Seru Ganapaty

Three prenylated isoflavones from Milletia auriculata

Abstract Chemical examination of the chloroform extract of the roots of Milletia auriculata has yielded three new prenylated isoflavones in addition to the previously reported isoflavones isoauriculatin, auriculin, millettin, auriculatin, scandenone and the rotenoid sumatrol.

Dammarane and Ceanothane Triterpenes from Zizyphus glabrata

From the leaves of Zizyphus glabrata, a new dammarane-type triterpene, pseudojujubogenin -3-O- β -D-glucopyranoside, along with the known ceanothane triterpenes, granulosic acid, ceanothic acid and daucosterol were isolated. The structures of the compounds were fully characterized by detailed NMR investigations including 1H and 13C NMR, HSQC, COSY, HMBC and NOESY experiments. In addition, the dammarane glycoside was tested for its potential to inhibit various bacteria and was found to possess significant bactericidal activity. The 1H, 13C and full 2D-NMR data on granulosic acid has also been presented. This is the first report on the chemical constituents of the leaves of Z. glabrata.

Mono and dimeric naphthalene derivatives from the roots of Diospyros assimilis

Three 2-naphthaldehydes, including the novel 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-2-naphthaldehyde, the simple naphthoquinone plumbagin and the dimeric naphthoquinones diospyrin and 8′-hydroxyisodiospyrin have been isolated from the roots of Diospyros assimilis and their structures established by spectroscopic analysis.

CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICA L EXAMINATION OF LEAVES OF MORUS INDICA

Mulberry belongs to the genus Morus of the family Moraceae. It is an economically important plant being used for sericulture. Studies have been reported on the chemical composition and nutritional potentials of some mulberry sp ecies worldwide. In the present study the chemical examination of Morus indica leaves on conventional extraction and various chromatographic methods , led to the isolation of five compounds - β - sitosterol - 3 - O - β - D - glucoside , β - sitosterol , salvigenin, cirisima ritin and quercitin . All the compounds were characterized by 2D NMR, MS spectral data and comparison with the published data for the known compounds. All the compounds were reported for the first time from the leaves of this species. The work was further e xtended to test the crude extracts for antibacterial and antifungal activities. The results from the present study have shown that the species have considerable activity against selected bacterial and fungal strains which can be attributed to the presence of steroidal and phenolic compounds in the crude extracts of Morus indica.

In vitro anthelmintic activity of Millettia auriculata leaves and stems

Abstract Objective To study the anthelmintic activity of phytochemically charaterized chloroform extracts of Millettia auriculata leaves and stems. Methods Chloroform extracts of leaves and stems were prepared. Phytochemical characterisation involved preliminary screening, optimisation of solvent system in thin layer chromatography (TLC) and UV absorption measurement of each bright yellow (in view of a common physical property of flavonoids) TLC fraction for each extract. Anthelmintic activity of each extract was carried out for different concentrations (10, 20 and 40 mg/mL) using Pheretima posthuma. Results Phytochemical characterisation of the extracts revealed the presence of steroids/triterpenes, phenolics/flavonoids and carbohydrates with optimum TLC-separation in chloroform-hexane, 19:1. All the investigated extracts possessed significant anthelmintic activity (P Conclusions The results of this study indicated that Millettia auriculata can be used as anthelmintic drug. It would be also interesting to find out any novel or existing chemical entities showing anthelmintic activity with mechanism of action.