Secondary metabolites of Bagassa guianensis Aubl. wood, a contribution to the understanding of the natural durability and to the chemotaxonomy of the Moraceae family with an unexplored genus.

In effort to explain wood durability of Moraceae plants family, a phytochemical study was undertaken on Bagassa guianensis. The phytochemical investigation of the ethyl acetate extract obtained from the heartwood led to the isolation of 18 secondary metabolites, including 6 moracins [the new 6-O-methyl-moracin M (3), 6-O-methyl -moracin N (4) and moracin Z (5); the known moracin M (1), moracin N (2) and moracin P (6)], 8 phenolic derivatives [the new (-)-epialboctalol (12), arachidin 4 (10) and the known alboctalol (11), trans-resveratrol (7), arachidin 2 (9), trans-oxyresveratrol (8) and artogomezianol (13)], the 3 known flavonoids steppogenin (14), katuranin (15), dihydromorin (16), the β-sitosterol (17) and the resorcinol (18). Comparison with literature data indicates that stilbenoids are presumably responsible for the natural resistance of the wood against fungi degradation. In addition, chemical composition points out that B. guianensis is closely related to Morus sp. in the phylogeny and should be placed within the Moreae s. s. tribe in the Moraceae family, accordingly to the latest Weiblen genoma-based classifications [1,2].

Fig.1: Compounds 1-18 isolated from Bagassa guianensis (Moraceae). (a) New compounds; (b) New names.

References: 1. Datwyler S.L. et al. (2004) Am. J. Bot. 91: 767–777.

2. Zerega N.J.C. et al. (2005) Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 37: 402–416.