Natural products from Peperomia: occurrence, biogenesis and bioactivity

• Published in: Phytochemistry reviews Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 1009 - 1033
• Main Authors: Gutierrez, Yasmin Valero, Yamaguchi, Lydia F., de Moraes, Marcilio M., Jeffrey, Christopher S., Kato, Massuo J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-12-2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amides; Angiosperms; Biochemistry; Biological activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemistry/Food Science; Cytotoxic agents; Cytotoxicity; Diketones; Herbicides; Life Sciences; Lignans; Metabolites; Natural products; Organic Chemistry; Peperomia; Phenylpropanoids; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Sciences; Polyketides; Secondary metabolites; Species; Tropical environments; Piperaceae; Secondary metabolites
• ISSN: 1568-7767; 1572-980X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11101-016-9461-5

The
Peperomia
is one of the giant genus among Angiosperms with approximately 1600 species spread in the tropics. Their species are valuable as ornamental and several medicinal uses were described but their phytochemistry is poorly investigated compared to
Piper
(2000 species). In spite of this scarcity, typical classes of secondary metabolites isolated from their species are characterized as polyketides, meroterpenes, chromenes, phenylpropanoids, lignans and amides, among which 2-acylcyclohexane-1,3-diones, orsellinic acid-based meroterpenes and secolignans (peperomins) are very specific to
Peperomia
. The bioactivities of several compounds indicated their potential as antiparasites, antimicrobial, antiviral, cytotoxic agents against several tumoral strains and also as herbicides.