Phytochemical investigation of the dichloromethane extract of the dried roots of Ferula badrakema resulted in the identification of one new and six known compounds. Known compounds were sesquiterpene coumarins: mogoltacin, feselol, badrakemin acetate, ferocaulidin, conferone and conferol acetate. The new compound was a sesquiterpene, named badrakemonin. The structures of these compounds were el...

Sesquiterpene lactones are a large group of natural compounds, found primarily in plants of Asteraceae family, with over 5000 structures reported to date. Within this family, genus Artemisia is very well represented, having approximately 500 species characterized by the presence of eudesmanolides and guaianolides, especially highly oxygenated ones, and rarely of germacranolides. Sesquiterpene l...

Feverfew is a traditional herbal remedy for a wide range of medical conditions, including migraine and arthritis1−4. The plant contains a large number of natural products, but the active principles probably include one or more of the sesquiterpene lactones known to be present, including parthenolide (Figure 1)5−6. Feverfew can be taken in a variety of forms, including the raw leaf or tablets or...

Plants have a long history as therapeutics in the treatment of human diseases and have been a continuous source of inspiration for the development of new medicines. Among them, the genus Inula (Asteraceae) comprisesmore than 100 species, many of which are widely used in traditional medicine for a variety of biological purposes including anti-inammatory, anti-cancer and antibacterial activities...

The title compound, C(19)H(24)O(6), is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from the Kenyan plant Warburgia ugandensis. Ring A adopts a chair conformation, ring B is in a C(2) twist conformation and the lactone ring is nearly planar with maximum deviation 0.007 (1) Å. The reported absolute configuration is based on that of the similar compound bromo-parasiticolide A and is supported by analysis of ...

Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas' disease, which is a major endemic disease in Latin America and is recognized by the WHO as one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases in the world. Psilostachyin and psilostachyin C, two sesquiterpene lactones isolated from Ambrosia spp., have been demonstrated to have trypanocidal activity. Considering both the potential therapeutic targets pr...

Polygonum minus is an aromatic plant, which contains high abundance of terpenoids, especially the sesquiterpenes C15H24. Sesquiterpenes were believed to contribute to the many useful biological properties in plants. This study aimed to functionally characterize a full length sesquiterpene synthase gene from P. minus. P. minus sesquiterpene synthase (PmSTS) has a complete open reading frame (ORF...

Natural compounds represent a rich and promising source of novel, biologically active chemical entities for treating leishmaniasis. Sesquiterpene lactones are a recognized class of terpenoids with a wide spectrum of biological activities, including activity against Leishmania spp. In this work, a sesquiterpene lactone-rich preparation-a leaf rinse extract (LRE) from Tithonia diversifolia-was te...

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone produced by Artemisia annua glandular secretory trichomes, is the active ingredient in the most effective treatment for malaria currently available. We identified a mutation that disrupts the amorpha-4,11-diene C-12 oxidase (CYP71AV1) enzyme, responsible for a series of oxidation reactions in the artemisinin biosynthetic pathway. Detailed metabolic studies o...

A role for calcium/calcium-binding proteins in a mechanism of signaling elicitor-inducible phytoalexin biosynthesis was investigated. Two classes of calcium/calmodulin antagonists, phenothiazines and naphthalenesulfonamides, inhibited sesquiterpene phytoalexin accumulation in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cell-suspension cultures when added 1 h before elicitor. The antagonists also inhibited the ...