Recent studies on chemical constituents of Ophiorrhiza plants

Abstract

Ophiorrhiza plants (Family Rubiaceae) are known to produce diverse monoterpenoid indole alkaloids including camptothecin with potent antitumor activity. This review contains a summary of recent chemical studies reported over the past 10 years regarding alkaloids (monoterpenoid indole and tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids, and cyclopeptide) in Ophiorrhiza plants. In addition, the alkaloid biosynthetic pathways based on their reported structures were proposed.