PCG 502

SYSTEMATICS/CHEMOTAXONOMY

COMPARATIVE PHYTOCHEMISTRY
Dr. Attah F. Alfred
Department of Pharmacognosy/Drug Development
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Ilorin
Nigeria

JUNE, 2023
COURSE OUTLINE

• Introduction

• Taxonomic characters

• Systems of classification of Angiosperms

• Chemical and comparative phytochemistry in plant classification

• Techniques used in comparative phytochemistry

• Importance of biosynthetic studies in comparative phytochemistry

• Comparative phytochemistry of groups of constituents

• Emerging developments in chemotaxonomy - chemophenetics
 INTRODUCTION

• Natural Products are produced by all organisms but are mostly known from
plants, insects, fungi, algae and prokaryotes

• Evidence of chemical variation has essentially been used for classification

purposes ever since ' folk taxonomies‘, based on certain obvious plant
characteristics were instinctively employed by mankind Centuries ago.

• These categories, such as edibility, taste, colour, smell and medicinal value were
founded, however unknowingly, on chemical properties.

• As long ago as the first century after Christ the aromatic mints had been
recognized and grouped together by Dioscorides(J ones & Luchsinger, 1986)
PLANT TAXONOMY

Definition: Taxonomy (also known as systematics) can be

defined as the study or description of variations among
organisms in order to come out with a classification system

When organisms are arranged into groups, it enables a large

population to be categorized and understood

The history of Taxonomy dates back to around 300 years

before Christ and credited to Theophratus (370-285BC)

Carolus Linneaus – 1707-1778 has been described as the

founder and father of Taxonomy until this day.
 Summary of Definitions
• Taxonomy is the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms;
• Another name for taxonomy is “systematics”.

• Plant taxonomy or plant systematics is the science of describing, delimiting and classifying plant
groups ( also known as taxonomic entities or taxa). A multiplicity of characters is used to define
and delimit adequately plant taxa.

• Chemotaxonomy is the systematic study of chemical variation between plant taxa.

• The chemotaxonomy emerged from;
chemo+ taxonomy, meaning “the classification of plant species on basis of their chemical
constituents

• Chemotaxonomy is the oldest auxiliary science of plant systematics which is based on

morphological attributes in first instance. Chemotaxonomy was founded in 1804 by A.P. DE
CANDOLLE.
Chemosystematics
= molecular systematics using secondary
compounds or micromolecules

Later deal with macromolecules

using DNA (and proteins) - although
APG classification system is
inherently DNA based
• Many natural products are biologically active and have been used for thousands of
years as traditional medicines and as natural poisons

• Plants are the major contributors of natural products

• Over the years, many approaches evolved towards the taxonomy of plants

• These include Traditional classification and modern approach to plants’ classification

• Morphological classification and anatomical classification fall under the traditional

classification

• chemotaxonomic classification falls under the modern approach to classify plants

All the living organisms produce secondary
metabolites that are derived from primary
metabolites.

The chemical structure of the secondary metabolites

and their biosynthetic pathways is often specific and
restricted to taxonomically related organisms and
hence useful in classification. This method of
classification is considered better in comparison to
traditional method due to the ease of working
methodology
 Course Assignment

State the Chemotaxonomic markers in the following plant families

used in Traditional African Medicine (TAM)
i. Apocynaceae
ii. Violaceae
iii. Rubiaceae
iv. Rosaceae
v. Moringaceae
Radford (1986) has mentioned the existence of four types of systems of plant
classification, i.e., artificial classifications, mechanical classifications, natural
classifications and phylogenetic classifications, and separated them as follows:
Summary
Summary of chemotaxonomy
Classification of Alkaloids and plant
families where they serve as
chemotaxonomic markers
Final Summary
Cobalt oxides
Inulin is a polymer of fructose
 Emerging terms - Chemophenetics
Plant chemophenetics is a term that has recently been proposed for
exploring characteristic arrangements of specialized plant taxon
metabolites, this analysis contributes to the phenetic description of
the taxa – similar to anatomical, morphological, and karyological
approaches – and represents an opportunity to describe organisms
classified with molecular methods. 

Thus, the specialized metabolism products are treated as

phenotypic characters that can be used as arguments, e. g., the
existence of botanical varieties in the same way as, e. g., traditional
morphological characters.
Specialized metabolites may be involved in the signals
responsible for the interaction between the plant and the
environment; hence, the production of these small
molecules can be influenced by environmental variations
and the phenological stages of the plant. 

Therefore, it is essential that, in chemophenetic studies, the

compositions of morphotypes A. emarginata ‘terra-fria’
and A. emarginata ‘mirim’,– are analyzed under different
environmental conditions and phenological stages, to
confirm that the differences found are not attributed to the
environment or phenology.
The Annonaceae family has a diversity of these compounds, mainly
steroidal flavonoids, essential oils, acetogenins, and alkaloids. The
alkaloids that prevail in the genus Annona are those of
benzylisoquinoline structure, derived from the amino-acids tyrosine
and phenylalanine. The most frequent compounds, among them, are
liriodenine, anonaine, and reticuline; for this reason, they have been
considered as chemophenetic markers of the genus in the past.

Generally, the roots accumulate the greatest number of alkaloids; in

contrast, volatile molecules depend on the tissue studied: a) fruits and
seeds mainly contain monoterpene hydrocarbons; b) leaf essential
oils contain sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and c) bark and root oils
have oxygenated sesquiterpenes.
RESOURCE MATERIALS FOR FURTHER READING

1. Singh, R. (2016). Chemotaxonomy: a tool for plant classification. Journal of Medicinal Plants, 4(2), 90-93.
2. Sharma, S. B., & Gupta, R. (2015). Drug development from natural resource: a systematic approach. 
Mini reviews in medicinal chemistry, 15(1), 52-57.
3. Trease and Evans Pharmacognosy Evans, W.C.

4. Chemophenetics as a Tool for Distinguishing Morphotypes of Annona emarginata (Schltdl.) H. Rainer

Carolina Ovile Mimi, Iván De-la-Cruz-Chacón, Marília Caixeta Sousa, Maria Aparecida Ribeiro Vieira, Marcia Ortiz
Mayo Marques, Gisela Ferreira, Carmen Silvia Fernandes Boaro
First published: 17 August 2021
 https://doi.org/10.1002/cbdv.202100544
5. Zidorn, C. (2019). Plant chemophenetics− A new term for plant chemosystematics/plant chemotaxonomy in the
macro-molecular era. Phytochemistry, 163, 147-148.
Course Assignment

Discuss the importance of knottin-like CYCLOTIDES in Chemosystematics and explain

their biosynthetic origin