Chemical composition of the essential oils and extracts of Achillea species and their biological activities: A review.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The Asteraceae (alt. Compositae) family incorporates a large number of flowering plants, which have been classified under ca. 1600 genera covering more than 23,000 species. The genus Achillea is one of the best-known genera of this family. The Achillea species are important for their uses in the chemical and pharmaceutical purposes, and traditional and folk medicines. From ethnobotanical point of view, they heve been recommended as effective tonic, sedative, diuretic and carminative remedies and extensively prescribed for the treatment of stomachache, inflammation, gastrointestinal, hemorrhoid, hay fever, and wound healing in indigenous medicines. They are also known as effective remedies that promote breast-feedings and regulate women menstruation. This review presents an overview on the ethnopharmacological knowledge of the Achillea genus and provides a deeper insight into medicinal and pharmaceutical applications of different Achillea species. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant data were obtained through systematic electronic searches from various scientific databases including the Institute of scientific information (ISI)-Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, Pubmed, other relevant texts and local books. RESULTS: A variety of ethnopharmacological properties of the Achillea have been documented, and a broad spectrum of medicinal applications, and phytochemicals of the essential oils and extracts of this genus have been identified. CONCLUSIONS: General correlations between the ethnopharmacological uses and medicinal properties identified through systematic research have been observed. Some of the medicinal properties could also be linked to the phytochemicals present in this genus. The findings of the studied reports in this review article represent therapeutic characteristics of Achillea species and account for their significant impact on the current and future modern medicine

Ferulone A and ferulone B: two new coumarin esters from Ferula orientalis L. roots, Natural Products Research

Ferula orientalis (Apiaceae) is a well known perennial herb growing wild in Iran used in traditional medicine. To perform phytochemical studies, dried ground roots of F. orientalis were sequentially Soxhlet-extracted using n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. A combination of vacuum liquid chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatographic analyses were performed to isolate coumarin esters. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic means, and in vitro free-radical-scavenging property was determined by the DPPH assay.Two new coumarin esters, 7-O-(4,8,12,16-tetrahydroxy-4,8,12,16-tetramethyl-heptadecanoyl)-coumarinand 7-O-(4-hydroxy-4,8,12-trimethyl-trideca- 7,11-dienoyl)-coumarin, named ferulone A and ferulone B, respectively, were isolated from the n-hexane extract of the roots of F. orientalis. Both compounds showed a low level of free-radical-scavenging property with the RC50 values of 0.252 and 0.556mg/mL for compounds 1 and 2, respectively, as opposed to that of the positive control (quercetin) 0.004 mg/mL. This is the first report on the purification of coumarin esters from the genus Ferula

The ethnomedicinal, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff). Boerl

Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff.) Boerl. is a dense evergreen tree of the family Thymelaeceae. This plant is popular with the name of Mahkota dewa, which is literally translated as God's Crown. All parts of this plant including fruits, seeds, stem, and leaves have well known therapeutic properties and have been extensively used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, allergies, kidney disorders, blood diseases, stroke, and acne with satisfactory results. Scientific findings on bioactivities of P. macrocarpa also demonstrated different pharmacological properties of various parts of this plant including cytotoxic, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antihypertensive activities. Phytochemicals studies of P. macrocarpa revealed the presence of several classes of compounds such as benzophenones, terpenoids, xanthones, lignans, acids, and sugars. This review aims to provide a critical overview on botanical description, traditional usage, phytochemicals, and pharmacological activities of P. macrocarpa

Phytochemical and bioactivity evaluation of Scrophularia amplexicaulis Benth

Scrophularia amplexicaulis Benth. is an Iranian endemic species of the genus Scrophularia, which comprises ca. 200 medicinally important herbaceous flowering plants. Phytochemical investigation of the methanol extract of the aerial parts of this species afforded two iridoid glycosides, scropolioside D (1) and scrophuloside B4 (2), and two phenylalkanoid glycosides, salidroside (3) and verbascoside (4). Structures of these compounds were determined by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses. Free-radical-scavenging activity, potential antimalarial property, and contact toxicity as well as general toxicity of the extract and fractions were assessed

Assessment of free-radical scavenging activity of Gypsophila pilulifera: assay-guided isolation of verbascoside as the main active component

Gypsophila pilulifera, Boiss & Heldr, Caryophyllaceae, is a perennial medicinal herb that grows in the southwestern region of Turkey. Except for only one report on the isolation of cytotoxic saponins from the underground parts of G. pilulifera, there are no published thorough phytochemical or bioactivity studies on this species. In the present study, the free-radical scavenging activity of extracts and fractions of the stems of G. pilulifera was evaluated, using a slightly modified and more precise version of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, reported here for the first time. The DPPH assay-guided HPLC-PDA-purification of the active solid-phase extraction fraction (50% methanol in water) of the methanolic extract exhibited verbascoside as the main free-radical scavenger present in this species. The structure of this active compound was resolved by spectroscopy, and the free-radical scavenging potential of verbascoside was determined. Keywords : Gypsophila pilulifera; Free-radical scavenger; Solid-phase extraction; High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); Phenylethanoid; Verbascoside

Phytochemistry and pharmacology of the genus Drypetes: A review

Aims: Traditional medicinal use of species of the genus Drypetes is widespread in the tropical regions. The aim of this review is to systematically appraise the literature available to date on phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology, toxicology and bioactivity (in vitro and in vivo) of crude extracts and purified compounds. Ethnopharmacological relevance: Plants of the genus Drypetes (Putranjivaceae) are used in the Subsaharan African and Asian traditional medicines to treat a multitude of disorders, like dysentery, gonorrhoea, malaria, rheumatism, sinusitis, tumours, as well as for the treatment of wounds, headache, urethral problems, fever in young children, typhoid and several other ailments. Some Drypetes species are used to protect food against pests, as an aphrodisiac, a stimulant/depressant, a rodenticide and a fish poison, against insect bites, to induce conception and for general healing. This review deals with updated information on the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, and biological activities of ethnomedicinally important Drypetes species, in order to provide an input for the future research opportunities. Methods: An extensive review of the literature available in various recognized databases e.g., Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, SciFinder, Web of Science, www.theplantlist.org and www.gbif.org, as well as the Herbier National du Cameroun (Yaoundé) and Botanic Gardens of Limbe databases on the uses and bioactivity of various species of the Drypetes was undertaken. Results: The literature provided information on ethnopharmacological uses of the Subsaharan African and Asian species of the genus Drypetes, e.g., Drypetes aubrévillii, D. capillipes, D. chevalieri, D. gerrardii, D. gossweileri, D. ivorensis, D. klainei, D. natalensis, D. pellegrini (all endemic to Africa) and D. roxburghii (Asian species), for the treatment of multiple disorders. From a total of 19 species, more than 140 compounds including diterpenes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenes (friedelane, oleanane, lupane and hopane-type), flavonoids, lignans, phenylpropanoids and steroids, as well as some thiocyanates, were isolated. Several crude extracts of these plants, and isolated compounds displayed significant analgesic, anthelmintic, antidiabetic, anti-emetic anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiparasitic, central nervous system depressant, cytotoxic, and insecticidal activities both in vitro and in vivo. Some toxicities associated with the stem, bark, seed and leaf extracts of D. roxburghii, and the flavonoid, amentoflavone, isolated from the stem extract of D. littoralis as well as D. gerrardii, were confirmed in the animal models and in the rat skeletal myoblast cells assays. As a consequence, traditional medicine from this genus should in future be applied with care. Conclusions: Plants of this genus have offered bioactive samples, both from crude extracts and pure compounds, partly validating their effectivity in traditional medicine. However, most of the available scientific litteratures lacks information on relevant doses, duration of the treatment, storage conditions and positive controls for examining bioefficacy of extract and its active compounds. Additional toxicological studies on the species used in local pharmacopeia are urgently needed to guarantee safe application due to higth toxicity of some crude extracts. Interestingly, this review also reports 10 pimarane dinorditerpenoids structures with the aromatic ring C, isolated from the species collected in Asia Drypetes littoralis (Taiwan), D. perreticulata (China), and in Africa D. gerrardii (Kenya), D. gossweileri (Cameroon). These compounds might turn out to be good candidates for chemotaxonomic markers of the genus

Isolation and antimicrobial activity of rutin and its derivatives from Ruta chalepensis (Rutaceae) growing in Iraq

Rutin (1), rutin 3'-methyl ether (2), and a new flavonol glycoside, 6-hydroxy-rutin 3',7-dimethyl ether (3), were isolated from the methanol extract of the fruits of Ruta chalepensis, collected from Diyala, Iraq. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses, including 1D-, 2D-NMR and HRESIMS. Antimicrobial activity of compounds 1-3 was tested against four Gram +ve and Gram –ve bacterial strains, and the only fungal strain, Candida albicans, using the 96-well based resazurin microtitre assay

Madangones A and B, two new neolignans from Beilschmiedia madang Blume and their bioactivities

Two new neolignans, madangones A (1) and B (2), together with (+)-kunstlerone (3), vanillin, vanillic acid, betulin, β-sitosterol and β-sitostenone, were isolated from the stem bark of Beilschmiedia madang (Lauraceae). The structures of the compounds were determined by spectroscopic means. The compounds were tested for antioxidant, acetylcholinesterase inhibitory and anti-inflammatory activities. Compound (3) displayed the strongest DPPH radical-scavenging activity with an IC50 value of 68.7 M. Compound (2) exhibited the highest level of activity on the COX-2 model and acetylcholinesterase inhibition assay, with IC50 values of 27.4 and 70.3 µM, respectively

Chemical Composition, Some Allelopathic Aspects, Free-Radical-Scavenging Property and Antifungal Activity of the Volatile Oil of the Flowering Tops of Leucanthemum vulgare Lam.

Hydrodistillation of the ground flowering tops of Leucanthemum vulgare (Asteraceae), collected from Heyran (Ardabil Province, Iran), afforded a greenish yellow oil (yield 0.15%, v/w), which was analyzed by the GC-MS and the GC-FID. The volatile oil comprised 47 compounds representing 90.3% of the oil. Caryophyllene oxide (21.2%), aromadendrene oxide (13.7%), cis-β-farnesene (6.5%), 1-octen-3-yl-acetate (5.6%) and trans-caryophyllene (4.9%) were the major compounds. The volatile oil composition of L. vulgare collected from Iran (present study) was significantly different from that collected from elsewhere, indicating two possible chemotypes. The volatile oil showed free-radical-scavenging, antifungal and allelopathic effects