New Lignans and Their Biological Activities

Abstract

Lignans, which are widely distributed in higher plants, represent a vast and rather diverse group of phenylpropane derivatives. They have attracted considerable attention due to their pharmacological activities. Some of the lignans have been developed approved therapeutics, and others are considered as lead structures for new drugs. This article is based on our previous review of lignans discovered in the period 2000-2004, and it provides a comprehensive compilation of the 354 new naturally occurring lignans obtained from 61 plant families between 2005 and 2011. We classified five main types according to their structural features, and provided the details of their sources, some typical structures, and diverse biological activities. A tabular compilation of the novel lignans by species is presented at the end. A total of 144 references were considered for this review.

Accumulation and Secretion of Coumarinolignans and other Coumarins in Arabidopsis thaliana Roots in Response to Iron Deficiency at High pH

“…Among the plant-derived fraxetin derivatives known so far (Begum et al, 2010; Zhang et al, 2014), six coumarinolignans have elemental formulae consistent with those of compounds 14 – 18 , including cleomiscosins A, B, C (also known as aquillochin) and D, first isolated and identified in seeds of Cleome viscosa (a common weed of the Capparidaceae family), and 5′-hydroxycleomiscosins A (also known as 5′-demethylaquillochin) and B, first isolated from Mallotus apelta roots and Eurycorymbus cavaleriei twigs, respectively. Cleomiscosins C and D (regioisomers -also called constitutional isomers- arising from the fusion of fraxetin and the monolignol sinapyl alcohol through a dioxane bridge; Figure 1C ) have a formula identical to that of 15 – 16 (C 21 H 20 O 9 ), cleomiscosins A and B (regioisomers arising from the fusion of fraxetin and the monolignol coniferyl alcohol through a dioxane bridge; Figure 1C ) have a formula identical to that of 17 - 18 (C 20 H 18 O 8 ), whereas 5′-hydroxycleomiscosins A and B (regioisomers arising from the fusion of fraxetin and the monolignol hydroxyconiferyl alcohol, Cheng and Chen, 2000, Figure 1C ), have a formula identical to that of compound 14 (C 20 H 18 O 9 ).…”

Natural Products with Antischistosomal Activity

“…They have attracted the attention of many researchers over the years as a result of the variety of their chemical structures and their broad range of biological activities [55,99]. The neolignan (±)-licarin A (32) and its enantiomer (-)-enantiomer (33) are active in vitro against Schistosoma mansoni adult worms, whereas (+)-enantiomer (34) did not show activity [55].…”

Antagonism of human formyl peptide receptor 1 with natural compounds and their synthetic derivatives

“…Lignans are of clinical interest because of their numerous pharmacological properties, such as the antitumor, hepatoprotective, estrogenic, antihypertensive, antifungal, sedative, and antioxidant activities, as well as their ability to inhibit platelet activating factor (PAF) (reviewed in [121]). Several plant-derived lignans have been evaluated for their ability to inhibit f MLF-induced functional responses in neutrophils.…”