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Ficus benghalensis L. (Moraceae) is used as traditional medicine in South Asian countries for the treatment of various ailments. The main aim of this review was to collect and analyze the traditional uses and scientific information on phytochemistry and pharmacological activities of different plant parts of F. benghalensis. Information on its ethnomedicinal uses was collected from published books, book chapters, and research papers on ethnobotanical surveys. Scientific information about phytochemistry and pharmacology was retrieved from online bibliographic databases such as PubMed, SciFinder, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Regarding traditional uses, various plant parts of F. benghalensis were found to be used in Ayurveda, Siddha and other traditional medicine systems in South Asia. The stem bark was used mostly for the treatment of diabetes, diarrhea, and dysentery. The latex is used for the treatment of wounds, burns, and rheumatism. Fruits are edible and are used as a tonic. Regarding phytochemistry, leucoanthocyanindin derivatives and triterpenes were reported from the stem bark and triterpene derivatives and phenolic compounds including flavonoids were reported from the leaves. Both in vitro and in vivo pharmacological activity evaluations have been carried out for its antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and other activities. Although widely used in traditional medicines, it has not been well explored regarding bioactive constituents, and pharmacological and toxicological activities. Studies related to bioassay-guided isolation and identification of its active compounds are necessary in future. Few studies on animals have shown promising antidiabetic activities of the extracts and isolated compounds but the detailed mechanisms were not explored. Future studies should also focus on the evaluation of toxicological activities, pharmacokinetic parameters, and clinical studies.

The genus Zingiber consists of about 85 species and many of these species are used as food, spices, and medicines. One of the species, Zingiber montanum (J. Koenig) Link ex A. Dietr. is native to Southeast Asia and has been extensively used as traditional medicines and food. The aim of this review was to collect and critically analyze the scientific information about the bioactive compounds and pharmacological activities of Z. montanum with focus on one of the main components, zerumbone (ZER). Various studies have reported the analysis of volatile constituents of the essential oils from Z. montanum. Similarly, many phenylbutanoids, flavonoids and terpenes were also isolated from rhizomes. These essential oils, extracts and compounds showed potent antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities among others. Zerumbone has been studied widely for its anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and other pharmacological activities. Future studies should focus on the exploration of various pharmacological activities of other compounds including phenylbutanoids and flavonoids. Bioassay guided isolation may result in the separation of other active components from the extracts. Z. montanum could be a promising source for the development of pharmaceutical products and functional foods.

Background:Cocculus hirsutus (L.) W.Theob. (Menispermaceae) is a perennial climber distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas. The main aim of this article is to collect and analyze the scientific information related to traditional uses, bioactive chemical constituents and pharmacological activities. Methods: Scientific information on C. hirsutus was retrieved from the online bibliographic databases (e.g. MEDLINE/PubMed, SciFinder, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus). Information regarding traditional uses was also acquired from secondary resources including books and proceedings. Results: Different plant parts of C. hirsutus were reported to be used for the treatment of fever, skin diseases, stomach disorders and urinary diseases. Alkaloids such as jasminitine, hirsutine, cohirsitine and their derivatives along with a few flavonoids, triterpene derivatives and volatile compounds were reported from whole plant or different plant parts. Extracts were evaluated for their antimicrobial, antidiabetic, immunomodulatory and hepatoprotective activities among others. Conclusion: Although widely used in traditional medicines, only a few studies have been performed related to chemical constituents. Most of the biological activity evaluations were carried out using in vitro evaluation methods and only a few studies were carried out in animal models. In the future, properly designed in vivo and clinical studies are necessary to evaluate the pharmacological activities of C. hirsutus along with bioassay-guided studies to isolate and identify the active constituents.

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is a zoonotic disease caused by a new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) which has quickly resulted in a pandemic. Recent anti-COVID-19 drug discoveries are leaning towards repurposing phytochemicals which have been previously reported for SARS and MERS-CoV outbreaks. However, they have been either virtually screened or tested so far against mono targets and the potent derivatives of virtually sorted lead molecules remain elusive. We aimed to identify the phytochemicals having potentials to inhibit SARS CoV-2 infection via multiple targets. The selected 132 phytochemicals were virtually screened using a structure based in silico technique against main protease (M pro ) which is a potential target of SARS CoV-2. Six compounds were selected based on the LibDock scores and further subjected to induced fit docking using the CDOCKER module of DS. Two compounds namely cinnamtannin-B and gallocatechin gallate were identified as top HITS against main protease (M pro ). Based on the Lipinski rule of five (L-ROF) and synthetic feasibility, gallocatechin gallate was taken for our further studies. Six analogues of gallocatechin gallate were screened against the next important targets such as RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), transmembrane protease serine -2 (TMPRSS2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) along with main protease (M pro ). Our molecular docking results reveal that a gallocatechin analogue (GC-2) namely (2 R ,3 R )-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)chroman-3-yl-3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoate has shown potential to inhibit multiple targets of SARS CoV-2. Further, the molecular dynamics study was carried out to ascertain the stability of the GC-2 and RdRp complex., Competing Interests: No potential conflicts of interest are reported by the authors. There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)