Revisiting the Medicinal Value of Terpenes and Terpenoids

*Deepak Kumar Dash, Chandra Kishore Tyagi, Anil Kumar Sahu and Vaibhav Tripathi*

### **Abstract**

Nowadays, plant-based chemicals have drawn the attention of pharmacy researchers due to their potent biological activity against various ailments. In this series, terpenes and terpenoids are gaining popularity among drug researchers gradually. Terpenes are naturally occurring large and varied class of hydrocarbons substances produced by a wide variety of plants including fruits, vegetables, flowers and some animals. Their concentration is generally high in plants. A broad range of the biological properties of terpenoids includes cancer chemo-preventive effects, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic activities and memory enhancers. Terpenoids are usually cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbons, with the altered number of oxygen moieties in the constituent groups attached to the basic isoprene skeleton. Terpenoids are a group of substances that occur in nearly every natural food. Terpenoids display a wide range of biological activities against cancer, malaria, inflammation, tuberculosis and a variety of infectious diseases including viral as well as bacterial. In this chapter, we have emphasized the proven and expected medicinal value of both terpenes and terpenoids.

**Keywords:** hydrocarbons, chemo-preventive, oxygen moieties, tuberculosis, expected medicinal value

#### **1. Introduction**

The role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition and public health is taken into account in most nutritional recommendations. Fruit and vegetables contain an abundance of various natural compounds that have been associated with the protection and treatment of many ailments.

Terpenes are a huge and diverse category of natural compounds, obtained from a variety of plants, especially conifers, which are characteristic smelling and, in this manner, might have had a defensive function. They are the significant parts of resin and turpentine obtained from the resin. Terpenes are major biosynthetic basic compounds inside every living being. At the point when terpenes are altered chemically, i.e., by oxidation or reframing of the carbon skeleton, the subsequent mixtures are by and large alluded to as terpenoids [1].

As natural substances, terpenoids are broadly consumed in food, pharmaceuticals, and beauty care products ventures. Indeed, terpenoids are used for the counteraction and treatment of different diseases. Likewise, many investigations have additionally found that terpenoids have numerous expected applications to uncover [2]. This chapter contains updated information about the structure and diverse effects of terpenes and terpenoids.
