Pharmacological activities and phytochemistry of various plant containing coumarin derivatives

ISSN: 2410-8790 Asif, M., / Current Science Perspectives 1(3) (2015) 77-90 www.iscientic.org www.bosaljournals/csp/ 78 [email protected] on the traditional knowledge of medicinal plant use (Cox 1994). These compounds have made many plants useful also for humans for instance as spices, medicines etc. Natural coumarins, like other unsaturated lactones, may exert various effects on living organisms, both in plants and in animals. In view of their established low toxicity, relative cheapness, presence in the diet and occurrence in various herbal remedies, it appears important to evaluate the properties and applications of coumarins further utilising an ethnobotanical approach. Coumarins: Coumarins are derivatives of 5,6-benzo-2-pirone (α-chromone) (with OH, OCH3 or CH3 substituents on the benzoic ring). The simple coumarins, C-prenylated and Oprenylated forms exist. As derivatives of simple coumarins, other compounds are known, such as furanocoumarins, which include a furanic ring, linear pyranocoumarins, angular pyranocoumarins, dimeric coumarins, of which dicoumarol is an example and also furanochromones. Historically, the ability of dicoumarol to inhibit blood clotting, that later led to the development of the anticoagulant drug warfarin, was the first call to this class of compounds’ biological properties. Several biological activities have been reported in natural-occurring coumarins, from photo sensitizers to vasodilatation. Recently, the interest has been given to synthetic derivatives of coumarins, such as fluorinated and 1-azo coumarins, which displayed moderate analgesia properties, and excellent anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activities (Kalkhambkar et al. 2008). (Pereira et al. 2009).