Compound Monograph

Triterpenes

Triterpenes are a large class of plant compounds built from six isoprene units, including many sterols and saponin aglycones.

Work in progress

Classification

Triterpenes are a class of plant constituents. Thirty-carbon terpenes — the ursolic, boswellic, and quinovic acids and other resin and bitter principles.

Terpenoids Triterpenes

Where Does It Come From? (8)

Plants and supplements in the database that list triterpenes among their constituents.

Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Cacao Theobroma cacao Calendula Calendula officinalis Chaga Inonotus obliquus Dandelion Taraxacum officinale Muira Puama Ptychopetalum olacoides Olive Leaf Olea europaea Reishi Ganoderma lucidum

Research & Evidence

Triterpenes are a broad structural class of natural products formed from thirty carbon atoms (six isoprene units), widely distributed across plants, fungi and some animals. They include simple triterpenes, the phytosterols, and the aglycones of many saponins, as well as familiar compounds such as the pentacyclic triterpenes found in numerous medicinal herbs. As a class they are associated with a wide range of biological activities, but because “triterpenes” describes a whole family rather than a single compound, properties vary enormously between individual members.