A review of chemical constituents and pharmaceutical properties from essential oil of Xylopia species

Xylopia L. is the second largest genus of the Annonaceae family, whose species have long been used as traditional medicine and spice. The chemical constituents obtained from the essential oils (EOs) of certain members of this genus were found to mainly contain relatively equal amounts of oxygenated monoterpenes, monoterpene hydrocarbons, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes etc. In addition, The EOs isolated from the Xylopia members have been reported to possess various biological properties. This review was thus aimed to provide an overview of information related to the phytochemical composition and pharmaceutical properties of the EOs isolated from various plant parts of Xylopia plants.