Phytochemical treasure troves—insights into bioactivities, phytochemistry, and uses of Artemisia species

Diab, Mohamed K.; Abu-Elsaoud, Abdelghafar M.; Salama, Mohamed G.; Ghareeb, Eman M.

doi:10.1007/s11101-025-10163-0

Table 1 Phytochemical constituents of Artemisia herba-alba

From: Phytochemical treasure troves—insights into bioactivities, phytochemistry, and uses of Artemisia species

Chemical constituent	Molecular formula	Field of application/uses	Target organism	Mechanism of action	Target enzyme/protein/gene	References
Apigenin	C₁₅H₁₀O₅	Antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer	Human	Modulates inflammatory pathways	NF-κB, COX-2	Moulahoum et al. (2022)
Artemetin	C₂₀H₂₀O₈	Antioxidant, anticancer	Human	Inhibits oxidative stress and cancer cell proliferation	ROS, MAPK	Taleghani et al. (2020)
Artemisinic acid	C₁₅H₂₂O₂	Antimalarial, anticancer	Human, parasite	Inhibits parasite growth via ROS generation	Heme proteins	Das et al. (2024)
Artemisinin	C₁₅H₂₂O₅	Antimalarial, anticancer	Human, parasite	Generates reactive oxygen species in parasites	Heme proteins	Kiani et al. (2020), Das et al. (2024)
Borneol	C₁₀H₁₈O	Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory	Human	Inhibits inflammatory mediators	COX-2	Mrabti et al. (2023)
Bornyl acetate	C₁₂H₂₀O₂	Antibacterial, biopesticide	Human, pest	Disrupts cell membrane	Cell wall-associated proteins	Nikolaou et al. (2021), Mrabti et al. (2023)
Caffeic acid	C₉H₈O₄	Antioxidant, anticancer	Human	Reduces oxidative stress	ROS	Bourgou et al. (2017a)
Camphor	C₁₀H₁₆O	Anti-inflammatory, biopesticide	Human, insect	Reduces inflammatory mediators	COX-2, NF-κB	Boukraa et al. (2022), Wahnou et al. (2024a)
Carvacrol	C₁₀H₁₄O	Antifungal, antibacterial, herbicide	Human, pest	Disrupts microbial membranes and enzymes	Membrane proteins	Al-Wahaibi et al. (2020), Bekka-Hadji et al. (2022)
Chlorogenic acid	C₁₆H₁₈O₉	Antioxidant, antidiabetic	Human	Inhibits glucose metabolism enzymes	α-amylase, α-glucosidase	Salehi et al. (2019), Trifan et al. (2022)
Eugenol	C₁₀H₁₂O₂	Antifungal, antibacterial, herbicide	Human, pest	Inhibits microbial enzymes, disrupts cell wall integrity	Cell wall-associated enzymes	Ouedrhiri et al. (2022)
Ferulic acid	C₁₀H₁₀O₄	Antioxidant, anticancer	Human	Prevents lipid peroxidation	ROS	Trifan et al. (2022)
Luteolin	C₁₅H₁₀O₆	Antioxidant, anticancer	Human	Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammatory pathways	MAPK, STAT3	Moulahoum et al. (2022), Benamar-Aissa et al. (2023)
Piperitone	C₁₀H₁₆O	Antibacterial, biopesticide	Human, pest	Interfere with microbial respiration	Respiratory chain enzymes	Ivănescu et al. (2021a)
Quercetin	C₁₅H₁₀O₇	Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer	Human	Inhibits free radical production, modulates cell signaling	ROS, NF-κB, PI3K	Moulahoum et al. (2022), Wahnou et al. (2024a)
Rosmarinic acid	C₁₈H₁₆O₈	Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory	Human	Scavenges free radicals, inhibits inflammatory mediators	COX-2, NF-κB	Amalraj and Gopi (2021), Bouafia et al. (2021)
Scopoletin	C₁₀H₈O₄	Anti-inflammatory, antiviral	Human	Inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokines	NF-κB	Preedy et al. (2023)
Spathulenol	C₁₅H₂₄O	Antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory	Human	Inhibits microbial growth, modulates inflammatory pathways	COX-2, NF-κB	Stojanović et al. (2024)
Thujone	C₁₀H₁₆O	Antibacterial, antifungal	Human, pest	Inhibits microbial enzymes and disrupts membrane integrity	Cytochrome P450	Mrabti et al. (2023), El Ouardi et al. (2024)
Umbelliferone	C₉H₆O₃	Antioxidant, antimicrobial	Human	Neutralizes free radicals	ROS	Olennikov et al. (2018), Amor et al. (2019)
1,8-Cineole	C₁₀H₁₈O	Antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory	Human	Disrupts microbial membrane integrity	Membrane-associated enzymes	Mohammed et al. (2022), Mohyeldin et al. (2023)

COX-2 cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme, MAPK mitogen-activated protein kinase factor, NF-κB nuclear factor kappa B, PI3K phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase factor, ROS reactive oxygen species, STAT3 signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 factor

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