Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Limonoids are phytochemicals, abundant in citrus fruit and other plants of the classes Rutaceae and Meliaceae. They account for the scent of fresh lemon or orange peel. Many of the plants used in traditional healing, such as neem, are rich in limonoids. Currently limonoids are under investigation for a wide variety of therapeutic effects such as antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, antineoplastic and antimalarial. They also show effectiveness as insecticides both in traditional farming cultures and modern biochemistry labs. Chemically the limonoids are varied but the prototypical structure consists of 4 benzene rings and a furan ring. Limonoids are classed as tetranortriterpenes. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.