Reviews On 1,4-naphthoquinones from Diospyros L

The term natural products refers to secondary metabolites, small molecules (mol wt <2000 amu) produced by an organism such as medicinal plants. These compounds are known as a powerful source to design novel medicines. In this review article one group of the most famous and applicable compounds in the genus Diospyros named 1, 4-naphthoquinones is discussed. The aim of this review is to disclose advances in biological, pharmacological researches and phytochemistry of 1, 4- naphthoquinones isolated from this genus, as well as the suggested mechanisms regarding their activities. This research was done based on the searching the keywords including Diospyros; 1, 4-naphthoquinone; antibacterial; anticancer; Ebnaceae, mechanism through the well-known databases from beginning to 2011. During the past 60 years many compounds have been isolated from Diospyros L. Twelve considerable bioactive structures are reported in this review. plumbagin and diospyrin are two main basic 1, 4-naphthoquinone skeletons, which have been studied extensively in clinical and pharmacological researches. At present the potential for development of leads from 1, 4-naphthoquinones obtained from Diospyros L. is growing dramatically, mainly in the area of anticancer and antibacterial investigations. The data prepared and described here is intended to be served as a reference tool to the natural products and chemistry specialists in order to expand the rational drug design