Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Plants in Myanmar
225
O
Ph
O
OH
HO
dihydroxy-4phenylcoumarin
pyridine, 110°C, 10 h
224 (mammea A/AC cyclo D)
O
O
Ph
O
OH
O
O
O
dioxane, BF 3 -etherate,
50°C, 90 min
223 (mammea A/AC)
O
Ph
O
OH
O
HO
HO
Scheme 7 Synthesis of mammea A/AC (223) and mammea A/AC cyclo D (224)
4 Conclusions
Human health and well-being are to a great extent directly dependent on biodiversity.
The southeast Asian country of Myanmar has a high level of biodiversity distributed
within a wide variety of habitats, including lowland tropical forests, mangroves,
and marine ecosystems. Various species of medicinal plants occur in Myanmar, and
local inhabitants have been using these plants for a long time based on traditional
knowledge forwarded through generations. In drug discovery, it is becoming a challenging scientific task to find robust and viable lead molecule candidates, and one
approach to this process flows from the screening of natural product extracts to new
isolates, which requires expertise and experience. Natural products have afforded
key compounds in drug discovery and development in the past. Anticancer drugs
such as Taxol (paclitaxel; Taxus brevifolia) and vinblastine (Catharanthus roseus)
and antimalarial drugs such as quinine (Cinchona spp.) and artemisinin (Artemisia
annua) were all discovered from plant-derived natural products and they or their
synthetic derivatives are effective in treating the respective diseases mentioned above.
During the last two decades (2000–2020), scientists from Myanmar, Japan, Germany,
and Korea have investigated medicinal plant samples found in Myanmar that are
constituents of local traditional medicinal preparations. Of these, after screening, 29
samples were found to be active in the respective bioassay system or systems used.
Altogether, 433 compounds were obtained from these active samples, of which 147
compounds were characterized as new compounds at the time of their initial isolation, and their structures were published in international peer-reviewed journals.
The types of compounds to have been discovered are classifiable into monoterpene
225
O
Ph
O
OH
HO
dihydroxy-4phenylcoumarin
pyridine, 110°C, 10 h
224 (mammea A/AC cyclo D)
O
O
Ph
O
OH
O
O
O
dioxane, BF 3 -etherate,
50°C, 90 min
223 (mammea A/AC)
O
Ph
O
OH
O
HO
HO
Scheme 7 Synthesis of mammea A/AC (223) and mammea A/AC cyclo D (224)
4 Conclusions
Human health and well-being are to a great extent directly dependent on biodiversity.
The southeast Asian country of Myanmar has a high level of biodiversity distributed
within a wide variety of habitats, including lowland tropical forests, mangroves,
and marine ecosystems. Various species of medicinal plants occur in Myanmar, and
local inhabitants have been using these plants for a long time based on traditional
knowledge forwarded through generations. In drug discovery, it is becoming a challenging scientific task to find robust and viable lead molecule candidates, and one
approach to this process flows from the screening of natural product extracts to new
isolates, which requires expertise and experience. Natural products have afforded
key compounds in drug discovery and development in the past. Anticancer drugs
such as Taxol (paclitaxel; Taxus brevifolia) and vinblastine (Catharanthus roseus)
and antimalarial drugs such as quinine (Cinchona spp.) and artemisinin (Artemisia
annua) were all discovered from plant-derived natural products and they or their
synthetic derivatives are effective in treating the respective diseases mentioned above.
During the last two decades (2000–2020), scientists from Myanmar, Japan, Germany,
and Korea have investigated medicinal plant samples found in Myanmar that are
constituents of local traditional medicinal preparations. Of these, after screening, 29
samples were found to be active in the respective bioassay system or systems used.
Altogether, 433 compounds were obtained from these active samples, of which 147
compounds were characterized as new compounds at the time of their initial isolation, and their structures were published in international peer-reviewed journals.
The types of compounds to have been discovered are classifiable into monoterpene