Biological Activities and Valuable Compounds from Five Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Currently, there are more than 85,000 plant species that have been documented for medical use globally. This implies, plant derived natural products hold great promise for discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals in diverse human ailments. Among these divers medicinal species Aframomum corrorima, Commiphora myrrha, Nigella sativa, Ocimum lamiifolium and Olea europaea are one of very well known valuable plants in serving the local people as spice, flavor, fumigants, and sources of traditional and modern medicines. In modern science their medicinal activities have been corroborated by phytochemical and biological research investigations. As the biological studies revealed they have antibacterial, antioxidant, antifungal, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties even though further investigation required on in vivo and animal model to ascertain those in vitro activities are really valuable in life. The phytochemical investigations have also shown that these plants are holder of diversified useful compound classes like terpene, steroid, flavonoid, glycoside, fatty acid and alkaloids. However, their pharmacology and pharmacokinetics activities have to be further investigated in order to make sure their metabolic effect upon their usage because some compounds have ability to be metabolized during in vivo analysis, and to see whether these compounds have synergic or additive effects. Therefore, the purpose of this review paper is to present the compiled and unified scientific studies which have been done on the above well known medicinal plants about their description, medicinal uses, volatile and extracted active compounds, and chemical structures of isolated compounds in justification with scientific researches.