Chemical and biological studies of plants belonging to Ecuadorian flora

In Ecuador, medicinal plants are largely used by local people, although for the most part of species, there is not enough scientific information or an ecological profile that could help to find the best conditions to produce sufficient raw material and to satisfy the existing demand (1). Most of the time the collection of the species is carried out directly by consumers, as in the case of indigenous people for daily consumption. The whole plant could be used or commercialize as raw material, or in parts, pulverized, as extracts or as semi-synthetic substances. People use medicinal plants for infusions, to treat different sickness as headache, back pain, skin illness, or among others as antibiotics or antifungal remedies. This is why it becomes indispensable to improve the research of Ecuadorian medicinal plants, to conserve the species and their habitats, use and trade, in order to benefit the population’s health. It’s also important to study the chemical content of these species, to better understand their properties and encourage an appropriate consumption and use of herbal drugs and their products (2). To discover biologically active secondary metabolites from Ecuadorian plants some unstudied species belonging to different families were collected: Bidens humilis (Kunth) (Asteraceae), Andromachia igniaria (Humb.& Bonpl.) (Asteraceae), Euphorbia laurifolia (Juss. Ex Lam.) (Euphorbiaceae), and Clinopodium tomentosum (Kunth) Harley (Lamiaceae), all growing in the zone of Cordillera de los Andes, where species are the most requested by local inhabitants. Plants were selected for their chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic and traditional medicine features. Then, the dried materials were extracted with solvent of increasing polarity, and fractionated to isolate and characterize secondary metabolites. Compounds belonging to different classes of secondary metabolites such as phenolics, diterpenes and flavonoids, including some new derivatives, were identified with the aim of NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Biological assays were also carried out for some new flavonoids isolated from B. humilis (3) and A. igniaria, and diterpenes from E. laurifolia (4).