Allicin

Abstract

Garlic is an edible and medicinal plant with a long history of application in China. Allicin is one of the main active substances of garlic, which has simple structure and is easy to be synthesized. It has a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities, such as antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, decreasing the blood pressure, and inhibition of platelet aggregation. However, due to its chemical instability, carrying out research on allicin at molecular level has difficulties. Therefore, the full understanding of the biological activities of garlic still depends on the breakthroughs in the separation, extraction, purification, analysis, and preservation of allicin.