Cananga odorata (Pharmaceutical interest and History)

Cananga odorata (Lamk.) Hook. f. &Thoms.


[From Malay, kananga = Canangaodorata (Lamk.) Hook. f.& Thoms. and from Latin, odorem = odour]
Synonymy: Canangium odoratum Baill.
Common names: Ylang-ylang tree; bois de lance batard (French); maladi (Tamil); kenanga (Malay); kadapnyan (Burmese).
Physical description: It is a shrub which grows to a height of 4m. The plant grows wild in a geographical zone spanning from India to Polynesia.The bark is blackish to grey, smooth and the young stems are pubescent. Leaves: simple, alternate and exstipulate. The blade is light green, soft, dull, oblong to broadly elliptic, and 6.5 cm×20 cm–3 cm×8.5 cm.The apex of the blade is acuminate and the base is round. The blade shows 6–10 pairs of secondary nerves. The flowers are strongly fragrant. The calyx consists of 3 sepals and the corolla consists of 6 linear valvate petals, yellow at first then turning golden yellow. The fruits consist of 2 to 12 ripe carpels arranged in 2 whorls, ripening to black, and 1.75 cm × 2.5 cm. Each carpel contains 6 to 12 seeds (Fig. 7).
Cananga odorata
Fig. 7. Cananga odorata (Lamk.) Hook. f. & Thoms.
History: The oil obtained by distillation of the flowers is the Cananga oil or ylang-ylang oil, which is used to make perfumes. Cananga oil added to coconut oil and other ingredients makes the Macassar oil which was so familiar to the well-groomed Victorian and Edwardian males.The British Standards Institution has published standard specifications for Cananga oil (BS 2991/ 1:1965). Cananga oil contains geraniol, linalool esters of acetic and benzoic acids, p-cresol methyl ester, cadidene, some sesquiterpenes and phenols (Greenberg LA et al., 1954).
Pharmaceutical interest:
Cytotoxic properties: Cananga odorata (Lamk.) Hook. f. & Thoms. Contains a cytotoxic oxoaporphine alkaloid known sas liriodenine, which inhibits the enzymatic activity of topoisomerase II in vitro and in vivo (Woo Fig. 7. Cananga odorata (Lamk.) Hook. f. & Thoms. Set al., 1997).The inhibition of topoisomerase II, a key enzyme of the DNA replication, causesaquick cleavageof theDNAbackboneandthereby cellular death. Topoisomerase II inhibitors are of critical chemotherapeutic importance and the family Annonaceae, which abound with liriodenine-like alkaloids, may appear as a potential reserve of chemotherapeutic agents. Examples of therapeutic topoisomerase II inhibitors are the relatively newly introduced oral antibacterial broad-spectrum antibiotic fluoroquinolones.An example of fluoroquinolone is ciprofloxacine, generally regarded as the most significant development in the field of antibacterial chemotherapy. The fruits contain some alkaloids, and sesquiterpenes which have cytotoxic properties (Hsieh TJ et al., 2001).
Liriodenine
Liriodenine
Amebicidal properties: An extract of Cananga odorata (Lamk.) Hook. f. & Thoms. inhibits, in vitro, the proliferation of Acanthameba culbertsoni, Acanthameba castellani, and Acanthameba polyphaga which are the causative agents of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and amoebic keratitis (Chu DM et al., 1998).
References
Chu DM, et al. (1998) Parasitol Res 84(9): 746–752.
Greenberg LA, et al. (1954) Handbooks of Cosmetic Materials, Interscience, New York.
Hsieh TJ, et al. (2001) J Nat Prod 64(5):616–619.
Schieffelin, et al. (1973) Almay Hypo-allergenic Cosmetics Product Formulary, 8th ed. Pharmaceutical Laboratories Division, New York.
Woo S, et al. (1997) Biochem Pharmacol 54(4): 467–473.
Warning: Perfumes containing Cananga oil can produce dermatitis in sensitized individuals and have been removed from certain cosmetics (Greenberg LA et al., 1954; Schieffelin, 1973).

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