The term copalchi has been used in the scientific literature to define a group of plants of the Rubiaceae and Euphorbiaceae families with extremely bitter stem-barks, useful for treating diabetes and malaria. In this review we summarized the most relevant chemical and pharmacological works carried out in the last century with the copalchis of the Rubiaceae family, namely Hintonia latiflora, H. standleyana and Exostema caribaeum. Their major components are 4-phenylcoumarins 5,7,3′,4′- or 5,7,4′-substituted with oxygenated functionalities, with the former having the most common pattern. These along with a few cucurbitacins are responsible for the antidiabetic properties of both Hintonia species. E. caribaeum contained mostly 4-phenylcoumarins, which apparently are the antimalarial constituents of these plants. Toxicological reports on these plants are discussed. The quality control procedures (chromatographic and molecular) developed for the three species are summarized. These will be valuable for their unequivocal identification, which in turn will avoid their partial adulteration or substitution. Future studies are required to solve the puzzle around the toxicity of the copalchis and for better understanding their pharmacological actions. Finally, establishment of their metabolomics profiles will provide a better knowledge of their secondary metabolism and help map their biosynthesis pathways.

科帕奇一词在科学文献中已被用来定义茜草科和大戟科的一组植物，这些植物具有极苦的茎皮，可用于治疗糖尿病和疟疾。在这篇综述中，我们总结了上个世纪与茜草科的copalchis，即Hintonia latiflora，H。standleyana和Exostema caribaeum进行的最相关的化学和药理工作。它们的主要成分是被氧化官能团取代的4-苯基香豆素5,7,3'，4'-或5,7,4'-，其中前者具有最常见的模式。这些与一些葫芦素一起负责这两种Hintonia的抗糖尿病特性。加勒比大肠杆菌大部分含有4-苯基香豆素，显然是这些植物的抗疟成分。讨论了有关这些植物的毒理学报告。总结了针对这三种物种开发的质量控制程序（色谱和分子质量控制）。这些对于它们的明确识别将是有价值的，这反过来将避免它们的部分掺假或替代。需要进一步的研究来解决围绕copalchis毒性的难题，并更好地了解其药理作用。最后，建立他们的代谢组学谱将提供对其次级代谢的更好的了解，并有助于绘制其生物合成途径。