Review Article

Vitex Diterpenoids: Structural Diversity and Pharmacological Activity

Author(s):

Yanfei Ban, Tianshuang Xia, Rui Jing, Yaoli Guo, Yiya Geng, Qi Ye* and Chengjian Zheng*   Pages 138 - 159 ( 22 )

Abstract:

Plants of the genus Vitex (Verbenaceae) are mainly distributed throughout tropical and temperate regions, and many Vitex plants have been traditionally used in folk medicine. Plants of this genus are a rich source of diterpenoids, which not only displayed versatile structural diversity with potential chemotaxonomical significance but also exhibited a wide range of biological activities, mainly including in vitro cytotoxic, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, hormone level-regulating and antiangiogenic activities. Recently, a series of bioactive diterpenoids, with interesting carbon skeletons, have been reported and gathered considerable interest. This article systematically reviewed diterpenoids isolated from the genus Vitex that appeared in the literature up to December 2018, critically highlighting their structural diversity and pharmacological activities. Up to now, a total of 154 diterpenoids with diverse structures have been isolated and identified from Vitex plants. The authors also summarized the reported structure-activity relationships of those well explored Vitex diterpenoids. Finally, the authors discussed the challenges and potential applications of these diterpenoids in the future.

Keywords:

Vitex (Verbenaceae), diterpenoids, activity, review, application, chemotaxonomical.

Affiliation:

Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, Department of Biological Science, College of Life Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Road, Fuzhou 350002, Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433

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