Secondary Metabolites of Plants from the Genus Chloranthus: Chemistry and Biological Activities

Abstract

Chloranthus, a genus of the family Chloranthaceae, which is mainly distributed in eastern and southern Asia, has been used in Chinese folk medicine due to its antitumor, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory activities. This review compiles the research on isolation, structure elucidation, structural diversity, and bioactivities of Chloranthus secondary metabolites reported between 2007 and 2013. The metabolites listed encompass 82 sesquiterpenoids, 50 dimeric sesquiterpenoids, 15 diterpenoids, one coumarin, and five other compounds. Among them, dimeric sesquiterpenoids, the characteristic components of plants from the genus Chloranthus, have attracted considerable attention due to their complex structures and significant biological features, e.g., antitumor, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective activities, and potent and selective inhibition of the delayed rectifier (IK) K(+) current and tyrosinase.

Atypical Lindenane-Type Sesquiterpenes from Lindera myrrha

“…This observation is in line with precedents having outlined the inherent instability of lindenane ring system [16,17], which was occasionally reported in the course of former phytochemical investigations [18]. Despite the lack of spectroscopic evidence, the consensual β-orientation of both the methyl and cyclopropyl functions not only in Lindera species [2], but also within the Chloranthaceae plants that produce a much higher number of these sesquiterpenes [19,20], gave strong support to the preferred absolute configuration depicted in Figure 1.…”

Antimicrobial activity of puffball(Bovistella radicata) and separation of bioactive compounds

“…Steroid saponins have been reported to possess a wide range of biological activities including antibacterial (Gan et al 2014), antifungal (Wang et al 2015), immuno inhibitory (Nunez 1988). The bioactivity of steroidal is due to the presence of a steroid nucleus in its structure, which can be damage to the membrane and leakage of cellular materials, ultimately leading to bacteria and fungus death (Moulin-Traffort et al 1998).…”

A unified strategy toward total syntheses of lindenane sesquiterpenoid [4 + 2] dimers

“…The dimeric lindenane sesquiterpenoids are a group of biologically active complex natural products mainly isolated from the plants of Chloranthaceae family. Structurally, these [4 + 2] dimers possess congested frameworks of at least eight rings decorated by more than 11 stereogenic centers 1–3 . Three types (types 1–3, Fig.…”