Planta Med 2013; 79 - PH10
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1348600

Ethnobotanical and Phytochemical Investigations of Piper Species Used by Ethnic Groups in Yunnan Tropics

CI Long 1, 2, YH Wang 2, GH Tang 2, 3, HX Liu 2, 3, SX Yang 2, QY Sun 4, J Li 5, E Kennelly 6
  • 1College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China
  • 3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • 4Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products, Guizhou Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China
  • 5Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
  • 6Lehman College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, NY 10468, USA

Yunnan harbors the richest biological and cultural diversity in China, with 50% biotaxa and 45% minorities on only 4% terrestrial area. Ethnic peoples in tropical Yunnan have traditionally collected and used many plant resources for miscellaneous purposes, especially medicinal herbs. We investigated three species of Piper occurring in Yunnan tropics, namely P. boehmeriaefolium, P. nudibaccatum, and P. sarmentosum. The De-Ang people use P. boehmeriaefolium to alleviate pain such as toothache. Eight new amide alkaloids were isolated from the whole plant of P. boehmeriaefolium. The Jinuo people used to chew P. nudibaccatum and P. sarmentosum to protect teeth. Two new mono- and four new dimeric alkenylphenols were isolated from the aerial parts of P. sarmentosum, while a new complex natural product with a C39 skeleton was isolated from P. nudibaccatum. Some compounds from Piper showed significant bioactivities. For instance, cytotoxic activity of amides from P. boehmeriaefolium against human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells was evaluated, and 1-[(9E)-10-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-9-decenoyl]pyrrolidine exhibited inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 2.7 µg/mL.

Key words: Ethnobotany, Piper, Ethnic people in Yunnan, New compounds, Bioactivity