10
Zanthoxylum Genus as Potential Source
of Bioactive Compounds
L. Oscar Javier Patiño, R. Juliet Angélica Prieto and S. Luis Enrique Cuca
Laboratorio de Productos Naturales Vegetales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
Colombia
1. Introduction
Natural products have been used for thousands of years for the benefit of mankind, as
important sources of food, clothing, cosmetics, building materials, tools, medicines and crop
protection agents. They have made enormous contributions to human health through
compounds such as quinine, morphine, aspirin (a natural product analog), digitoxin and
many others. Researches in this field are becoming more numerous, to the point of getting
about half of pharmaceuticals and pesticides from natural sources (Newman & Cragg, 2007).
The main reasons because natural products are so important to undertake research are that
they can be a source of new compounds because they produce many bioactive secondary
metabolites that are used as a chemical defense against predators. Also, in the past, they
have provided many new drugs, some of which can’t be obtained by other sources and
because they can provide the necessary templates to design new products in the future
(Colegate and Molyneux, 2008; Kaufman et al., 2006; Cragg et al., 2005).
Dissatisfied therapeutic needs in the treatment of bacterial, parasitic, viral and fungal
infections, cancer, Alzheimer's and AIDS, among other diseases, have led to the search of
new substances with therapeutic applications. Although for most diseases there is a
treatment, many of them have begun to be ineffective due to the development of resistance
to medicaments that were initially effective and to the low security that they exhibit for
patients. Consequently, the development of effective and safe therapeutic alternatives is
essential to ensure the availability of new products that reduce mortality and morbidity due
to diseases (Pan et al., 2010; Nwaka & Hudson, 2006; Segal & Elad, 2006; Waldvogel, 2004).
The search for new phytosanitary agents to control plant pests and diseases that affect many
plant sources of food and/or industrial use is also of great interest, because the indiscriminate
and permanent use of agrochemicals has led to the emergence of resitant pests and
phytopathogenic microorganisms, that can cause partial or complete loss of crops (Agrios,
2005; Strand, 2000).
Research in plants represents an invaluable source discovering new substances, considering
that each of these can contain hundreds or even thousands of secondary metabolites. From
the 250,000 to 300,000 plant species reported, only a small part has been the subject of
phytochemical and biological activity studies (Tringali, 2001).

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This chapter shows information about the importance of ethnobotany, phytochemistry and
biological activities of species of the genus Zanthoxylum, information that can be the base for
undertaking future research.
2. Overview of Zanthoxylum genus
Zanthoxylum genus belongs to the Rutaceae family. It is economically important because of
their alimentary, industrial and medicinal applications (Seidemann, 2005; Chase et al., 1999).
Zanthoxylum comes from the word Xanthoxylum wich derives from Greek: "xanthon xylon"
that means "yellow wood", hence the use of the terms Xanthoxylum or Zanthoxylum by some
authors. The genus Zanthoxylum was created by Linné in 1757 and since its inception has
been confused with the genus Fagara. In 1896, Engler made the distinction between the two
genera by the following characteristics: species of the genus Zanthoxylum have a simple
perianth, while in species of the genus Fagara is twofold. Brizicky in 1962, discovered some
species with intermediate perianth, which showed that simple perianth of Zanthoxylum drift
from the Fagara due to failure of some sepals, and concluded that Fagara and Zanthoxylum
genus are the same. Finally, in 1966, Hartley grouped Zanthoxylum and Fagara under the
name of Zanthoxylum. However, some authors still use the term Fagara (Chaaib, 2004).
Zanthoxylum comprises about 549 species distributed worldwide mainly in tropical and
temperate regions (Global Biodiversity Information Facility, 2010). This genus includes trees
and shrubs, usually dioecious. The trees have leafy crown, with few branches and reach up
to 20 meters. The species of this genus are characterized by the presence of recurved spines
on its trunk and branches. The leaves are varied, may be alternate or opposite, simple or
composed, imparipanadas or parimpanadas with up to 15 pairs of leaflets. The
inflorescences are usually in form of panicles or umbels compound, axillary or terminal of
small flowers. The flowers are actinomorphic, hermaphrodite and unisexual, rarely bisexual,
usually white or green. The fruits are follicles or esquizocarp, contains from one to five
carpels usually aromatic, and the are ordinarily bivalve with a single red or black, shiny
seeds (Melo & Zickel, 2004; Silva & Paoli, 2004).
The genus Zanthoxylum has great importance due to its ethnobotanics, phytochemistry and
biological activity, and it is a promising source of various secondary metabolites including
benzophenanthridine alkaloids.
3. Ethnobotanical uses
Species of this genus are of economic importance as sources of edible fruits, oils, wood, raw
materials for industries, medicinal plants, ornamentals, culinary applications, and are
characterized by a satin wood commonly used in woodworking (Yang, 2008; Da Silva et al.,
2006; Adesina, 2005; Seidemann, 2005). For example in Africa is used the wood of Z. gillettii,
Z. tessmannii, Z. lemairei and Z. leprieurii for houses, buildings, drums and ships
construction, and for decorative woodwork, carpentry, and paper industry. In some
countries of this continent, root bark and stem of many species of Zanthoxylum for used as a
vermifuge, febrifuge and piscicides (Adesina, 2005).
Zanthoxylum species are also used in the field of perfumery and food industry because of its
essential oils from leaves, fruits and inflorescences. The most used essential oils are obtained