Cornus species are widely distributed in central and southern Europe, east Africa, southwest Asia, and America. Several species are known for edible fruits, especially Cornus mas and Cornus officinalis. These delicious fruits, characterized by their remarkable nutritional and biological values, are widely used in traditional medicine. In contrast to the other edible Cornus species, C. mas and C. officinalis are the most studied for which little information is available on the main phytochemicals and their biological activities. Fruits are characterised by several classes of secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans, anthocyanins, tannins, triterpenoids, and iridoids. The available phytochemical data show that the different classes of metabolites have not been systematically studied. However, these edible species are all worthy of interest because similarities have been found. Thus, this review describes the traditional uses of Cornus species common in Europe and Asia, a detailed classification of the bioactive compounds that characterize the fruits, and their beneficial health effects. Cornus species are a rich source of phytochemicals with nutritional and functional properties that justify the growing interest in these berries, not only for applications in the food industry but also useful for their medicinal properties.

N-Containing heterocycles are important scaffolds due to their ubiquitous presence in bioactive compounds. Their synthesis has been considered as an important research field. In this work we report the access to 6- and 7-membered rings via a photoinduced strategy. To our knowledge, this work represents the first exemple of photo-induced 7-endo-trig cyclization with N-centered radicals.

Oximation of substituted ketofurfuryl alcohols in the presence of hydroxylamine hydrochloride and pyridine in ethanol as solvent led to a new class of spiro derivatives presenting a 7-methylene-1,6-dioxa-2-azaspiro [4.4] nona-2,8-diene skeleton along with, in some cases, the predictable oxime. The structures of such spiro compounds were determined by 2D NMR spectroscopy. The suggested formation of this skeleton involves an in situ oximation/dehydration/S_N’ cascade reaction.

L'acide alpha-linolénique (ALA, C18:3 n-3) est présent dans les membranes lipidiques des végétaux. Lors d'un stress oxydant, l'oxydation radicalaire non-enzymatique de cet acide gras polyinsaturé pourrait conduire à la formation de métabolites tétrahydrofuraniques nommés phytofuranes (PhytoFs). Souhaitant mettre en évidence leur existence et étudier leurs potentielles activités biologiques, nous avons développé une stratégie de synthèse divergente et flexible permettant d'accéder à ces métabolites de type PhytoFs.