Ethnotraditional uses and potential industrial and nutritional applications of secondary metabolites of genus Jatropha L. (Euphorbiaceae): A review

Abstract

The genus Jatropha belongs to family Euphorbiaceae and it is comprised of more than 200 species located in the tropics and subtropics of Asia, Africa and America. Traditionally, this genus is used to treat different diseases including rheumatism, diabetes, urethritis, headache, eczema and hemorrhoids. Each species of Jatropha is cultivated in a part of the world and most of the works have studied their bioactivities and uses individually. In this review, we collected and organized the available information of isolated compounds from different species of the genus Jatropha covering literature from 1969 to 2024. In total, 315 phytoconstituents were classified to 9 main classes including lignans, neolignans, sesquineolignans, coumarin and coumarinolignoids (class 1), diterpenoids and related compounds (2), alkaloids (3), flavonoids (4), triterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids (5), cyclic peptides (6), phytosterols and steroids (7), phenolics and esters (8) and miscellaneous compounds (9). This is a useful information to link their composition to their observed pharmacological activities. Moreover, the use of the edible seed of J. curcas was recently authorized as a novel food ingredient for the EU market according to EFSA, opening the door for new applications in the food industry of this medicinal plant. Therefore, it is important to collect information of Jatropha genus about its nutritional composition and its uses in modern medicine to better exploit these bioactive plants in food and nutraceutical applications.