Planta Med 2012; 78 - PJ63
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1321223

High resolution antifungal HPLC profiling for the early identification of compounds in plants from French Polynesia

C Petit 1, S Bertrand 1, L Marcourt 1, R Ho 1, M Monod 2, JL Wolfender 1
  • 1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, EPGL, University of Geneva, University of Lausanne, quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2Departement of Dermatology and Venereology, Laboratory of Mycology, CHUV, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland

In order to rapidly localize antifungal compounds in crude plant extracts, micro-dilution assays with the opportunistic yeast Candida albicans were used in combination with semi preparative HPLC micro-fractionation [1]. Using this approach, HPLC antifungal profiles of selected active crude methanolic extracts of plants from French Polynesia were efficiently recorded.

The leaf extract of the tree Alphitonia zizyphoides, a plant traditionally used to treat dermatomycoses [2], appeared to be the most active. The combination of HPLC antifungal profiling of A. zizyphoides together with dereplication by LC-MS and microflow NMR [3] leaded to the rapid dereplication of the bioactive compounds. The method presented is generic and applicable for the screening of extracts containing polar to medium polar antifungal agents.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by Swiss National Science Foundation Sinergia Grant CRSII3_127187 (to J.-L. W. and M. M.)

[1] Wolfender, J.-L., et al., Chimia, 2011, 65, 400; [2] Pétard P, Plantes utiles de Polynésie, 1986; [3] Wolfender, J. L., et al., Curr. Org. Chem., 2010, 14, 1808.