Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Studies of many plant families have identified more than 500
ellagitannins with diverse structures. The structural variation among
monomers arises mainly from metabolic modification of the HHDP
unit(s), as well as from the number and location of polyphenolic groups
in a molecule. The structural variety of metabolites of the HHDP group
gives rise to many subgroups that compose the ellagitannin family,
including dehydroellagitannins, modified dehydroellagitannins,
C
-
glycosidic ellagitannins, and complex tannins. In addition,
intermolecular C-O oxidative coupling between the HHDP group in an
ellagitannin monomer and the galloyl group in another monomer
produces additional structural variations leading to a large number of
compounds in the oligomeric ellagitannin subclass.
