Recent Advances on Pharmacology and Chemistry of Pycnanthus angolensis over the last decade (2012-2021)

Abstract

Pycnanthus angolensis, widely known under its trade name "ilomba", is a medicinal plant from the family Myristicaceae that has occupied a prominent place in African traditional medicine for several decades; its broad application to treat numerous diseases, including malaria, bacterial infections and most recently COVID-19. The various chemical studies undertaken on the plant identified many classes of specialized compounds, including quinone-terpenoids, lignans and isoflavonoids, as the most abundant and bioactive components. The plant is defined as a major asset in developing new potent drugs and deserves further investigation in this regard. This mini-review aims to compile the newly documented findings on the traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of P. angolensis over the last decade from 2012 to 2021. In this regard, a literature search using the keyword Pycnanthus has been done without language restriction in numerous online libraries, including Scifinder, PubMed, Google Scholar, and only papers on Pycnanthus angolensis published after 2011 have been exploited during the writing.