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Copalic Acid: Occurrence, Chemistry, and Biological Activities

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Abstract

(–)-Copalic acid is a naturally occurring labdane‐type diterpene acid usually isolated from oleoresins of Copaifera trees, being considered the biomarker for the genus. This compound has shown many remarkable biological and pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, cytotoxic, chemopreventive, antimutagenic, and antigenotoxic activities, which have attracted interest in its use as a prototype for the development of new drugs. This review was organized to describe the extraction, isolation, and analytical methods for quantification and structural elucidation, biological and pharmacological activities, pharmacokinetic and toxicological studies, and several semisynthetic derivatives of copalic acid. Some remaining gaps related to the reviewed activities are also mentioned, while the perspectives for future research with copalic acid are proposed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. Rogelio Pereda-Miranda (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), editor-in-chief of the Brazilian Journal of Pharmacognosy, for his suggestions to improve the review quality.

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG: APQ 03606/16 and APQ-02648–18).

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Contributions

VGM drafted the paper. FJD and KLL contributed to the critical reading of the manuscript. All the authors have read the final manuscript and approved the submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Luise Lang.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Medeiros, V.G., Durán, F.J. & Lang, K.L. Copalic Acid: Occurrence, Chemistry, and Biological Activities. Rev. Bras. Farmacogn. 31, 375–386 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43450-021-00173-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43450-021-00173-2

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