The members of the Prangos genus (Apiaceae) have been widely applied in the Iranian traditional medicine internally and externally for different purposes. The aim of this review is to summarize the ethnomedicinal and food applications of Prangos species and to gather the phytochemical and pharmacological data on this genus. Among the 129 constituents isolated from Prangos species, coumarin derivatives are the main compounds. Several papers report the compositions of essential oils obtained from different plant parts, mostly containing monoterpene and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. Various pharmacological activities of essential oils, crude extracts or isolated compounds of the Prangos species have been observed, primarily in in vitro experiments. Antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and anti-proliferative activities have been the most extensively studied. The efficacy and safety of Prangos plants have not been assessed in animal experiments or clinical trials. Although their furocoumarin content might be a source of adverse effects, toxic effects of Prangos species have not been reported. It can be concluded, that further preclinical and clinical data are necessary to assess the rationale and safety of the medicinal and food use of Prangos species. Keywords Coumarins Á Ethnobotanical Á Functional foods Á Pharmacological properties Á Prangos Abbreviations A2780S Human ovarian carcinoma cell line A375 Human melanoma cell line A431 Human epidermoid carcinoma cell line A549 Human lung cell line ABTS 2,2 0-SzinobisAzino-bis-(3ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonate) ACE Angiotensin-converting enzyme AChE Acetylcholinesterase enzyme AE Acarbose equivalent BChE Butyryl-cholinesterase enzyme BHK 21 Baby hamster kidney fibroblast cell line Caco-2 Human colon cancer cell line CCL-221 Human colorectal cancer cell line COX-1 Cyclooxygenase enzyme type 1 COX-2 Cyclooxygenase enzyme type 2 CUPRAC Cupric ion reducing activity DEET N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide DPPH 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl EO Essential oil FRAP Ferric reducing antioxidant power GE Galanthamine equivalent GST Glutathione-S-transferase Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Medicinal plants have a wide range of secondary metabolites including monoterpene. These volatile compounds are the main components of essential oils, belonging to the isoprenoid group and possessing valuable features for plants and humans. This review provides comprehensive information on chemical structures and classification of monoterpenes. It describes their biosynthesis pathways and introduces plant families and species rich in noteworthy monoterpenes. Bio-activities, pharmacological and pesticide effects as well as their mechanism of action are reported. Applications of these compounds in various industries are also included.

Many flavonoids, as eminent phenolic compounds, have been commercialized and consumed as dietary supplements due to their incredible human health benefits. In the present study, a bioactive flavone glycoside linarin (LN) was designated to comprehensively overview its phytochemical and biological properties. LN has been characterized abundantly in the Cirsium, Micromeria, and Buddleja species belonging to Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, and Scrophulariaceae families, respectively. Biological assessments exhibited promising activities of LN, particularly, the remedial effects on central nervous system (CNS) disorders, whereas the remarkable sleep enhancing and sedative effects as well as AChE (acetylcholinesterase) inhibitory activity were highlighted. Of note, LN has indicated promising anti osteoblast proliferation and differentiation, thus a bone formation effect. Further biological and pharmacological assessments of LN and its optimized semi-synthetic derivatives, specifically its therapeutic characteristics on osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, might lead to uncovering potential drug candidates.

Flavonoids are considered one of the most diverse phenolic compounds possessing several valuable health benefits. The present study aimed at gathering all correlated reports, in which Sephadex® LH-20 (SLH) has been utilized as the final step to isolate or purify of flavonoid derivatives among all plant families. Overall, 189 flavonoids have been documented, while the majority were identified from the Asteraceae, Moraceae, and Poaceae families. Application of SLH has led to isolate 79 flavonols, 63 flavones, and 18 flavanones. Homoisoflavanoids, and proanthocyanidins have only been isolated from the Asparagaceae and Lauraceae families, respectively, while the Asteraceae was the richest in flavones possessing 22 derivatives. Six flavones, four flavonols, three homoisoflavonoids, one flavanone, a flavanol, and an isoflavanol have been isolated as the new secondary metabolites. This technique has been able to isolate quercetin from 19 plant species, along with its 31 derivatives. Pure methanol and in combination with water, chloroform, and dichloromethane have generally been used as eluents. This comprehensive review provides significant information regarding to remarkably use of SLH in isolation and purification of flavonoids from all the plant families; thus, it might be considered an appreciable guideline for further phytochemical investigation of these compounds.

Matricaria chamomilla L. is a popular medicinal herb that is used for healing various diseases and is widely distributed worldwide in temperate climate zones, and even in the subtropical climate of Southern and Western Iran. This study was aimed at comparing the volatile oil constituents, along with antiradical potential and HPLC analysis of methanolic extracts from twelve plant samples growing in Iran. The present research was carried out for the first time on these populations. Among seventeen identified volatile chemicals evaluated by GC/MS and GC/FID, representing 92.73–97.71% of the total oils, α-bisabolone oxide A (45.64–65.41%) was the major constituent, except in case of “Sarableh” as a new chemotype, where (E)- and (Z)-γ-bisabolene (42.76 and 40.08%, respectively) were the predominant components. Oxygenated sesquiterpenes (53.31–74.52%) were the most abundant compounds in the samples excluding “Sarableh” with 91.3% sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. “Sarableh” also exerted the most potent antioxidant capacity with EC50 = 7.76 ± 0.3 µg/mL and 6.51 ± 0.63 mmol TE (Trolox® equivalents)/g. In addition, populations “Lali” and “Bagh Malek” contained the highest amounts of apigenin and luteolin with 1.19 ± 0.01 mg/g and 2.20 ± 0.0 mg/g of plant material, respectively. Our findings depict a clear correlation between phytochemical profiles and antiradical potential of M. chamomilla and geographical factors.