Natural Product Discovery and Biological Prospecting of Asteraceae Species in Mexico over the Last 30 Years

In Mexico, Asteraceae is the most diverse plant family in terms of number of species, with an occurrence of 3127 species, of which 3063 are considered native and 1996 are endemic. For this reason, the country is considered as a center of distribution and endemism. Mexican Asteraceae plants are characterized by their edible and medicinal usages for the treatment of infectious and chronic degenerative diseases, as well as for their agrochemical potential. Phytochemicals from these species have been of interest for decades and are still being considered as current sources of natural products with high structural diversity and bioactivity. The chemical constituents derived from these plants include alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, and terpenoids. The reported biological activities were selected according to predefined eligibility criteria. Of these, the terpenoids represent the most relevance due to the number of chemical structures described and their bioactivity as anti-inflammatory, antiprotozoal, antitumor, cytotoxic and phytotoxic agents. In this scoping review, we present the results of a bibliographic revision, and its subsequent analysis to illustrate the state of the art in natural product discovery and pharmacological prospecting with Asteraceae species native to Mexico over the last 30 years. This review highlights the chemical structural diversity of the Asteraceae family members and provides a selective overview of the agrochemical and pharmacological potential of their specialized metabolites, identifying gaps in the subject matter and trends for future research.