Antifungal Compounds from Plants

Abstract

Due to the increase of the incidence of fungal infections in humans and the limitations of the available antimycotic drugs, among which the emergence of resistant strains, there is a need for the discovery of new antifungal agents. Plants, especially those used in Traditional Medicine, linked to an unmatched chemical diversity, either as pure compounds or as plant extracts, provide unlimited opportunities for the development of new antifungals. In recent years, compounds from different phytochemical groups have been described as having antifungal activity, including polyphenols, saponins, or peptides, among others, as well as essential oils and their constituents. After screening of ethnopharmacologically selected plants, mainly from Latin- America, followed by bio-guided isolation, our group has described the antifungal activity of different types of plant constituents, such as sesquiterpenes, triterpenes, flavonoids, lignans, fatty acids and essential oils.