Ricerc@Sapienza

In this review article, the occurrence of harpagide in the plant kingdom and its associated biological activities are presented and detailed for the first time. The presence of harpagide has been reported in several botanical families within Asteridae, and harpagide has been observed to exert a wide number of biological activities such as cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective. These results show how harpagide can be recovered from several natural sources for several pharmacological purposes even if there is a lot to still be studied.

In this work, the first phytochemical analysis on Cephalanthus glabratus (Spreng.) K.Schum. regarding its composition in iridoids was reported. The analysis was carried out by following current usual methodologies in the extraction, separation and identification procedures. Four compounds were isolated, i.e., the iridoid loganin (1) and the seco-iridoids sweroside (2), secologanin (3) and secoxyloganin (4). Their presence allowed to provide important confirmations about the chemotaxonomy of the genus and the family this species belongs to.

In this work, a phytochemical study performed on the leaves of the rare species, Wollemia nobilis W.G. Jones, K.D. Hill & J.M. Allen, is reported. By means of classical column chromatography and NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry, nine compounds were evidenced. These were: pheophorbide a (1), isocupressic acid (2), acetyl-isocupressic acid (3), sandaracopimaric acid (4), agathic acid (5), 7-4'-4'''-tri-O-methyl-agathisflavone (6), 7-4'-7''-4'''-tetra-O-methyl-agathisflavone (7), caffeic acid (8) and shikimic acid (9).

In this work, a phytochemical analysis on the total aerial parts of Galeopsis ladanum subsp. angustifolia (Ehrh. ex Hoffm.) Gaudin collected in Abruzzo region (Central Italy) has been reported. Nine compounds were identified belonging to five different classes of natural compounds. Additional chemotaxonomic markers were recognized than our previous study, as well. Their presence is perfectly in accordance with the current botanical classification of the species and shows the possibility of a pronounced metabolic variability.

In this paper a comprehensive phytochemical analysis of the ethanolic extract obtained from a sample of Teucrum polium collected in Southern Iran is reported. Several phenolic components were identified such as flavonoids and phenylethanoid glycosides which together resulted to be the principal components of the extract. In particular, these compounds were cirsilineol (1), apigenin 7-O-rutinoside (isorhoifolin) (2), cirsimaritin (4), diosmetin (5), apigenin (6), cirsiliol (7) and, lastly, poliumoside (3).

This work reports the phytochemical analysis of the ethanolic extract obtained from the leaves of Agathis robusta (C. Moore ex F. Muell.) F.M.Bailey. The methodology utilised during this study comprised classical chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Six compounds were identified: agathisflavone (1), 7?-O-methyl-agathisflavone (2), cupressuflavone (3), rutin (4), shikimic acid (5) and (2S)-1,2-Di-O- [(9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoyl]-3-O-?-d-galactopyranosyl glycerol (6).

Background: The phytochemical analysis of Stachys alopecuros subsp. divulsa, an endemic Italian species, has been recently reported and has showed the presence of 8-O-acetylharpagide (2), harpagide (3), allobetonicoside (4), and 4?-O-galactopyranosyl-teuhircoside (5). In this paper, an in deep study of its glycosidic fraction with the aim to widen the knowledge on its secondary metabolites content is reported.

In this study, a phytochemical analysis was performed, for the first time, on Iris marsica I. Ricci e Colas. In particular, the attention was focused on the constituents of the roots. Twenty-one compounds were isolated by column chromatography and were analyzed/identified by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.

The analysis of metabolites contained in the male cones of Wollemia nobilis was investigated for the first time in this study. Several diterpenoids of chemosystematic relevance were recognized for the first time from the genus and/ or from the Araucariaceae family, namely isocupressic acid (1), acetyl-isocupressic acid (2), methyl (E)-communate (3) and sandaracopimaric acid (4). All these terpenoids are also endowed with interesting biological activities and may play a primary role in the self defence toward herbivores.

The study of the monoterpene glycosides content of Odontites luteus has shown the presence of a total of fifteen iridoid glucosides. The presence of compounds (1-5) and (7-10) is perfectly on-line with both the biogenetic pathway for iridoids biosynthesis in Lamiales and the current botanical classification of the species.