Planta Med 2013; 79 - PI1
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1352091

Five triterpenoidal saponins from the butanol fraction of Balanites aegyptiaca Del

A Abdel Motaal 1, H El-Askary 2, S Crockett 3, O Kunert 4, R Bauer 3
  • 11- Cairo University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Kasr-El-Ainy St., Cairo11562, Egypt 2- Heliopolis University, Faculty of Pharmacy and Drug Technology, Department of Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Plants, Cairo 2834, Egypt
  • 2Cairo University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Kasr-El-Ainy St., Cairo11562, Egypt
  • 3University of Graz, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
  • 4University of Graz, Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, A-8010 Graz, Austria

The butanol fraction of the 70% ethanolic extract of Balanites aegyptiaca fruit was fractionated using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC RP-18 column). A gradient elution was performed using a mixture of methanol/water, yielding 5 sub-fractions monitored by analytical high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The sub-fraction eluted with 75% methanol was subjected to a preparative HPLC where five triterpenoidal saponins were isolated for the first time from Balanites aegyptiaca fruit. The isolated compounds were identified as: compound 1, 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(25R)-furost-5-ene-3,22,26-triol 3-O-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→3)- β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)] β-D-glucopyranoside; compound 2, 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(25R)-furost-5-ene-3,22,26-triol 3-O-[ β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)] β-D-glucopyranoside; compound 3, 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(25R)-furost-5,20-diene-3,22,26-triol 3-O-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→3)- β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)] β-D-glucopyranoside; compound 4, 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(25S)-furost-5,20-diene-3,22,26-triol 3-O-[ β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)] β-D-glucopyranoside; compound 5, 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(25R)-furost-5,20-diene-3,22,26-triol 3-O-[ β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)] β-D-glucopyranoside, by spectroscopical analysis [MS,1D and 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, DQF-COSY, HSQC-TOCSY)].

Fig. 1

Acknowledgement: This work was carried out in frame of an FP7 project, Marie Curie Actions, PIRSES-GA-2008 – 230816. Project title is "Natural antidiabetic and anti-hypertensive drugs (NAAN)" and Prof. Rudolf Bauer is the project coordinator