Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Review Article | OPEN ACCESS

A review on chemical constituents and biological activities of the Genus Beilschmiedia (Lauraceae)

Wan Mohd Nuzul Hakimi Wan Salleh¹, Farediah Ahmad¹, Khong Heng Yen², Razauden Mohamed Zulkifli³

¹Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor; ²School of Chemistry and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, 94300, Sarawak; ³Department of Bioscience and Health Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.

For correspondence:- Farediah Ahmad Email:

Received: 9 July 2015 Accepted: 12 October 2015 Published: 29 November 2015

Citation: Salleh WM, Ahmad F, Yen KH, Zulkifli RM. A review on chemical constituents and biological activities of the Genus Beilschmiedia (Lauraceae). Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(11):2139-2150 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i10.28

© 2015 The authors.
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Abstract

The current review is aimed to deliver some updates on the ethnobotany, phytochemistry and biological activities of Beilschmiedia species in order to throw more light on their therapeutic potentials and future research priorities. Phytochemical studies on Beilschmiedia genus yielded essential oils, endiandric acid derivatives, amides/alkaloids, lignans/neoligans, flavonoids and miscellaneous compounds, while bioactivity studies revealed that the extracts and compounds displayed a broad spectrum of biological activities. Only 24 species of the genus Beilschmiedia have been studied phytochemically thus far. Therefore, there is a need to ascertain the pharmacological properties of the plant extracts and new compounds from this genus. More studies on the standardization and pharmacology of Beilschmiedia extracts need to be conducted to ascertain new pharmacological properties and their biochemical and physiological mechanisms. Furthermore, detailed preclinical toxicity, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of extracts of the species and their isolated compounds require additional investigation in order to verify their safety and determine their suitability as sources of some current medicines.

Keywords: Beilschmiedia, Lauraceae, ethnobotany, phytochemistry, pharmacology