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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Mikio Nishizawa

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Guest Editor

Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan
Interests: molecular biology; biochemistry; pharmacology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

From the various parts of medicinal plants, such as flowers, fruits, leaves, and roots, bioactive compounds are purified and characterized. These natural compounds have been used as crude drugs in traditional medicine in Asia, including China, Japan (Kampo medicine), India (Ayurveda), and Indonesia (Jamu). In crude drugs, there are major constituents, which are included at a high content, and principal constituents, which exhibit pharmacological activities. Although the latter function in vitro and in vivo (animals and humans), they are not well elucidated. This Special Issue covers research on the natural bioactive compounds that are included in crude drugs of traditional medicine. This includes both structural and functional analyses of the constituents, including major constituents and principal constituents, especially in Kampo medicine and Jamu.

Prof. Dr. Mikio Nishizawa
Guest Editor

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Keywords

natural product
medicinal plant
traditional medicine
bioactive molecule
crude drug

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1556 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of the Volatile Constituents of Plai (Zingiber purpureum) by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

by Yuto Nishidono, Azis Saifudin and Ken Tanaka

Molecules 2024, 29(6), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29061216 - 08 Mar 2024

Viewed by 812

Abstract

Zingiber purpureum Roscoe, known as plai in Thailand, is a perennial plant of the Zingiberaceae family and has traditionally been used in Southeast Asian countries to treat inflammation, pain, and asthma. In this study, we performed the characterization of the volatile constituents in ethyl acetate extracts of plai. Ethyl acetate extracts derived from the rhizomes of plai were subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, and the key peaks in the total ion current chromatograms were annotated or identified. In total, twenty-one compounds were identified using isolation procedures or standards, and nine compounds were annotated by comparing their Kovats retention index (RI) and electron ionization (EI) mass spectra with those in the literature. Most of the identifications were inconsistent with the tentative annotations found via library search and suggested that some peaks were incorrectly assigned in previous studies. Thus, to avoid further misannotations and contribute to the research on dereplication, the RI value, EI mass spectral data, and NMR spectroscopy data of the isolated compounds are reported. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Bioactive Compounds from Traditional Asian Plants)

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Review

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43 pages, 12336 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Advances in Chemistry and Antioxidant/Anticancer Biology of Monoterpene and Meroterpenoid Natural Product

by Benedict J. Barras, Taotao Ling and Fatima Rivas

Molecules 2024, 29(1), 279; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29010279 - 04 Jan 2024

Viewed by 1711

Abstract

Monoterpenes and meroterpenes are two large classes of isoprene-based molecules produced by terrestrial plants and unicellular organisms as diverse secondary metabolites. The global rising incidence of cancer has led to a renewed interest in natural products. These monoterpenes and meroterpenes represent a novel source of molecular scaffolds that can serve as medicinal chemistry platforms for the development of potential preclinical leads. Furthermore, some of these natural products are either abundant, or their synthetic strategies are scalable as it will be indicated here, facilitating their derivatization to expand their scope in drug discovery. This review is a collection of representative updates (from 2016–2023) in biologically active monoterpene and meroterpenoid natural products and focuses on the recent findings of the pharmacological potential of these bioactive compounds as well as the newly developed synthetic strategies employed to access them. Particular emphasis will be placed on the anticancer and antioxidant potential of these compounds in order to raise knowledge for further investigations into the development of potential anti-cancer therapeutics. The mounting experimental evidence from various research groups across the globe regarding the use of these natural products at pre-clinical levels, renders them a fast-track research area worth of attention. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Bioactive Compounds from Traditional Asian Plants)

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