Mangiferin is a glucosylxanthone (

xanthonoid A xanthonoid is a chemical natural phenolic compound formed from the xanthone backbone. Many members of the Clusiaceae The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. (1789) (''nom. alt. et cons.'' = alternative and valid name) are a family (biology), fami ...

). This molecule is a

glucoside A glucoside is a glycoside that is chemically derived from glucose. Glucosides are common in plants, but rare in animals. Glucose is produced when a glucoside is hydrolysed by purely chemical means, or decomposed by fermentation or enzymes. Th ...

of norathyriol.

Natural occurrences

Mangiferin was first isolated from the leaves and bark of ''

Mangifera indica ''Mangifera indica'', commonly known as mango, is an evergreen species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is a large fruit tree, capable of growing to a height and width of . There are two distinct genetic populations in modern m ...

'' (the

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

tree). It can also be extracted from

peels and kernels, ''

Iris unguicularis ''Iris unguicularis'' ( syn. ''Iris stylosa''), the Algerian iris, is a rhizomatous flowering plant in the genus ''Iris'', native to Algeria, Greece, Turkey, Western Syria, and Tunisia. It grows to , with grassy evergreen leaves, producing pale l ...

'', ''

Anemarrhena asphodeloides ''Anemarrhena'' is a plant genus in family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. It has only one species, ''Anemarrhena asphodeloides'', native to China and Mongolia. Some authors have placed it in its own family, Anemarrhenaceae. Distribution ...

'' rhizomes and ''

Bombax ceiba ''Bombax ceiba'', like other trees of the genus ''Bombax'', is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of ...

'' leaves. It is also found in the genera '' Salacia'' and ''

Cyclopia Cyclopia (named after the Greek mythology characters cyclopes), also known as alobar holoprosencephaly, is the most extreme form of holoprosencephaly and is a congenital disorder (birth defect) characterized by the failure of the embryonic prosen ...

'', as well as in

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

leaves and some species of ''

Crocus ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennial plant, perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stem ...

''. Among the group of '' Asplenium hybrids'' known as the "Appalachian ''Asplenium'' complex", mangiferin and isomangiferin are produced only by ''

Asplenium montanum ''Asplenium montanum'', commonly known as the mountain spleenwort, is a small fern endemic to the eastern United States. It is found primarily in the Appalachian Mountains from Vermont to Alabama, with a few isolated populations in the Ozarks a ...

'' and its hybrid descendants. The distinctive gold-orange

fluorescence Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with colore ...

of these compounds under

ultraviolet light Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of th ...

has been used to aid in the chromatographic identification of hybrid ''Asplenium''s.

Research

Preliminary research is conducted on the potential biological properties of mangiferin, although there were no confirmed anti-disease effects or

prescription drug A prescription drug (also prescription medication, prescription medicine or prescription-only medication) is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs c ...

s approved, as of 2019.

References

{{xanthone Xanthonoids C-glycoside natural phenols

Natural occurrences

Research

See also

References