RESUMO
Phytol (3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadec-2-en-1-ol), a diterpene member of long and ramified chain of unsaturated acyclic alcohols. The objective of study was to conduct a systematic review of this diterpene and its pharmaceutical applications in Nervous System diseases in humans and/or rodents. Periodicals bases, such as ScienceDirect and PubMed, were used, as well as technological basis of European Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Derwent Innovations Index(®), Latin American Bank of Patents and data base of Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial (INPI-National Institute of Industrial Property). The software EndNote-X5 was utilized as reference with the keywords: phytol, anxiolytic, antidepressant and anticonvulsant and their correlations in English, Spanish and Portuguese from January 2003 to June 2014. There are many publications on phytol in international literature. However, there is a reduced number of articles related to pharmacological activities proposed here. In reference to technological bases, patents present a wide range of pharmacological and commercial applications as cosmetics, hypolipodemic, anxiolytic and antidepressant. Therefore, it is necessary to explore phytol molecules, which present high pharmacological potential from scientific and technological points of view, in search of transference of technologies to generate economical and industrial growth.