Phytochemical Investigation on Some Euphorbiaceae and Lamiaceae Plants

One of the main tasks of phytochemists is isolation and structural elucidation of natural products. In this work the readers will study the details of extraction and characterization of the chemical constituents of two plants of the genus Euphorbia from the family Euphorbiaceae, Euphorbia decipiens Boiss. & Buhse and Euphorbia teheranica Boiss., which are endemic to Iran, and the essential oil of Zataria multiflora Boiss., (Lamiaceae) from Pakistan. The author has used different spectroscopy methods, especially one- and two-dimensional NMR spectra to elucidate the structures of tri- and diterpenoids from the Euphorbia extracts and GC-MS and 13C-NMR for identification and quantification of the oil's constituents. The details of isolation and structural elucidation of myrsinol-type diterpenoids and triterpenoids, biogenesis of some poly- and macro-cyclic diterpenoids isolated from different Euphorbia plants, biological activities and medicinal uses of some species of Euphorbia and their constituents may be useful for the students of phytochemistry and pharmacognosy and those who are interested in the chemistry and biological activity of Euphorbia plants.