Planta Med 2013; 79 - PI5
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1352095

An unusual coumarin derivative from Polygala boliviensis A.W. Benn (Polygalaceae)

CQ Alves 1, HN Brandão 2, DF da Silva 2, JM David 3, JP David 4
  • 1Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Departamento de Ciências Exatas, Feira de Santana (44036 – 900) – Bahia, Brasil
  • 2Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Departamento de Saúde, Feira de Santana (44036 – 900) – Bahia, Brasil
  • 3Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Química, Salvador (40170 – 290) – Bahia, Brasil
  • 4Universidade Federal da Bahia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Salvador (40170 – 290) – Bahia, Brasil

Polygalaceae is a family composed by 19 genus and about 1300 species and they are distributed all around the world but it occurs especially in tropical and subtropical regions. In Brazil there are registered approximately 240 species distributed in 7 genus1,2. Polygalaceae main chemical components are saponins, xanthones, alkaloids and volatile oils. Methyl salicylate is considered the main compound present in their essential oils. Besides there are a significant pharmacological and biological activities described for extracts and pure compounds3.

Polygala boliviensis A.W. Benn (syn P. alfredi Chodat) is a plant easily found in all South America4 but to date there are not studies dealing with its chemical composition. So, this work describes the preliminary chemical study of MeOH extract of aerial parts and roots of this species. The extract was partitioned between MeOH/H2O and hexane, CHCl3 and EtOAc. The extracts obtained were submitted to antioxidant evaluation and toxicity employing brine shrimp test. The CHCl3 extract showed better results. This extract was submitted to silica gel CC and it permitted to isolate a new coumarin. The structure of this new coumarin was determinated by spectral analysis such as mass spectroscopy, IR and NMR (mono and bidimensional). The unusual substituent bearing C-7 and C-8 was identified by the chemical shifts observed in the 13C NMR (including DEPT) and the long range correlations observed in the HMBC. The methyl salicylate present in the aerial parts of this plant was identified and quantified employing HPLC/DAD and external standards.

Acknowledgements: We wish to thank CNPq and FAPESB/PRONEM (Brazil) for financial support.

References:

[1] Marques, M. C. M.; Peixoto, A. L. (2007) Rodriguésia, 58: 95 – 146.

[2] Paiva, J. A. R. (1998), Fontqueria, 50: 346.

[3] da Rocha, J. L. C. et al. (2012) Quimica Nova, 35: 2263 – 2266.

[4] Coelho, V. P. M. et al. (2008) Acta Bototanica Brasílica, 22: 225 – 239.