Traditional Chinese medicine Euodiae Fructus: botany, traditional use, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and quality control

Euodiae Fructus, referred to as "Wuzhuyu" in Chinese, has been used as local and traditional herbal medicines in many regions, especially in China, Japan and Korea, for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, headache, emesis, aphtha, dermatophytosis, dysentery, etc. Substantial investigations into their chemical and pharmacological properties have been performed. Recently, interest in this plant has been focused on the different structural types of alkaloids like evodiamine, rutaecarpine, dehydroevodiamine and 1-methyl-2-undecyl-4(1H)-quinolone, which exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities in preclinical models, such as anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cardiovascular disease, etc. This review summarizes the up-to-date and comprehensive information concerning the botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology of Euodiae Fructus together with the toxicology and quality control, and discusses the possible direction and scope for future research on this plant.

Synthesis of pyrimidine-containing alkaloids

This review deals with the synthesis of naturally occurring alkaloids containing partially or completely saturated pyrimidine nuclei. The interest in these compounds is associated with their structural diversity, high biological activity and toxicity. The review is divided into four parts, each of which describes a number of synthetic methodologies toward structurally different naturally occurring alkaloids containing saturated cyclic six-membered amidine, guanidine, aminal and urea (thiourea) moieties, respectively. The development of various synthetic strategies for the preparation of these compounds has remarkably increased during the past few decades. This is primarily due to the fact that some of these compounds are isolated only in limited quantities, which makes it practically impossible to study their full structural characteristics and biological activity.

Traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicology of the fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum: A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum (FTR) known as Tetradii fructus or Evodiae fructus (Wu-Zhu-Yu in Chinese) is a versatile herbal medicine which has been prescribed in Chinese herbal formulas and recognized in Japanese Kampo. FTR has been clinically used to treat various diseases such as headache, vomit, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dysmenorrhea and pelvic inflammation for thousands of years.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

The present paper aimed to provide comprehensive information on the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, drug interaction and toxicology of FTR in order to build up a foundation on the mechanism of ethnopharmacological uses as well as to explore the trends and perspectives for further studies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This review collected the literatures published prior to July 2020 on the phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicity of FTR. All relevant information on FTR was gathered from worldwide accepted scientific search engines and databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Elsevier, ACS, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Information was also obtained from local books, PhD. and MSc. Dissertations as well as from Pharmacopeias.

RESULTS

FTR has been used as an herbal medicine for centuries in East Asia. A total of 165 chemical compounds have been isolated so far and the main chemical compounds of FTR include alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, steroids, and phenylpropanoids. Crude extracts, processed products (medicinal slices) and pure components of FTR exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-obesity, antioxidant, insecticide, regulating central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis, cardiovascular protection. Furthermore, bioactive components isolated from FTR can induce drug interaction and hepatic injury.

CONCLUSIONS

Therapeutic potential of FTR has been demonstrated with the pharmacological effects on cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, CNS, bacterial infection and obesity. Pharmacological and pharmacokinetic studies of FTR mostly focus on its main active alkaloids. Further in-depth studies on combined medication and processing approaches mechanisms, pharmacological and toxic effects not limited to the alkaloids, and toxic components of FTR should be designed.

A solvent- and catalyst-free tandem reaction: synthesis, and photophysical and biological applications of isoindoloquinazolinones

An easy green synthetic approach for fused isoindoloquinazolinones has been developed under neat reaction (yields up to 91%) conditions.

Oxone-mediated annulation of 2-aminobenzamides and 1,2-diaminobenzenes withsec-aminesviaimine-N-oxides: new syntheses of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones and 1H-benzimidazoles

Synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones and 1H-benzimidazoles by reaction of imine-N-oxides with 2-aminobenzamides and 1,2-diaminobenzenes is described.

(±)-Evodiakine, A Pair of Rearranged Rutaecarpine-Type Alkaloids From Evodia rutaecarpa

(±)-Evodiakine (1a and 1b), a pair of rearranged rutaecarpine-type alkaloids with an unprecedented 6/5/5/7/6 ring system, were isolated from the nearly ripe fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa. Separation of the enantiomers have been achieved by chiral HPLC column. The structures of (±)-evodiakine were unambiguously elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR spectra, mass spectrometry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Their absolute configurations were determined by comparison of experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra. A hypothetical biogenetic pathway for (±)-evodiakine was also proposed. Compounds 1a, 1b, and the racemate (1) were tested for their cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activities.

A Grand Challenge: Unbiased Phenotypic Function of Metabolites from Jaspis splendens against Parkinson's Disease

A grand challenge in natural product chemistry is to determine the biological effects of all natural products. A phenotypic approach is frequently used for determining the activity of a compound and its potential impact on a disease state. Chemical investigation of a specimen of Jaspis splendens collected from the Great Barrier Reef resulted in the isolation of a new pterin derivative, jaspterin (1), a new bisindole alkaloid, splendamide (2), and a new imidazole alkaloid, jaspnin A (3) TFA salt. Jaspamycin (8) and 6-bromo-1H-indole-3-carboximidamide (16) are reported for the first time as naturally occurring metabolites. Known nucleosides (4-7, 9, 10), aglycones (11-13), indole alkaloids (14, 15, 17), and jaspamide peptides (18-22) were also isolated. The structures of the three new compounds 1-3 were unambiguously elucidated based on NMR and mass spectroscopic data. Jaspnin A (3) contained a rare thiomethylated imidazolinium unit. Coupling an unbiased phenotypic assay using a human olfactory neurosphere-derived cell model of Parkinson's disease to all of the natural products from the species J. splendens allowed the phenotypic profiles of the metabolites to be investigated.

Ruthenium-catalyzed oxidative coupling of 2-aryl-4-quinazolinones with olefins: synthesis of pyrrolo[2,1-b]quinazolin-9(1H)-one motifs

A ruthenium-catalyzed oxidative coupling of 2-aryl-quinazolinones with olefins via C–H bond activation followed by an intramolecular aza-Michael reaction is described.

Quinolone and indole alkaloids from the fruits of Euodia rutaecarpa and their cytotoxicity against two human cancer cell lines

Four quinolone alkaloids (1-4) and three indole alkaloids (20-22), together with 30 known alkaloids (5-19, 23-37), were isolated from the fruits of Euodia rutaecarpa. Their structures were established by spectroscopic analyses. The in vitro cytotoxic activities of these alkaloids against leukaemia HL-60 and prostate cancer PC-3 cell lines were evaluated.

Total synthesis of cruciferane via epoxidation/tandem cyclization sequence

The total synthesis of alkaloid cruciferane is performed in three steps with an overall yield of 60.3%.

New glycosidic alkaloid from the nearly ripe fruits of Euodia rutaecarpa

A new natural product, 10-hydroxyrutaecarpine (1), and a rarely new glycosidic alkaloid, rutaecarpine-10-O-rutinoside (2), along with the known compounds rutaecarpine (3), evodiamine, wuzhuyuamide-I, and dehydroevodiamine were isolated from the butanol fraction of 70% ethanol aqueous extract of the dried and nearly ripe fruits of Euodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data.

Indoloquinazoline alkaloids from Euodia rutaecarpa and their cytotoxic activities

Nine indoloquinazoline alkaloids (1-9) were isolated from the dried and nearly ripe fruits of Euodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. (Euodiae Fructus), along with limonin and β-sitosterol. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data. Among them, compounds 1 and 2 were new compounds and characterized as (7R,8S)-7-hydroxy-8-methoxy-rutaecarpine and (7R,8S)-7-hydroxy-8-ethoxy-rutaecarpine, respectively, and 1-hydroxy-rutaecarpine (3) and (7R,8S)-7,8-dihydroxy-rutaecarpine (4) were isolated from Euodiae Fructus for the first time. The nine indoloquinazoline alkaloids were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells and human gastric carcinoma N-87 cells.

Two new acylgluconic acids from the nearly ripe fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa

Two new acylgluconic acids, trans-feruloylgluconic acid (1) and trans-caffeoylgluconic acid (2), together with three known compounds, myo-inositol (3), phthalic acid dibutyl ester (4), and wuzhuyuamide-I (5), were isolated from the water soluble part of the dried nearly ripe fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods, including IR, UV, ESITOFMS, HRSIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectral analyses.