Title:Biological and Chemical Aspects of Natural Biflavonoids from Plants: A Brief Review
Volume: 17
Issue: 10
Author(s): Vanessa Silva Gontijo, Marcelo Henrique dos Santos*Claudio Viegas Jr.*
Affiliation:
- Institute of Chemistry, Laboratory of Research in Medicinal Chemistry, Rua Jovino Fernades Sales, 2600. Federal University of Alfenas, 37130.000 Alfenas, Minas Gerais,Brazil
- Institute of Chemistry, Laboratory of Research in Medicinal Chemistry, Rua Jovino Fernades Sales, 2600. Federal University of Alfenas, 37130.000 Alfenas, Minas Gerais,Brazil
Keywords:
Biological activity, flavonoids, natural biflavonoids, natural products, pharmacologia, phytochemical.
Abstract: Background: Biflavonoids belong to a subclass of the plant flavonoids family and are limited
to several species in the plant kingdom. In the literature, biflavonoids are extensively reported for
their pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, inhibitory activity against
phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and antiprotozoal activity.
Method: These activities have been discovered from the small number of biflavonoid structures that
have been investigated, although the natural biflavonoids library is likely to be large. In addition, many
medicinal properties and traditional use of plants are attributed to the presence of bioflavonoids among
their secondary metabolites. Structurally, biflavonoids are polyphenol compounds comprising of two
identical or non-identical flavonflavonoid units joined in a symmetrical or unsymmetrical manner
through an alkyl or an alkoxy-based linker of varying length. Due to their chemical and biological importance,
several bioprospective phytochemical studies and chemical approaches using coupling and
molecular rearrangement strategies have been developed to identify and synthesize new bioactive biflavonoids.
Conclusion: In this brief review, we present some basic structural aspects for classification and nomenclature
of bioflavonoids and a compilation of the literature data published in the last 7 years, concerning
the discovery of new natural biflavonoids of plant origin and their pharmacological and biological
properties.
