Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 12, Issue 21, 2005

The xanthone structure is one of the most interesting frameworks since a large number of the substituents, depending on their chemical nature and position on the aromatic rings, can lead to a myriad of biological activities of its derivatives. As a large number of naturally-occurring and synthetic xanthones with interesting biological and pharmacological activities have been reported in the past years, this group of compo Read More

A literature survey covering the report of naturally occurring xanthones from January 2000 to December 2004, with 219 references, is presented in this review. Among 515 xanthones reported in this period, 278 were new natural xanthones. These xanthones have been identified from 20 families of higher plants (122 species in 44 genera), fungi (19 species) and lichens (3 species). The structural formulas of 368 identified xanthone Read More

Among the known synthetic routes to obtain xanthones, the Grover, Shah, and Shah reaction, the cyclodehydration of 2, 2'-dihydroxybenzophenones and electrophilic cycloacylation of 2-aryloxybenzoic acids are the most popular methods. Due to important biological applications of xanthones, some synthetic strategies leading to more complex derivatives have been widely explored in the past years. T Read More

1H and 13 C NMR spectra remain the first tool used by chemists to perform the structure elucidation of their products on a routine basis. It is common to provide NMR data on both proton and carbon spectra based on one-dimensional experiments, but often only proton resonances are assigned. The increasing complexity of natural compounds and their synthetic related derivatives imply the use of some more recent 1D Read More

Xanthones, synthesized or isolated from a natural source, display a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities. In a few cases, their chemical characterization has involved the structure elucidation by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The purpose of this review is to assess in detail this three-dimensional structural data, and thus contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the differ Read More

Xanthones or 9H-xanthen-9-ones (dibenzo-γ-pirone) comprise an important class of oxygenated heterocycles whose role is well-known in Medicinal Chemistry. The biological activities of this class of compounds are associated with their tricyclic scaffold but vary depending on the nature and/or position of the different substituents. In this review, an array of biological/pharmacological effects is presented for both natural and synt Read More

It is believed that at no time in the history of the human race malaria has been absent. This disease, which is caused by protozoa of the genus Plasmodium, in all likelihood has been responsible for the death of about half of all people who ever lived. Even today, after attempts at intervention on a worldwide scale, malaria remains the most significant parasitic disease in the tropics and sub-tropics, where it causes Read More