Man has relied on plants as a source of medicinal agents for centuries. Today, with the specter of antibiotic resistance, emerging infectious diseases, and cancers, phytochemicals continue to provide new structural leads for the chemotherapeutic industry. A number of triterpenoids have shown promise as antineoplastic agents. Members of the cycloartane, lupane, ursane, oleanane, friedelane (especially quinone methides), dammarane, cucurbitacin, and limonoid triterpenoids, have demonstrated anti-proliferative activity on various cancer cell lines. This review covers the recent developments regarding antineoplastic/cytotoxic triterpenoids, excluding saponins, from higher plants.

Aromatic plants have played key roles in the lives of tribal peoples living in the Himalaya by providing products for both food and medicine. This review presents a summary of aromatic medicinal plants from the Indian Himalaya, Nepal, and Bhutan, focusing on plant species for which volatile compositions have been described. The review summarizes 116 aromatic plant species distributed over 26 families.

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The chemical composition of the essential oils of the leaves and seeds of Jatropha integerrima was investigated by GC and GC-MS. The results showed significant variation in the chemical constituents of the tissue/parts analyzed. The leaf has pentadecanal (32.4%), 1,8-cineole (11.2%) and β-ionone (10.8%) as the major components. On the other hand, the seed oil is comprised mainly of aliphatic hydrocarbons represented by pentacosane (13.6%), hexacosane (13.3%), octacosane (12.3%) and heptacosane (10.1%). However, the defatted seed oil was predominantly made up of the monoterpenes 1,8-cineole (35.5%), p-cymene (20.5%) and α-pinene (16.5%). The oils displayed weak antimicrobial activity against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus.

Volatile oils obtained by hydrodistillation from Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp. leaf and stem were examined for their chemical composition and biological activity. The oils were analyzed by gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) techniques. Toxicity, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were evaluated via brine shrimp lethality assay, agar-diffusion, and DPPH radical-scavenging methods, respectively. A total of 43 and 44 constituents were identified in the leaf and stem oils, correspondingly. The major components recognized in the leaf oil were (E)-hexadecatrienal (16.9%) and pentadecanal (16.0%) while humulene epoxide II (17.5%) and caryophyllene oxide (10.6%) dominated the stem oil. There was no significant activity against the bacteria but moderate inhibition zones (IZ) between 1.8±0.3 and 8.1±0.1 mm were observed against the fungi. The stem oil showed better antifungal activity than the leaf oil but not as active as the standard drug ketoconazole which inhibited the test fungi with IZ range of 10.4±0.4-21.0±1.4 mm at 200 µg. Both oils were toxic to brine shrimp (Artemia salina) giving LC50 of 79.7 µg/mL (leaf) and 38.7 µg/mL (stem). The leaf and stem oils had IC50 of 84.3 µg/mL and 142.2µg/mL, respectively, in the DPPH radical-scavenging assay, indicating moderate antioxidant activity relative to positive controls, butylated hydroxylanisole (IC50=45.1 µg/mL) and α-tocopherol (IC50 =81.6 µg/mL). The results suggest that G. sepium volatile oil may find potential use as a natural antioxidant and antifungal agent.