Traditional uses, Physical properties, Phytochemistry and Bioactivity of Lippia multiflora Moldenke (Verbenaceae): A Mini-review

Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), medicinal plants represent the main product for both urban and rural populations for their health care needs due to the high costs of conventional medicine. These plant species contain bioactive compounds also called phytochemicals that are capable of modulating metabolic processes and resulting in the promotion of better health. In the present paper, the aims were to give updated infor­mation on the physical properties, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities of L. multiflora, medicinal plant in Republic Democratic of the Congo (DR. Congo). A literature search of this specie was conducted to obtain information about the nutritional value, phytochemistry and biological activities from various electronic databases (PubMed, PubMed Central, Science Direct, Google scholar and Sci-hub). The chemical structures of L. multiflora naturally occurring compounds were drawn using ChemBioDraw Ultra 12.0 software package. In this study, the bibliographic references were using bibliographic software Mendeley. L. multiflora Moldenke is a tropical to subtropical herbaceous aromatic plant widely distributed in West and Central Tropical Africa. It has been traditionally used in ethnomedecine against various disorders. It has been reported that the essential oil composition of L. multiflora from some locations were characterized by high terpenoids content, in particular: 1,8-cineole, linalool, geranial and neral, ipsdienone and (Z)- and (E)-ocimenone, thymol and thymyl acetate, p-cymene, sabinene, α-terpineol, α-phellandrene, myrcene and epoxymyrcene, myrtenol, limonene, (E)- and (Z)-tagetone and ipsenone, nerolidol, geraniol, γ-terpinene, (E)-caryophyllene, and β-farnesene). Many study reported that the plant possess various biological properties like anti-hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, anti-analgesic, anti-pyretic, anti-malaria, anti-oxydant, anti-microbial activities. The present review can therefore help inform future scientific research towards the development of novel drugs of relevance from L. multiflora for the improvement of human health and wellbeing.