon and related species are restricted mainly to the volatile oil and its constituents. Recently, the chemical composition of the essential oils of a few rare species has been researched and new aroma sources have been identified. The chemistry of the genus Cinnamomum is interesting, as there exist several chemo-types within a species. So far, except for C. cassia, very little attention has been paid to the non-volatiles of the genus. This is an area worth exploring. 

The spice clove and its value-added products are used extensively for flavouring food and confectionery. Clove oil has many industrial and pharmacological applications. Most of the studies conducted so far pertain to the clove volatiles and very little attention has been paid to the nonvolatile constituents. Therefore, the phytochemical studies and biological activities of non-volatiles are worth examining. This may lead to identifying new properties and novel molecules. 

There are several reviews on the phytochemical studies of nutmeg (Satyavathy et al., 1987 Thakur et al., 1989 Ross, 2001 Latha et al., 2005). The constituents of nutmeg can be classified broadly into terpenoids, fatty acids, phenolic acids, lignans, neolignans and miscellaneous compounds. 

Although more than 10,000 alkaloids are known, only few (—2-5%) have been analyzed for biochemical properties, and even fewer for their ecophysiological roles. In most phytochemical studies only the structures of alkaloids have been elucidated, so that often no information is available on their concentrations in the different parts and through the ontogenetic development of a plant, or on their biological activities. 

H. serrata and its related genera have been used as folk herbs for the treatment of memory disorder and schizophrenia in the east of China. Phytochemical studies disclosed that these plants contained mainly serratene-type triterpenes and Lycopodium alkaloids.In the early 1970s, Chinese scientists reported that the total alkaloids of H. serrata could relax the striated muscle and alleviate the symptom of myasthenia gravis on the animal model. Biodirected assay caused the phenolic alkaloids fraction to be spotlighted and the following chemical component isolation resulted in the finding of HA. ... 

Since the discovery of qinghaosu, systematic phytochemical studies on A. annua have been also conducted. Different A. annua materials including the leaves, stems/ flowers, roots, and seeds as well as the endophytes inside A. annua have been employed for phytochemical investigations. Up to the time of this writing, more than 150 natural products were reported to belong to different chemical structure types. Herein, we try to give a summary of these secondary metabolites isolated from A. annua to date. 

As mentioned, qinghaosu chemically belongs to the cadinane sesquiterpene therefore, the other sesquiterpene components in A. annua have been given preferential attention. From indigenous A. annua L., continuous phytochemical studies by Chinese researches in the early 1980s led to the excavation of another ten sesquiterpenes including deoxy-artemisinin (14), artemisinin D (15), artemisinin... 

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