Importance of Terpenoids and Essential Oils in Chemotaxonomic Approach

Abstract

Chemotaxonomy of plants involves the study of chemical variation in different types of plants and use of this information in classification of plants. Chemotaxonomy consists of the investigation of the distribution of chemical compounds or groups of biosynthetically related compounds in series of related or supposedly related plants. Since ancient times, the essential oil and terpenoids of many aromatic plants have been used as bioactive ingredients in drug, food, perfumery and cosmetic formulations all over the world and so it is worthwhile to study their role in chemotaxonomy. They are distributed in families like Myrtaceae, Lauraceae, Rutaceae, Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Umbelliferae, Verbenaceae and Piperaceae. To detect even traces of chemical compounds during chemical analysis sophisticated techniques have also been introduced in chemotaxonomy of medicinal plants.