Mini Rev Med Chem. 2002 Apr; 2(2): 185-200.

Daphnane-type diterpene orthoesters and their biological activities.

He W, Cik M, Appendino G, Puyvelde LV, Leysen JE, De Kimpe N.

Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, B-9000, Belgium. norbert.dekimpe@rug.ac.be

Daphnane orthoesters are the active ingredients of plant remedies from the Western, Chinese and African traditional medicine, and have provided important tools to investigate medicinally relevant processes like tumour promotion, apoptosis, neurotrophism, and VR1 activation. The occurrence, biological activity, and molecular pharmacology of these compounds will be reviewed.