Volume 47, 2016, Pages 111–200
Studies in Natural Products Chemistry
Abstract
The discovery of curcumin in Curcuma longa
has prompted a deluge of research about molecular interactions
affecting inflammation, degenerative disease, and cancer. These insights
have stimulated the study of bioactive products in other medicinal
species of the Curcuma genus (Zingiberaceae), usually ignored
in mainstay reviews. A wide gamut of isoprenoids and a discreet number
of phenolics with powerfully antioxidant properties have been discovered
recently. They hold promise of enhancing curcuminoid therapeutic
potencies and expand the number of molecular targets. This chapter
purports to integrate the known chemical constituents in the Curcuma
genus around the observed health-related biochemistry, focusing on
reports published since 2006, without disregard of earlier prominent
contributions that unveiled their unique multitargeted physiological
functions.
Keywords
- Zingiberaceae;
- Curcuma;
- phytochemistry;
- antiinflammatory;
- cancer
