Phytochemical and biological investigations of Coccoloba uvifera, L. (Polygonaceae)

Abstract

The world is in a great need to return to nature for therapeutic drug discovery to be able to treat many diseases such as infectious, autoimmune diseases and cancer because there is a huge lack of new drugs in the pipeline. Naturally isolated compounds can fill this gap through their ability to interact with different proteins and biological targets, also, it provides a cheap alternative resource for the supply of drug leads. Among the interesting genera in family Polygonaceae, the genus Coccoloba comprises 120 species and reported to have many medicinal uses such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. The main objective of the study is to investigate the biological activities and the phytochemical constituents of the aqueous ethanolic leaves extract of Coccoloba uvifera L. This study is divided into two chapters: Chapter I Phytochemical investigations of the aq. ethanolic extract of C. uvifera leaves (CLE) 2.1. Phytochemical screening of C. uvifera leaves This species contains various phytoconstituents including flavonoids, sterols/triterpenes, carbohydrates/glycosides, saponins, phenolics, alkaloids and anthraquinones.