Sesquiterpene lactones structure activity relationships

Effects of Sesquiterpene Lactones on Seed Germination. Sesquiterpene lactones are common constituents of the Asteraceae but are also found in other angiosperm families and in certain liverworts (31,32). These highly bitter substances exhibit a wide spectrum of biological activities (J 3) which include cytotoxicity, anti-tumor, anti-microbial, insecticidal (34) and molluscicidal (35) properties. Furthermore, they are known causes for livestock poisoning and contact dermatitis in humans (33). Structure-activity relationship studies on sesquiterpene lactones have demonstrated that biological activity frequently depend on the presence of the cr... 

Our own work on structure-activity relationships of convulsant sesquiterpene lactones was initiated after isolation of a variety of seco-prczizaanc type compounds from Illicium floridanum and I. parviflorum, both endemic to the southern United States [157, 179-181]. A study on the in-vivo toxicity of several of these compounds [182] showed that anisatin, major constituent in leaves and fruits of I. floridanum (as in those of other previously studied toxic Illicium (=star anise) species, review see [3]), was apparently the only derivative in the tested series which was toxic to mammals, although further compounds, such as pseudoanisatin (PSA, structure 4 in Fig. (27)) were accumulated in the plant in similarly high amounts [179, 180]. In the light of reports that indicated an identical mechanism of action and -possibly- the existence of a common binding site for anisatin and picrotoxinin [156-161] the question arose which structural features in these compounds were similar enough to warrant an identical mode of molecular recognition at the channel protein. 

Schmidt TJ (2006) Structure-activity relationships of sesquiterpene lactones. In Atta-ur R (ed) Studies in natural products chemistry, vol 33 Bioactive Natural Products (Part M),... 

Siedle B, Garcfa-Pineres AJ, Murillo R, Schulte-Monting J, Castro V, Riingeler P, Klaas CA, Da Costa FB, Kisiel W, Merfort I (2004) Quantitative structure-activity relationship of sesquiterpene lactones as inhibitors of the transcription factor NF-kB. J Med Chem 47(24) 6042-6054... 

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