Chapter Eight - Terpene core in selected aromatic and edible plants: Natural health improving agents

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Abstract

Aromatic plants synthesize and produce aromatic molecules, among these compounds some of them belong to terpenes and terpenoids. Plant species have specific genes involved in secondary metabolism which allows them to synthesize various compounds with terpene core. These kinds of plant species are also known as herbal drugs and they are primarily used as components in medicinal products or simply as health foods. This chapter will focus on terpene and terpenoid compounds found in selected edible and aromatic plants belonging to several plant families. Selected plant species are briefly discussed. Biologically active compounds with terpene core are most frequently found in essential oils of the edible and aromatic species, as well as they are separately isolated and identified from the extracts. Health beneficial effects coming from terpene compounds found in edible and aromatic plants are further presented and include antimicrobial, antiviral, cytotoxic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and many other pharmacological activities.

Section snippets

An introduction to selected edible and aromatic plants

Since time immemorial humans have used different parts of wild growing plants as food and medicine, and this particular knowledge gave them the advantage to survive harsh natural environment. All cultures in the world have a comprehensive, traditional knowledge on plants with nutritive and medicinal properties, which is used for the sake of preserving health in the absence of modern medicines as well as prolonging life expectancy. Aromatic plants are plants which contain essential oils

Terpene core in edible and aromatic plants: Terpenes and terpenoids

Plants produce various types of biologically active compounds, generally classified into three large groups: terpene-core compounds, alkaloids and phenolic compounds, among which terpenes/isoprenoids take an important place (Zwenger & Basu, 2008). The terms terpene and terpenoid are often used interchangeably in literature, even though they are not quite the same. According to Pereira, Severino, Santos, Silva, and Souto (2018), terpenoids are actually modified terpenes that contain oxygen in

Conclusions

People used and continue to use natural strategies so as to prolong and increase quality of life. This is where consummation of plants which produce bioactive terpenes becomes important. The fact that aside from fulfilling basic nutrient needs, they also benefit one's health has reached public worldwide (Ceccanti, Landi, Benvenutti, Pardosi, & Guidi, 2018).

This chapter showed that terpene and terpenoid compounds exert a wide variety of biological activities. Health beneficial effects were shown

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      Plant volatiles are represented by three major groups: terpenoids, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids, and fatty acid derivatives (Table 3). Terpenoids are the main class of volatile compounds which are synthesized from the mevalonic acid and the methylerythritol-phosphate pathways, and are structured on five-carbon building blocks (isoprene), which include many subclasses: hemiterpenes (5C), monoterpenes (10C – more than 25.000 compounds are known), sesquiterpenes (15C), diterpenes (20C), sesterterpenes (25C), triterpenes (30C – steroids), tetraterpenes (40C – limonoids and quassinoids, glycosides, saponins, carotenoids, resins) and polyterpenes (n C), that are contained from a larger number of isoprene units >45 (Carocho & CFR Ferreira, 2013; Muhlemann et al., 2014; Petrović et al., 2019). The second largest classes of volatiles, phenylpropanoids and benzenoids, with origin in the phenylalanine amino acid, and are synthesized through the shikimic acid amino acid derivatives pathways.

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