Molecules of interest: isolation, identification,structural modifications and evaluation by several biological assays

Abstract

The natural products chemistry represents is of great importance and value in the field of natural products research, since with phytochemical methods it is possible to isolate new compounds, to determine their correct chemical structures and, in a later time, to obtain new derivatives by total or partial syntheses in order to improve their activity. The developments in this area are great, especially in the last decades where the future discoveries of new hit compounds pass through this field of the science. Most of the drugs available in the modern medicine are synthetic, but many of them were originally extracted from plants or based on prototypes that were obtained from plants. The aim of this project is: the obtainment of some molecules of interest (ursolic acid, oleanolic acid, rosmarinic acid and usnic acid); the evaluation of these molecules by selected biological assays and the structural modification of these compounds in order to improve the biological characteristics of the compounds in the assays. The structural modification of the compounds extracted from natural sources has been an important tool in the discovery of new drugs. In the present project, some initial tests were selected. However, others may be added to the project through its development. This project is inserted in the research line of the Natural Products Research Group in of the Franca University (GPNUF), which has 13 researchers. In this line, our research group has investigated the biological activities of several lignans, tetrahydrofuran neolignans, triterpenes, diterpenes and other classes of natural products extracted from plant species. The analysis of the obtained results displayed accentuated in vitro and in vivo activities for several of these compounds, resulting in some patents. (AU)