Phytotoxic terpenes produced by phytopathogenic fungi and allelopathic plants.

This review is about the isolation as well as chemical and biological characterization of simple and complex mono-, sesqui-, di-, sester- and tri-terpenes produced by fungal pathogens of agrarian and forest plants and by some allelopathic plants. In several cases, the structure activity relationships are also discussed, as well as their potential application in agriculture as natural safe herbicides, fungicides and bactericides. Furthermore, the potential application of some fungal terpenes as anticancer compounds with a new mode of action is also discussed.