This book focus on the contribution to the phytochemical study of Piper umbellatum Linn (Piperaceae), a Cameroonian medicinal plant used for the treatment of many diseases. Separation and purification of some phytoconstituents were achieved from the aerial part of this plant species, after which it was subjected to specific alkaloids treatment. The total alkaloids as well as the neutral fractions were both submitted to successive chromatography techniques, which led to the isolation of eight compounds. The structure of some of these isolates were determined either through usual spectroscopic analysis and by comparison of the resulting data to those from literature. PUL7 was then identified as a mixture of sterols on the basis of its analytical TLC profile while the structures of PUL3 and PUL6 were determined after the interpretation of their spectroscopic data and comparison with those from literature. PUL3 and PUL6 were thus respectively identified as piperumbellactam D and 4-nerolidylcatechol respectively.

Leutcha P.B. is a Cameroonian. He earned a B.Sc degree and master II in organic chemistry at the University of Dschang and the Secondary School Teacher Diplomer II at the unversity of Bamenda. He is presently teaching in the general bilingual high school of Mindif and as a researcher in the laboratory of natural product chemistry (Cameroon)