Chemical Compounds and Biologic Activities: A Review of Cedrela Genus.

The genus Cedrela P. Browne, which belongs to the Meliaceae family, has eighteen species. Trees of this genus are of economic interest due to wood quality, as well as being the focus of studies because of relevant biologic activities as in other Meliaceae species. These activities are mainly related to limonoids, a characteristic class of compounds in this family. Therefore, the aim of this review is to perform a survey of the citations in the literature on the Cedrela genus species. Articles were found on quantitative and qualitative phytochemical studies of the Cedrela species, revealing the chemical compounds identified, such as aliphatics acid and alcohol, flavonoids, tocopherol, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenes, cycloartanes, steroids, and limonoids. Although some activities were tested, the majority of studies focused on the insecticidal, antifeedant, or insect growth inhibitor activities of this genus. Nonetheless, the most promising activities were related to their antimalarial and antitripanocidal effects, although further investigations are still needed.

Proposed anti-HSV compounds isolated from Simira species.

Secondary metabolites isolated from Simira eleiezeriana and Simira glaziovii were evaluated against herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) and (HSV-2). The 50% effective concentrations values (EC50) were calculated from the dose-response curve and the selectivity index (SI) against the virus. The physicochemical data LogP, (PSA), (NRB), (HBA) and (HBD) were obtained using Marvin Sketch. Among the tested compounds, conipheraldeyde, harman and simirane A showed better results with EC50 6.39; 4.90; 4.61 µg/mL and SI 78.3; 11.8; 7.01, respectively, for HSV-1, and EC50 41.2; 71.8; 3.73 µg/mL and SI 12.1; 24.7; 8.7, respectively, for HSV-2. The percentage of inhibition (PI) obtained for HSV-1 were higher than 60%, and for HSV-2 these compounds showed PI > 90%. The physical chemical data showed that the most active compounds satisfy the attributes for drugs with good oral bioavailability.

New triterpene glycoside and other chemical constituents from the leaves of Swartzia apetala Raddi var. glabra.

A new triterpene saponin (1) was isolated from a methanol extract of Swartzia apetala Raddi var. glabra, together with the flavonoids mauritianin (2), kaempferol (3) and the triterpene saponin ß-D-glucopyranosyl 3ß-hydroxy-olean-12-en-28-oate (4). These compounds were characterised on the basis of their spectral data, mainly one-dimension (1D; (1)H, (13)C, APT) and two-dimension (2D; (1)H-(1)H-COSY, HMQC and HMBC) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and HR-ESI-MS, and comparison with values in the literature. The analysis by HR-ESI-MS showed a mass compatible with that of triterpene saponin 1. This proposal was supported by molecular modelling. LC-HR-ESI-MS experiment was also used to evaluate the purity of 1 and allowed to speculate about the possibility of the presence of 5 in very small quantity. The extract and four compounds were assayed for antifungal activity against nine strains of Candida spp.

Simiranes A and B: erythroxylanes diterpenes and other compounds from Simira eliezeriana (Rubiaceae).

The first phytochemical study of Simira eliezeriana Peixoto (Rubiaceae) allowed the isolation and structural determination of two new diterpenes named simirane A [(5R,6R,8R,9R,10S,11S,13S)-6ß,11ß-dihydroxy-2,4(18),15-erythroxylatrien-1-one] (1) and simirane B [(5S,8R,9R,10S,11S,13S)-11ß-hydroxy-2,4(18),15-erythroxylatrien-1-one] (2), together with seven known compounds: sitosterol (3), stigmasterol (4), campesterol (5), coniferaldehyde (6), vanillin (7), pinoresinol (8) and harman (9) from the bark of the plant. The structures of the compounds were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods, including 1-D and 2-D NMR, HRESI-MS and CD analysis and comparisons with available literature data of known compounds.