Two new phenolic compounds and some biological activities of Scorzonera pygmaea Sibth. & Sm. subaerial parts

The genus Scorzonera L. (Asteraceae): A comprehensive review on traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, chemotaxonomy, and other applications

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The genus Scorzonera L. comprises of approximately 175 species, which are mainly distributed in temperate and arid regions of Central Europe, Central Asia, and Africa. Twenty-nine Scorzonera traditional ethnomedicines have been used for treating colds and fevers, pulmonary diseases, asthma, dyspepsia, malignant stomach neoplasia, liver disorder, jaundice, kidney diseases, mastitis, women's vaginitis, herpes zoster, poisonous ulcers, rheumatic pain, diabetic, atherosclerosis, headache, hypertension, dysentery, pregnant vomiting, snakebites, etc. AIM OF THE REVIEW: This review aims to systematically evaluate the genus Scorzonera over its ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology, discuss the relationship between traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological properties, and put forward some suggestions to promote further development and utilization of Scorzonera.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This review is based on published scientific research works obtained from the following databases: Elsevier, Web of Science, PubMed, Springer, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Google Scholar, CNKI, Baidu Scholar, ResearchGate, and others (the Flora of China, 1997 edition; Chinese herbal books, PhD dissertation and Master thesis in Chinese).

RESULTS

The genus 81 Scorzonera plants have been studied for their traditional usage, phytochemistry, and pharmacology. Altogether 421 chemical constituents are isolated from the 54 species of Scorzonera, which include sesquiterpenoids, monoterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenoids, steroids, quinic acid derivatives, flavonoids, cumarinoids, lignanoids, phenylpropanoids, stilbene derivatives, benzylphthalides, kava lactones, phenolics, aliphatic acids, phthalic acids, alkanes, vitamins, sugars, alkaloids, and other constitutes. Besides those listed above, there are also volatile oils, polysaccharides, tannins, amino acids, enzymes, and inorganic elements. The extracts and compounds extracted from 55 Scorzonera species exhibit extensive pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, wound healing, anti-cancer, hepatoprotective, anti-microbial, anti-ulcerogenic, antidiarrheal, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, repairing cerebral ischemia, antidepressant, immunomodulatory activities, enzyme inhibitory effects, etc. Clinical applications strongly indicate that certain species are effective in treating herpes zoster and pregnancy resistance. Certain species are studied over applicationssuch as pharmacokinetic and histological distribution, and toxicity, the product extraction process, quick-freezing processing technology, synthesized metabolites, etc. Chemotaxonomy is also discussed on Scorzonera.

CONCLUSION

This review provides information on traditional usage, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, chemotaxonomy, other applications aspects, and future prospects of the genus Scorzonera. However, only around one third of Scorzonera species have been studied so far. This review may be used as the basis for future endeavors, including further biological and chemical investigations, and efforts of seeking more applications.

Two new dihydroisocoumarins and terpenoids from Scorzonera longiana Sümbül an endemic species to Turkey and their antimicrobial activity

Two new dihydroisocoumarins (scorzolongin I (1), and scorzolongin II (2)) and nine known compounds (3',5'-dimethoxy hydrangenol (scorzolongin III, 3), cladantholide (4), dammar-24-ene-3β-ol (5), taraxasterol (6), β-sitosterol (7), mangifgerursanone (8), and a mixture of α-amyrenone (9a), β-amyrenone (9b), and dammar-24-ene-3-one (9c) in about 1:1:2 ratio) were identified from the dichloromethane fraction of Scorzonera longiana. The structure of all compounds (1-9a-c) were elucidated by extensive 1D and 2D NMR (¹H, ¹³C/APT, COSY, HMBC, HSQC, and NOESY) spectroscopy, UV, FT-IR, and LC-QTOF-MS data and by comparison of their NMR data with the literature. These compounds have been isolated from S. longiana for the first time. An antimicrobial assay against eight microorganisms was applied to isolated compounds 1-3. Scorzolongin I, and scorzolongin II, and scorzolongin III showed notable activity against gram (-) (Escherichia coli and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis) and fungi (Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with 20 mm inhibition zone each. Scorzolongin II (2) exhibited strong activity against E. coli, Y. pseudotuberculosis, Mycobacterium smegmatis C. albicans, S. cerevisiae with MIC value of 33.8 μg/mL.

The phenolic profile and biological activities of common Scorzonera species from Eastern Anatolia

The present study focused on chemical composition and base therapeutic potential of common Scorzonera species (Scorzonera mollis, Scorzonera papposa, and Scorzonera semicana), which have been utilized as food and medicine by local people of Eastern Anatolia for a long time. Comparative analytical studies were performed on ethanol-based extracts and traditional preparations (infusions) through chromatographic (HPLC-MS/MS) and reagent-based antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory assays. Results revelated that extracts were rich in phenolics, particularly hydroxycinnamic acids that were confirmed by HPLC-MS/MS, chlorogenic acids and luteolin are the major phytochemical compounds of extracts. With regards to biological activities findings, it was determined that ethanol-based extracts showed better antioxidant activities and effectively suppressed the activities of α-glucosidase. In addition, both of the extracts were found as strong suppressive agents of pancreatic lipase activity so Scorzonera species were rich sources of bioactive compounds that able to deactivate reactive oxygen species and free radicals and as well as suppress the activities of α-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase. Finally, obtained findings reveal base data of Scorzonera species for researches that focused on novel candidates of nutraceuticals and biotherapeutics.

Terpenoid and Fatty Acid Profiling Along with Anti-tyrosinase and Anti-urease Potentials of Scorzonera pygmaea Sibth. & Sm. an Endemic Plant of Turkey

Petroleum ether (PE), chloroform (CH), ethyl acetate (EA) and n-butanol (BU) fractions were obtained from ethanol extracts of the roots (SPR) and the above ground (SPH) parts of S. pygmaea. PE fractions were evaluated by GC-MS for profiling the terpenoids and the fatty acids of the plant. 29 compounds in total including saturated (major palmitic acid), unsaturated (major linoleic acid) fatty acids and triterpenes were tentatively determined. Short-term extraction methods might be preferred to avoid esterification of fatty acids. Phytochemical profiles of SPR-PE and SPH-PE were found to be similar to each other and to other few Scorzonera species reported previously. These results will contribute to the chemotaxonomic studies about the genus which is considered taxonomically complex genus. Activity studies were carried out using kojic acid (87.10% inhibition) standard for tyrosinase and thiourea (95.83% inhibition) standard for urease. SPR-CH was determined as the most potent fraction with 55.94% and 55.10% inhibition of tyrosinase and urease respectively at the same concentration of the standards (200 microgram/mL). These moderate results might be considered encouraging for more detailed studies to determine the active compounds and to evaluate the plant's potential in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries in terms of tyrosinase and urease inhibition.

A new quinic acid derivative with α-glucosidase inhibitory activity from the fruit of Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis

A new quinic acid derivative (1) along with seven known compounds (2-8) were isolated from the fruit of Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis. All the structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of the analysis of multiple spectroscopic data. The α-glucosidase inhibitory effects of the isolated compounds were investigated. The results showed that compounds 1-3, 6, and 8 have moderate α-glucosidase inhibitory activities.

Phytochemical Composition and Biological Activities of Scorzonera Species

The genus Scorzonera comprises nearly 200 species, naturally occurring in Europe, Asia, and northern parts of Africa. Plants belonging to the Scorzonera genus have been a significant part of folk medicine in Asia, especially China, Mongolia, and Turkey for centuries. Therefore, they have become the subject of research regarding their phytochemical composition and biological activity. The aim of this review is to present and assess the phytochemical composition, and bioactive potential of species within the genus Scorzonera. Studies have shown the presence of many bioactive compounds like triterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, flavonoids, or caffeic acid and quinic acid derivatives in extracts obtained from aerial and subaerial parts of the plants. The antioxidant and cytotoxic properties have been evaluated, together with the mechanism of anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and hepatoprotective activity. Scorzonera species have also been investigated for their activity against several bacteria and fungi strains. Despite mild cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines in vitro, the bioactive properties in wound healing therapy and the treatment of microbial infections might, in perspective, be the starting point for the research on Scorzonera species as active agents in medical products designed for miscellaneous skin conditions.

New chlorogenic acid derivatives and triterpenoids from Scorzonera aucheriana

Chromatographic separation ofn-hexane and ethyl acetate fraction of a crude methanol extract obtained from aerial parts of theScorzonera aucherianaDC collected from Sivas province of Turkey yielded nine natural compounds; two new 3-caffeoyl-quinic acid analogs (1-2), one new taraxasterol oleate (3), and six known triterpenoids taraxasterol (4), taraxasterol acetate (5), ptiloepoxide (6), lupeol (7), lupeol acetate (8), andβ-sitosterol (9) were characterized. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of NMR (¹H,¹³C, COSY, HMBC, HSQC, and TOCSY), UV, FT-IR and LC-Q-TOF-MS spectrometric data.