Naturally Occurring Homoisoflavonoids: Phytochemistry, Biological Activities and Synthesis

Abstract

This review covers the phytochemical, biological properties, and synthesis of naturally occurring homoisoflavonoids. Homoisoflavonoids are a very important class of secondary metabolites whose numbers have grown from 20 in 1981 to 157 at the present time. They are found to occur in seven plant families. For the purpose of this review they are classified into five groups: 3-benzylchroman-4-ones, 3-benzylflavans, Δ3,9 and Δ2,3 3-benzylchroman-4-ones, benzocyclobutenes (scillascillins) and rearranged homoisoflavonoids (brazilin and related compounds). Biosynthetically, the 3-benzylchroman-4-ones and the 3-hydroxy-derivatives have been shown to arise from a chalcone precursor (sappanchalcone) and there is strong evidence that this isolable intermediate can be converted into the diverse structures such as the benzocyclobutenes (scillascillins) and the rearranged, brazilin-type compounds. Homoisoflavonoids possess a wide range of biological activities, including, antimicrobial, antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, etc, properties. The review also surveys the chemical synthesis of natural homoisoflavonoids. Analytical methods for the determination of these important metabolites are also reviewed. The last section is devoted to a brief review of the diagnostic NMR spectroscopic features of homoisoflavonoids. A comprehensive Table has also been compiled listing all known metabolites, their sources, melting points and optical rotation values (where available) and references.