Study of metabolic variation in tetrahydrofuran lignans from Peperomia blanda (Piperaceae)

• Grant number: 10/03598-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2010
• End date: January 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Maysa Furlan
• Grantee: Caroline Bevilacqua Micalli
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The use of plants as medicines for humanity is as old as human history. Although the focus of the pharmaceutical industry today is the synthesis combinatorial, the chemistry of natural products continues to be the basis for research into new drugs. The genus Peperomia, in the family Piperaceae, is widely used as an ornamental for presenting showy foliage and some reports have demonstrated the use of species of Peperomia in traditional medicine as anti-inflammatory, antiasthmatic, analgesic, and antibacterial for the treatment of gastric ulcer and sterility. From the chemical point of view, this genus is the least studied of Piperaceae, and only 23 species have been investigated until 2007. The main compounds found in the genus Peperomia are secolignanas chemicals with a cyclobutane ring, prenylated phenolic substances and chromenes. Phytochemical study of aerial parts of Peperomia blanda revealed the presence of tetrahydrofuran lignans, which exhibit potent trypanocidal activity. Thus, they constitute the project objectives, the investigation of circadian and seasonal variation of these metabolites and the metabolic interpopulation variation of this species. (AU)